Kontakt 6 / 7 to SFZ or Decent Sampler: The Fast and Convenient Online Solution You've Been Searching For!

[noaschuetz]

The focus of the conversion between NKI and open formats is solely and exclusively for instruments created by the user, not for the heavily encrypted proprietary libraries. We do not want to facilitate piracy; quite the opposite. Nowadays, there are thousands of instrument developers worldwide who create instruments in Kontakt, and many users who acquire these instruments cannot afford a Kontakt license. Due to this dependency, they resort to piracy. Therefore, this converter will give you the ability to convert libraries you've created or purchased that are not associated with those developed by NI.

[Etienne1973]

Plus, this version even convert *.ncw Kontakt's compressed audio files straight to WAV!

NCW conversion? Does NI know about that aspect?

[audiojunkie]

It simply reads byte portions from the *.nki file identifying the scripts, groups, and zones portions, and brings that into a readable text format, text for SFZ, xml for Decent Sampler

Because the .nki format is proprietary. There may well be a EULA that prevents this action but I don't know either way.

I own Kontakt 7 so don't need this converter but it's a question that should at least be asked. Not so much for us but for the company providing the service.

If it allows someone to use a Kontakt library without buying Kontakt then Native Instruments might have something to say about that.

Unencrypted .nki files are able to be read by most converters out there. For example:

https://www.chickensys.com/products2/tr ... rmats.html

The conversion isn't decrypting anything........... at least to my knowledge.....

Edit: Wait, NCW files?

Edit 2: Oh, NCW are "compressed" files, not the encrypted ones...... I was worried there for a moment.

Either way, I suspect that the converter probably can't convert above Kontakt 4. Kontakt 6 and above make even the nki files unreadable.

So far, it sounds legit. I've got Chickensys Translator, so it probably won't offer me anything that I don't already have. It also doesn't look like it offers anything that ConvertWithMoss doesn't:

https://www.mossgrabers.de/Software/Con ... hMoss.html

But it's interesting nonetheless, and I'll definitely keep it in mind.

[audiojunkie]

All parameters are read from kontakt, in terms of zones mapping, they are read: groupname,filename,low_key,high_key,low_velocity,high_velocity,fade_low_key,fade_high_key,fade_low_velocity,fade_high_velocity,zone_volume,num_channels,num_frames,zone_tune,root_key,root_note,sample_data_type, sample_start,sample_end,sample_rate,sample_start_mod_range,tuning,zone_pan,zone_tune,zone_volume. So, by default, we insert it into SFZ, for example:
....
<group>
<region>
sample=Nord Piano 3 Samples\Grand Imperial Damped 088 118.wav
lockey=88
hikey=88
pitch_keycenter=88
lovel=106
hivel=118
volume=1
pan=0
tune=1
ampeg_release=0.2
....
but, in addition to exporting to SFZ and Decent Sampler, it is also possible to export to CSV (txt) so it is easy to manipulate or add any other parameters obtained from kontakt to your SFZ

Thank you for this information! This is very useful for me.

[audiojunkie]

Deleted duplicate

[noaschuetz]

It simply reads byte portions from the *.nki file identifying the scripts, groups, and zones portions, and brings that into a readable text format, text for SFZ, xml for Decent Sampler

Because the .nki format is proprietary. There may well be a EULA that prevents this action but I don't know either way.

I own Kontakt 7 so don't need this converter but it's a question that should at least be asked. Not so much for us but for the company providing the service.

If it allows someone to use a Kontakt library without buying Kontakt then Native Instruments might have something to say about that.

Unencrypted .nki files are able to be read by most converters out there. For example:

https://www.chickensys.com/products2/tr ... rmats.html

The conversion isn't decrypting anything........... at least to my knowledge.....

Edit: Wait, NCW files?

Edit 2: Oh, NCW are "compressed" files, not the encrypted ones...... I was worried there for a moment.

Either way, I suspect that the converter probably can't convert above Kontakt 4. Kontakt 6 and above make even the nki files unreadable.

So far, it sounds legit. I've got Chickensys Translator, so it probably won't offer me anything that I don't already have. It also doesn't look like it offers anything that ConvertWithMoss doesn't:

https://www.mossgrabers.de/Software/Con ... hMoss.html

But it's interesting nonetheless, and I'll definitely keep it in mind.

Yes, Kontakt Converter can easily convert Kontakt 6 or 7 to sfz and dspreset, something no other software currently does, only Kontakt Converter. And yes, it sounds legit to me.

[Teksonik]

Kontakt 6 and above make even the nki files unreadable.

Why do you think N.I. made that move?

I'm not a lawyer and I would hazard a guess that the few members of KVR who are don't specialize in international intellectual property right laws.

But KVR has always been a staunch supporter of IP rights and rightfully so since the site is dedicated to the creation of IP. Does this service infringe on the IP rights of others? I don't know, but I think it's certainly a question that needs to be asked.

I suppose only Native Instruments can actually answer that question since it is their proprietary format. I'm not taking a stand one way or the other because again I'm not a lawyer or an expert but while I'm not a huge fan of N.I. as a company I do respect their rights.

