Is it just me, or does Kontakt 8 suck?

Matthew Lien · 2025-03-15T01:16:58+00:00

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I am liking the Kontakt 8 interface even less than the previous! I have to switch between default and "classic" views constantly! I switch because many patches for instruments (like from Spitfire Audio) just don't show up, and are noteven searchable!!! But I can find them searching the file system in "classic" view. Ridiculous. And if I mistakenly load a second instrument without surgically selecting the next "+", it offloads the first instrument which had been set up, causing me to close my project without saving just to get the instrument back as I set it up. This sucks soooooo bad!!! And hey NI, what's up with cramming your sales pitch into the instrument viewer??? Is that helpful? Does that improve my already frustrating user experience? I would GLADSLY leave this software behind if I could.

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DunedinDragon

It's always a challenge when a product gets a complete makeover as all the normal workflow you've been using gets disrupted. I still have mixed feelings about it. To be honest 90% of the time I use Komplete Kontrol rather than Kontakt so it's not as disruptive for me, but like you I have quite a number of non-NI libraries from Spitfire, 8DIO, and numerous other sources and it's been a challenge for some of them even in Komplete Kontrol. I recently had a fairly specialized library (banjo) that I could only get to load in Kontakt 7. Glad I kept a copy around.

For me I'm a bit more forgiving since I spent most of my career in commercial software development and I understand the trade-offs and difficulties in trying to achieve progress in more advanced functionality while maintaining consistency with the past. In fact I'd have to say if it weren't for classic view I probably wouldn't be using Kontakt 8 at all. Without that global access in other views, operating Kontakt in standalone mode when I'm looking for sounds that might work for a project is basically non functional. That's simply a mind-numbing decision to have been made in the design as it pretty much precludes the use of all the additional tools that they added to Kontakt which were really at the core of the advancement of new "useful" features and explains why I've not yet found a productive use for them.

I do understand the global usefulness of the underlying changes in the technology as it moves to a more industry standard spec for library access and potential advancements in MIDI and am willing to be patient to see how that might play out in the future so I'm willing to tolerate a certain amount of pain. But the lack of globally available standalone BPM access along with the inability to access some very useful non-NI libraries is going to be the two things, in my case, to preclude me from even considering the use of the fancy new tools yet.

Kymeia

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/43422/is-it-just-me-or-does-kontakt-8-suck

The annoyances regarding replace behaviour can be adjusted with these settings:

and the 'sales pitch' can also be turned off

As to the rest though I agree - it seems every new version of Kontakt brings with it at least one new browser and view. We now have:

Side browser

Library browser

Rack browser

Files browser

Quickload browser

Snapshots browser

Modules preset browsers

plus some instruments also have their own preset browsers

Please NI can we have one browser to rule them all?

Keith Cocker

Its you.I love it!!😀

Kymeia

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/216346#Comment_216346

It’s good too, in terms of what it can do

But the interface is a real ‘dog’s dinner’ at the moment. I think the problem is it’s in a transitional state between the old Kontakt and whatever the new Kontakt NI are aiming for is so it’s got GUI elements that are high and low res, some bits that are more modern like the side browser, but also many relics that have yet to be revamped like the editor especially. And the gazillion browsers and alternate views also reflect that but it makes it feel very unharmonious and disorganised as an interface.

syn_madera

In my Opinion, the thought behind Kontakt 8 is awesome, with all the additional tools in mind. BUT for now, its almost unusable when working with 3rd party libraries since they do not have Banks and Kontakt 8 is not able to read the folder-structure they deliver… so as an example: Audio Imperia Nucleus - instead of having a nice structure of a few folder where everything is sorted you end up looking to hundreds of single files/presets… same with Keepforest Devastator… messed up with Kontakt 8.
It was too early to release Kontakt 8… really leaves a bad taste in your mouth and people still use Kontakt 7 because exactly that reason… The Product Owner of Kontakt 8 did a bad Job. Or the NI Management let him do a bad job… however, Kontakt 8 is not ready yet.

Kymeia

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/216564#Comment_216564

With third party libraries that are not NKS it would be nice if users were able to have more control over how they appear in the Library browser such as being able to add tags and create sub banks

There is an option in the importer to create banks from subfolders but that depends on the original developer having organised the library that way. Personally I find the Quickview browser more efficient for browsing older and third party non NKS libraries anyway

nds

It's NOT just you. I just upgraded and this is very much complicating my workflow. I predominantly use spitfire and 3rd party instruments and this feels like a step in the wrong direction. Big updates should surprise you with how intuitive they are, not confuse you by making things more complex and feature bloated. Just give us simplicity! I'm sure I'll figure it out, but frankly I'm super annoyed at the moment.

