Ask me anything: Kontrol S-Series MK3

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  • j0tt
    j0tt Member Posts: 6 Member

    Hi,

    Are there any plans to open up the actual rendering protocol to NKS instrument plug-ins?

    There are projects like terminar/rebellion (on GitHub) that already support sending your own image stream to the displays. However, due to the complex architecture of the NI drivers and IPC mechanisms, it's not easy to integrate this into a VST/AU.

    It would be a major game-changer if this were possible, bringing us much closer to what Push 2/3 or even just the regular Maschine interaction with the displays offers. Imagine transforming waveforms or receiving proper visual feedback for different settings, or even just implementing other fancy animations to make the UX more enjoyable.

    Even if NI may take some time to migrate existing plugins to this kind of infrastructure, I bet third-party vendors would follow suit immediately. You could also opt for a more "simplistic" approach like Stream Deck, where you would only expose an HTML canvas API for better isolation. Alternatively, you could follow Ableton's lead and make use of QML for a more low-level API. I already completed a simple rendering proof-of-concept some time ago that did just that, so it's feasible given the right prioritization in your backlog.

    Unfortunately, I was a bit disappointed not to see such a feature with the release of the "new NKS version," even if it's just for the closed internal NI "Komplete" ecosystem.

    Anyway, keep up the good work!

  • BIF
    BIF Member Posts: 956 Guru

    Not to worry. I'll buy two, so that will make up for the one you're not going to buy.

  • Matthew_NI
    Matthew_NI Product Team Posts: 1,401 mod

    Maschine is a lot of things to a lot of people.

    Maschine software - still supported (MAS2)

    Maschine hardware - still supported (Mikro, MK3 and M+)

    Despite popular opinions to the contrary seen elsewhere-on-the-internet-when-not-everything-is-done-exactly as [insert commenter] wants, we at NI are all users of the products as well. We love Maschine and continue to invest in it. There have been several updates this year already - we invest a lot into Maschine.

    We're also aware that people want more/greater MOAR/BETTER updates. Totally reasonable. We're aiming to get VST3 and polyphonic aftertouch for M+ out before too long, and are looking at what we could bring to Maschine software as well. I see a lot of farming talk of seeds and planting on the page of this post, so I'll sow one...

    ...we have a lot of interesting technology from the likes of iZotope, Brainworx and Plug-in Alliance to dabble with now. Any thoughts on how that might show up in Maschine?

  • Matthew_NI
    Matthew_NI Product Team Posts: 1,401 mod

    That would be news to me!

    That is certainly one possible plan but a lot would have to happen first. What we want to do is solve for the frustration of Komplete Kontrol (needing to use middleware) without eliminating the value (of KK as a librarian of your collection, of KK as a powerful vehicle for accessibility). Direct Connection is the start, but to eliminate KK is not inherently the logical endpoint, unless we'd brought the aforementioned solutions to a critical mass of products.

  • Kymeia
    Kymeia NKS User Library Mod Posts: 4,766 mod
    edited September 2023

    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/14146/izotope-brainworx-and-plugin-alliance-are-now-part-of-ni

    Not specifically Maschine related but we have already had some discussion in that direction- this was my contribution

    “I just had a wonderful thought. What if Native Instruments resurrected iZotope Iris? You are missing an additive spectral synth from your portfolio. You could do the same with the PPG plugins that were bought by PA then neglected or maybe even get together with the Unfiltered Audio devs who are very innovative to combine the tech into some new Additive/Spectral resampling synth to rival Logic Alchemy”

  • nightjar
    nightjar Member Posts: 1,322 Guru
    edited September 2023

    Lots of fun thoughts on how iZotope technology might show up in most ALL of NI products... browsing and preset management empowered by iZotope's RX AI assisted analysis of spectral content... the mind races!

    NKS 2 + iZotope RX AI analysis = preset management nirvana

  • Matthew_NI
    Matthew_NI Product Team Posts: 1,401 mod

    This is very much the antithesis of the customer experience we'd ever want anyone to have - and certainly not the norm. If you want to DM me to dive deeper into these frustrations, please feel free.

  • Baer
    Baer Member Posts: 3 Member

    Hi, author of ReaKontrol, the deep integration of the Mk2 series with Reaper DAW here.

    Does the Mk3 change the DAW to keyboard MIDI protocol significantly compared to the Mk2? I am not talking about the IPC protocol just the MIDI DAW control. Would be good to know, lots of ReaKontrol users out there (can see from Github and Reaper forum).

    Cheers

  • R_E_D
    R_E_D Member Posts: 36 Helper


    It's all about perspective, of course. Please take this as productive feedback, not criticism. You can certainly have screens that don't look crowded and still provide substantially more instant visual feedback. I won't show examples here from competitors, but simply imagine your own Lores interface on that gorgeous screen - or any of the Play products. Now imagine your had a touch screen to control some of the motion. More importantly, a touchscreen also means a virtual keyboard to search through what is likely the largest library ecosystem there is. Just some thoughts.

  • Matthew_NI
    Matthew_NI Product Team Posts: 1,401 mod

    And, the counter to the prior post!

    All this does is confirm there being no right nor wrong en masse (at least when talking about keyboard controllers... life is a different story) but whatever product works for the individual is right by them.

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