NKS Editor Improvement Wishlist
I commented this elsewhere but thought there should be a thread on the forum specifically dedicated to improvements we'd like to see to the NKS preset editing experience. I generally think the MIDI template flow is well-designed and it's really got me thinking about what improvements could be made to the NKS editing flow to take NKS to the next level. In no particular order, my feature requests are:
1) Button Support for NKS Presets- I really love the button functionality of the MIDI templates, and I would love to see that ported over to NKS presets pretty much 1:1. Basically, you'd get twice as many controls in a single view, and it would be a much better experience. I'd be most excited to be able to set named keyswitch/articulation buttons that are mapped on a per-preset basis. This would be an absolute game changer, and is basically my dream setup for dealing with articulations. But also, it would be an improvement to things like on/off switches, toggles, etc. to push a button instead of turning a knob. Personally, I'd love to see buttons and knobs both be bankable separately, but it would still be a massive improvement if you just added the ability to associate 8 buttons per page that bank at the same time as the knobs. Similarly, I'd like the ability to associate pedal, touch strip, and lightguide mappings with an NKS preset just as I now can with MIDI templates.
2) Support For Different User Preset Modes- The idea here is that I, as an NKS user, sometimes have different preferences for how I want my user-generated presets to work. Generally speaking, my user presets fall into one of 4 camps:
- Fixing the NKS implementation of an existing NKS preset: This happens all of the time, particularly with certain vendors cough Spitfire cough.Where a vendor has NKS presets that they've generated, but they're broken in some way - sometimes for months or even years. In this case, I generally want to Replace the factory presets with my own versions
- Adding Functionality to an existing NKS preset: In this scenario, the vendor has created a mostly functional NKS implementation, but maybe there's a parameter they haven't mapped or something I'd like to remap. In this case, what I'd like to do is Merge my edits with their versions. Basically, this would allow me to still get updates to the NKS implementation from the vendor as they upgrade the plugin, but also to maintain my additional functionality as well. In the case of merge conflicts, I'd say a sensible default would be to prefer the user-generated part of the preset, but maybe this is an advanced global setting in the Preferences. Supporting this mode is probably the easiest way to allow users to add new functionality like buttons, custom lightguide, and touchstrip mapping for existing NKS presets without requiring every vendor to go in and edit all of their existing NKS presets. I know for a fact the User Library community would jump all over this.
- Creating Factory NKS Presets for a Plugin that has no existing implementation: In this scenario, the vendor has not created any NKS presets themselves. I'd like to be able to Create Factory presets myself with all of the functionality as if the vendor had created them. They'd show up as "Factory" presets instead of "User" presets. I could set up things like lightguide, advanced NKS2 "edit" pages, etc. that are not currently possible for user-generated presets. I'd also love to see better tooling made available to users for generating sound previews and images for presets as part of this experience. Some system that scans a plugin's native presets and automates some or all of the process for generating the NKS presets from these native presets would be ideal, but maybe that's a stretch goal.
- Creating New User Presets: This scenario is closest to the existing user preset experience, where I generate new presets for an existing instrument that aren't factory presets, but instead are the product of my own sound design that I want to be able to save and go back to in the future. In this case, I want to Create User presets that are treated differently from factory presets and can be filtered as such.
3) Better Navigation for Factory and User Presets - To better support these new modes for NKS presets, update the KK UI to allow for navigating/searching user and factory presets at the same time (still allowing for viewing them separately if so desired). It's 2024. It's time. Maybe it would be nice to have a little icon associated with user presets so when you're navigating factory and user presets together in the browser it's easy to differentiate between your user presets and factory presets at a glance.
4) Bug Fixes - There are some features that just haven't worked in a long time (or ever?) like user-generated sub-banks, editing of preset metadata like vendor, author, etc.
5) On-Device Editing - Support for on-device editing of NKS presets similar to MIDI templates please.
6) Better Kontakt Support in KK - I'd love to see support for Kontakt multis and user-generated snapshots improve in Komplete Kontrol, in particular.
7) Bulk Apply Template/Metadata Changes- Add support for an easy way to apply knob mappings, metadata, etc. as a bulk operation to multiple presets at once.
At first glance some of these suggestions these may seem like power user-focused/niche features, but I actually think a lot of regular users would create and edit their own user presets if it weren't such a wonky, technical procedure as it is today - which would very quickly expand the NKS ecosystem well beyond what it is today and add tremendous value to users. Feel free to add your own NKS editor-focused suggestions to this wishlist.
Comments
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All/most been asked for before, hundreds of times, for 10 years. Likelyhood of any of that being a thing, little to none, but feel free to dream.
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You have been with NI for a long time.
Via your work as Freelance Sound Labs, you've become a leader in the community.
You have also certainly felt certain requests go unanswered for a long time.
Since joining the team, I've seen a concerted effort from the team to improve things. I certainly subscribe to the idea that things are getting better. My hope is that some would agree, particularly so given the most recent updates.
Whilst not every improvement has been as rapid as one would like, and not every request of yours has been, or will be accommodated, I also want you to please hear this:
It's really tiresome to observe the pattern I've seen you follow, in recent weeks, in which you appear to seek out any thread involving suggestions of where we could go, or what we could do next, in order to respond with sentiments such as that which you expressed above.
It's unnecessary. Please let the suggestions and requests flow. Please do not respond to every user suggesting or requesting with a rant. It's unproductive and unhelpful. It doesn't add anything to the discourse, but rather weakens it. It's not an effective method of making your points.
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I would agree with the sentiment that things are improving, with the release of MIDI templates as proof of that. It's a solid release that adds value to the products. I would love to see the pace pick up quite a bit, though. Obviously, this release was months behind and other features that have been promised for quite some time still haven't launched (like on-device play assist). Personally, I'd rather see more effort put into stability and NKS-related features like those mentioned above, though. Still, credit where credit is due - the team did a good job with MIDI templates. More please!
