Kontrol 2024 outlook: what was, what now, what next?
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What do you mean by an omni controller? MIDI controllers can of course be used with any content. MK3 will be more usefully used with non-NKS content once the MIDI Templates ship, as mentioned on the roadmap.
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Correct. It will work with anything.
@LostInFoundation you asked the following:
"I will try to explain what I think they are meaning: will MK3 (and its functionalities) be able to be used with HW synths WITHOUT the need of a computer as an intermediary? AKA turn it on, plug it to a synth and have things like Play Assist controlling them? By “anything” do you really mean ANYTHING?"
Yes, the answer is anything.
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Regarding your completely dropping support for the MK1 series S-keyboards. This is VERY dissatisfying! Even Allen & Heath, a bigger company than yours, still supports their 14 year old products! Apparently they (care) about their customers and want their continued loyalty! Your S series keyboards (aren't) the best on the market, nor are they the (only) choice. I (won't) be buying a MK3, what for, if it's only got a lifespan of a few years! Even 13 year old MacBook Pros are still supported by Apple!
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I just need to put this here. And pray that NI and anyone who reads it understands. It’s a simple question.
If the MK3 did not have NKS, would you buy it? Likewise, if ANY competing midi controller had comparable NKS compatibility, would you buy the MK3 over it?
I think we all know the answer to both of those questions. Allow other companies to use NKS in their hardware and NI wouldn’t sell a single unit of the MK3. NKS is great but it doesn’t present enough value on its own and that seems to be the only thing the MK3 has going for it right now.
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I have a beloved NI 88 Mk2. Will KK3 work with this?
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I will try to explain what I think they are meaning: will MK3 (and its functionalities) be able to be used with HW synths WITHOUT the need of a computer as an intermediary? AKA turn it on, plug it to a synth and have things like Play Assist controlling them? By “anything” do you really mean ANYTHING?
I think what users are underlining here is the fact that “The API running Direct Connection actually lives on the MK3 device itself”, “There is no such API, nor any on-device capability to run it, on the MK2 device”, “The graphical and metadata processing necessary for the integration happens near-entirely on-device for MK3” are all consequences of how you decided to make it work.
Even the term “insurmountable” is just a fruit of these choices.
Can you expand more on what brought to those decisions? Since you are willing to be more open, I think explaining why you DECIDED to not develop that API to allow customers to use their existing devices would be something more transparent, instead of using terms like “insurmountable”.
As I already said, a company has a business to run and has all the rights to find ways to make their new products desirable, but trying to make all seems like “otherwise impossible” isn’t the best approach to regain its users confidence. Same is valid for slowly making the products they already bought less and less usable (which sadly seems a consolidated politic in NI, see Kore, Guitar Rig Kontrol, Maschine Jam, Traktor D2, other Traktor Kontrollers, Audio interfaces,… to come to the updates to softwares constantly raising the specs needed in order for them to work…or, even more subtle, the opposite: “you have a new and best performing computer? Well…your old products won’t work on it’). Surely just saying “we decided that if you wanted those advantages you have to buy the new devices, but we won’t put MK1 EOL so you can continue to have what you already had in the future. We are sure the new advantages are enough to convince you to move on with us” would be more understandable. (And please don’t tell me “you can still use your MK1…we all know how it is gonna end…even Kore was a “you can still use it”…but less than 2 years after…. And since all the things you are doing now with Native Access and updates are aimed to make impossible for users to use their old products…it would really sound very hypocritical…)
Things that I find really hard to understand: as already mentioned, I’m sure many users would agree to see many of those new features developed also for the devices/softwares they already own and accept there’s a price to pay for the update and the work put to develop them.
In this modern era, where humanity should start to rethink (and quite fast!) this race to consumerism that is so heavily affecting our world, I think companies are called to play a big role in this mindset change. Even if the profit margin for selling updates instead of new products is a little bit inferior. And specially if going the other way will upset so many users (and therefore put the whole future of the company at risk).
Better to earn “only” 10 for 5 times and having a chance to sell more things in the future than one time 50 with the last thing users will buy from you… At least this is how a far-sighted company should reason…unluckily capital investors think differently (who cares…once they earned more than what they spent, they’ll sell it and buy a new one). Thank you Francisco to ruin the company we loved…
But I clearly understand that how users reason differs very much from how the industry reasons..
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@Matthew_NI Deeper DAW integration is awesome I hope it includes Maschine software upgraded to a full one stop shop create,record,mix/master all in Machine software and hopefully we get a hardware update to integrate Maschine MK3 with the Komplete Kontrol MK3 keyboards because I love my Maschine MK3....I would even like to see them combined for the full Maschine DAW experience call the hardware "Machine Kontrol S1"!!!
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Thank you NI for this wonderful update, so we are not left in the dark.
Personally I'm patiently waiting for FL Studio integration with my S61 Mk3. And hopefully the IL plugins being added to the NKS Standard. They just released another plugin that I can't control with my keyboard at all. I can't even custom map it out because the KK MIDI mapping isn't done yet.
These things at the end of second quarter will be six months late from the promise, but better late than never.
