Sad state of Native Instruments

[zerocrossing]

I doubt the majority of musicians will ever have a song on or near "the charts.”

Fixed that for ya.

I don't personally know anyone that makes music with a computer for a living that doesn't have kontakt. And then most of them have Komplete.

I’m one of those people, and it is true that I have Komplete, but I’m not very excited about updating it, like I used to be. Much of what I now do involves MPE, and they seem clear that they’ve got no interest in supporting it… or even supporting polyphonic aftertouch.

[Ah_Dziz]

I'm almost completely uninterested in keeping my Komplete up to date. I still use the NI stuff I have all the time though. Well about 1/4 of it.

[aMUSEd]

I doubt the majority of musicians will ever have a song on or near "the charts.”

Fixed that for ya.

I don't personally know anyone that makes music with a computer for a living that doesn't have kontakt. And then most of them have Komplete.

I’m one of those people, and it is true that I have Komplete, but I’m not very excited about updating it, like I used to be. Much of what I now do involves MPE, and they seem clear that they’ve got no interest in supporting it… or even supporting polyphonic aftertouch.

Or even channel aftertouch - I think the culprit here is how they have boxed themselves into a corner with Maschine being so useless for anyone who wants to use the full range of midi expression with software instruments and NI continuing to have a blind spot when this gets pointed out.

[bosone]

I updated my komplete to 13CE and I am extremely disappointed from the orchestral library
It's almost unusable and I wonder if anyone in NI ever tested it.

Moreover, there are countless of maschine expansion definitely useless without maschine software. Why a standalone maschine software is not available
I have also plenty of ok multimedia stuff, but I must say that sampletank is far behind kontakt capabilities... But Guitar rig is much inferior to amplitube and tonex.

[Hammy Havoc]

As long as they keep these two things going they will remain a major player in electronic music regardless of whatever dumb content they try to sell on top of that.

Really? You don't think that most of the electronic music that has been in the charts since 2017 or so were mostly made with either a combo of Sylenth & Splice samples/loops or Serum & Splice samples/loops?

For a lot of folks, the charts are irrelevant. NI used to strongly cater for composers for media and games. Now it's mostly low-hanging fruit aimed at newbs and hobbyists making 6 minute loop-based music. You only have to look at the articles in their email newsletter to realize that their target demographic has shifted from a severe niche.

In terms of further irrelevance, most of the innovation in electronic music certainly isn't reflected by the charts.

[Ah_Dziz]

I updated my komplete to 13CE and I am extremely disappointed from the orchestral library
It's almost unusable and I wonder if anyone in NI ever tested it.

Moreover, there are countless of maschine expansion definitely useless without maschine software. Why a standalone maschine software is not available
I have also plenty of ok multimedia stuff, but I must say that sampletank is far beyond kontakt capabilities... But Guitar rig is much inferior to amplitube and tonex.

What's happening with sample tank? I haven't even tried anything related to sample tank in years. Kontakt can playback many many hundreds of voices with extreme scripting and while remaining very stable. I haven't seen anything that can compare for stability except for maybe the Vienna player software, but it only plays Vienna Libraries so I can't sub it out.

[zerocrossing]

I doubt the majority of musicians will ever have a song on or near "the charts.”

Fixed that for ya.

I don't personally know anyone that makes music with a computer for a living that doesn't have kontakt. And then most of them have Komplete.

I’m one of those people, and it is true that I have Komplete, but I’m not very excited about updating it, like I used to be. Much of what I now do involves MPE, and they seem clear that they’ve got no interest in supporting it… or even supporting polyphonic aftertouch.

Or even channel aftertouch - I think the culprit here is how they have boxed themselves into a corner with Maschine being so useless for anyone who wants to use the full range of midi expression with software instruments and NI continuing to have a blind spot when this gets pointed out.

Maschine actually puts out polyphonic aftertouch. That’s how sad this is.

[noiseboyuk]

I updated my komplete to 13CE and I am extremely disappointed from the orchestral library
It's almost unusable and I wonder if anyone in NI ever tested it.

Moreover, there are countless of maschine expansion definitely useless without maschine software. Why a standalone maschine software is not available
I have also plenty of ok multimedia stuff, but I must say that sampletank is far beyond kontakt capabilities... But Guitar rig is much inferior to amplitube and tonex.

FWIW...

I agree the orchestral libraries are very disappointing.

The expansions are odd. You don't need Maschine to get value out of them - there's often synth presets and one shot drums for use in Battery etc, but there's no simple way to just install what you need and you end up with a lot of clutter to clean up. I wish they'd issue a new installer for the entire range, you pick the elements you want - synth presets, one shot drums, loops etc.

Kontakt is still the one to beat for streaming and scripting. No contest with SampleTank, which is vanilla and only for IK libraries. Kontakt gives you access to real excellence, SampleTank is mired in mediocrity.