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Yes the MIDI templates are great but they do also show how far behind NKS editing has got. It would be great to see some NKS love as well as further improvements on the MIDI side.
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I agree with everything you've said here, but I think the stability of key functionality (like on-device play assist and advanced MIDI integration) needs to take precedence over new or more exotic features right now. They've come a long way in just a few months attacking the stability and functionality of the MIDI Templates and the MK3 as a whole. I'd like to see a good functional library of useful shared templates to really test the limits of such things.
Basically I want to see a decent house built on a solid foundation rather than a mansion built on a mud flat. They've got a good start here…so keep going. The pace of development is not a big concern for me because quality takes time. After all you can't have a baby in 4 1/2 months using two females.
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Yeah I mean, if they spent the rest of this year just fixing bugs and finishing up play assist, but then announced a quarter of my suggestions as the 2025 roadmap I'd be a happy camper. The only thing I'd like to see rushed a bit more would be the button support because it would be a game changer, but I understand these things take time...
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Yeah I'd agree those seem to be reasonable goals overall. I think the last few months have been very recuperative as far as their process of bug chasing so I expect that will improve. The issue there is very broad however because even with making Native Access more stable and "dummy proof", there's still a lot of folks that struggle with understanding it and getting it right all the time, and that impacts all of the development efforts.
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yep, and in all that time not just my suggestions but basically NONE of any suggestions have been considered at all, prove me wrong. You seem to think my frustrations are because of my own personal agenda, no, it's watching countless people grow tired over the years waiting for change and giving up and moving on. That is what many do, I tend to push for change not just accept what i'm handed, and will continue to do so.
Waiting patiently doesn’t work, endlessly waiting years for things to be fixed, or something to be improved has not yielded much either. Sure we have midi templates (which aren't something to really crow about, should have been a feature from release since it's kind of a basic function of a MIDI keyboard), when will you fix banks? When will accessibility be added back (something people rely on, not just something "I want")?
Your development cycle is as slow as moss growing on a stone and waiting is frustrating. Just ignore the comments I throw, they are for new users to see what they will likely be getting into from someone who has been here years and use to love the product with eager hope for the future. Yes a long time user that has grown tired from years of lack of action and yes, we have a new KK that is moving "forward" (at least slowly building in the basic function that was lost with the update) but it’s not what anyone asked for, again which is frustrating. You feel my input is not helpful and is unnecessary, that may just be a fraction of how some of us feel about the direction of KK right now.
Feel free to post the changelogs of the last 10 years to prove my point wrong that KK hasn't really evolved to accommodate users suggestions by all means. If nothing else it will show just how slow KK has evolved, even with all the user input.
Some should be asking maybe I have a point, since as you said I have been around a long time and my opinions have notably changed from what they were and much of it is based on the amount of feedback I directly hear both from users and developers.
Easy way to fix things, move faster, address the issues we are all pointing out, take feedback on board with some seriousness.
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Just thought of another request somewhat related to item 1, but also relevant for MIDI templates. I'd like to be able to map the touchstrip to control the velocity while in fixed velocity mode. I don't think that's possible at the moment? Honestly, that's 90% of what I'd use it for if it were possible. I'd probably just leave it in that mode all of the time.
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My two big wishes, outside of things we've identified like sub-banks are:
1. Kontakt Multis with previews in KK (and Kontakt). There's not really a reason this shouldn't already be supported.
2. Previews for FX NKS. Not dynamic previews - which is possible - but an example preview, just as we have with instrument previews. The previews are standardised and are an example of what to expect, not a demo. This could be done very easily with creative FX. It's also either disabled in the KK codebase or not implemented - but an easy addition.
On number two, that might be a great first step prior to utilising KK as dedicated VST FX host.
On the origial post, while I don't disagree with most suggestions and use cases, we have to remember NKS is essentially a closed format outside of this community. I'd love it be an open format, but I can't see that happening anytime soon. A) Because that approval process and distribution as an NKS partner can have real benefits for developers, and B) I don't think the average developer knows that non-Kontakt VSTs can be NKS ready (speaking from the experience of talking to some developers directly).
I've always been an advocate of engaging and empowering those power users; give them the same tools the developers have, and let them help build your success.1 -
I have a laundry list of requests related to effects but decided not to list any of them here bc as long as there is no way to automate effect parameters, I've decided that effects are useless to me inside of Komplete Kontrol. I'd be ecstatic to see some fix for that on the roadmap but want to keep this particular thread focused on just NKS editing because I think there's a lot to improve there and some of it feels like low-hanging fruit.
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Agree 100% that, as long as NKS remains a closed standard (and probably even if they opened it up), by relying solely on developers to create NKS presets the ecosystem will only ever be a fraction of what it could be. If users had the right tools, the ecosystem would explode. That's part of why I started this thread. I don't just want these features for myself, but I also think it's the right decision for Native Instruments strategically to invest in this area.
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- NKS presets having button support similar to midi templates would be nice.
- touch sensitive knobs having a functions other than showing knob position or value. maybe double tap will reset parameter to its original position or something
- midi template custom art, being able to upload custom art for the midi templates would be nice, currently the screen space is just being wasted during midi template mode
thats alll i can think of off top. ill post more if more ideas come
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Being able to search USER and FACTORY presets as one monlith entity could easily be my only request. Either that, or being able to just organise our own collections on the main page.
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Mate, that one has been asked for close to 10 years and it would be a super simple thing to do.
Best you can do is if you have a lot of libraries for your user library is to migrate it into your factory library, at least for the more official libraries. If you are game there is a post I created on how to do this:
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