Komplete 13, ladies and gents

[fese]

I'm not fond of the fact that NI choose to upgrade their software with whole new versions to avoid issues etc. but they aren't alone in this, roughly half of my plug ins operate like that. I wish they wouldn't do it with Kontakt though, I never manage to keep v2 through 6 on my machines, and this coupled with Apples switches in CPU means a lot of work assuring older songs open.

This! Especially with Kontakt it is a pita, but has been with guitar rig too.
When I bought a new computer two years ago, I had to go through all my old projects to replace any old Kontakt 2 or GR 3 plugin with the current versions in case I won’t be able to install (or authorize, haha) the old versions on the new system. Had happened to me before with NI products.
It would be really really useful if NI provided “compatibility” versions with each new Kontakt/GR/whatever release. I mean, Kontakt 5 loads K2 preset files perfectly, so why not make a Kontakt2 stub dll that loads the K5/6 engine but has the old plugin id?

Compare that to Zebra2 where I can reliably load pretty much any project from since whenever that was released and it loads fine.

[vurt]

I'm not fond of the fact that NI choose to upgrade their software with whole new versions to avoid issues etc. but they aren't alone in this, roughly half of my plug ins operate like that. I wish they wouldn't do it with Kontakt though, I never manage to keep v2 through 6 on my machines, and this coupled with Apples switches in CPU means a lot of work assuring older songs open.

This! Especially with Kontakt it is a pita, but has been with guitar rig too.
When I bought a new computer two years ago, I had to go through all my old projects to replace any old Kontakt 2 or GR 3 plugin with the current versions in case I won’t be able to install (or authorize, haha) the old versions on the new system. Had happened to me before with NI products.
It would be really really useful if NI provided “compatibility” versions with each new Kontakt/GR/whatever release. I mean, Kontakt 5 loads K2 preset files perfectly, so why not make a Kontakt2 stub dll that loads the K5/6 engine but has the old plugin id?

Compare that to Zebra2 where I can reliably load pretty much any project from since whenever that was released and it loads fine.

stop loading old projects.
celebrate entropy and the ephemeral nature of all things.

[EvilDragon]

That special thanks is due to Stratocaster appearing in marketing materials, I'd reckon.

[felis]

I'm in.
I usually skip a few, but being on K11, there's enough there to make the jump to K13 pretty much a no-brainer for me.

[EvilDragon]

so why not make a Kontakt2 stub dll that loads the K5/6 engine but has the old plugin id?

Because:

- Kontakt 2 codebase requires older versions of certain NI internal libraries that are not available anymore, or are changed beyond recognition
- Kontakt 2 codebase requires older dev tools that don't really work on newer hardware anymore (Mac is heavily used for development at NI, sure there are Windows machines there too, but Mac has better debug tools)
- It is not financially feasible to do so
- There are more important things to do

[Calenberger]

When looking at the Sell and Buy thread (selling of NI products suddenly multipled)
we notice a lot of guys are upgrading as well.
Seems that NI is doing something right.

[ATS]

I won't be upgrading this time around even at half price when it comes. Just not enough new stuff in Collectors from the old one.

[zerocrossing]

Funny how KVR is. This is a great thing, I'm on Komplete Ultimate 10, and my upgrade price is $399, with all of 11, 12, and 13's improvements included. If I can hold out until next year or so, I get it for $199. NI Have a fantastic upgrade policy, if you're capable of holding out.

I'm not happy that NI chose to ignore or not fix their GUI issues, and it will take them longer than the rest to update them, but it's happening, and I get the mess they made for themselves sticking to their older code base for as long as they did.

I'm not fond of the fact that NI choose to upgrade their software with whole new versions to avoid issues etc. but they aren't alone in this, roughly half of my plug ins operate like that. I wish they wouldn't do it with Kontakt though, I never manage to keep v2 through 6 on my machines, and this coupled with Apples switches in CPU means a lot of work assuring older songs open.

All told if you can't avoid shiny new objects, 4k monitors or getting every update then you could be upset at NI, I'm not. If the cash pops up, I might just purchase before their sales, KU10 to KU13 is a massive amount of great new things!

