Sad state of Native Instruments

[osiris]

Well, I'm glad it's not just me. I re-downloaded and reinstalled it without uninstalling the other one and now I'm logged in okay.

[koalaboy]

I'm sad as I just fired up the latest Reaktor, that I haven't used in years... and remembered why - it still looks terrible on a 4K monitor. Back in the (virtual) box it goes...

[lolilol1975]

buy everything NI, do now

LOL no. Not gonna happen. f**k NI. They overplay their market dominance like Apple but they are even less innovative.

I wish Kontakt was $50, not some grossly overpriced shit even on sale. And I don't care about Kontakt Player as most libraries can't use it and require full Kontakt. Kontakt Player has always been a scam.

[kelvyn]

Yup! Things are seriously weird! Between NI, Apple and Logic Pro
it's all gone t*ts up.
Guitar Rig 5 doesn’t work anymore with the new updates… how hard can it be to maintain backwards compatibility.
Native Access has a mind of its own when it comes to installing library content.
As does NI Daemon.
Komplete Kontrol is a constant mind f*ck due to it losing the connection to plugins which then completely SNAFU’s everything.
There’s a problem with Logics new AU algo creating double midi notes.
And on and on and on…. jeez!!!

[jlgrimes11]

Yup! Things are seriously weird! Between NI, Apple and Logic Pro
it's all gone t*ts up.
Guitar Rig 5 doesn’t work anymore with the new updates… how hard can it be to maintain backwards compatibility.
Native Access has a mind of its own when it comes to installing library content.
As does NI Daemon.
Komplete Kontrol is a constant mind f*ck due to it losing the connection to plugins which then completely SNAFU’s everything.
There’s a problem with Logics new AU algo creating double midi notes.
And on and on and on…. jeez!!!

Im not sure anymore on how bad it is in Apple land but Im guessing it is nowhere near as bad as the state of NI.

On some aspects I can imagine it hard being NI having to keep a massive program like Reaktor up to date and modern and having your hands in so many baskets that it is probably hard to make sane decisions.

But Komplete Kontrol version 3 has been a pretty bad transition (about the worse from NI as I have ever experienced) as they decided to drop MkI compatibility with Version 3.

Now I understand needing to phase out old hardware but in the process of doing so, they made the transition difficult also for MK2 users (and probably even MK3 users who are upgrading from MK2) as they broke compatibility with older Komplete Kontrol software 2 instances.

This means that any old projects where you use Komplete Kontrol software (could be hundreds of projects for many users) will no longer load in your DAWs which makes a very messy transition. Who would have thought that users do want to load up their old projects some of which might be as old as Summer 2023. I'm not sure who thought that decision through at NI.

[martinjuenke]

Last week I retired my Komplete Kontrol S49 MK1 keyboard, deleted all the intrusive software and replaced it with this nice item:

IMG_7881.jpeg

[chk071]

"Intrusive" is relative and subjective, but, nonetheless, enjoy your new controller, of course.

To be totally honest, I use the mouse to control my soft synths and effects 99% of the time, so, I would do with a controller without the controls too. I was unsatisfied with most of the manufacturers solutions anyway. Automap -> sucks, M-Audio DirectControl or however they called it -> sucks, and, Komplete Kontrol has its issues as well IMO.

I'm curious what the controller manufacturers do with MIDI 2.0, and the ability to exchange parameter names with the controller, and all that.

[jancivil]

I never bought into the hardware, I never perceived the lights and the super convenient aspect as a necessity. I don't browse when I begin a project, I know what things are and exactly where they are. The ones they make that would particularly advance my workflow because they make specific control immediately available tactilely are pretty expensive. but I still have my old-school MO, it's data in the controller lanes same as it ever was.

As to 'can't load old projects': Keep and use the older version of the plugin for old projects, be conscious of your moves. The one constant in the universe is change. Eat your cake and still have it may not be possible.
I'm on an Apple M1 MB, I don't have problems like all this. It looks a little bit self-sabotage if there's problems at every juncture, frankly.

[elassi]

Well, related to customer service, I can only tell about a good experience.

Asked for a merge of two accounts yesterday night and it's already done (two NI-people were engaged according to the emails I got in the meantime). That's pretty fast for the BF-circus actually happening these days. Didn't expect that.

[chk071]

Well, related to customer service, I can only tell about a good experience.

Asked for a merge of two accounts yesterday night and it's already done (two NI-people were engaged according to the emails I got in the meantime). That's pretty fast for the BF-circus actually happening these days. Didn't expect that.

I always got good support from them as well.

[mxbf]

I feel like I'm the only person that likes NI! I bought the upgrade to Komplete Ultimate for mine and I am VERY happy with it.

I love the session guitars they offer and wish there were more instruments like that. We need another Session Bassist with less funk and more useful baselines for other kinds of music. Playbox is excellent and I didn't at all expect that, that may be the biggest surprise to me.

That said, I do have to say that Kontakt 7 is terrible. I don't know if it's just me, but it seems to perform very badly. I don't think I'll be using it anymore.

[SLiC]

I feel like I'm the only person that likes NI! I bought the upgrade to Komplete Ultimate for mine and I am VERY happy with it.

I love the session guitars they offer and wish there were more instruments like that. We need another Session Bassist with less funk and more useful baselines for other kinds of music. Playbox is excellent and I didn't at all expect that, that may be the biggest surprise to me.

That said, I do have to say that Kontakt 7 is terrible. I don't know if it's just me, but it seems to perform very badly. I don't think I'll be using it anymore.

Unfortunately most of their instruments run in Kontakt 7 so if you don't use that you cant use most of their software.

[mxbf]

Unfortunately most of their instruments run in Kontakt 7 so if you don't use that you cant use most of their software.

oh. i thought i would be able to just use Kontakt 6 but it looks like if i updated my collections I won't be able to, or something. whatever.

it's not that bad, per se. the GUI looks better to me, but Kontakt has always looked like crap. and Kontakt has always run like trash on any computer I use it, but I've made tons of music with it so it's still the best for what it offers in terms of letting you use tons of great libraries.

the main issue I have is the performance. it just seems buggy to me. I tried using Slate and Ash Cycles in it last night and was having issues with the GUI freezing. I am not sure what extent it's my computer or the new Bitwig but it does seem like Kontakt 7 is running even worse than the older Kontakt. We'll see. Hopefully they improve it.

[Choikdoi]

Anyone know why NI doesn't allow gift cards for UK customers?

Seems strange, considering all the other countries that are listed as 'participating' in the drop-down menu here:

https://support.native-instruments.com/ ... Gift-Cards

[Teksonik]

"Intrusive" is relative and subjective,

I define intrusive as installing running processes or items that want to run at startup:

NI 121223-1.png

NI 121223-2.png

I don't and won't own any N.I. hardware so most of that stuff is just useless bloat to me.

Yes there are developers who are far more guilty of installing bloat.

I'm not an N.I. hater but I do wish they would not feel the right to install anything they wish on our systems and again yes, there are far worse developers in this regard (looking at you Waves, UAD, etc).