Hi Dean,
regarding Threads, I´ll quote from the manual, page 7:
"Audio Preferences: You may change the number of used threads in the Multiprocessing dropdown
menu in real-time, and each Vienna Ensemble PRO instance will use the specified number of process
threads. So 1 instance on an 8 core computer should use 8 threads, 2 instances should use 4 threads,
and so forth. Ideally you should have as few threads as possible. If you're also running your host
sequencer on the same system as the running instances, it might be wise to reserve a core for it."
I know that you don´t have latency issues, but pops and crackles usually indicate that your soundcard might need a different latency setting. Please give it a try.
Also:
Did you try to load a setup without PLAY? What happens?
Di you try to load a setup without Kontakt? What happens?
Thanks,
Paul