Kontakt GUI Maker Review

If you have ever tried to create your own Kontakt instrument with a fancy sleek GUI you most probably got stuck during the GUI programming. Assigning all the GUI elements like sliders, knobs, switches and other elements is done by writing literally thousands of lines of code and extremely time consuming. Most Kontakt developers would probably agree with the statement that the GUI programming takes at least as much time as recording, editing and arranging the samples for a Kontakt instrument.

This circumstances where also seen by Rigid Audio and they developed a very interesting little tool to help people to create their own Kontak GUI as simple and easy as possible.

Thanks to Rigid Audio we had the opportunity to review the first release of Kontakt GUI Maker (KGM) and took it to a test drive.

• Available for Windows & OSX (OSX SIERRA CURRENTLY NOT SUPPORTED)
• Precise arranging and editing
• Drag and drop interface design
• Over 60 PNG buttons, sliders and knobs
• Tables, menus and labels
• Over 500 “action” script files
• All library items can be edited and modified easily
• Bundled and ready-to-use NKI instrument
• Seamless workflow with Kontakt
• Script history
• Change automation names, mouse behaviour and values directly on screen
• Dynamic menu creation
• Will be upgraded on a regular basis

KGM comes as a zipped folder with the KGM program as well as several GUI elements, scripts, a ready-to-use NKI instrument and documentation. After unzipping, all the files and folders seem to be a bit strange and confusing but the very detailed user manual describes everything in a very intuitive and logical way. Even a Kontakt novice will understand the process behind GUI creation and how KGM works after reading the handbook.

First, a special folder called „KGM_100″ has to be copied into a system directory to make KGM work. Then the included template instrument can be loaded and KGM is ready to go.

After KGM is started the real fun starts and the GUI can be done. Therefore all sliders, knobs, switches and so on can be placed via drag and drop directly to the instruments interface. There are even elements like a waveform display, a sequencer pane and tables available.

The elements align to a definable grid and there appear even help lines. More then 60 png graphic elements are directly available in the program and there is no need to create and render your own GUI graphics via Knobman, Photoshop or other tools. This is an enormous quick win for instrument creators that just want to have a nice GUI as quickly as possible.

Everything can be moved and rearranged and a simple switch to Kontakt with a kick on the refresh-/ panic-button reloads the instrument with the updated GUI.

There are already over 500 scripts available to connect the GUI elements with a real function in Kontakt. A simple kick on one GUI element will open a properties tab where a action can be defined. For example, if a knob shall be used to control the filter cutoff frequency. The 500 scripts do allow to contol allmost everything from envelopes, lfos, effects, menu functions and much more.

After the GUI design is finished, the final instrument has to be exported. This process is also documented very well in the owners manual and basically just a number of steps which have to be executed. The final instrument can be distributed and published.

KGM works! It seems that the people at Rigid Audio do have a lot of experience and they created a very nifty tool that allows to create new instruments in a very short amount of time. The pre installed GUI elements look great, only the design of the labels could be improved in my opinion. In return the faders and some knows do look very realistic and top notch. The drag and drop concept works extremely well and the interaction with Kontakt is just as simple and easy as pie. But the topping of the cake are the more then 500 scripts included scripts that do save tons of time and even invite for experimentation.

Kontakt GUI Maker can be downloaded for US$ 129 (Currently for just US$ 79) here:
Rigid Audio | Kontakt GUI Maker