MLARS

It sucks. Kontakt 8 is for some reason still a market leading sample player, sadly with a big tech debt and not supported enough for semihardcore / hardcore user who actually use more backend features of the sample player. The software still lookS and feels old.

It does not feel market leading.

Classic mode
Yes, many actions require you to access the classic GUI (MIDI CC, Mixer settings, old header features etc) and there is no current revealed road map what GUIs they will update with modern scalable versions.

Still time for updates
What we know is that the life cycle of Kontakt 8 will be longer than 7 (confirmed by NI). Likely at least four years so fall 2028 until we see Kontakt 9. This means there is plenty of time to actually update many of classic mode sidepanel, header and bottom panel GUIs. Very curious if they will actually prioritize fixing class mode GUIs - hope they dont push it to Kontakt 9.

MIDI CC assign sidebar (MIDI Automation) should be a priority
Personally I hope they update MIDI CC Assign side panel and Mixer first and add a Global Purge button beside the panic button (some want the purge button to have a MIDI CC option too so they better add this).

When you set up DAW templates it is smart to assign all appropriate MIDI CC controls for when you use custom controllers like faders, XY sticks etc. Currently this is quite a pain. There isnt even a copy paste MIDI CC assign controls to quickly assign similar MIDI CC to multiple tracks, remember some templates have hundreds of Kontakt instances (setup, then disabled only to be activated when needed for fast workflows).

NKS third party fader controller support on Kontakt 8
Would love to see third party hardware fader controller like Console Fader MK3 control Kontakt 8 via NKS (Komplete Kontrol NKS with third party keyboards only currently).

For composer/producers who uses MIDI CC faders this makes sense when you commonly use your keybed beneath the studio desk where the Komplete Kontrol encoders are not always easily reachable.

Currently I use custom MIDI CC controls on Console Fader MK3 only for certain parameters due to current limitation on the hardware. Switching to NKS mode would be nice too as an option. The SSL Fader controller has support for at least one Spitfire Instrument so there is a precedence for this. If the Spitfire sample player support third party fader controls then Kontakt should too.

MLARS

Would love to see a unified browser with similar GUI on all NI products.

Agree on custom tags - this would help with tagging presets for different projects and quckly jump between settings.

I have asked for this in another post. Currently Guitar Rig has a different browser with color dots compared to Kontakt 8. How hard can it be to unify the browser UX design system with a star system, color categories and custom text tags? Imagine if this meta data also have cloud save sync to be recalled across multiple computers.

MLARS

Unified browser GUI design system across Kontakt, Reaktor, Guitar Rig, Maschine etc would be nice.

MLARS

Would love at least get more more updates over the year on current work. They dont have to promise any dates, just show us some improvements.

MLARS

A lot of old/legacy systems - but agree you need to simplify where you can. There are emerging and more competitive alternatives - Spitfire is one of them.

Matthew_NI

It's always a challenge when a product gets a complete makeover as all the normal workflow you've been using gets disrupted.

Indeed.

Kontakt 8 offers two distinct user journeys at the moment.

The Classic View is Kontakt as it's always been.

The Default View is Kontakt as it evolves. It's build on more modern frameworks, and is far better suited to accommodate efficient, responsive development, the such that's been demanded of us in the past (but not always delivered).

Revolution would be a hard cut from Classic to Default View, leaving features in the dust. Given that around 30% of the Kontakt 8 userbase remains active in Classic View, and that many of these users are stalwart, daily power users who rely on Kontakt as a tool in their toolbox, to do this would be madness.

Evolution is more of a migration, over a longer period of time. For many users, Default View is already their go-to. It does the things they need it to do, simply and elegantly. As Kontakt continues to evolve, we'll continue to bring features from Classic to Default View, and I anticipate a steady migration of usage as the feature or features keeping a user in Classic is ported, or replaced with a better alternative.

