Native Instruments file for insolvency...

[Sascha Franck]

But maybe someone wants just Kontakt?

Still, who would do so? Apparently it hasn't been very profitable. And you'd likely still had to hire the programmers as well.

[Vocalpoint Studios]

Still, who would do so? Apparently it hasn't been very profitable. And you'd likely still had to hire the programmers as well.

The Kontakt IP alone IS very valuable. With a built in guaranteed worldwide market for libraries etc.

Not to mention - if some enterprising programmers actually had free reign to whip this thing into shape (and dump 20 years of bad code) - it could be an even bigger household name than it already is.

Gotta say - if I was in the game at this level - I would be kicking a few tires.

VP

[epiphaneia]

But maybe someone wants just Kontakt?

Still, who would do so? Apparently it hasn't been very profitable. And you'd likely still had to hire the programmers as well.

I´d think that their Kontakt licensing business is one of their most profitable segments, but obviously doesn´t make enough money to feed 500 employees and investments in hardware that, quite possibly, hasn´t sold all well.

Now if someone bought the Kontakt licensing business, employed the lead Kontakt developers and operated the license server, that would probably be a 15-20 man operation at best. Easy to make that profitable.

As a last resort, there must be hundreds of sample developers and hundreds (rather more) of composers depending on Kontakt libraries for their daily work. It´s likely that a few big names among them would rather pool money instead of seeing an irreplaceable tool go under.

(by the way, NI has 500 employees, wtf? And to imagine there were statements that "investing 2-3 more developer years into Reaktor would be economically unfeasible"... they´d be in another position if they had fired their 200 product and project managers instead of cutting developer time on beloved products, but I digress)

[Sascha Franck]

The Kontakt IP alone IS very valuable. With a built in guaranteed worldwide market for libraries etc.

Not to mention - if some enterprising programmers actually had free reign to whip this thing into shape (and dump 20 years of bad code) - it could be an even bigger household name than it already is.

Gotta say - if I was in the game at this level - I would be kicking a few tires.

I don't think dumping 20 years of bad code and keeping things compatible (because that'd be a must, so you could continue using existing libraries) is exactly attractive to whomever.
I'd happily be proven wrong - but for me, the only viable solution would possibly be that some smaller subdivisions continue to exist, hiring folks from the current programming team.

[Vocalpoint Studios]

I don't think dumping 20 years of bad code and keeping things compatible (because that'd be a must, so you could continue using existing libraries) is exactly attractive to whomever.

Stranger things have happened.

In other news - check this link:

https://www.futuremusic-es.com/native-i ... ania-2026/

Translate to English and then have a good read about how this process all works - from a German perspective. Some interesting angles in here

VP

[Sascha Franck]

Now if someone bought the Kontakt licensing business, employed the lead Kontakt developers and operated the license server, that would probably be a 15-20 man operation at best. Easy to make that profitable.

Seriously, I don't think it's that easy to make it profitable. The market is super saturated and many library vendors are already trying to move away from Kontakt as it's been such a miserable affair.
And after this very event, you can bet that there's not much trust left, so that'd be the first thing whatever new teams would have to re-establish.

[SLiC]

As an 88 Mk3 owner, I’m pretty concerned, it’s a great board and still has a lot of potential for development, I really hope the hardware side keeps going…

[apoclypse]

Still, who would do so? Apparently it hasn't been very profitable. And you'd likely still had to hire the programmers as well.

The Kontakt IP alone IS very valuable. With a built in guaranteed worldwide market for libraries etc.

If I was in the game at this level - I would be kicking a few tires.

VP

I'm just wondering what kind of technical debt the purchaser would inherit. If NI is having trouble updating their software (and that's always been an issue for them, even before the whole VC thing). I can just imagine what someone who has never touched the code would run into. I wonder if its worth the hassle

[epiphaneia]

Now if someone bought the Kontakt licensing business, employed the lead Kontakt developers and operated the license server, that would probably be a 15-20 man operation at best. Easy to make that profitable.

