Native Instruments file for insolvency...

[burkek]

I'm sure they will add a convertor or something at some point.

Even Chicken Systems Translator won't convert modern Kontakt instruments. Their ability to convert stopped at Kontakt v4 since the file format parameters changed and are unknown. So you are highly unlikely to see a Kontakt-to-whatever converter anywhere.

KEv

[SamDi]

That is just not going to happen in a realistic amount of time.

Yeah, isn‘t that one of the core problems? Obviously they missed to secure the knowledge about the code and architecture during the brain drain and were then left with huge amount of code, which nobody seems capable to handle anymore. Which significant SW did they release the last years and how many developers were needed for it? The last big new thing was Massive X and it was - yeah, crappy.

Also obviously the plan was to focus on Kontakt content and leaving their products as they are and provide very small evolutionary updates if at all. In the meanwhile the market changed rapidly. The big contenders jump on their own sample player engines. And for working privately on samples, I can barely imagine someone taking Kontakt without getting eye cancer on HiRes screens. Might be, that they still have the most capable sample engine today, bur without being able to significantly overhaul their SW, it‘s just a matter of time, when they will have not anymore.

In a better parallel universe, they could have taken Kontakt and
Reaktor, maintain it regularly, establish them as plattforms omnipresent in the music industry and drive the market onward. They did it partly with Kontakt, but they weren‘t able to hold it. So now they are driven.

If NI should have a promising future, they need to get back to handle their SW and being able to deliver significant updates. Where should the money else come from? From AI created content?

[Albert.VST]

NI filed a return of £250 of debt vs £25 of revenue in 2023.

How in the world are they going to make it out of this? I literally bought Kontakt two weeks ago lol fml.

yeah good question... i just wondering the last days - how the hell can they stack up such a big pile of debt? ... and how did they created it? Or why did they keeping it like that and not working on their finance maybe some years earlier

That is their current problem, but could also be their escape.
There already was this rumor in November of a company that would want to buy NI. But it seems not have happend. But they still may be interested. But this large debt may have held them back.
What is likely is that the appointed administrator will talk to the investors (banks, but could also be others) and say, hey, most likely in the current situation is to pull the plug and you will lose most of your £ 250k.
But I have someone who wants to take over but you have to skip a large part of that debt. So your choice, lose all your money, or have an opportunity to get at least some say £ 100k back.
Yes, in return they will want to appoint someone in the board of NI to take care of their interests, but NI can live on under new ownership.
Seen that happen before in comparable situations.

[SLiC]

Either way, the insolvency publicity will do real damage, quality/innovation had already dipped (although ironically it seemed to be getting a lot better over the last year or so) and people will need to 'believe' that who ever takes over can save it before they re-invest in hardware and updates...and we are a sceptical bunch and a community full of opinions...it will be a hard sell!

[fedexnman]

I have a lot of NI stuff . A used Maschine micro mk3 , NI audio interface , lots of Komplete updates and sound packs over the years . This feels like losing something expensive in a fire .

[nitrateaudio]

I have been an NI user for close to 15 or 20 years. I still have a Mikro 1 in basement somewhere. NI & Kontakt are a strong brand and huge userbase and ecosystem. The company will survive. Not so sure about Reaktor or Maschine. I wonder what % of their user base is hard core Reaktor users? I wonder whether Maschine user base is growing or dwindling?

[fedexnman]

I got the Maschine micro mk3 , just to use for finger drumming generic midi controller . $100 used . To be honest I use my Launchpad X more for that purpose. But I've bought a lot of the instrument/samples expansions and Komplete updates and upgrades over the years . I hope if they get bought out that the customers will transfer to the new company or companies .

[VitaminD]

Not needed. This is coming down the line

But it is going to need heavyweight support and a lot of time to eat away at Kontakt marketshare.

I see no evidence that is the controlling variable...Gorilla is supported by hans zimmer...doesn't get much more heavyweight than that...and the ex spitfire dude christian henson...ujam, crow hill, and virharmonic libraries are built on it now and straight ahead samples is trialing it...been a few years already and it hasn't caught on like wildfire...neither has Hise, bestservice, or Falcon...none of the alternatives have...Koda has soniccouture, soundiron, realitone, and Joshua Bell dipping their toe in the water...i dont think there will be any major tidal forces...I hope they all survive...i hope soundpaint and mndala open up as well

What is Gorilla? Do you mean Harambe?

[EvilDragon]

https://www.gorilla-engine.com/

[Lind0n]

Not needed. This is coming down the line

I hope they all survive...i hope soundpaint and mndala open up as well

mndala is written in HISE...

[VitaminD]

Not needed. This is coming down the line

I hope they all survive...i hope soundpaint and mndala open up as well

mndala is written in HISE...

bermudagold made that quote, not me...

[VitaminD]

https://www.gorilla-engine.com/

Oh I see. Thank you for the link.

These two products don't seem to directly compete with each other, even though there is significant overlap on the development side. Koda seems to have a far more user-friendly GUI in the plugin, which could make musician use a lot more plausible.

I doubt non-geeks are going to want to take up something like gorilla just to load some samples and record.

Kontakt is nice this way. It has a front end that can be easily accessed by developer and musician alike. Koda seems to share in this.

Gorilla looks solely as a development platform for creating new instruments.

[Lind0n]

Not needed. This is coming down the line

I hope they all survive...i hope soundpaint and mndala open up as well

mndala is written in HISE...

bermudagold made that quote, not me...

Sorry..some sort of hiccup in the forum software?

[bermudagold]

Not needed. This is coming down the line

I hope they all survive...i hope soundpaint and mndala open up as well

mndala is written in HISE...

yeah I knew that...but didn't want to muddy the point since it's using so much custom dsp and the UI is so modern and intuitive, that avg non developer user would rather build in mndala than Hise IDE proper even though they could now in a fairly straight forward manner...casual customers post pandemic are a different breed...they don't want traditional utilitarian, dense, information/context rich IDE power tools that have dominated all the creative art spaces for forever...partly cause they don't want to take the time to learn taxonomies/ontologies/hierarchies/nomenclature to be power users...they want a gamification experience

[bermudagold]

https://www.gorilla-engine.com/

Oh I see. Thank you for the link.

These two products don't seem to directly compete with each other, even though there is significant overlap on the development side. Koda seems to have a far more user-friendly GUI in the plugin, which could make musician use a lot more plausible.

I doubt non-geeks are going to want to take up something like gorilla just to load some samples and record.

Kontakt is nice this way. It has a front end that can be easily accessed by developer and musician alike. Koda seems to share in this.

Gorilla looks solely as a development platform for creating new instruments.

don't you see the "gorilla editor" on the splash page?...it's no less approachable than the edit page of Kontakt or any other classic sampler or IDE based tool