The Greatest Loss If NI Disappears?

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If NI disappeared, obviously the loss of Kontakt would be huge and devastating for users and 3rd party developers.

But honestly, I've never tapped a drum pad that was as good as Maschine pads. I've always wondered why nobody tried to copy them.

I've never tried an old school MPC, but the lower tier Akai pads were nowhere near as awesome (to me) as Maschine pads. Same with Keith McMillan, Nektar, and Novation.

If NI hardware doesn't survive whatever changes are coming, there's going to be a huge opportunity for controller manufacturers to create a pad controller that one random dude loves as much as Maschine pads! 🤪
Last edited by Hewitt Huntwork on Sun Feb 01, 2026 12:02 am, edited 1 time in total.
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If, although not very likely, NI disappears the biggest loss would be the authorization servers that enable the use of encrypted (i.e., Kontakt Player) Kontakt libraries in newly installed computers.

To think that the tools that utilized so many hours of immense labour and and is a staple of so many contemporary musicians is locked behind a door whose existence unfortunately relies on the performance of greedy private-equity firms is sad.

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I've considered NI a loss years ago.

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My Maschine Plus will outlast my NI software by a long time (especially since I’m a Mac user) so I’m not worried about it. :shrug:

Also, NI’s insolvency is about the smallest of my worries, given the current state of the world.
Logic Pro | LUNA Pro | OB-X8 | Prophet 6 | OB-6 | Rev2 | TEO-5 | Pro 3 | SE-1X | Minitaur | Deepmind 12D | Slim Phatty | TR-1000 | Analog RYTM mk2 | Digitakt 2 | TD-3 MO | TD-3 | Maschine+

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If NI disappears, the greatest loss will be the English alphabet goes down to 24 letters. I'll no longer be able to anjoy a panini for lunch properly as the resulting sandwich will sound very silly. I have Replika XT and never bought anything else from NI as it simply doesn't appeal or have much use for me. Sad for NI employees obvs but for me...meh :shrug:

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kritikon wrote: Sat Jan 31, 2026 10:59 pm If NI disappears, the greatest loss will be the English alphabet goes down to 24 letters. I'll no longer be able to anjoy a panini for lunch properly as the resulting sandwich will sound very silly.
Dang, I hadn’t considered that. “init” patches will just be called “t” and the knights who say “ni” will be silenced for eternity. :cry:
Logic Pro | LUNA Pro | OB-X8 | Prophet 6 | OB-6 | Rev2 | TEO-5 | Pro 3 | SE-1X | Minitaur | Deepmind 12D | Slim Phatty | TR-1000 | Analog RYTM mk2 | Digitakt 2 | TD-3 MO | TD-3 | Maschine+

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kritikon wrote: Sat Jan 31, 2026 10:59 pm If NI disappears, the greatest loss will be the English alphabet goes down to 24 letters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ella_Minnow_Pea

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csscp wrote: Sat Jan 31, 2026 10:00 pm If, although not very likely, NI disappears the biggest loss would be the authorization servers that enable the use of encrypted (i.e., Kontakt Player) Kontakt libraries in newly installed computers.
Great point. It is typical of me to think of the loss in terms of what (IMO) they do best, rather than the thing the most people rely on.

I've added a question mark at the end of the thread title, which I probably should have done to begin with!
If every KVR member wrote one review a year we'd have 1340 reviews each day!

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I've started ignore NI stuff years ago.
I have komplete12 standard, and bought nothing after that version.
Still i have and use Kontakt.
I like their Maverick piano and some other NI libraries and have three 3rd party libraries that are Kontakt Player compatible.
And have another three 3rd party libraries that are NOT Kontakt Player compatible, so they need the full Kontakt.

Thinking back to this Player <> FullVersion difference, this also seems silly.
I mean I'm not a "sample based instrument builder" , still i must have the full version to PLAY instruments, while I just want to PLAY them, nothing more !

So first I would like to be able to use the newest version of Kontakt Player to play any Kontakt library.

But If they continue this sillyness I see years ago, including these financial troubles we see nowadays, i'm really close to sell my Kontakt licenses.
At the end I will be able to use my 3 kontakt player libraries in their free Kontakt Player.
Sure can do it without problems, but is there no other way?

And since this is a hw topic, i can mention i use their s61mk2 keyboard. It is what it is, but i will not invest to any of their new controllers.

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I'm just bummed that they never further explored the Maschine concept. It had amazing potential and in my opinion the best drum pads in the whole industry. In general, most NI hardware seems to be built to a really high standard. That development attitude and hardware prowess is a huge loss if they go belly up.

Imagine a new Maschine+ with the latest Intel Panther Lake processor. Now that would be absolutely amazing!
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Enter Fender Motion 16 and 32
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bmanic wrote: Sun Feb 01, 2026 9:34 am I'm just bummed that they never further explored the Maschine concept. It had amazing potential and in my opinion the best drum pads in the whole industry. In general, most NI hardware seems to be built to a really high standard. That development attitude and hardware prowess is a huge loss if they go belly up.

Imagine a new Maschine+ with the latest Intel Panther Lake processor. Now that would be absolutely amazing!
Maschine was a great idea and could be a great product if they had supported it's software and made it better over the years instead of releasing sample packs for it.
For me it is not a loss if NI goes down because i stopped upgrading or Install any NI software in 2019 because of the lack of software support and the slow updates for My Maschine MK3 so i already saw it as a loss back in late 2018.

I do feel sorry for those that didn't see the writing on the wall back then and kept on updating their Komplete until today and for those that just got into their Eco System so i do hope that NI will be saved for the people that like and use their Software or sample packs regulary :hug:

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tapper mike wrote: Sun Feb 01, 2026 3:26 pm Enter Fender Motion 16 and 32
The pads certainly *look* the same as Maschine pads, but of course we won't know for sure until they come out. I never played a Presonus Atom but the key-style pads on the Atom SQ were nothing like the Maschine. (In case anyone isn't aware, the Atom and SQ were the precursors of these new Fender units. Lest anyone think I'm comparing apples to oranges.)
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No loss here

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Yawn. :roll: Which is also the same way I feel about Fender branded Presonus products. :lol:
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