SSD edition (SKU) possible with Komplete 16?

MLARS · 2025-05-22T08:22:47+00:00

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As an owner of the SSD of Komplete 13 I still miss this SKU with an SSD drive. It feels like the price should have come down for it to be possible with larger drives.

Would like for Komplete 16 to release a SKU with the SSD, at least for the Ultimate and Collector's Edition. It truly speeds up installs.

Critical it is sold around the same price and similar discount when possible.

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Comments

BIF

I had no idea they distributed any version of Komplete on SSD. I've got the old hard drive versions of Komplete when they were doing that with external 2.5" drives, and I loved it; so much faster than the cd/dvd distributions.

But I've had 1G internet service for about 2.5 years now and that's usually almost as fast as a hard drive. I might not be able to buy my house in the country if I end up having to go all the way back to DSL, lol!

Vocalpoint

Highly doubtful the physical will ever return. Not with 1-2 GB download speeds now.

MLARS

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/227511#Comment_227511

1 Gbit download speed does not mean your download from NI server will be that fast, plus not everyone has great infrastructure

I also have 1 Gbit fiber at home but the download speed from NI has not been very fast. So I think an SSD still wins many cases, hope it is still at least considered.

PK The DJ

Well I upgraded to K15CE earlier this afternoon, and all the new stuff is now downloaded and installed without any freezes or fails - on the day that hundreds if not thousands of others are doing likewise.

mykejb

I can't see it happening with every purchase - maybe as an optional additional purchase for people with slow or intermittent internet.

Skijumptoes

Even if they sent out a drive Native Access will need to download updates anyway and the last drive I had (13?) didn't contain all the products either.

I used to like the drives when it was an entirely standalone install, but things have changed with how connected Native Access is… Plus you can't use the drives for anything else either so bit of an obsolete idea now when sustainability and waste is something that companies have to uphold.

I live in a rural area, and get about 20mbit/s and never had a problem - yes it takes a bit of time, but what doesn't! :)

MLARS

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/227526#Comment_227526

Well digital purchase (download only) has always been an option for years. So I dont see the issue.

You could have the physical SKU (box) in music stores and the NI store with a SSD drive for those who wants it. We had this for Komplete 13 so it wasnt that long ago.

mykejb

Yeah I have a K13 disk lying around somewhere. I just think that supplying every purchase with an SSD will put the cost up and people who don't need it are going to complain. But an extra cost option would certainly work and is the best of both worlds.

MLARS

Disagree it does not have to cost extra - it did not for the KK13 version.

If you dont need it - buy the digital version. Simple.

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/227539#Comment_227539

True dat. But K13 was 2020 - well before the sale of NI to private equity.

The new owners see this much differently than the old guard did.

mykejb

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/227539#Comment_227539

Ah ok - you're thinking make the digital version cheaper than the SSD, rather than the SSD more than digital. Potayto Potarto :)

MLARS

Nope the price was the same for digital and SSD with KK13 from my memory - expect the same if we get SSD drive again with KK16 or KK17. Only the bigger bundles was sold with the SSD so I think the SKU cost is more complex. We clearly disagree on this, deal with it.

BIF

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/227526#Comment_227526

They could put it on a cheap M.2 stick, and slap that into a cheap USB-C drive enclosure. I just bought an M.2, and it was only $600 plus $40 or so for the enclosure…haha, but it was an 8TB drive. You might only need a half-TB drive to contain all of Komplete 15 Ultra-super-duper-califragilisticss.

The drive might be $20 if you buy in bulk, and cheap enclosures can probably be had for $10 in bulk. And they make M.2 drive duplicators now, so you've got it made for about $30 USD for an add-on disk option.

MLARS

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/228232#Comment_228232

It is bigger than 500 GB. Especially the Collector's version. But older gen SSD should be cheaper, especially in bulk.

BIF

Yes, they could do a half or 3/4 TB SSD in 2.5" form factor, just like the old days except you wouldn't need that weird USB cable with two USB plugs for data and power. But I doubt they will do anything to raise their cost of manufacture, especially not without a profit motive. And there are lots of leaks for the money to go to when you start shipping drives again. Somebody has to design the enclosure, somebody else manufacture and screen-print the enclosure with NI symbolature, then there's the parts ordering, the assembling, the data loading, and oh yeah, by this time, the NA team will have had to figure out how to reconfigure Native Access so that it'll recognize that you have a drive and it doesn't need to fetch from the internet. And then there's all the shipping needing to be done from manufacturer to warehouse(s), and then to the customer. And somebody else needs to set a price for all this industrious craziness.

And we haven't even discussed the cost of the RMA pipeline. There are ALWAYS returns.

Sheesh, after just typing the above, I'm exhausted. And I am not at all confident that Native Instruments has the bandwidth to do this; and certainly not for a profit, given the fact that more and more people get upgraded to high speed internet with each passing year. Even for myself, I no longer dread long sessions with NA, and not even after I bought a bunch of stuff at a sale.

Additionally, the only times I ever re-install something is when I'm testing out somebody's idea or claim here on the forum. It's been at least 3 to 4 years since I've had to re-install any NA-driven instruments or tools to fix an actual problem.

I'm pretty sure I just talked myself into a "no" position on this idea. I'd kind of rather NOT have Native Instruments employees getting distracted by all the spin-up requirements, not to mention the technical support issues. There are way to many other things we want Native to be doing.

And besides, distribution drives were a thing of the past, and we probably should let them be. I'm happy that I never have to hunt through my home office to try to find where I put that damned drive a year ago when I installed Kontakt, lol!

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