NI Komplete 14

[SLiC]

I love that I can audition patches in KK without loading the plugin, that alone is worth the entrance fee...then there is the 'automapping' to the Keyboard with the display telling you what is mapped, also great.

Those 2 large colour displays are very underused for displaying things after that however, PUSH 2 is far superior with Lives built in instruments, I don't know why NI never added graphics for there software, they didn't even bother in machine+!

[Echoes in the Attic]

I love that I can audition patches in KK without loading the plugin, that alone is worth the entrance fee...then there is the 'automapping' to the Keyboard with the display telling you what is mapped, also great.

Those 2 large colour displays are very underused for displaying things after that however, PUSH 2 is far superior with Lives built in instruments, I don't know why NI never added graphics for there software, they didn't even bother in machine+!

Komplete also doesn't have the concept of buttons for control of the presets and instruments. Buttons. So it has to use frickin' knobs to change a button. They had this figured out with Kore, not a difficult concept, and extremally useful, as then your knobs can all be used for actual parameters with ranges. At least live's instruments can use it's buttons in Push (although VSTS can't so also a problem there).

[Trensharo]

I love that I can audition patches in KK without loading the plugin, that alone is worth the entrance fee...then there is the 'automapping' to the Keyboard with the display telling you what is mapped, also great.

Those 2 large colour displays are very underused for displaying things after that however, PUSH 2 is far superior with Lives built in instruments, I don't know why NI never added graphics for there software, they didn't even bother in machine+!

Comparing that to Push 2 is not right. Push 2 is designed for Ableton specifically. If you use Maschine MK3 with Maschine 2, or an MPC One with MPC 2, then you see something more comparable to an Ableton Push.

These devices were all designed to be used predominantly with specific first party software applications. Once you go beyond that, they become increasingly limited - assuming they can be used at all (Akai MPCs)

[Trensharo]

I love that I can audition patches in KK without loading the plugin, that alone is worth the entrance fee...then there is the 'automapping' to the Keyboard with the display telling you what is mapped, also great.

Those 2 large colour displays are very underused for displaying things after that however, PUSH 2 is far superior with Lives built in instruments, I don't know why NI never added graphics for there software, they didn't even bother in machine+!

Komplete also doesn't have the concept of buttons for control of the presets and instruments. Buttons. So it has to use frickin' knobs to change a button. They had this figured out with Kore, not a difficult concept, and extremally useful, as then your knobs can all be used for actual parameters with ranges. At least live's instruments can use it's buttons in Push (although VSTS can't so also a problem there).

Komplete Kontrol, Kore and Push are all different products with their own workflows. People who prefer something should get the product that delivers that something to them.

Given how the device is laid out, I don't have an issue with the use of knobs for parameter adjustment with buttons for page navigation.

Komplete Kontrol's layout is designed around the maschibe workflow. Its that way because that is the way the Maschine software is designed and laid out. It makes total sense. The Komplete Kontrol software is basically the Maschine browser and instrument/plugin editors ripped out and offered as its own plugin.

If that workdflow isn't for you, then neither are their hardware controllers.

I think consistency is why NI went that way, due to the issue you point out with Ableton's solution. In order to offer something consistent across all plugins, they had to make that concession. A consistent UX actually decreases learning curve and accelerates muscle memory acquisition with hardware controllers.

[matthewisgrand]

13 is unlucky for some
14 is 2 7’s
Sorry I am superstitious

[loachm]

The thing about Maschine and KK in comparison to Kore is very funny. NI were quite ahead of the game with Kore, it was a tremendously powerful tool. Even so powerful maybe, that back then I had to explain to the person on their phone support, how certain things work - it happened twice (but to be fair to their phone support, I was called back and my issues then were solved). So I think, it was too complex to be a mass success back then and the success of Maschine and the issues with the sustainability/maintainability of its code base sealed its fate (Kore 1 was a bug fest and for Kore 2 they hired the developer of Sonicbytes Phrazor).

However, in the years after up until now, it's quite funny to see, how many small and bigger developers came up with their own rack software concepts, and not a small portion of these are in fact more powerful than KK in terms of routing, splitting and layering (putting hardware integration aside for a moment for most developers).

Even NI's own alternative Maschine as an instrument rack is way more powerfull than KK, but with its audio routing capabilities of only two aux busses it's still inferior to other solutions. However, in terms of hardware integration, especially in a DAW, KK is more powerful than Maschine, as it offers 512 automation IDs to the host, compared to the 128 of Maschine. So the thing is, for power-user applications like building big custom production racks, that you could learn to use in your sleep with your hardware, it's always the other software/device, that can do, what the first one should (forgot to mention - the navigation of a huge amout of page banks is way more comfortable in Maschine). So long story short, it's amazing to see how far ahead they were and how much they fell behind, as well as seeing how much of a clusterf*ck their own eco-systems are today (and I'm pretty sure, not their industrial and UX-designers are to blame!).

And then the disappointment of how poorly they designed and handled the usability of Reaktor Blocks/Blocks Racks and Massive X as synths on their own, as well as with hardware integration has finally led me to jump on the V collection train this summer (that MS-20 emu sold it) - even the poor old midi cc implementation of the Arturia synths is way more powerful than what NI offers. Unless NI isn't spitting out a Midi 2.0 device soon (which probably isn't going to happen anytime soon, if I got the NAMM news from the Midi Association correctly), I'm quite sceptical that any NI synth development will excite me in the mean-time (but I would love to be wrong).

