John

michael diemer
A lot of people think 8'5 is just fine. At this point, with a brand new computer, interface and string library, I feel I have enouugh on my plate, without the learning curve of the X Series, which I hear is substantial.

It is different but we learned it and it was worth the trouble. 8.5 was a fine version in its day but its very much out of date now. 
 
There is a real benefit to going with X3. It is a better DAW.  
 
One reason you haven't gotten a lot of answers to fix your issue is most of us don't have 8.5 on our system anymore. I don't recall Kontakt 5 being current with 8.5. I think it was Kontakt 4 back then.

Kontakt 4.2.4 I believe...many issues sorted since then...NI are on top of their game.
 
Clearly this post is in the wrong decade.

markyzno
I'll downgrade to XP and 8.5....
 
Oh no...wait......
 
No Console, No Breverb, No Melodyne, 32 bit nonsense, No Smart tool, No Dimension Pro, No Rapture etc etc.
 
I'll stay where I am in the X Series on 64 bit and Windows 8.

Well, but that's not really accurate. I'm running 64 bit sonar on Win 7-64, and it does have Dim Pro, also Rapture (though I don't use it), and I doubt I miss Breverb as I have Spaces. I may upgrade at some point, I'm just saying I'm not ready just now. And anyway as I said the problem is solved as I have a workaround.