The Product Owner of Kontakt 8 did a bad Job. Or the NI Management let him do a bad job

That wasn't me, but I don't agree with your statement. I'm extremely appreciative of the job that he did. It's a big part of why I wanted to join the team. Although one downside of the evolving approach is a risk of inconsistency (for a user who has to switch between views) the alternative is far worse, I think. A waterfall style, ground up redesign and rebuild would mean Kontakt goes silent for months to years, with little to show in the face of mounting frustration from users at the "lack of updates". Many users will remain in Classic OR Default View, but not switch continually between them. For those that have to switch between them, I recognize it's not ideal.

We're on a frequent delivery cadence now. We've shipped updates at least every 6 weeks (sometimes faster) throughout 2025. We plan to ship at least four more updates this year (8.6, 8.7, 8.8, 8.9), continuing this cadence in 2026 and beyond. Whereas the first half of this year was a heavy focus on stability (which has had a hugely positive impact on a number of usage metrics) in the second half of the year, we're shifting focus to a number of key upgrades to the interface, to continue the evolution, and to address even some of the complaints above in this thread.

Matthew_NI

How hard can it be to unify the [INSERT THING]

Depending on the product, the codebase, and desired outcome… it could be anywhere from trivial to extremely challenging.

LostInFoundation

A “frequent delivery cadence” artificially created by not delivering a finished product in the beginning just to be able to say “we’ve shipped updates every 6 weeks” is not a good business card. If we can even call running after what has not been done correctly “updates”…

Yes… it can fool the majority of users… but is it really the way NI wants to work?

Btw: a well thought and well done “ground up redesign and rebuild” (maybe even incorporating the maaaany suggestions users provided for years…. also called “give them what they want”) would not frustrate users at the lack of updates… the opposite: would generate admiration. In the style of “these guys know what they are doing”.

Sorry… but it is really hard to read such things from a Product Owner…😶

Matthew_NI

I believe this to be a misunderstanding, plain and simple.

MLARS

Nice to hear, please just show us some of the progress porting more of the classic view, it does not have to give us a hard release dates. Any progress is appreciated. Work with the composer users for feedback.

Hope to see the Kontakt Mixer improve in Kontakt 8. For advance sample sequencers, drums/percussions etc it makes sense as an option to sometime route sounds to your DAW.

And DO NOT give up on the basic MIDI CC control layer for Kontakt instruments in the new Default mode. It should always be there as an option even if many use NKS. And make sure instrument builders support MIDI CC assign properly.

What could be started in parallell is a unified browser UX design system across Maschine, Kontakt, Komplete Kontrol Reaktor and Guitar Rig - where similar components and features are used. With third party hardware support expect a lot of interest in new parameters like tags, colors and rating star system for presets (current favorites system is too basic). I would prefer to tag a preset with a text for a specific future project (take note Arturia has come further and has playlists in Analog Lab). A color category dot (seen in Guitar rig) is not enough - would suggest there is an option to also add a category text for each color dot.

MLARS

The challenge is Kontakt is heavily integrated with complex DAW templates (500-1000 tracks, many with Kontakt) for faster workflows using Kontakt instruments built over a decade ago.

People stil use Kontakt string libraries that are honestly old but still working fine in productions today. A big version change would likely break those templates if migrated.

My guess this is a big important chunk of the Kontakt eco system.

Don't get me wrong I would love to see them fix a lot of the tech debt with old GUIs but it should be made with this demographic in mind and preferably with some testing.

MLARS

Remember what happens on the backend is less interesting for end users. At least there are less silos at NI for integrated design to flourish.

Current situation where it almost seem like each browser has been built on different design system philosophies is not great.

Adding star rating, color dot categories and text tags and keep it consistent across products could be a first step in improving this, it also integrates with the philosophy of the Komplete bundle eco system experience (to sell more bundles).

Syncing presets meta data makes sense when users switch between laptop and studio computer. It should be the logical next step for the Komplete eco system.

Matthew_NI

Chunk recall has significant relevance here.

Wholesale, binary migrations with a hard switchover are ill advised, in part because of the disruption they can cause to the aforementioned.

But setting that aside, it's been my professional experience (and I hear the same from my peers) that introducing dramatic changeovers in UI or UX, particularly to a mature product wherein users are set in their ways, can be hugely disruptive even if the users ultimately prefer those changes. Muscle memory is not for nothing. Learning a few things at a time is ok. Learning everything over again is not.

Kontakt 8 is the most used version of Kontakt ever, and has more users than ever. That means we're doing something right (and speaks, I believe, to the value of a frequent delivery cadence despite any insidious assertions). But we're acutely aware of the things that could, and should, be better. That's what we're working on now.

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