Native Instruments Layoffs?

[Touch The Universe]

Yeah right listen to KVR. This is what you want:

What DO you guys want?

I for one simply want more synths

[Local Man]

I don't at all get what they are trying to do.
"...improving accessibility and usability of our portfolio..." What exactly are they talking about?

I bought Komplete this year because that is the collection of products I wanted. And I love it. And it is very accessible and usable and cohesive sitting right there on my hard drive on my desk. I mean I can literally access and use any part of it whenever I want. It is amazing.

Maybe they want me to become a DJ? I don't think I have the skill set NI but thanks for the encouragement.

And maybe they are going subscription as many here are suggesting. I don't know what to say about that.

With everyone simultaneously coming up with the brilliant idea to go the subscription route, I have to keep telling myself that there is always freeware.
I mean honestly I can accomplish just about anything I want with free plugins. I buy plugins because maybe they are a little more fun or easier to use and also because I like to support the developers and to some small degree fuel future development.
But when they start to demand regular access to my bank account that's when I have to draw the line.
Unless I can claim you as a dependant then I am just not interested in supporting you to that degree. I already have a wife and two kids.

[SomeTrees]

The glass door reviews are really interesting/revealing. What stands out are the comments that NI chose to respond to.

[Jim Rosebrook]

Seems like possibly a smart strategy.

1) Unifying the development teams of Komplete, Maschine & Traktor. Have these 3 brands share common resources and best talent. Hardware is here to stay!

2) Rename Native Access as One Native and broaden its capabilities to acquire and maintain your NI software and compatible 3rd party stuff.

[ghettosynth]

Seems like possibly a smart strategy.

1) Unifying the development teams of Komplete, Maschine & Traktor. Have these 3 brands share common resources and best talent. Hardware is here to stay!

2) Rename Native Access as One Native and broaden its capabilities to acquire and maintain your NI software and compatible 3rd party stuff.

Sure, I agree. Both of these moves would be great. People have been asking for a lot of technical integration for some time. For example, Maschine decks in Traktor. I also think that Native Access could be better. I don't like having to download my 3rd party libraries separately and it would be great if that were as transparent and "connected" as the, excuse the pun, native NI products.

I can see any number of ways that the different silos hampered both technical and business progress. I can also believe that NI had some redundancy, some inefficient management, e.g., at the product level, and that it's reasonable that to believe that an organizational restructure would lead to some job eliminations. However, it's also not unreasonable to believe that a 20% layoff is a signal that things aren't as rosy as they want people to believe, and, that there is some degree of incompetence at high levels.

All that said, I can also believe that a restructuring might mean a change in business as usual. Who's purview does the semi-annual sales of Komplete products fall under? As we've consistently seen, when a company goes subscription, their focus is not on sales anymore because sales compete with the more lucrative subscription model. So, if there is any truth to the subscription model, it wouldn't surprise me to see an end to the Komplete upgrade sales.

Perhaps their goal then is, as stated, to make things more connected in a way that it is both easier for us to consume 3rd party Kontakt/Maschine/Traktor content, and also, easier for 3rd party devs to provide that content. Most of us do, in fact, consume that content to some degree so that, by itself, might be awesome, of course, the devil is in the details.

I read some interesting discussion about this elsewhere, I can't recall where, sorry, but NI has to be careful here. They aren't the only player in the sampler engine market and the competition potentially looks better from a number of angles. The vast majority of Kontakt customers don't actually engage with it at any level of technical depth, it's really just a container for our 3rd party content. I'm not interested at all in subscriptions, and I'm just going to go ahead and put 3rd party devs on notice now. If I have to subscribe to Kontakt to use your product, then I won't use your product. If you think that this is a concern, then now would be a good time to start thinking about moving to something like Halion as an alternative.

