Kontrol 2024 outlook: what was, what now, what next?
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@Matthew_NI are there plans on the roadmap for Play Assist to have a keyboard split option? Lower octaves with Play Assist and higher octaves without, or vice versa? For how that could work, have a look at Scaler 2.0 and you can see how amazing that can be for creative options otherwise not possible with just two hands!
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That’s good suggestion. And NI doesn’t even have to look in other places: some of their programs (like Session Guitarist ones) already use lower octaves for key switches and other similar things.
It would be about expanding this idea to the broader concept of instruments and allow to switch it on or off
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@LostInFoundation The implementation can be even simpler at first. All you’d have to do is assign a range to Play Assist. That’s all. More advanced functions such as those found in Scaler can be added on in subsequent updates. And this would keep it in line with @Matthew_NI’s approach with not overwhelming the user with options and building forward with simple functional blocks (an approach also seen with the likes of Steve Jobs when the first iPhone was released).
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I don’t see it as a crack in anything as this is very different from performance features and it is just sensible to see this as a both/and rather than either/or proposition. I don’t recall anyone saying templates had to be device only.
Also I would think play assist will remain in the software KK too but just that is good for people to be able to work away from being tied to the computer for such performance features
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There is instead a computer and software inside the device that is "frozen". A user could choose to keep an external computer system "frozen" and be future-proofed to the same extent.
So it's more about the convenience of having it all contained in one box... but those knobs and buttons are gonna fail... so not really all that "future proof".
And as new creative music production technologies emerge, the on-device CPU/display will be "future proof" in the sense that they will be antiquated in their abilities to do the really cool stuff.
So give users a choice with an equally-enabled desktop environment.
And then measure the usage stats.
Guess what approach will win in user time spent?
Heads-up vs Heads-down?
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We don't need to guess! We've got years and several models worth of feedback. Pretty resoundingly users wanted on-device agnosticism.
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Amen to that Matthew!!
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This question was raised internally as well.
The first version will be one instance of Play Assist across the whole range. But we have a design and follow up details for multiple instances (so that key ranges can have one per instance). An important pre-requisite for this might be the ability to save and recall Play Assist presets.
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Of course, who wouldn't want on-device agnosticism? I want it too.
But from future-focused (not historic data of aging users), and a "systems thinking" approach to UX, I strongly believe the reality is that most users will prefer a primarily "heads-up" experience.
If well-designed, it can keep you more in the flow.
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This sounds truly awesome @Matthew_NI but is it overly complicated to start? Not sure why saving presets is a pre-requisite. To me it seems that assigning a Play Assist range to the existing Play Assist menu is a great start. Other features like setting multiple Play Assist zones etc. can follow in subsequent updates. Saving presets would be last on the list once the feature set is established. This follows a model where functions grow organically with user input. Start simple and build!
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One last point on the "Heads-Up vs Heads Down" then I'll try to set it aside (for a few weeks?).
I see some parallels in the recent evolution of car dashboard design. The past 10 years (2014-2024) had been a hodgepodge of old & new, and what is possible with more affordable emerging technologies.
Assuming that most users are using NI keyboards most of the time with a DAW, then that DAW desktop/laptop screen is very much the highway upon which they are driving.
And like a car driver, I want my hands to "magically" know where to go without the need to look down at knobs and buttons.
NI's own Kontrol MK3 hardware design philosophy of "elegant simplicity" is on target with its intentional lack of excessive sliders, knobs, etc. This minimalism is a great foundation for a more successful "Heads-Up" implementation.
The desktop software needs to follow and reinforce this "elegant simplicity" to succeed in the full realization of the "Heads-UP" UX.
This is what future users will flock to and love deeply. They will be more productive and stay in the creative flow.
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Sitting with Arturia Analog Labs browser. Honestly there are so many UX things Komplete Kontrol should improve. I dont like the color coding option in Analog Labs but instead it is fairly easy to save presets to a "playlist" to the sidebar - for me that playlist is a project name.
In Komplete Kontrol, let me then browse, save presets to a list (project name) - do something similar in Guitar Rig, Battery and Maschine.
This is an improvement I would like to see.
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I'm probably a bit more old school in this regard...because I AM old. I'm not sure I'll ever divorce myself from the computer screen entirely. It's just too efficient in many cases. That being said I am beginning to divorce myself little by little on a track by track basis to operating exclusively on my S88MK3 when I remember I can do it. But that's why I like the concept of shared and coordinated functionality between the computer and the keyboard. I've seen hints of that in the current release and I think I may get more oriented toward more operations being done exclusively on the keyboard over time. My next milestone is managing my presets exclusively from the keyboard.
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Sometimes I prefer using on device such as browsing on my S88, and find it easier than using the Komplete Kontrol browser. Other times I find using the Komplete Kontrol software easier, especially if say I’m making a new sound from scratch on something with a ton of parameters like the CS80
As I’m using a DAW, obviously I’m looking at the PC monitor most of the time.
For me, when I think about what I really want from “on device”, I’m thinking along the lines of not having to touch the mouse.
For example I would love it if there was a page in Komplete Kontrol software that completely mimicked looking at them the S series screen, buttons and knobs so I could use muscle memory to say browse on my S88 and view what’s happening on my monitor.
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I would love it if there was a page in Komplete Kontrol software that completely mimicked looking at them the S series screen, buttons and knobs so I could use muscle memory to say browse on my S88 and view what’s happening on my monitor.
This not helping?
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