Native Access - Q4 Update

Hayo_NI · 2023-10-23T13:45:51+00:00

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Hi everyone. Apologies for the delayed post about our Q4 plans.

Today I want to give you all an update on the progress on our existing workload, and share a bit about what we have coming up.

Q3 Review

Last quarter was dedicated to addressing our user base’s top feedback points, which were:

Download Manager stability issues
Uninstall
Light Mode

It was a bit of a bumpy ride, with some pivots to address potential security risks and our update issues (which 3.6.2 rolled back). But on the plus side, our team got to deliver some features we know you cared about, and are also committed to working on even more good stuff to come.

Early in the quarter, we released Light Mode support for Native Access. From the screenshots that have been flowing around, both within the company and in the public, it’s lovely to see that each user has their own preferred environment, and we’re hoping it has eased some legibility concerns.

Uninstall was also shipped for content products, which includes instruments and expansions, and should cover about 80% of our catalog (if not more). This is something that Mac users can benefit greatly from, considering they did not have means of uninstalling their products without going through an arduous manual process. Our instruments are the products that end up taking the most space on your devices, so hopefully disk space management is now a lot easier!

Lastly, we unfortunately missed our target for the release of our download manager enhancements. We’re close, but we have a few more bugs to sift through before we feel confident that we’re shipping something that’s way better than before out to you. The reason for the delay is that we found several opportunities to enhance the download experience, allowing you to be more absent during the process, such as restarting downloads automatically when connectivity drops. I also promised a Dev Talks entry on this subject. We’re planning for a release of this feature and the Dev Talks entry in November, with version 3.8.0.

Q4 Plans

Q4 is going to be a bit quieter this time around as we prepare for some awesome things to come in 2024. In the spirit of transparency, this quarter will be a bit more of a trial and improvement season with a heavy focus on the client. There will be two main releases, with one smaller one.

First release will set us up for cyber sale. This includes a few bug fixes and some simple UI changes/additions. This will be 3.7.0 and will ship by the latest October 24th.

The following release will be the download manager enhancements we’ve worked all quarter on. As mentioned earlier, these need a bit more fine tuning. In addition, this release will provide a major update improvement as well, so that you don’t essentially need to download the whole product anew again when updating your products. While this release will provide support for this already, we still need to update all of our product installers, so the tech will take a while to bear its fruit in full. Last addition into this release will be adding a few links to help you continue your browsing journey in search of the right product for you, whether you own it or not. This will be a test to see if you’re finding what you’re looking for to level up your musical toolkit, and to learn more about your browsing needs that we look forward to addressing.

This release will be big, and while hopefully no major issues or regressions bear its head, we’ll be dedicating some time to monitor this release as well to make sure it hits the spot. In the meantime, we will also be getting up to speed on supporting Sonoma.

Lastly, as we’re working to migrate both our products and our customers from Product Portal to Native Access, recently iZotope’s Element Suites made the journey over! The teams involved did an incredible job navigating the complex differences between our product architecture, both on the fulfilment and deployment side, and there’s still a lot of work to do, so look forward to more bundles and additions as we level up our ecosystem.

This quarter, we’ve chosen to pause the work on the remaining products that need uninstall support. We want to commit further as a team to monitor the download manager, and as such are all hands on deck. With it being a short quarter, this means we’ll revisit the feature in Q1 next year, along with other work that I’ll be excited to share with you.

As per usual, I will spend a full week addressing your feedback, comments, and questions. Hope everyone is having a great start to the holiday season and is staying healthy!

Hayo, PM of Native Access and Product Portal.

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Comments

Vocalpoint

@Hayo_NI

Whether it is on the roadmap or not - I really think you guys need to address the developing situation with KK2.9.x and KK3.x

For those of us who do not yet (and may never have) a Kontrol Series MKIII device and especially for those with MK1 devices - being offered KK3 within Native Access is a recipe for disaster.

The MK1 user should NEVER see KK3 in their Native Access Update queue - as this would essentially neuter their keyboard and cause them to have to revert to KK2.9.x - which of course is no longer offered within Native Access either. Hassle factor city x100.

For us MKII users - while KK3 is supposedly "supported" for my board - I really do not want to make any mistakes or hit the Install All button by mistake and install KK3 here either.

KK3's cutback feature set, performance and general lack of fit and finish - is a no go for me and I also do not need to be reminded of its presence every time I open NA. Would love some sort of ability to "hide" updates that will wreak havoc (like KK3 would here) or that I just do not wish to install/see in a general sense.

