Sad state of Native Instruments

[DCrown]

VI Control is not the benchmark,
whereas KVR is widely considered the benchmark.

That's genuinely hilarious.

Was a joke or rather provocation btw.
To be provocative seems to be hip
in 2023 I have experienced at KVR recently.
Of course everything that's posted to VI control can be compared to the 10 commandments cut in stone, KVR is just
a gathering of fanboys

[vurt]

VI Control is not the benchmark,
whereas KVR is widely considered the benchmark.

That's genuinely hilarious.

we shape the future.

[mixyguy2]

No other company today comes close in terms of the impact Kore, Massive, FM8, Reaktor, Guitar Rig and Kontakt had.

Key word: "had."

Well fanboys are entitled to their opinions too. But I've tried NI controllers and they weren't anything great, certainly not the best. Overpriced of course, like most things NI does.

In fairness people rant about their tech support but my experiences have been mostly positive. Still, I agree they are spiralling downward and Kontakt still sucks. I still use it though, because so many good things have been built to use it, unfortunately. But that trend is shifting and if they think they can keep just leaning on that, IMO they are in for a rude awakening. For ex. most orchestral libraries now have their own players.

As for KVR vs VI Control, I don't think either is a "benchmark" for anything; it's simply some people on the internet tossing their opinions around. But here at least you can speak your mind. There are too many thin-skinned kiddies at VI for my taste (not that that's exactly unheard of in the music biz, unfortunately).

[noiseboyuk]

VI Control is not the benchmark,
whereas KVR is widely considered the benchmark.

That's genuinely hilarious.

Was a joke or rather provocation btw.
To be provocative seems to be hip
in 2023 I have experienced at KVR recently.

Well just as long as no-one takes is seriously....

It is interesting how little overlap there is between the two places actually. VI is definitely skewed more towards wannabe media work (film/tv/games/production music) while kvr is wannabe commercial work. Probably slightly different kinds of people, both significant markets but way less than DJs so I think NI will be fine for a while.

[vurt]

No other company today comes close in terms of the impact Kore, Massive, FM8, Reaktor, Guitar Rig and Kontakt had.

Key word: "had."

Well fanboys are entitled to their opinions too. But I've tried NI controllers and they weren't anything great, certainly not the best. Overpriced of course, like most things NI does.

In fairness people rant about their tech support but my experiences have been mostly positive. Still, I agree they are spiralling downward and Kontakt still sucks. I still use it though, because so many good things have been built to use it, unfortunately. But that trend is shifting and if they think they can keep just leaning on that, IMO they are in for a rude awakening. For ex. most orchestral libraries now have their own players.

As for KVR vs VI Control, I don't think either is a "benchmark" for anything; it's simply some people on the internet tossing their opinions around. But here at least you can speak your mind. There are too many thin-skinned kiddies at VI for my taste (not that that's exactly unheard of in the music biz, unfortunately).

i think the fact they (ni) haven't turned back and carried on pushing the sample side of things, suggests they're making money there.
if there was a problem getting money for them, they wouldn't do it. that's business.

never used the hardware so can't comment.

i doubt they will go out of business, even if (if reaktor goes) the future isnt for me with them.

[cantaloupe]

There are a lot of dinosaurs in this industry that should be dead already - the only thing to do is keep away, don't buy anything, avoid it, forget about it, let them die. NI was great, now it is gone. New times ahead, whatever!

There are good alternatives today, run by deserving developers doing ground breaking DSP while also updating their tools, with no iLok, and pleasant tech support, human interaction etc - and you'll miss nothing for it.

[Funkybot's Evil Twin]

OP hit the nail on the head. Nothing to add other than...

Arturia is the new Native Instruments.

[Danilo Villanova]

Their direction sucks but I just love their plugins. Kontakt, Reaktor, Massive X, and Battery are all essential here.

[dumbledog]

Playbox is pretty damn fun

[vurt]

careful now, all positivity is seen as fanboyism.

[mholloway]

Not sure if it's been mentioned elsewhere (probably has) but one thing to add to the list of the OP:

• Maschine

A product with so much potential, so much they got *absolutely* right about it, and yet somehow is still riddled with bugs, riddled with performance issues, lacking in features that have been asked for by hardcore users for years upon years, bloated with un-asked for tack-ons..... and with a future dev plan that is always being changed, delayed, scrapped, re-written, then repeat all those all over again. Just a sad story, altogether.

[El°HYM]

This thread has just officially turned fanboyism.

[cryophonik]

Not sure if it's been mentioned elsewhere (probably has) but one thing to add to the list of the OP:

• Maschine

A product with so much potential, so much they got *absolutely* right about it, and yet somehow is still riddled with bugs, riddled with performance issues, lacking in features that have been asked for by hardcore users for years upon years, bloated with un-asked for tack-ons..... and with a future dev plan that is always being changed, delayed, scrapped, re-written, then repeat all those all over again. Just a sad story, altogether.

Bingo. I've been heavily invested in Maschine since Day 1, and now it just sits there collecting dust, an unused, convoluted mess that's not worth selling, and not worth keeping.

[SeeingInMidi]

.. I just want wavetable import for massive x..

[aMUSEd]

It's very worrying when NI talk about Reaktor as being something they have to think about whether it will receive further updates. It was bad enough when they stopped developing Absynth (and let's not speak of Kore ) - tbh I think as a user base we were too accepting of that - Absynth was a seminal synth - some things should go beyond mere 'commerce' - that is not a sufficient excuse for such cultural vandalism. I do appreciate NI for updating to VST3 and Apple Silicon but if that is just a holding operation to keep their products uptodate to a minimum degree (and therefore still sellable) but they are not developing them further and not innovating then that is sad.