I'm glad your power users complained about these things. As is common with all for-profit companies, the power users have a voice and us normal people don't. We are basically serfs in the kingdom while power users are nobles. We would have to have an army shouting the same thing to get a company to budge. Which breaks the fourth wall of our relationship, lifting the veil of niceties to reveal that this isn't about music or creativity or art or any of those things; it's all about business. Money talks.
I'm glad that I can just wait longer and eventually I will have a fully functioning keyboard. So no complaints while I wait.
Except that I had bought the Machine Mk3, then immediately sold it because you guys don't know what a stop button is. That kind of thing really scares me when I'm so financially invested in one company's hardware. (Still have my S61 Mk3 and my TK S3)
I have a bug report about the new update. The Komplete Kontrol stand alone app hangs when scanning Auto Tune plugins. It refuses to just let it go and ignore Auto Tune, even though Auto Tune plugins aren't even present in my plugins list or checked (enabled) to be used. So the KK app "is not responding" and I can't use it at all. One time after five minutes of it hanging it did work, but I'm not sure what's up with that. I was holding esc to cancel the scan the whole time it was hanging. Then when double checking the plugin library and rescanning it, same thing happened with 'Auto Tune Access'.
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Deeply appreciate the opportunity to weigh in and the road map you have shared.
Many of us use orchestral libraries and we have many discussions on vi control about long throw sliders to control them. A secondary market has emerged for sliders. Among NI’s offerings are orchestral instruments. Please consider this market segment.
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Quite strange your analysis of power users vs “normal” users. It is so different from NI one: for them, power users are just a subset and not enough to justify investments on the features only them use (therefore they don’t have the voice you think they have). They base their decisions on “how many people use it”, so the vaste majority army really counts the most.
As you said, “it's all about business. Money talks”. Few power users make them earn a lot less than all the normal users just using the keys 😏
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what about the looong loading time of the KK plugin, am I the only one struggling with this? A shorter loading time is my greatest wish for the future
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Thank you for this update. I’ve bought the s88 and enjoy my purchase!! It’s an amazing device with loads of capabilities. I also thought that NI would expand the user experience and encourage you guys to keep it going as this device is capable of so much more! 😊
I have a question / request; when loaded Kontakt 7, and use multiple instruments, I’d love to have a volume knob on all first pages of each instrument. Now (as far as I know) I have to go into the software to balance the volumes to my likings. Is that possible? Or maybe even better, I would love to customize the parameters to my liking. Is that already or in the near future possible?
greeting and with kind regards
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I agree with all criticisms and suggestions of previous users and will not repeat most of them. Still I would like again to stress my main concerns after everything I read: I own a S88 MKII for 4 years, and exactly two years ago I bought a S61MKII for my son, which still sits unused like brand new. Now hearing it will not only be not upgraded with at least some of the software features in MKIII, which should have already been in MKII, but also can lose some of the existing features and even total support, is really scary and disappointing. How much should I expect to have these keyboards with at least the current feature set (already understood that hoping for new features is pointless), and how much time to the total drop of support? Even though I am disappointed that none of the new features will be backported even at a reasonable upgrade price, I was thinking about getting a S61 MKIII for me as I need one more controller, and poly AT + Kontakt integration are really tempting, but now I really am not sure whether I should do it. My confidence in the company, which used to be my favorite on the market is eroded. And I know this is because of management/investors. I work for a software company recently acquired by another company, and the same thing happens - customers are really f..ed now with ridiculous price increases just to squeeze more milk from the cash cow.
Now some more focused questions and requirements:
As someone already mentioned, if possible to not pull the USB cable in order to send MIDI signal through the DIN out, would be great, especially if backported to MKIIs. Furthermore it would be great to be possible to send some of the split zones through USB for software control, and other zones - through MIDI DIN for hardware control simultaneously. Currently controlling hardware and software together might be possible only by routing through DAW.
How much do we expect that Kontakt 6 factory library will be available through Native Access for brand new installations? There are some instruments in it (like orchestral tubular bells), which are missing in 7 and I don't want to lose them. Should I make sure to have them backed up offline?
Many people use their controllers in a drawer under the main desk. Reaching the power button on the back is really a pain. With so much space available on the front panel, what about moving that button to a more convenient place, or maybe a second button with the same function, which is configurable to be disabled in live situations, to avoid accidental switching off?
An 88 key controller with synth action would be a nice touch, as long as it has all functionalities of the hammer action one - just two flavors.
Scalable UI for Kontakt is really a must. Only browser being resizable is not enough.
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Yes, it already does.
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The best-case for your volume needs today would be to press the DAW button, and use the volume knob for assigned to the track, and then hop back to the PLUG-IN.
That of course affects the entire multi, rather than the instruments within the multi, which is I think what you're asking. The NKS map for each instrument is defined by the designer for that instrument. This could be someone from our team if it's our instrument, or a third party partner if it's their instrument. I will discuss with the team whether we make this a hard requirement for the NKS implementation guidelines, but that might be too brute force.
Lastly, the user customization would be the path of least resistance to addressing this. You ask if that will be possible in the near future, and the simple answer is not within the next six months, but we do ultimately intend to open NKS 2 up to customization as with NKS 1.
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