There have been countless threads on these boards from numerous users thinking KK3 was a good thing and because "it's there" they went for it and regretted the move 2 minutes later.

You guys are in the middle of a huge transition here and I think Native Access could play a positive role in saving people some major hassles that they really do not need to be tempted with.

mykejb

Yep I'd agree with that - KK2/KK3 should really be separate installs in the same way you have Traktor 2/Traktor 3 or Kontakt 5/Kontakt/Kontakt 7. At least then you can push updates to KK2 and KK3 and let everyone see them. For example, there's just been the first final update for KK2 announced in the forums, but people who rely on NA for installations don't get to see that. Also, the KK3 install should have a large "If you have a MK1 keyboard don't install this" banner, at least on the first installation.

-- Mike

Vocalpoint

"For example, there's just been the first final update for KK2 announced in the forums, but people who rely on NA for installations don't get to see that"

Agreed. No sign of KK 2.96 whatsoever in NA as of this morning.

If I did not visit the forums - would never know this new update even existed.

Hayo_NI

Hi,

Thanks for raising this issue with us VP and Mike! I'll bring this to the teams involved and see what we can do.

PoorFellow

Hi Hayo , happy to learn that you and the rest of the team(s) are doing great progress. Hopes that it turns out bug free or if any bugs that you may easily iron them out. Best of luck on all endeavors 🙂

lord-carlos

In the Traktor forum I sometimes see people wondering why they can't download the latest version of traktor. And it often turns out they still have NA1 installed and did not know there is a new version available.

Is there any plan to tell NA1 users of NA2? Or some kind of auto upgrade for them?

Hayo_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/102617#Comment_102617

There is. We were hoping to do this this quarter. We have moved it to next quarter. We prioritized the download manager work instead for this quarter and are giving it the space it needs to properly monitor.

LostInFoundation

No auto upgrade please! I WANT to remain in NA1!

Any other way to inform users of the new version and its new features is more than welcome, specially once that new version and new features will be perfectly working. At that point, I’ll be more than happy to move to it on my own, but at the moment I don’t want to be forced with an auto upgrade

Hayo_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/102665#Comment_102665

Native Access 1 is not actively being maintained. All the effort is going into NA2.

NA is a live-service product, and as such we want to service all users with their product management needs. To do so effectively we need everyone on NA2 so long as their device supports it. There's a lot of cost and security concerns here, on top of the fact that it's hard to maintain two environments doing the same thing.

In the end, if NA doesn't work for you, then support will always offer you to stay in NA1, but ideally we just fix your issue and get rid of it entirely. So far the experience has drastically improved from launch, and 3.8.0 will be a download manager overhaul that we're already seeing promise in.

LostInFoundation

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/102674#Comment_102674

I’m not asking any effort for NA1. Just to not auto update it.

As I said, I’ll be more than happy to move to NA2 and all its functionalities…as soon as it will be a stable program

Tomboman

@Hayo_NI

Thanks a lot! Here are 2 things:

Please add Sonoma support asap - On October 30th Apple will release new Macs (as the rumors say, new Macbook Pro with M3 chip). But they will ship with Sonoma, so I have no chance to install any NI software.
What would be nice in the future, that I can deselect a product to be shown as available to install (Like Absynth, which is not supported on Apple Silicon at all) - "Show legacy products" is not activated by the way

Thanks a lot!

Tomboman

@Hayo_NI

And please bring back the releases notes when I click the version - I don't know why you removed that. Now I have to click on the product, and then scroll to release notes and click. This is really frustrating when there are more than 1 update.

Especially since the chaos with the new NKS versions of Kontakt instruments that need Kontakt 7 now. I want to see right away what changed and if I can still use it.

Thanks :)

Bildschirmfoto 2023-10-26 um 08.35.09.png

Scho33

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/102781#Comment_102781

+1 / agree on de-selecting owned products to install.

Also due to e.g. "Vintage Keys" that I have installed and that makes the installation of the three individual Scarabees (A200 / MLK1 / Calvinet) obsolete (so I don't want/need to see them to be available for installation).

Same applies to me once you add (maybe) all iZotope plugins as I have Ozone 8 and 9 Elements plus Ozone 9 Advanced from which I only install the latter (and would not need to see the Elements versions).

Vocalpoint

"+1 / agree on de-selecting owned products to install"

Totally agree with this AND making Komplete Kontrol 3 disappear until such time that is actually is worth considering.

nico5

I would really like to be able to hide (make invisible) undesirable upgrades in Native Access (like software and library versions that need hardware or software I don’t have).

Interestingly enough, this has been available with Izotope’s installation manager for a long time already.

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