Disk Streaming Technology in Kontakt 2.1

Many samplers have to load all of the samples required by a specific program or preset into RAM. This means that you have to have an enormous amount of RAM installed. However, almost all Macs and PCs run fast enough so that with software samplers, only a tiny part of each sample is actually loaded into RAM. The rest of the samples are then streamed from your hard drive. This is how Kontakt 2.1 handles huge samples like grand piano, pipe organ, or other “memory hogs.” Laptop computers, which often have onboard drives that that run slower, are sometimes not up to the challenge of working in this manner. However, almost all new FireWire and USB 2.0 drives are fast enough (7200rpm and above) to handle disk streaming. If you’re using DFD (Direct from Disk) streaming, it’s best in most cases to keep all the default values right where they are. Only change them once you are comfortable with the technology, and confident of the performance impact of the changes you are making.