Kontrol 2024 outlook: what was, what now, what next?

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  • Ojustaboo
    Ojustaboo Member Posts: 332 Advisor
    edited July 26

    Actually there have been some very long and detailed discussions in this forum by a number of NI people regarding these issues going back into last year. Unfortunately they're scattered all over this forum and NI has been pretty forthcoming with owning up to their mistakes, and the steps they've taken to get things worked out.

    I don’t recall (happy to be proven wrong) NI releasing an official announcement apologising for the screwup.

    While the staff posting on here have been extremely helpful, and while I can tell from their wording that they are sorry and are as frustrated as most of us have been, I don’t recall one single post from any of them actually saying their company got it wrong, and apologising. This isn’t me having a dig at them, it’s simply that their bosses simply wouldn’t allow them to say that.


    I agree with everything else you say


  • Ojustaboo
    Ojustaboo Member Posts: 332 Advisor

    Thanks.

    I’ll give it a go over the weekend and see how I get on

  • DunedinDragon
    DunedinDragon Member Posts: 971 Guru

    I guess it depends on what each person defines as having gotten "it" wrong. "It" varies person to person, but each person is different and you can't judge "it" based on a few people in a forum expressing what they think was a bad decision.

    Was it wrong to make the strategic decision to move forward with the new standards being used in the industry rather than playing catch up later? If a person only examines it from their personal perspective and how it individually affected them they might say yes. Examined from the perspective of having a healthy and well positioned company to continue to be a leader in the industry and therefore benefit me as a customer over the long term, then no. The same applies to the changes in the interfaces of the various apps. Yes, your normal workflow may be affected so at a personal level you may feel that was a wrong decision. To some that just adapted and adjusted their workflow like I did, I have no problem with any of it. All of these things will ultimately be determined over time as to whether or not these current decisions were wrong or not. Not by the response of just a few people in a forum but by the acceptance or non acceptance in the marketplace.

  • Beatsandmore
    Beatsandmore Member Posts: 139 Advisor

    Ok thank you again for open transparency.. almost a year and play assist we still have to wait for I have not even researched what midi templates is for or do I care.. I have been a customer since 2013 and another product since the '90's the slow pace for improvements to what the product advertised for is mind boggling.. so 2026 my mk3 will be outdated then it will be useful.. really I'm no joke I have turned it on 20 times.. I use my other tools to get the job done.. I took another batch of money to invest in NI to be fleeced again sad state...

  • Necromacner
    Necromacner Member Posts: 14 Member

    you should pick up a used Novation SL mkiii, I did. No regrets. It’s a different workflow and really does open your eyes to new things. I know it came out 5 years ago, but it is still entirely relevant, especially for template, key switch guid lights, and external hardware control (the things we are waiting on NI to produce).

  • Ojustaboo
    Ojustaboo Member Posts: 332 Advisor
    edited July 28


    Totally agree

    Also I have always found the removal of the Maschine buttons bizarre even tho I am not a Maschine user, especially since I assume Maschine will soon have some updates. There is this statement: 

    Why not take the suggestions made over the years and offer MIDI mapping of these buttons when not connected to Maschine so users could add some useful functionality in a DAW instead of completely removing integration with your own products?

    Totally agree.

    What I personally find weird, my two main keyboards both bought January.

    S88 mk3 with no sliders and less buttons than the mk2 (and, as minuscule as this might seem to most, the power button in a very stupid place for those of us with the keyboard on a pullout shelf)

    Arturia Keylab 61 mk2 with tons of buttons and sliders.

    I absolutely love and adore them both. Both very well built. Both very different, one minimalist, one with buttons and knobs everywhere

    I was debating for ages which way to go, do I get 88 note Keylab and 61 note S mk3 or do I go for what I ended up getting, 61 note Keylab and 88 note S mk3.

    I made the right decision, having all the knobs etc on the synth feel keybed rather than the piano feel makes much more sense. Although I do wish both had sliders and that the s88 had an extra knob dedicated (by default) to the overall volume of whatever instrument I have loaded.

    Having these two keyboards works excellently for me, I even only need one sustain pedal, doesn’t matter which of the two I plug it into, it sustains both keyboards.

    There’s something about the S88 in my opinion, can’t put my finger on it, it just oozes quality, the feel of the knobs etc, the clearness of the screen (although I hope they make more use of it, personally not interested in a static picture of whatever instrument I’m using taking up 3/4 of the screen)

    I know the keybed isn’t the best piano like keybed, my Casio PX 870 piano that this replaced had a much more accurate piano feel in my opinion (mind you, others on piano forums didn’t rate my Casio all that well), but the Casio was bought as a piano whereas this was bought as an 88 note midi controller and while I didn’t expect it to be as quite good, it’s still a very very very nice keybed to play and again in my opinion it compares very very favourably against other companies 88 note midi controllers.

    So, for me, while I do worry a bit about future software development as I’ve said in earlier comments, I am very pleased with my S88 and very pleased I decided to buy it.

    However, this only works so well for me as I have all the extra knobs and sliders on my Arturia.

    If I had just one keyboard, had I gone the S mk3 series, I’d have had to also buy something like the Studiologic SL Mixface.

    If I didn’t also own maschine, I’d have also bought something like the Presonus Atom to go along side my Mixface.

    Not a huge deal really, although some may argue that with the cost of the S mk3 series, we shouldn’t have to fork out on additional sliders and pads.

    Others of course will argue that they don’t need or want pads and they would rather NI keep the minimalist look. Personally, while I’d like sliders, I do think pads would sort of ruin my S88, can’t put my finger on why.

    Anyway, hopefully midi templates will be here any day now.

  • DunedinDragon
    DunedinDragon Member Posts: 971 Guru

    @Ojustaboo

    I get exactly what you're saying. There's a simplicity and basic functionality about the S88MK3 that inspires me and makes me super productive just using the simple, basic tools it provides. It feels good and compliments the way I work in the studio which makes it a joy to use. I actually look forward to creating a new track on a project and am often very surprised at how quickly I can put several of them together in a single session. I think the extra stuff would just be a distraction in my case.

  • Beatsandmore
    Beatsandmore Member Posts: 139 Advisor

    Just checking

    Just checking to see if we are on track for the update..

  • napole0n
    napole0n Member Posts: 1 Member

    Well, July 31st came and went but according to Native Access there are no updates.

    Is anybody surprised?

  • JesterMgee
    JesterMgee Member Posts: 2,969 Expert

    I am sure it will be rushed out any time soon if for no other reason than to stop further moaning. Push it out now, fix it up later…

  • Beatsandmore
    Beatsandmore Member Posts: 139 Advisor
    edited July 31

    Confused we waited 10 months just to get midi templates update which i wont even use? There no fixes to the software...wow

    Watch the video you can create templates but you have a black screen can you add a image?

  • BIF
    BIF Member Posts: 970 Guru

    Hi and thanks for your advice. Trying to honor @Matthew_NI 's plea to keep this to roadmap topics, but to quickly answer your question, I've been eyeing them on Ebay and Reverb, but the Novation will have to wait…because I blew the budget and just bought a "gently used" (lol) Yamaha Montage M6; due to arrive this week! Going to remap the living room so that I can play my Fantom 6 and my Montage 6 together, lol! Both have good DAW control, so I will be bringing one or the other into my home office/studio from time to time to record.

  • Skijumptoes
    Skijumptoes Member Posts: 72 Helper

    They never said anything will be released on July 31st. It was 1st Aug the intended date for the update and firmware to go live.

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