I just paid $99 USD to go from 8 to 12. Great deal, no doubt. Now they want $199, but don’t take into account that I own Super 8, Crush Pack and Raum. With deals like that, I’m waiting until 17 to update. They really should figure out contextual updates depending on what you own that’s part of the new version. Or they can wait for my money.

[epiphaneia]

When looking at the Sell and Buy thread (selling of NI products suddenly multipled)
we notice a lot of guys are upgrading as well.
Seems that NI is doing something right.

In my case, Noire, Arkhis and Mysteria motivate me to upgrade to KU13CE. Even $499 is a good deal for these, and if I can recoup some of that by selling my redundant individual licenses, all the better.

However, I´m also more and more annoyed by the fact that NI can´t just calculate an individual upgrade price for me based on my Komplete package /and my individual licenses/.

For them, it´s obviously more convenient to just tell users like me: "Well, sell your old licenses second hand" (that way, they avoid the inevitable "your calculation method is unfair"-heat they would surely get in any case for personal pricing)... but good service, this isn´t.

[chk071]

I just paid $99 USD to go from 8 to 12. Great deal, no doubt. Now they want $199, but don’t take into account that I own Super 8, Crush Pack and Raum.

Your 8 to 12 update was $199 regularly as well.

And why would they have to take into account that you bought single plugins without any relevance to the Komplete bundle? Do you really expect them to make single prices, if someone owns 1, 2, 3, or 43 of the included plugins?

[AcrossTheSky]

To upgrade collectors edition ...best option may be is.. to sell the 12 before sale appears.. /hmm..Feb.mar.21?/
And then get the 13Col.Upg from Ultimate.
Even selling it for about 200pounds
It's well worth it../ /having an Ultimate ed.// and upgrading from it all over.

[epiphaneia]

If I "pre-order" the K13 upgrade I have to wait a month even though Super 8/Straylight/etc. are already released?

That´s what I´d like to know too: Does the 1st October only matter for GR6 and other yet new/unreleased items or will NI only then put licenses in my account for stuff that´s already available today?

[pixel85]

Wow, even Ultimate doesn't have anything special to offer and for me to update to K13 (standard) is unreasonable (only GR6 is real addition). Lesson learned: never buy any single product from NI even during the strongest GAS because later the next K update is not attractive at all
Meh, I had hope that K13 will bring something really really great this time (or MX 1.5 ) like NI was able to provide in the past. Unfortunately, NI slowed down a lot in recent years. Even sample/preset libraries/expansions are good but not great.

[machinesworking]

I just paid $99 USD to go from 8 to 12. Great deal, no doubt. Now they want $199, but don’t take into account that I own Super 8, Crush Pack and Raum. With deals like that, I’m waiting until 17 to update. They really should figure out contextual updates depending on what you own that’s part of the new version. Or they can wait for my money.

I think the thing to do with big packages like NI etc. where it’s generally pricy to update is to treat it like a subscription service you can jump in and out of, like you did. You bought the upgrade late and got it for half off, that’s generally what I do with NI, but you have to realize it’s going to be at least 6-9 months before it’s $99 again. That’s been the routine with Arturia and NI forever. You got 4 upgrades for $99, any way you slice that, it’s a fantastic deal. I’m on Ultimate, so it’s a $200 charge to upgrade right when it comes out, my goal usually is to hold out and do it on sale.
Sometimes if it’s within 30 days companies will give you a grace period and the newer version. I’m running into this with Tech Tool Pro, less than 30 days ago I upgraded. I sent them an email, you might think about doing the same with NI. Rejection won’t kill you and the could honor your recent purchase.

[noiseboyuk]

I'm not sure I get the pricing.

I have K12 Ultimate, and my upgrade price to K13 Ultimate is £499.

Sure, right.

Not here it isn't. Same upgrade, £339. You sure you''re looking at the right thing? Upgrade to CE from 12U is £499.

So that would be £170 or £250 next June, which is quite tempting. The new quartet and Arkhis are both more interesting to me than the entire mildly disappointing Symphonic series, and at £80 for the pair that'll be pretty good.

Always the same discussions and complaints on NI pricing. What with their change of personnel and touted change of direction I thought we might see changes in the whole strategy this time, but everything is exactly as expected. Same price and update structure, even the most likely release date. And no subs! All quite comforting actually.