Native Instruments Komplete 26 released

[mumpcake]

So, they're experienced but made a bunch of rookie mistakes. Ok, got it. Totally consistent explanation there.

Microsoft has been around 50 years and they still make rookie mistakes.

And at NI, they also shitcanned some products in order to focus primarily on Kontakt. Again: the cash cow. Had they not been loaded up on debt, this probably would have been enough, even if it's not going to please Reaktor fans (like me). But as with Max etc, Reaktor fans do not exactly grow on trees.

From what I've heard, the overwhelming level of technical debt in Reaktor is the reason we won't see an update soon.

[Gamma-UT]

From what I've heard, the overwhelming level of technical debt in Reaktor is the reason we won't see an update soon.

Technical debt is probably a big reason why editing samples and instruments in Kontakt is like keyhole surgery. If sales are high enough, companies just keep plugging away until they decide it's easier to reimplement from the ground-up.

[dayjob]

along w/this new NI Komplete there's no updates to existing products. at least, none show up when i bring up NI native access.

[ban jhankri]

The problem I have with Native Instruments is that it feels like they abandon every single one of their products the moment they release them. You buy it and it's basically dead, no further updates.
Compare that to other companies. Arturia, for example, has given Pigments a ton of free updates. They also offer extra presets at reasonable prices, so you can easily build up thousands of presets. Serum 2 was also a free upgrade. Native, on the other hand, presents every update or new library as a brand new instrument.
Take the Light Trilogy: Straylight, Pharlight and Ashlight. Same granular engine, three different sample libraries, sold as three separate €200 instruments. Now they're on sale and you can grab all three for €400. The pricing is insane! And of course none of them will ever get an update any more or extra content.
Same story with Sequis (4-layer step sequencer with acoustic samples) and Circular. Circular seems basically Sequis evolved, could've been Sequis 2.5. Instead it's a brand new €199 instrument.
I usually upgrade during Black Friday when the discounts are biggest. But every time, the moment I complete my purchase and the sales end, they immediately release new instruments I have no access to, while everything I just bought sits there dead and receives zero updates or extra content.
I really don't like this policy. Other companies give you so much more for less money.

[GrayfoxM]

According to you the NI bad state is due to the reason that ”everyone was at home purchasing disproportionate amounts of music software during the 2020-21 pandemic”

That is not an accurate summary if you care to read my post more carefully.
My point is that decisions made as a result of those increased sales likely proved unsustainable once those sales numbers didn't continue growing year to year.

This doesn’t make your explanation better.

You are saying that a 25 years old, experienced company Native Instruments made their business calculation in the imagination that the demand for software during the exceptional period - if there was actually such a thing in 2020-21, would continue forever.

And the bad state of the NI is consequence of that miscalculation.

I don’t buy that explanation.

In my opinion, the reason for the current situation is: 1. A misjudged acquisition (iZotope), 2. Poor product strategy traditional NI products/iZotope products, 3. Abandoning the NI own very successful product concept, 4. Neglect of continuous research and development, 5. Poor understanding of consumer behavior.

Why do you think the izotope acquisition was misjudged?

[zvenx]

The problem I have with Native Instruments is that it feels like they abandon every single one of their products the moment they release them. You buy it and it's basically dead, no further updates.
Compare that to other companies. Arturia, for example, has given Pigments a ton of free updates. They also offer extra presets at reasonable prices, so you can easily build up thousands of presets. Serum 2 was also a free upgrade. Native, on the other hand, presents every update or new library as a brand new instrument.
Take the Light Trilogy: Straylight, Pharlight and Ashlight. Same granular engine, three different sample libraries, sold as three separate €200 instruments. Now they're on sale and you can grab all three for €400. The pricing is insane! And of course none of them will ever get an update any more or extra content.
Same story with Sequis (4-layer step sequencer with acoustic samples) and Circular. Circular seems basically Sequis evolved, could've been Sequis 2.5. Instead it's a brand new €199 instrument.
......

No offense, but I think you are conflating content products with plugin products.
Pigment and Serum 2 are both Plugin Products..
The Light Trilogy you mention are Content products..
Not quite the same.
So too is Circular..
They all are content for Kontakt afaik.

