Komplete Kontrol S series MK1 keyboards End Of Life
Comments
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Firstly Matt many thanks for replying and points taken. I note that many distributors still have Mk2's available and I assume are keen to move them on. Perhaps some deal could be made so that current Mk1 owners could be offered special pricing to move up to a Mk2. That way they can stay current and dealers could be helped in clearing Mk2 stock. What do you think?
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N.I. have considered that and are taking it into further consideration ! :
Quote other user (Tom Collins , Oct 10, 2023) : The least NI could do was to issue some vouchers for us MK1 users to get a little discount towards the new MK3 keyboards
Quote Matthew_NI , October 10 : This is a very fair point. I can suggest this to the team and see what they say.
To be transparent, this decision was not made to entice MK1 users to upgrade. Indeed, Kontrol S MK3 was built primarily for new customers who don't yet have a Kontrol keyboard.
Certainly, some may wish to upgrade, but for everyone else, MK1 still works, and will still work indefinitely in MIDI mode or using KK 2.9.4, which as stated, we'll make available.
The risk of issuing vouchers would be the perception that this decision was a money-grab designed to force users to upgrade, as opposed to a decision made with particular legacy libraries and frameworks that are no longer compatible with or supported by new features we're introducing or wish to build (ironically, by popular demand).
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I didn't really want to add to the discussion here in general because I knew how unhinged and polarized it would become.
When one user writes a story about "working trucks of a very famous company" , I really like this persons attitude and think the person right. But I also think the person rather not in touch with real life when criticizing the best life efforts of a N.I. employee that have had to make a hard decision on behalf of the company to keep the company competitive and improving products.
So about planes versus trains , I have not done the math on that but I will link to an article by people that apparently have ! : "Why you should choose a train journey instead of a flight" , and in the same go , then when someone starts to criticizing the best life efforts of another then maybe that someone ought to give a little more thought to the actual situation. And personally then I wold be surprised if the job of Matthew_NI does not involve the need of a certain amount of traveling making it all that harder to balance 'environmentally'. Then I see another attack from someone saying "you should live where you work" , but let me remind you that this is a discussion about a Keyboard not your personal political platform and if you have good ideas then advocate them where appropriate rather than trying to use them as personal flocking tool against company employees you are unhappy with !
Same goes for the use of 'plastic' when making keyboards. It becomes disconnected from reality when it becomes only sought used as a tool to facilitate a license to further aggression or venting because of unhappiness.
First of all I do not think that anyone have the right to make this discussion about the EOL of the KK MK1 keyboard into a 'have to stand trial for every design decision made by NI' as little as someone have the right try to turn the discussion into a platform for global political agendas or about the life choices of a single N.I. employee individual !
Secondly , with respect to design of keyboards and the use of plastic then I am sure that a lot of materials have been considered and that the decisions made has been the 'art of the possible' paired with the 'what is necessary' (the latter especially in very many ways) (Weight , durability in more ways , easy to clean , and so on and so on)..
So over all I'd like to ask, at least some, people to maybe, you know, take it down a notch or two ! , so that this will become a discussion about what it ought to be about , namely the EOL of a keyboard , that will keep working with the software you already have (until broken by event not controlled by NI) and that you can keep downloading same software for should the need arise !
Finally I think that we all need to remember that , even though we can have a lot sympathy towards people who feel their investment , and for some even their business , impacted by the N.I. decision, then at the end of the day then if Native Instruments did not take appropriate steps to make ends meet and also to develop new technologies to make new sales and so on (insert more 'go green' here) then N.I. would soon stop existing and people would loose all support and all downloads ! Because in the end then they need money as much as you and I do.
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There is not actually a ton of Kontrol S MK2 availability remaining, however this is a good suggestion for what availability does exist. As I said to someone else in the thread, I've passed on the idea of preferential upgrade pricing (to whatever device). We had thought such an offer might be seen as a money grab, because we're not specifically seeking to entice MK1 users to upgrade (our hope would be that it functions well indefinitely). But I'm hearing the feedback in this thread, so passed that along and the marketing team is considering it.
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Building products based on software+electronics that evolve with technological advances and remain competitive in the marketplace demands these actions, and I welcome them.
I want evolving products that can do more without legacy baggage.
NI has been very reasonable in this point of product transition in my opinion.
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You should also have received an email, but if not, my apologies.
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Unless you plan to upgrade existing MK2 users to MK3 for free if you have warranty repairs that you don't want to fix then, as you most likely well knows, you will maybe need to have a certain amount of MK2 units on stock for whatever unforeseen events..
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I'm quoting this again. The issue you posted is only happening with the Maschine VST3 plug-in, no one reported it with Komplete Kontrol yet. Have you tried yourself? I understand the frustration and whatever opinion you have on the matter but please be careful with the information you convey.
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I'm sorry you see this as a failure.
It's been officially supported for 9 years, and is being left with full support for the next major generational change we're likely to see for some time (Apple Silicon). To end of life a product, meaning no further development, is never an easy decision to make. On the flip side, we also have users unhappy at a lack of, or slow progress in other areas, which incompatible technologies are responsible for. As the FAQ explains, a breaking change was necessary.
In other words, looking ahead sometimes involves EOL. This is not a concept unique to us, albeit not without cost and frustration as and when it affects users. Other people on this thread have pointed out, smartphone manufacturers are far less unforgiving than 10 years, and do embody planned obsolescence, which we endeavor to avoid.
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Indeed. I can understand the frustration, but hope the message is heard that it doesn't stop working overnight, or indeed anytime soon, or indeed ever in some capacity.
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Much appreciated! I think it's fair to say only that to each their own, and I have to own the decisions as made, but can understand why some feel as they do.
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We're talking about two different things.
Inventory with retailers for general sale is not the same as inventory we'd reserve to accommodate any warranty repair or replacement.
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Hi,
In the Email I received yesterday, what follows isn't totally clear besides the appreciated answers from @Matthew_NI :
"From October 12, 2023, we will start to introduce new features and improvements to our software that are not compatible with Kontrol S-Series MK1. These software changes will arrive first in Komplete Kontrol 3.0 and Kontakt 7 and expand from there."
Ok my KK61 mk1's will tomorrow be frozen in its actual state with the kk 2.9.4, but I can't actually figure out the involvements for my mostly NI setup (Maschine mk3, Jam and KK61 mk1)...
For example I use komplete 13 std, If I want to upgrade to K14 this means not installing Kontakt7 and all vst3 stuff that has "expand from there"
What about future newer NI's or tiers companies NKS compatible vst's ...will my KK2.9.4 instance be able to search load and automatically map the chosen presets to my KK61 mk1 keyboard or due to KK 3.0 manual mapping will be the only way?
Will It be ok to have a KK 2.9.4 instance in Ableton managing for example a non-Kontakt 7 (but NKS) instrument and a Maschine 2 VST3 running a kontakt 7 instrument in a sound slot?
In other words what Maschine (+) Komplete Kontrol S mk1 users should know about their eco-system if they decide to keep their mk1 in..;
Thanks
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I take it. My bad, I reported something someone else was saying.
Edit October 12: in the end, it seems the information I was conveying wasn’t so wrong, since you’ve been able to reproduce it and filed a bug case
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AND - it is NOT actually an issue that is reproducible beyond just a couple of users on this board.
Maschine 2 VST works fine in Studio One 6.2.1 over here.
VP
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