Ask me anything: Kontrol S-Series MK3

BIF

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/94437#Comment_94437

Those crazy kids in the back of the class...still texting their friends and not reading the directions. Thankfully, this is only a Komplete Control thread and not a "perform experimental brain surgery on your friends" thread. Or a "learn how to diffuse a nuclear warhead" thread. Silly humans!

Stoyk

I'm so disappointed in you NI, so many Mk2 users have been waiting for a mk3 with faders, pads and knobs that we could use to expand our creation ... But no, you just released a "Mk2 v2" !!!

I'm keeping my S88 mk2 !!

I truly don't get it, after so many years, that's all you could come up with ??

I wonder who in your company took the decision to release that, please give use his name and bring him on a live show so he can explain ****** happened, or even better to tell us the reasons he didn't listen to his customers.

You should take example on ARTURIA, they sure do a better job than you listening to their customers.

nightjar

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/94522#Comment_94522

I'm one of their customers.

And I think they made great decisions in designing the Kontrol MK3.

So it's all personal perspective & opinion.

Eight4aWish

No point in upgrading from mk2 for me. No interest in niche PolyAT. So many mk3 gifted YouTube videos highlight existing mk2 features as if they are some great new mk3 innovation.

BIF

Kontrol is total *****, on my high end system...

"On my high end system", really? That's quite some hubris.

...it takes up to 4 minutes for loading, that is a real workflow and timekiller.

You may have other issues going on. Way too many people can't keep their fingers off of the tweaks. Stop tweaking your systems, folks. But for the poster above, if all this is truly as bad as you say, and if customer service is as awful as you claim, you probably should find a solution outside of Native Instruments.

I'm so disappointed in you NI, so many Mk2 users have been waiting for a mk3 with faders, pads and knobs that we could use to expand our creation ... But no, you just released a "Mk2 v2" !!!

And you too. You seem really upset. Are you okay?

And like what nightjar above says, I too am a customer, and I think the new version of Komplete Control MK3 is more than good enough. Would I have liked more? Yes, especially that "make me a rockstar" button that I've been asking for since 2005!

If you want your faders, you can have your faders. Just not on one of these controllers. There are lots of alternatives, so maybe start researching. You should let go of this, your anger is not healthy.

No interest in niche PolyAT

"niche"?

I disagree that Poly Aftertouch is niche. It's super hard to do or else every controller would have had it by now. This sounds almost like a needless insult aimed toward the NI engineers. There's plenty to complain about with NI. But Poly Aftertouch is not one of them.

It's only September, so we have a long way to go this year, and there may be more announcements we need to survive. Like maybe a new Maschine, or a new version of Komplete. I think everybody probably should just calm down if our favorite wishlist item isn't included. Me too, probably...lol! 😉 But really, some of the complaints seem to be a bit over the top. This equipment is going to work just fine. We don't see the biggest musical acts complaining about the little stuff. Somehow, Taylor Swift just keeps cranking out the hits, and I can pretty much guarantee that she uses software and controllers too.

Likewise, Jordan Rudess seems to do just fine discovering new sounds and pushing his musical boundaries just a little bit further ever time he does something new.

Plus, I'm just happy to see Native Instruments putting out new hardware OF ANY KIND, especially after they abandoned the concept of having a guitar rig controller.

Well, have a nice weekend all. And try not to have a seizure if your pet feature isn't included. We should all focus on getting back to the music and maybe using our ears more than we use our eyes. And come hell or high water, there's always MK4 in 2026 or 2027, right? 😏

JesterMgee

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/94522#Comment_94522

Not all of us want the thing cluttered up with more controls that would be midi only and would not integrate with NKS and honestly, for $30 odd you can get a korg nano fade to fit the bill if needed. No one wants cheesy pads on a high end keyboard, makes it look like a toy IMO. People need to stop expecting a single tool to do every job on the planet. A Swiss Army knife sux as both a knife, screw driver and bottle opener in real world usage…

if you have an MK2 then there is not all that much to really entice an update and I don’t think they planned to make it attractive to existing users, many would be glad they aren’t missing out on a whole lot and can still consider the MK2 a useful tool and only a few will bother to upgrade, however new users will appreciate the simplicity but depth of what NKS and the daw integration can offer since that is what it does very well.

will never please everyone.

mmk_music

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/94517#Comment_94517

I’m sorry but.. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

rdalcroft

Please confirm it is the same keybed and just the aftertouch strip has been replaced with the polyphonic strip:

https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/ff/f0/64/710132c38f6af0/US20210005174A1.pdf

Ok so they have changed out the aftertouch strip with a strip that has individual switches. https://1drv.ms/i/s!AvpkfFAMxJosgfVfdOC_trtPK75HSw?e=Zj2jD3

But the actual keybed is the same!

