New Kontakt Instrument Not Working (NI Ripping Off Customers Rant)

synthrobot

Was hoping someone could help me out here, because if I understand correctly Native Instruments is essentially misleading and scamming their customers.

I took advantage of the current cyber sale to purchase the "Feel-It" Kontakt Instrument pack at a sale price for $25. Installed it correctly, fired up my DAW, loaded Kontakt, and- wow, look at that. I get an error message saying my version of Kontakt is too old to run the instrument plugin. So I go into Native Access, and sure enough there's an update available for Kontakt. I install the update, thinking this will fix the issue, then reopen my DAW and try again. Doesn't work. I get the same error as before.

Apparently, I have to pay 50 dollars to update from Kontakt 6 to Kontakt 7 in order to run this thing, despite spending 400 dollars on a bundle for Kontakt 6 just last year. HOW are they able to get away with this?? I've already bought Kontakt. I purchased the instrument pack. Somehow this isn't enough to actually be able to use their products as time goes on, because they force you pay a pretty large sum of money to update Kontakt, and you have to update it in order to be able to use newer Kontakt instruments. So essentially they are operating on a subscription model (because you have to continually pay them every year to properly be able to use the product), despite advertising Kontakt as something that can be purchased and owned.

Apologies for the rant, but NI's methods of operating their business and billing regarding these products feels like a ripoff at worst and terribly lacking in transparency at best. Has anyone figured out a way around this issue, or been able to use newer plugins with Kontakt 6? I don't understand how/why these instruments aren't backwards compatible. I'm only ONE version of Kontakt behind the newest one- why should that prevent me from being able to use their products? Again, I've already purchased the instrument pack and given them my money, and I can't even use it. They need to put disclaimers on these products if you're not actually going to be able to use them upon purchasing. Rant over.

Jeremy_NI

@synthrobot Feel it can be used with Kontakt 7 Player, like all NI libraries, Kontakt 7 Player is free.

reffahcs

According to NI's website you should be able to use the free Kontakt Player 7 to play Feel It.

Make sure you have Kontakt Player 7 installed and then try it again? Best of luck, please be sure to reply if it works so other people with the same issue can find the solution.

Cheers

nzih

No, that is no solution. If you buy a pack, you should be able to use Kontakt to get into the innards, which the player won't let you do.

The issue here is Native Access & NI in general. NI need to be much clearer, also Native Access should flag dependency issues.

I bought Standard a while ago, I don't regret it, but I don't love it, but the purchase process is a joke & Native Access is a disaster.

reffahcs

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/107838#Comment_107838

Well it's unfortunate that you feel that way, but that's actually the exact different between the free version and the paid version.

PoorFellow

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/18674/new-kontakt-instrument-not-working-ni-ripping-off-customers-rant

Actually , there is no misleading or scamming , you have just neglected to read the System requirements part (found down the page where it says At a Glance) which clearly states :   Free KONTAKT PLAYER or KONTAKT (version 7.1.5 or higher). Please also see the KONTAKT PLAYER system requirements and the KONTAKT PLAYER FAQ

If you are unhappy with your purchase for the reasons that you have given then perhaps customer service will let you have a refund. I do not now exact policy for a case like yours or for your specific area but since you do not own the full version of the Kontakt 7 required then it is possible that you could get a refund anyway. N.I. are not scamming you !

For general rules please see the appropriate T.O.S. for your area here. But generally then most likely the withdrawal period will expire after 14 (fourteen) days. But no matter what if unhappy ask customer service anyway !

Jeremy_NI

@synthrobot Feel it can be used with Kontakt 7 Player, like all NI libraries, Kontakt 7 Player is free.