Whilst NI have indeed abandoned some/many plugin products it is usually years after they have been around not as they are released...
rsp

[ban jhankri]

The problem I have with Native Instruments is that it feels like they abandon every single one of their products the moment they release them. You buy it and it's basically dead, no further updates.
Compare that to other companies. Arturia, for example, has given Pigments a ton of free updates. They also offer extra presets at reasonable prices, so you can easily build up thousands of presets. Serum 2 was also a free upgrade. Native, on the other hand, presents every update or new library as a brand new instrument.
Take the Light Trilogy: Straylight, Pharlight and Ashlight. Same granular engine, three different sample libraries, sold as three separate €200 instruments. Now they're on sale and you can grab all three for €400. The pricing is insane! And of course none of them will ever get an update any more or extra content.
Same story with Sequis (4-layer step sequencer with acoustic samples) and Circular. Circular seems basically Sequis evolved, could've been Sequis 2.5. Instead it's a brand new €199 instrument.
......

No offense, but I think you are conflating content products with plugin products.
Pigment and Serum 2 are both Plugin Products..
The Light Trilogy you mention are Content products..
Not quite the same.
So too is Circular..
They all are content for Kontakt afaik.

Whilst NI have indeed abandoned some/many plugin products it is usually years after they have been around not as they are released...
rsp

I'm not comparing the products in a technical sense. I'm comparing what you pay with what you get, and what the added value is over time.

[zvenx]

Yeah but very very very very few companies update their content products unless there is an issue with them.
rsp

[IvyBirds]

Why do you think the izotope acquisition was misjudged?

When the private equity geniuses decided to buy Izotope they were buying a company in decline and took on massive debt to do so that was then just dumped on NI

The issue with Izotope to most users is that there is really very very little to justify upgrading to newer versions as the features you get in doing so are really pretty minor. It's even worse than the rest of the current NI and Komplete portfolio

By the time their flagship products of Ozone and RX got to version 8 or 9 they were already so awesome at doing what they did that they exceed the needs of most users even users who use them in a professional setting.

So many users haven't spent any money to upgrade to newer versions. It's a situation worse than Komplete, and worse than Arturia V collection

Private Equity thought they were buying a company with a large customer base with recurring revenues and they didn't get it. The situation is made even with the founders and developers leaving post buyout

[mellotronaut]

last year i updated Komplete mainly to get Kontakt 8. it was compatible with MacOs13. Kontakt 8 isn't bugfree in V. 8.7, which is the last version, i can use with my computer. i won't buy a new apple dongle to use Kontakt 8.10 etc. and i won't upgrade to any further Komplete, if Naive Implements don't allow me to get rid of my innocence.

[Sascha Franck]

For the Kore lovers, why do you think they abandoned Kore?

From all I know, the framework was a kind of a dead end street and they couldn't come up with something (or didn't feel like doing so...) that would still support the existing hardware, so they decided to kinda start all over with Komplete Kontrol.
Their unwillingness might've however been supported by them not selling much units.

[IvyBirds]

For the Kore lovers, why do you think they abandoned Kore?

From all I know, the framework was a kind of a dead end street and they couldn't come up with something (or didn't feel like doing so...) that would still support the existing hardware, so they decided to kinda start all over with Komplete Kontrol.
Their unwillingness might've however been supported by them not selling much units.

Komplete Control is also a dead end street, properly implemented MIDI 2.0 already makes it obsolete and how many 3rd party developers will continue to spend any resources developing for it

[Weasel-Boy]

Jamcat got it right when he said:
“They want a lot of money for stuff you’ll never use”

It been pretty much that way since Komplete 12.

[mumpcake]

Right now it's basically a question of whether I want to pay $149 to get Absynth 6 and some things I may or may not use, or $99 for an a la carte update, or wait a while for a price drop and take the chance that they end up discontinuing the product again in the mean time.

[DrGonzo]

Right now it's basically a question of whether I want to pay $149 to get Absynth 6 and some things I may or may not use, or $99 for an a la carte update, or wait a while for a price drop and take the chance that they end up discontinuing the product again in the mean time.

Isn't there usually a summer sale on these things?