The thing, for me, that is new here, is that I now have better insight into who NI is as a company. Up until this week, I had never read their Glassdoor reviews. What is written there makes sense to me, it mirrors what we see externally. I think that they are internally dysfunctional, and no, I don't think that all firms are to the same degree. I think that this does impact consumers in some ways. I think that this helps to explain their weirdly inconsistent support. I think that this helps to explain botched releases and, what appears to us as, odd decisions with respect to their product lines.

So, for me, this will impact my decisions. Not only of their products, but also 3rd party content. I'm not sure that I want to buy any new Kontakt libraries right now. I buy stuff like that on impulse and for fun, not because it drives some bottom line. I'm not saying that I won't, but, every time I see one, I'm going to think "can I still use this in a few years?" Is that thought somewhat irrational? Yep, it most certainly is! Welcome to human behavior 101, that's how we roll.

[pinbot]

Guys, I've just looked at an article from my feedly account, and I can confirm that 20% of the employees were forced to part ways with NI.

[andypryce]

The only good thing about this thread. I did not listen this song for ages and literally forgot it. This video made my day thank you

[HM]

Guys, I've just looked at an article from my feedly account, and I can confirm that 20% of the employees were forced to part ways with NI.

Futhermore many did choose to leave, by own free will, due to bad leadership and management, so its not just that NI decided who to "throw out" in the garbadge, its more like a procces where they loose capacity, also key-capacity, but still got to carry the burden of a incompetent management, like when Kundrus etc left Steinberg, several key-brains at once in fact, that was setting back Steinberg also for a considerable time and degree

The very same management that now kicks people out, was the ones that did hire, untill recently

Does not leave any good impression, neither ethically, or about their competence running NI

Being foggy about things does not make this better

My planned komplete upgrades ,.. and anything Kontakt-related are canceled

[HM]

Guess its all for the better ,.. in the long run

Kontakt was never that much of a real sampler or instrument anyway

More like a "instrument" to monopolize their own format all over

Best wishes

[DrGonzo]

The more I read the official statements from NI the more it looks like they will be shifting focus to content rather than development. While that saddens me, it's more of a nostalgic issue. There are many other developers that will gladly push the envelope with new synths and effects. The old NI is gone and have been replaced with something I don't care that much about. I am sure lots of people will appreciate this new development and that's a good thing.

If EvilDragon is right about them offering both subscription and options to buy, then I have no objections. The more options the better. But if they go all in on subscription I'll upgrade my Komplete one last time and then I'll part ways with NI.

/C

[fgimian]

Guess its all for the better ,.. in the long run

Kontakt was never that much of a real sampler or instrument anyway

More like a "instrument" to monopolize their own format all over

Best wishes

The problem is that the entire sampling ecosystem now heavily relies on Kontakt. If you're a film composer or do any sort of orchestral or cinematic production, Kontakt is at the heart of your music production setup.

I won't lie, I think I could live without pretty much every other piece of software that NI produces (would replace Massive with Serum, I would live without Battery which I only use a little here and there ... but Kontakt? I have 2 TB of sample libraries that depend on it).

Their MIDI controllers stand alone too, there are no other Fatar-based controllers with the KK build quality at that price point (and that's not even talking about the insanely good integration with various DAWs). Even though their software is quite buggy and there's zero support to help with that.

What can I say, much like Avid, poor management are screwing over a company with amazing products and some of the most talented engineers in the industry.

[chk071]

I don't understand this. Management decides if a company grows to 500 employees, or if they stay at 5 employees. Of course employees don't like being sacked. The management doesn't like to sack people either. But, sometimes it's necessary, to keep the company alive, and to be able to still employ hundreds of employees. This is, once again, only viewed from one side. The worse side, in the long run, because, the way a company is run decides whether or not they stay big, or end up small, or dead.

[Elektronisch]

Its alright. That wount impact me not making music.

[DJ Warmonger]

Its alright. That wount impact me not making music.

[chk071]

Its alright. That wount impact me not making music.

That's the wrong attitude. You need to uninstall all your NI plugins, and look for alternatives online. And post on KVR about it, of course.