Sad state of Native Instruments

[Introspective]

Dependencies are hard.

Supporting legacy _anything_ is hard.

(Hard enough that software developers have begun quitting the industry because of it.)

(Full disclosure: I am a software developer, but not in the music industry.)

[thecontrolcentre]

My issue is that NI force these upgrades on me. There's no option to stick with a working version if the latest version doesn't like your OS. Every other piece of unsupported software I have runs fine on my OS (even the new Live 12 beta) and my CPU can handle all my music software without any issues. Only Native Access & SINE Player (which can now load Kontakt files) refuse to download and run ...

[Kypresso]

Anyone having trouble with native access: i.e unable to update as n.a cant remove original version etc.

I got an older copy from the webpage below and it works great on win 10.

https://support.native-instruments.com/ ... e-Access-1

[thecontrolcentre]

I got an older copy from the webpage below and it works great on win 10.
https://support.native-instruments.com/ ... e-Access-1

Thank you ...
makes me wonder why NI support couldn't have suggested that

[noiseboyuk]

SINE Player (which can now load Kontakt files)

What?!

Sorry for the off topic but maybe you mean that more Kontakt libraries have been ported to SINE?

[audiojunkie]

They don't have to support it, but they are doing something that absolutely kills it. Which I think should be illegal.

Welcome to the Mac OS user experience with developers.

I'm sure glad that I use Linux and don't have to deal with those problems. If I wanted Windows apps, I'd always have WINE, but thankfully, I'm able to avoid that for now.

[Ghostwave]

Still stuck at "loading products" here. I'm surprised it's taking so long to fix.

[glokraw]

I think providing the option of standard per-product installers, with pastable serial number authorization, would be quite popular. Lot's of their competitors do that. Then keep working on Native Access for those installing multiple products at once. Also, requiring auto-update for Native Access, when a current version worked/works fine, is just a portal to potential trouble.

[machinesworking]

They don't have to support it, but they are doing something that absolutely kills it. Which I think should be illegal.

Welcome to the Mac OS user experience with developers.

I'm sure glad that I use Linux and don't have to deal with those problems. If I wanted Windows apps, I'd always have WINE, but thankfully, I'm able to avoid that for now.

Limitations like you mention are the way to avoid issues, but you're not able to use the thousands of Kontakt libraries either if you subscribe to that. I think at this point for electronic and Rock music you're not missing out that much with Linux, but it's never going to have the ecosystem for orchestral and film work that Mac and PC have.

I mean seriously, if you want 100% backwards compatability, you can stay with a DAWs own plugins without issues at all on any OS.

I'm a choice junky, so I have to accept some deprecation for a massive arsenal of tools at my disposal, it's still worth it to me, and why I still sort of care about what NI do.

[audiojunkie]

They don't have to support it, but they are doing something that absolutely kills it. Which I think should be illegal.

Welcome to the Mac OS user experience with developers.

I'm sure glad that I use Linux and don't have to deal with those problems. If I wanted Windows apps, I'd always have WINE, but thankfully, I'm able to avoid that for now.

Limitations like you mention are the way to avoid issues, but you're not able to use the thousands of Kontakt libraries either if you subscribe to that. I think at this point for electronic and Rock music you're not missing out that much with Linux, but it's never going to have the ecosystem for orchestral and film work that Mac and PC have.

I mean seriously, if you want 100% backwards compatability, you can stay with a DAWs own plugins without issues at all on any OS.

I'm a choice junky, so I have to accept some deprecation for a massive arsenal of tools at my disposal, it's still worth it to me, and why I still sort of care about what NI do.

I totally understand. And you're not wrong. All of those Kontakt libraries are available through WINE if I must, and I'm trying to avoid it, but I may be forced to make exceptions. Right now, I'm dealing with problems in my hands (likely a combination of Arthritis and Carpal Tunnel Syndrome), and I'm not as able to play my guitars as I used to. Maybe it will eventually get better, but I'm getting up there in years, so I have to keep my mind open. Right now, I am running into a wall with virtual guitar plugins--there simply aren't any for Linux. The closest I have found are the wonderful Karoryfer SFZ instrument libraries. I'm planning on buying Snowkiss Guitar as well as some others. However, even with those I will miss out on some features of the libraries if I don't break down and start using WINE and yabridge for Sforzando. So, I guess my point is, that I wish things would change for the better either for available Linux native instruments, or for sample library companies like Native Instruments. So, even though I don't "currently" have to deal with challenge/response at all, there is no guarantee that I won't have to bend to the necessity in the future. Another example is Synthesizer V, which does have a native Linux version, but is challenge/response. I've always wanted to have a female singer for my projects (like a lot of other Dream Pop and Shoegaze acts). My voice is getting worse and more wobbly the older I get, so who knows how long it will be useful--Synthesizer V could be my solution. So, as much as I hate c/r authentication (and any non-serial number or keyfile authorization), I may have to bend at some point.

[BBFG#]

Sincere question; Does Access also work under WINE? Because that's the sticking throttle that kills everything from them to me. Doesn't matter what you can get from them if Access won't download, install or authorize them...

[thecontrolcentre]

SINE Player (which can now load Kontakt files)

What?!

Sorry for the off topic but maybe you mean that more Kontakt libraries have been ported to SINE?

That's another way of putting it. It's been broken (for me) since they did that.

Still stuck at "loading products" here. I'm surprised it's taking so long to fix.

I'm not. It's already been broken for months, but from the conversation I had with NI support they have no intention of fixing it coz they don't acknowledge it's broken.

[Echoes in the Attic]

Is there a way to have some NI libraries installed to one drive, and others on another drive? Is it just a matter of changing install location in Native Access when you install new libraries?

[burkek]

Is there a way to have some NI libraries installed to one drive, and others on another drive? Is it just a matter of changing install location in Native Access when you install new libraries?

Yes. But depending where you want their final location to be, you may have to install into the default location (usually your local drive), manually move them to the new location, then run Access and you'll see a flag that the library can't be found. You have an option to point to the new location. Frustratingly, Kontakt libraries can't be directly installed to a NAS. But after installing locally, you can move it and re-link it in Access and then the library will work.

[Greenstorm33]

Sincere question; Does Access also work under WINE? Because that's the sticking throttle that kills everything from them to me. Doesn't matter what you can get from them if Access won't download, install or authorize them...

The legacy version does, assuming they are still running the web services for it (it worked for me when I tried it mid last year). It works for a lot of things but not newer stuff like Kontakt 7, the latest Reaktor with the vst3 version, etc. Also some things can't be installed correctly from NA because the ISOs can't be mounted, but at least on Linux Mint you can just pop them open like an archive file, extract the files, and run the installers yourself. There are also these rather convoluted instructions which may or may not allow you to run Native Access 2, but I haven't tried them.