I've been using Kontakt 4 and/or 5 on every project, and I'm now curious why the instruments are all in stereo output form.

For instance, my Sax, Trumpets, and Flutes, etc. would all easily be considered mono instruments, and yet Kontakt outputs them as stereo.

Wouldn't it make more sense to have them as mono?

Is there any advantage to having them stereo? I don't see it regarding Pan settings.

Wouldn't it be less usage on the CPU if they were mono, or would that be a negligible amount?

Yes, it would make more sense to make them mono, especially clearly monophonic instruments such as saxophones that are normally close-miked. I believe it's just the vendors bending to consumer expectations - all the rubes who think if every track is stereo then the whole mix will be awesomely stereophonic.

Do you know - is there any way for me to alter this within Kontakt, Bit?
 
Do we have that option anywhere?

The easiest thing is to route just the Left side of the output to your track and set the interleave to mono. How well this is actually going to work depends on the library. Brass and percussion instruments do well, as do most guitars. Pianos have been about 50/50 - sometimes you lose half the keyboard when you try to take a mono out. Sampled synthesizers are the worst, often requiring you to keep them in stereo.
 
I imagine there's some way to fold stereo samples to mono within Kontakt, but I don't know how. I prefer to use Channel Tools if I need to narrow a stereo track, or use the "convert to mono" feature.

I would want the synths to be in stereo anyway, so that's good.
Pianos I get elsewhere, so that's ok too.
 
But it'd be nice to have the brass, saxes, etc. in mono.
 
It's just that the only time Cubase gets finicky and crashes on me is when I mess with Kontakt a bit too much, so I might just leave it be since that's how it's naturally geared right out of the box.
 
I like having an otherwise stable DAW that's a MIDI monster like Cubase is, since I do about 85-90% MIDI.
 
Thanks for your input and knowledge there Bit.
 
And congrats on 20,000 posts!

If you have a reverb or other stereo FX inserted you'll want a stereo output. Also having a mono instrument on a stereo output doesn't really do any harm AFAIK.

Thanks Buds.

jimusic
...congrats on 20,000 posts!

I hadn't noticed that milestone until you pointed it out.
 
My Dad used to say that being able to play pool well was a sign of a mis-spent youth. 20,000 posts are surely a sign of way too many hours frittered away at the computer that could have been spent more productively! Thanks for the reminder.

20K. Pffft.

bapu
20K. Pffft.

Hahaha!
 
Them theres light-weight young whipper-snappers, huh Baps?