If you look at the patent, the strip of switches is the same size and location, as the aftertouch strip.

https://1drv.ms/i/s!AvpkfFAMxJosgfVhHGgFwrI1atqsQw?e=wHjR9x

so it's a direct replacement stip. Locates the same way, only difference is each key now hits a switch instead of the 1 piece foam strip.

Here is my old post on the noisy key issue: https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/1437/s88-mk2-noisy-keys-fixed-instructions#latest

so are we going to see the same defects appear after one year with this new MK3? noisy rattly keys?

ozon

@Kaiwan_NI wrote on July 27

If it looks like we've been quiet, it's because we've been working on something big. 😬 

So… is this the mysterious Something Big?

Vemshoff

My pre-ordered Kontrol-S61 MK3 shipped yesterday from MusiciansFriend.com finally. However today the status was switched in the UPS.com tracking to ‘returning to sender’. Just Got a call from MF…….They are telling me that they got a recall notice from NI and had to recall the KK61 MK3?

JesterMgee

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/94659#Comment_94659

This would likely be because they are not yet suppose to ship due to the product not actually being finalised and released. The software is still in Beta and it was not suppose to ship until next month. Seems some vendors probably didn't read the terms of sale and have started sending orders already. I am pretty sure it was never supposed to be announced this early, but leaks of info caused NI to have to move forward to stop the rumour mill doing what it does worst...

Vendors here in Australia are only taking pre-orders which will be shipped after the official release date so you have to just sit tight, nothing to do with a product fault or anything I would assume.

Vemshoff

Agree. Checked other sites after I posted this comment and no one was shipping yet so I came to that conclusion as well.

One more day and I would have had one 'early' so to speak lol. The guy at MF said "What can I send you instead' and I said "um.... nothing! I want this new controller when it releases!!"

ALDREAD

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/94658#Comment_94658

As josey wales puts it “ I reckon so “

Stormchild

Count me in as another user who doesn’t want pads or sliders on a Kontrol keyboard. For some people, the “ultimate” keyboard includes every possible feature (basically the equivalent of a toddler activity center for adults), and there are plenty of options out there if that’s what you’re looking for.

What I find appealing about the Kontrol S series is that it’s focused on being a great keyboard with a display and a set of controls that are never in the wrong position — this is why it’s essential to only include buttons and endless knobs. Sliders are out, because motorized faders are expensive and endless knobs can do the same job just fine. If you want actual faders to control your DAW’s mixer, there are better tools for that job (like Softube Console 1 Fader) that don’t require you to be in front of your MIDI keyboard. (Consider the fact that the S88 is so large it may be impossible to put in front of your computer display, where you want to be when focusing on mixing.)

As for pads, the ones included with keyboards are mediocre at best, and I suspect most people don’t use them. My view is if you really want pads, you want good pads, and will likely prefer to use them at a different angle anyway.

I am concerned about the loss of Maschine integration. Not the dedicated buttons — those really don’t make sense, since most Kontrol users don’t use Maschine. But they definitely need to re-enable the transport controls and NKS control of instruments and effects in Maschine, and I think it’s very likely that will happen.

I do think the loss of dedicated mute and solo buttons was a misstep. Sure, you can show mute buttons on the screen by default and use shift for solo, but now there’s no way to directly select a track, so you’ll be clicking left and right on the main encoder a lot.

But otherwise, I think they made good choices in terms of which hardware controls to include, and which ones to leave out. The big display and its buttons have a lot of potential for additional functionality that can evolve over time (whereas physical controls can never change).

Snowmen

What is the different in the software from MK3 to MK2.

best regards Dietmar