Seriously, I don't think it's that easy to make it profitable. The market is super saturated and many library vendors are already trying to move away from Kontakt as it's been such a miserable affair.
And after this very event, you can bet that there's not much trust left, so that'd be the first thing whatever new teams would have to re-establish.

The latter point is key, I agree. In such a case, good headstart would be to keep the original/current team on board and publish a "This is what the developers always wanted to improve, but weren´t allowed to" timeline to be measured by.

Example 1 on how to sink a rocking boat: BFD. Killer plugin. Big promises. Now more or less unmaintained dollar store abandonware. Nolens volens wiped it from my studio Mac, I rather sink the spent money than my sanity.

Alternatives, though...
- mostly feasible for new libraries, as expensive refactoring wouldn´t sell any extra licenses of, say, Symphobia.
- a proper platform port can (though this is just guesswork on my end) take months including QC and all. Per library. Even bigsters like Spitfire who DO have their own player haven´t ported all their libraries...
- ... and honestly, as much as Kontakt annoys me, the Spitfire player is the Windows Millenium of Sample players.
- UVI? Not a lot of third party support (insufficient scripting abilities?),... so I don´t see the alternative platform that could take over the world.

[Tubeman]

VC is the kiss of death. If your company ever gets acquired by VC, plot your personal exit asap before its plotted for you.

"VC" as Vito Corleone?

[Vocalpoint Studios]

Here is a translated graphic of what could shake down in the next 90 days…

2026-01-27_15-53-52.png

Until there is an official statement - this is a decent roadmap.

Here's hoping the first (and only stop) is Scenario One above…

VP

[IvyBirds]

Alternatives, though...
- mostly feasible for new libraries, as expensive refactoring wouldn´t sell any extra licenses of, say, Symphobia.
- a proper platform port can (though this is just guesswork on my end) take months including QC and all. Per library. Even bigsters like Spitfire who DO have their own player haven´t ported all their libraries...
- ... and honestly, as much as Kontakt annoys me, the Spitfire player is the Windows Millenium of Sample players.
- UVI? Not a lot of third party support (insufficient scripting abilities?),... so I don´t see the alternative platform that could take over the world.

I would most definitely add HALion as a viable alternative to Kontact

The free HALion player is also better than the free version of the Kontact Player

[zvenx]

Both Komplete and Kontakt remain very profitable, unsure why you'd say it's a loss leader.

I would guess, and you would have more access to the numbers, that it was all the expansions in Komplete that probably made it profitable rather the wild assortment of instruments and effects...
Surely if this wasn't the case they would have made more instruments and effects over the years and updated a lot more of them, than they did.
rsp

[sin night]

Recapitalization or a big company buying the whole lot would be the best outcome (of course it depends on the actual investor/buyer).

I have a bunch of NI software (and some from PA and iZotope as well); it’s not “indispensable” to what I do (some things actually see very little use… I’m somehow lucky, because many people rely on those tools instead!), but I wish for those tools to be maintained in the future (and authorization as well).

I rarely (if ever) dj, but my home setup is built around Traktor, so if things go bad I may need to find a replacement in the long run… I wouldn’t like it… but at least that’s just a computer that will run Traktor and that’s it.

The real problem would be for the daw, because breaking compatibility with NI/PA/iZotope products is not an option, not in the short time anyway.
I have dedicated computers in my homestudio, so I can delay o.s. and daw updates as needed… but that could prevent me from getting new tools as well…


I hope for the best outcome possible.

[Winstontaneous]

Another contender to be bought by inMusic (shudders)

...and there was me thinking Gibson would be bad news. Thanks for the reminder.

Haha I generally agree regarding Gibson, but I know a design engineer who works for Mesa Boogie (bought by Gibson a few years ago) who says the relationship has been fantastic! But otherwise Gibson is basically where great music tech goes to die, just on the bass side look at Steinberger, Tobias, AMP, Trace Elliot (though resuscitated by Peavey)...

I really hope some independent reverb dev would buy up the iZotope Exponential Audio IP, I have a zillion reverbs and the EA algorithms still do something no other reverbs can.