Guitar Rig I nearly always choose over Amplitube and Tonex. While the amp modelling may be spot-on for Tonex, the combination of relatively static profiles and a dearth of effects make its use limited. Guitar Rig's effects are second to none, and the most recent amp profiles are very good. For clean / ambient stuff it's sensational.

Komplete is easily dismissed, and there are plenty of flaws for sure, but in some areas its still strong. The cinematic sound design stuff is excellent, has some great effects, the world series is very good and if you have to use virtual guitars it has a very good selection. It's not the essential bargain it once was and the version updates are getting easier to skip, but rumours of its death have been exaggerated imo.

[YnJ]

Guitar Rig I nearly always choose over Amplitube and Tonex. While the amp modelling may be spot-on for Tonex, the combination of relatively static profiles and a dearth of effects make its use limited. Guitar Rig's effects are second to none, and the most recent amp profiles are very good. For clean / ambient stuff it's sensational.

Trust me, they're not. While some of the effects are good, the amp profiles are not. Guitar Rig is trash. I still use some of the NI effects, such as Replica XT which was one of my favourite plug-ins for years, even those start to sound less impressive compared to many of the newer effects you can get now though

Try ML-Sound Lab, Nembrini, STL Tones, Neural DSP or even the aging Plugin Alliance amp models if you want proper amp profiles, even the budget brand Audio Assault is much better, you can even get better amp profiles for free than Guitar Rig, and better options for free to many of the effects as well

[noiseboyuk]

Trust me, they're not.

I'll trust my ears thanks - they work absolutely fine for me.

The appeal of Guitar Rig is a complete chain of amp and effects. I have Amplitube Max and Tonex, and there's nothing that comes close for ambient shimmery stuff. If I want other types of sounds, sure then the others have the edge.

It's very KVR to say "yes if you chain together these 10 other things you'll get it as good". Or I could just use Guitar Rig.

[YnJ]

I'll trust my ears thanks - they work absolutely fine for me.

The appeal of Guitar Rig is a complete chain of amp and effects. I have Amplitube Max and Tonex, and there's nothing that comes close for ambient shimmery stuff. If I want other types of sounds, sure then the others have the edge.

It's very KVR to say "yes if you chain together these 10 other things you'll get it as good". Or I could just use Guitar Rig.

I never said "as good", I said it would sound much better. Anyway, if you want a complete ecosystem with amps and effects, try TH-U Overloud or STL Amphub instead, or stay stubborn if that's what you want, I'm not forcing you to do anything

[noiseboyuk]

or stay stubborn if that's what you want, I'm not forcing you to do anything

Thanks. I'll stubbornly continue to use what works brilliantly.

[LFO8]

Guitar Rig I nearly always choose over Amplitube and Tonex. While the amp modelling may be spot-on for Tonex, the combination of relatively static profiles and a dearth of effects make its use limited. Guitar Rig's effects are second to none, and the most recent amp profiles are very good. For clean / ambient stuff it's sensational.

Trust me, they're not. While some of the effects are good, the amp profiles are not. Guitar Rig is trash. I still use some of the NI effects, such as Replica XT which was one of my favourite plug-ins for years, even those start to sound less impressive compared to many of the newer effects you can get now though

Try ML-Sound Lab, Nembrini, STL Tones, Neural DSP or even the aging Plugin Alliance amp models if you want proper amp profiles, even the budget brand Audio Assault is much better, you can even get better amp profiles for free than Guitar Rig, and better options for free to many of the effects as well

The problem with Guitar Rig is in the name. If they would just call it "Native Effect Rack" then people would perhaps be quicker to look beyond the guitar use case.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Guitar Rig I nearly always choose over Amplitube and Tonex. While the amp modelling may be spot-on for Tonex, the combination of relatively static profiles and a dearth of effects make its use limited. Guitar Rig's effects are second to none, and the most recent amp profiles are very good. For clean / ambient stuff it's sensational.

Trust me, they're not. While some of the effects are good, the amp profiles are not. Guitar Rig is trash. I still use some of the NI effects, such as Replica XT which was one of my favourite plug-ins for years, even those start to sound less impressive compared to many of the newer effects you can get now though

Try ML-Sound Lab, Nembrini, STL Tones, Neural DSP or even the aging Plugin Alliance amp models if you want proper amp profiles, even the budget brand Audio Assault is much better, you can even get better amp profiles for free than Guitar Rig, and better options for free to many of the effects as well

The problem with Guitar Rig is in the name. If they would just call it "Native Effect Rack" then people would perhaps be quicker to look beyond the guitar use case.

I thought they would have done this ages ago. It's a great fx unit, but anything guitar oriented is its weakest part I think. Much prefer amplitube.

[FakeNatty]

i once had a fan of Native Instruments on Reddit tell me to "reconsider your life choices" after I said that the orchestral library isn't good.