Komplete Kontrol S series MK1 keyboards End Of Life
Comments
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I have nothing to add but my complete agreement to the bewilderment and anger. I also respect N.I. for bearing witness here to what must very painful reading. It is surely the darkest period in Native Instruments history.
However, it is always what happens when the founders of a thriving innovative business sell out to the corporate greed machine. It's very sad, but N.I are no different than countless others..TC Electronic, Midas, Klark Teknik, Moog Music, SSL etc. ..all gone, all absorbed.
However, I really hope Chris, Matt, Matthew et al turn it around. I'm genuinely supportive of their journey. But man..what a ******-up!
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Speaking for myself, I think there has been a serious over reaction to the abandonment of the mk1's. It's the way they did it. At least it still works as it always has and is still a terrific keyboard...looks like the new Korg Keystage making me feel like NI got the mk1 right
What is really wrong is the implementation. How people found out about the demise with very short notice or really no notice at all unless they closely follow the goings on of Native Instruments. I registered my mk1 and bought quite a bit of NI stuff...they know how to reach mk1 users. This all created quite a disruption in my music land. Our time is as valuable as their time.
Also really bad is how NI seems to be happy just pumping out instruments and then not bothering to make them better...My native guitars are all stuck on v1 as an example...There is so much more they could do with this stuff. As a result I;m supporting Impact Soundworks .. their Shreddage guitars are awesome..they are now on version 3.5..they do so much more and sound far more authentic than my NI Session Guitars...and are nks. I bet they continue to make their stuff better and better.
I;m hanging on to my mk1 until the wheels fall off. I don't need another pretty screen from a company who doesn't care about their customers. I just wish there were other keyboards out there w. light guides that work with the nks eco that I now find myself stuck in
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It doesn't often happen that I align to all points expressed by a fellow user, this is an exception. It only tells me that a lot more people must think the same, and it's a real shame.
NI has all the liberty to change direction in any way it sees fit, it's the communication aspect that keeps a lot of us in awe. And it's not about frequency, profesionalism, or tact, it's about dissonance - which is in some ways even worse. "We listened to our users and the workflow is so much more powerful and more integrated, and so much better in virtually all ways".. but then we look at the product and..
Where are the emperor's new clothes? Maybe NI has something in the oven.. Or maybe things were too much to bear and NI had to make some difficult decisions. But then be open with the users and maybe don't have a procession until the clothes are ready..
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Unluckily “be open” and business don’t go well together very often.
My big problem is…maybe they DO have something in the oven…but lately the cooks are changed…or my taste has changed…
I don’t know if I want to discover what the new dishes will taste like.
Specially if they serve them half raw…or if, after I asked for years for a meat dish, they tell me “our datas tell us that our clients make different orders. Some take beef, some take fish, some eat vegetarians…but all of them have salad as a side. Therefore…take this unseasoned lettuce”
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Half raw is problem. But SW development time needed is often underestimated. And there are certain deadlines, points of release and so on.
So, quite often the decision is... Have loss of reputation or have loss of money because of delay...
I have experienced big SW projects delayed year, two..... When HW is finished is clear. SW is never completely finished and one has to say. OK this will do for now.....
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Hi @Kubrak
I accept that SW development time is needed, but there must have been a robust "plan" from day 1, for the hardware with regard to what functionality NI envisaged for the Mk3 product line, and surely the software should have been developed in tandem along with the hardware? I remain unconvinced as to why KK3 is such an underwhelming piece of browsing software when used within a DAW when they had perhaps upwards of 2-3 years of development time.
Admittedly I can't use it properly in my current workflow - I have a KK S88 Mk1 keyboard which would be crippled by its use (that's another story altogether), but I have downloaded and experienced it on one of my other Macs.
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I do not say it is right. I just explain why this happens here and there....
The thing is that firmware is not finished when HW is finished. Production of HW and distribution takes months. So, everyone things, we have months to complete SW. They have plans and schedules and so on. But SW development takes longer than expected. New firmware has to be released to make HW functional, but firmware is not at the point expected.....
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What still works after this update? Can I continue to use the piano as a MIDI piano? Or does that no longer work at all?
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I do not know, I have not tried and keep using KK2.... But as far as I understand it, KK Sxx MK1 should work in KK3 as MIDI keyboard. Which is IMHO for nothing as no lightguide and no meaningfull labels on displays, if any..... OK one may MIDI learn.... Pretty much work .... And one bought NI keyboard mainly because to have benefit of NKS and lightguide....
I am not going to use KK3 till my MK1 keyboard lives on. I am not going to use it in MIDI and without lightguide.
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That's not actually true - many much larger companies are open with their information and their source code. NI has just chosen to embrace the current, sick American model of secrecy and obfuscation to protect themselves at their customers cost.
If they have compelling products they will sell, keeping them secret and creating a situation where customers can't plan their own businesses in the future does the opposite.
They're selling audio production tools, not a final product but a step along the way. People need those tools to be robust and long lasting - what are we meant to do if we need to pull up a project 10 or 15 years later and NI have deprecated all the software and it no longer runs on current systems? This is a real thing the audio production world and it happens a lot.
It doesn't matter if they have something 'in the oven' we need the products we built upon in the past to keep working and being supported into the future - that's what being a professional company is all about.
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Ugh, is there a way to prevent Native Access from upgrading Komplete Kontrol whenever I want to update my installation without individually clicking on every single instrument plugin?
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Not at the moment but a lot of us have been asking to be able to a) hide/exclude some items from being upgraded and b) have KK2.9 as a separate legacy version in NA
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Yeah it'd make sense to have KK2.9 and KK3 as separately-installable apps/plugins, which would also mitigate the issue of someone who wants to keep their S88mk1 while also picking up an mk3 version of a secondary controller.
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Or, honestly, I'd be fine with upgrading to KK3 as long as I could at least keep the NKI light guides. That's literally the only KK feature I use on my mk1, but it's very important to me.
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I'm with you with that wish 100%.
The Light Guide for me, is THE KEY feature of the S-Series instruments - to be able to identify and play within the range of the instrument selected, AND also, identify easily where the non-note key switches and other stuff is. It is a great workflow advantage.
How hard can it be to keep this functionality going for Mk1 owners in the KK world moving forward? Clearly too hard...
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