[Echoes in the Attic]

It simply reads byte portions from the *.nki file identifying the scripts, groups, and zones portions, and brings that into a readable text format, text for SFZ, xml for Decent Sampler

Because the .nki format is proprietary. There may well be a EULA that prevents this action but I don't know either way.

I own Kontakt 7 so don't need this converter but it's a question that should at least be asked. Not so much for us but for the company providing the service.

If it allows someone to use a Kontakt library without buying Kontakt then Native Instruments might have something to say about that.

If someone buys a library that requires Kontakt, then it's not player compatible, so there would be no player license, so who cares what NI would say. Does Ableton have something to say about the fact that you can open Ableton Live sets in Bitwig?

So does this tool only work with nkis saved with earlier versions of Kontakt? I resaved most of my old files with Kontakt 5 I think. Does that not work with this? I would love to get those moved over to sfz for use with Bitwig Sampler.

[noaschuetz]

I've tested it with Kontakt 6 and 7, and it works perfectly with Kontakt Converter Desktop. However, I haven't tested it with Kontakt 5 yet. If you could test it and give us feedback, that would be great!

[audiojunkie]

Kontakt 6 and above make even the nki files unreadable.

Why do you think N.I. made that move?

I'm not a lawyer and I would hazard a guess that the few members of KVR who are don't specialize in international intellectual property right laws.

But KVR has always been a staunch supporter of IP rights and rightfully so since the site is dedicated to the creation of IP. Does this service infringe on the IP rights of others? I don't know, but I think it's certainly a question that needs to be asked.

I suppose only Native Instruments can actually answer that question since it is their proprietary format. I'm not taking a stand one way or the other because again I'm not a lawyer or an expert but while I'm not a huge fan of N.I. as a company I do respect their rights.

As do I. Everything I use is licensed and legal--even if the license is GPL. I have simply been asking questions, as are you--although my questions have been of a more technical nature, rather than questioning from a legal point of view.

[audiojunkie]

I personally feel that if there would have been a problem legally with converting file formats, then Chickensys and Awave, among others would not have had a thriving business for the last two decades. Granted, the Chickensys translator does not try to translate encrypted formats, only unencrypted formats. That seems to be the only thing that may raise a question in my mind. I too am not an international law expert, and this is why I refrain from commenting on that that subject. I do feel though that just like with "right to fix" laws, there should be some right to use allowed. If I buy a license to use a library and the programs I use no longer support that format, but support another format that I can convert my paid for, licensed samples to, I don't see it as a problem legally for me to convert the samples so that I can keep using them. Now, if I were to share those samples with anyone else, then I think that would be a problem. I think a lot of this is a grey area that has not yet been tested in court. Since I'm no lawyer, I'm refraining from being a judge as well, and relying on my conscience until I read solid evidence to the contrary.

[Echoes in the Attic]

I've tested it with Kontakt 6 and 7, and it works perfectly with Kontakt Converter Desktop. However, I haven't tested it with Kontakt 5 yet. If you could test it and give us feedback, that would be great!

Oh nice. I'm actually on Kontakt 6 but I don't think I resaved my old libraries since Kontakt 5. But if it works with compressed files saved in Kontakt 6 then it should be fine! Very interested to try.

I assume round robins are accounted for in the SFZ files?

Does it capture any scripting at all, like for example legato audio? Or keyswitches or anything?

But how does it work with compressed kontakt files? SFZ can't read those, and it seems the utility only takes the nki file, not the audio. So wouldn't you have to convert to regular audio files yourself?

[audiojunkie]

Based on the opcode information given above, it doesn't look like round robins are accounted for--I don't see the seq_length, seq_position or lorand, hirand opcodes listed as supported. No drum mutes/chokes either (the off_by opcode). It looks like a very basic chromatic conversion, which is better than no conversion at all. Hopefully noaschuetz can clarify this.

[EvilDragon]

Yeah if this reverse engineers binary NKIs and NCW formats, this is clearly against EULA.

And this was done without anyone at NI knowing about it. Shady.

UNLESS, this is running a Kontakt 7.5 instance on a server somewhere that executes a Lua script (enabled by Kontakt Lua API - which also allows NCW encoding/decoding) to generate these converted files. This is a legally clean usecase.

This needs to be clarified. If it's not using the above mentioned clean method, well... you can guess what might happen.

[Teksonik]

If someone buys a library that requires Kontakt, then it's not player compatible, so there would be no player license, so who cares what NI would say.

My point is if someone buys a library from NI that requires the purchase of Kontakt and this tool allows people to circumvent that requirement and use the samples in other software then I see that as a problem. I'm not saying this tool allows that but what would be the point otherwise?

I can't just download a K7 library from NI and use it because it won't authorize since I haven't purchased it, correct? If this tool would allow me to use those samples outside of K7 therein lies the issue. Maybe I don't understand this tool completely since I don't need it but if it allows using Kontakt samples outside of Kontakt then that's the problem I see.

How long before some people start sharing samples?

Who cares what NI thinks? Anyone who values the sanctity of intellectual property or a website that claims to be anti-piracy like KVR.

I see Evil Dragon has posted since I started making this reply so I'd read what he says carefully.....