Are we ever going to be able to change midi channels on the S-series MK3?

Raz Koller

You know, that thing that midi controllers that cost £50 can do?

I've been asking about it for almost8 months now. I kept being told 'it's coming'. First it was March, then April - then when April came and went and nothing happened, I couldn't get any more responses from the NI representatives on this forum.

Which is why I thought I'd start a new thread.

Because I gotta say, it's not the fact that you put out a premium product that is only premium in price and mislead customers by not telling them it's only half-baked - this is the era we leave in and I came to expect that from companies by now.

No, it's the way I feel you treat your customers after the fact. By either lying to them or ignoring them. Which is why when 2 musicians I know were recently in the market for a new midi controller, I made SURE they don't go for Native Instruments. It wasn't hard, I just showed them my own MK3 which cost me around £700, but cannot do what my old 70£ Roland keyboard from 10 years ago can do. And then I showed them my previous thread.

They said exactly what I felt - 'they'll probably going to update the firmware, so it's going to get better, that's not a problem. But yeah, the way they ignore questions and make false promises, that's a deal breaker'.

And here we are. I decided to give it one final try.

I purchased the keyboard in January. It is now August. Can we please have an update that allows this keyboard to change midi channels like your most basic midi controller? And when is this miracle going to happen?

Kymeia

If you took a second to read the forum or check Native Access you would see that this functionality and a lot more was released last week

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/34299/how-to-create-custom-midi-templates-with-kontrol-s-mk3

DunedinDragon

Well, in all fairness, it is easier to whine and complain than to be knowledgeable and proficient.

Raz Koller

First of all, Kymeia and DunedinDragon - allow me to congratulate Native Instruments for bringing to their premium keyboard the capabilities of cheap entry level keyboards.

Impressive! 😲

Second - it might be better to update the official page of drivers - which I did check before making this post - in which you still see the previous version of the firmware.

(and I'd put a link to it here, but in yet one more act of brilliance, the system won't let me attach links, even ones to the official Native Instruments websites. As a web developer allow me to point out that that is exactly the kind of competence I was expecting from the company that releases a midi keyboard that can't do… you know… midi.)

Anyway, I guess it's easier to blame paying customers of 'whining' than to update a stupid webpage or actually finish the product before putting it out.

By the way, I like how checking the news feed is considered 'being knowledgeable and proficient'.

This company really is one of the most hilarious companies I came across! 😆