If any developer should be able to pull it off offering the benefits of a software synth and the hands-on accessablity of a hardware device, it should have been NI, but I'm quite tired of waiting. Razor, Kontour, Skanner, Spark, Rounds, Prism and Polyplex are very amazing instruments, but then again either too specialised or they had an inferior hardware integration to make it to work-horse status over here. The only interesting and usuable synths for a daily use of the recent years were Monark, Super 8 and Form for me (the latter still with some usability issues, but that's most likely due to the limitations of Reaktor). Apart from them it's still Massive, FM8 and Absynth and it seems, I'm not alone with that, so that should be some food for thought for the people at NI.

The only interesting prospect I see, is integrating Massive and FM8 into Maschine+ the way they ported the Pro-53 to that environment. Looking at what Akai does with the old Air instruments in their system makes me fairly certain, that this will happen (but for this a Maschine 3 software with an updated modulation/automation system must happen first). And I'm not sure. if Absynth could be implemented in the same manner. However, rehashing old tech is a tricky thing - will the majority welcome or reject it?

The Komplete Now thing is probably good for the development of Battery, so it would be cool to see a Battery 5 in K14, along with a Kontakt 7 - that would be interesting and most likely do it for me, if the other gimmicks thrown in would be interesting enough, but I'm not holding my breath. Quite sad, how a decades long relationship can cool off so quickly. once you start to use alternatives, that seem sustainable enough.

(...or integrate Neutron/Ozone and Iris/Rx into Maschine and were cool again. They'll surely get me somehow... )

[chk071]

However, in the years after up until now, it's quite funny to see, how many small and bigger developers came up with their own rack software concepts, and not a small portion of these are in fact more powerful than KK in terms of routing, splitting and layering (putting hardware integration aside for a moment for most developers).

Can you elaborate? Who are those "many small and bigger developers", and which are those products? I find Komplete Kontrol quite unique, and I like it a lot for just jamming with an instrument. I often use the arpeggiator, because it's more powerful than the one included in Studio One, and more usable than the complex ones, and, I also like how easy it is to chain plugins, and the MIDI control via KK.

[noiseboyuk]

Typo above fixed - all good.

[chk071]

Whoops, corrected.

[andypryce]

I stopped at 12
Unless there are updates for Battery, FM8 (Vst3, apple silicon, GUI resize, and overall refinements) Not thinking to update. I just buy individual items that I like during the sales.

[pinki]

However, in the years after up until now, it's quite funny to see, how many small and bigger developers came up with their own rack software concepts, and not a small portion of these are in fact more powerful than KK in terms of routing, splitting and layering (putting hardware integration aside for a moment for most developers).

Can you elaborate? Who are those "many small and bigger developers", and which are those products? I find Komplete Kontrol quite unique, and I like it a lot for just jamming with an instrument. I often use the arpeggiator, because it's more powerful than the one included in Studio One, and more usable than the complex ones, and, I also like how easy it is to chain plugins, and the MIDI control via KK.

Not my post but New Sonic Arts 'Freestyle' immediately comes to mind but there are others.
BTW..how do you chain plugins in KK? Unless something has changed I thought all you can do is add an effect to an instrument. Things like Kore could do way more than that. (and Freestyle)

[HcDoom]

What we wont get, what we need:
1) Absynth 6
2) FM9
3) proper update of Kontakt (no legacy code from early 00s, many other friendly features)

What we will get:
1) subscription plan 1
2) subscription plan 2
3) subscription plan 3
4) another silly Kontakt/Maschine library

[Tj Shredder]

Isn't FM9 since some time called F'em?

[BezO]

Yup- Komplete Kontrol software V3 is the think I want the most....I have KK MK2 and all in all I think its pretty good, but the software feels like it could really use some love (its better as a Machine controller than a software instrument controller IMHO)

KK can't send MIDI out like Kontakt can. When I sent NI a ticket about this awhile back, I was told it was a bug. I submitted another ticket recently as KK had been updated a couple of times since. This time I was told it's (not) working as intended. And it's probably because it's a plugin inside a plugin.

All that to say, I need MIDI out and all other Kontakt features working in KK.

Komplete Kontrol has always been free, so doesn't really factor into Komplete as such.

But as a tangent, it is from my perspective quite unbelievably terrible.

I forgot KK was free. I don't expect much of an update until new controllers are released.

Komplete also doesn't have the concept of buttons for control of the presets and instruments. Buttons. So it has to use frickin' knobs to change a button. They had this figured out with Kore, not a difficult concept, and extremally useful, as then your knobs can all be used for actual parameters with ranges. At least live's instruments can use it's buttons in Push (although VSTS can't so also a problem there).

This! 2-3 full turns to turn something from off to on is a silly.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Komplete also doesn't have the concept of buttons for control of the presets and instruments. Buttons. So it has to use frickin' knobs to change a button. They had this figured out with Kore, not a difficult concept, and extremally useful, as then your knobs can all be used for actual parameters with ranges. At least live's instruments can use it's buttons in Push (although VSTS can't so also a problem there).

This! 2-3 full turns to turn something from off to on is a silly.

Yes exactly. Far from simply being a preference as a previous poster suggested, it is just a stupid design decision.