Native Instruments Layoffs?

[foosnark]

What I'm reading between the lines here, aside from almost admitting failure, is this:

NI used to do several different things, and now they're going to pretend it has "one common goal." Which means, some of the old things are gonna be abandoned.

And they're talking about "consuming and accessing creative goods and services", which makes me think what they want to do is sell loops and samples and the means to "consume" them (Kontakt, Maschine, Traktor etc.). Whether that's a subscription service or not.

Meaning they're not really instrument builders anymore.

[DJ Warmonger]

“Rather than releasing more and more products, we want to ensure that users are getting the most out of our current products through a connected and unified experience.”

Well, can't say it doesn't sound reasonable

I guess they want to roll Maschine, Komplete Kontrol, NKS and Sounds.com into one, and more. It's already all compatible, but they could use one app/service instead of 4.

[HM]

Can't help it.. sounds like a subscription service to me.

I'm afraid, yes.

In that case I am out ,.. and I was with them almost from the start

Needed be I will even retire kontakt-based instruments from other developers , In case I can not avoid some kind of subscribtion

They are sure being foggy right now, insteadt of throwing their cards on the table

I put any upgrades, komplete, or kontakt related, on hold, as long as it takes

[Forgotten]

I haven’t seen anything that clearly indicates that they are changing their business model, but if they do go entirely subscription then that would be the end of me using their products.

[0degree]

I haven’t seen anything that clearly indicates that they are changing their business model, but if they do go entirely subscription then that would be the end of me using their products.

+1

[chk071]

Ubisoft does subscription now as well. But, that doesn't mean that you can't buy their games anymore. So, i'll wait and see. IF they do subscription anyway.

[vurt]

Ubisoft does subscription now as well. But, that doesn't mean that you can't buy their games anymore. So, i'll wait and see. IF they do subscription anyway.

yup. see what happens, then worry.
ok, with respect.

[andrew71]

Subscription is probably seen as a great way to acquire new customers, but it's a kick in the teeth generally for existing customers if there isn't some incredible deal or bonus for long term and existing customers.

Adobe is a shining example for me. I was a user of Creative Suite 2, who had purchased it at around £1,200. When they launched Creative Cloud they had a half price offer for users of CS3 and later. Everyone else had to pay full price for the subscription. They lost me as a customer that day and I won't ever use their products again.

I've had Komplete since version 1, so I wait to see what NI do next with interest. If the cost of keeping Komplete up to date is similar to paying an annual upgrade price during the summer sale, then I'd consider it. Anything more and I think I'd walk away. After all, my existing Komplete products won't just stop working anytime soon.

[digitalboytn]

Here's a novel idea....

How about those clowns at NI actually listen to what WE want ?

They keep changing directions and then expect us to just follow them blindly like sheep...

It's making me dizzy,so I might cut them loose

I've been having an enjoyable time recently,sitting around playing acoustic guitar...

No subscriptions,no updates and no hardware conflicts...

Old school

[Loudness_Contour]

I haven’t seen anything that clearly indicates that they are changing their business model, but if they do go entirely subscription then that would be the end of me using their products.

That quote from the press release sounds like a subscription to me...

"“Customers today are expecting a seamlessly integrated experience when consuming and accessing creative goods and services. We are confident that we can offer music producers worldwide a unique and premium experience by connecting our existing ecosystem of award-winning software and hardware to a centralized online service”"

... but I hope I'm wrong!

[Forgotten]

Neither of those things clearly says they’re moving to a subscription service though. You might interpret it in that way, but it doesn’t explicitly say so.

[EvilDragon]

Meaning they're not really instrument builders anymore.

Eeeep, wrong.

Neither of those things clearly says they’re moving to a subscription service though. You might interpret it in that way, but it doesn’t explicitly say so.

Nor does it exclude the possibility of just buying things outright just like you've been able to do so far. Plus, subscription doesn't make sense for software that ties in with hardware, which is all the things NI does (keyboards - linked to Komplete Kontrol, hence Komplete, then there's Maschine and Traktor, both of which you can use as SW only, but you get full usability when pairing it with HW..)

[ericj23]

You can't (easily) do Maschine and Traktor hardware by subscription, so it seems unlikely they will do away with people owning things anytime soon.

I suspect they might package sounds.com, which is already a subscription, with a way of renting VST with the same fee. It would help generate subscribers for sounds.com. Also having hardware that can browse the samples database itself and a system for keeping everything (software and samples) up to date (and NI pretty much have this) would be pretty tempting for those who don't want to be too technical. Buy a Maschine, pay some money each month, make some loot beatz (spot the 50 year old white nerd!)

The plan to be THE portal for providing soundfill seems like one that NI probably could do. Just not something that excites me too much but ….

[pixel85]

I would like to see analog version of Reaktor

eurorack

Eurorack covers (more or less) only final layer of Reaktor like Blocks. Proper hardware version should allow to create those modules (Core, Primary level etc). In another words it should be a hardware engineering workshop in form of an instrument without any resource limitations With reasonable price of course no more than $500

[Loudness_Contour]

Neither of those things clearly says they’re moving to a subscription service though. You might interpret it in that way, but it doesn’t explicitly say so.

Yes, it's my interpretation and I really hope I'm wrong.

At least they say they are still committed to Maschine which is reassuring. I can't see how Maschine could work with a subscription-only service. Only time will tell...