Lights on Kontrol MK3 keybed stay blue and do not change colors?

Lazy Tiger · 2025-07-22T21:39:24+00:00

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Hi,

I'll start off by saying the controller works perfectly fine, this is just a light issue. The colors on my Kontrol MK3 keybed stay blue only, regardless on what instrument that is loaded. I don't mean changing the colors of all the keys in the settings, just some visual feedback that should apply with some instruments. Certain instruments should have different colors in sections, for example key switches on some sample instruments will be red, yellow, etc. and the rest of the keybed will be blue or blue/purple (East Asia, Ireland), but whatever is loaded only shows up blue, there's no additional visual light feedback. Can anyone help? I am updated on the latest firmware, and like I said before the controller works perfectly fine, the lack of visual feedback just requires me to look back at the screen a lot more.

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JesterMgee

Not all instruments utilise the coloured LEDs, it should show key switch zones for pretty much all NI based kontakt instruments should show keyswitch ranges but due to the complexity of making it all work, many devs do not seem to bother so it's mostly just NI Kontakt libraries that use it to full effect.

Can you test just with a standard NI kontakt instrument? What is an example of an instrument you expect that doesn't work?

Lazy Tiger

Yes, I just tested again. An instrument I use often would be East Asia, I know for a fact there are key switches that show up in purple within the blue keybed when the key mode is on "extended", red key switches to the far left, and pink key switches to the far right or higher octave. I had the MK2 for 6 yrs before I upgraded to MK3 last month, and the purple LED keys would play an exaggerated velocity of the sample. For the MK3 however, like I said, it operates fine, so in that extended key mode I still hear that altered sound, but there are no other LED key switches, it is all blue on the keybed.

Lazy Tiger

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/235132#Comment_235132

(sorry replied wrong lol) Yes, I just tested again. An instrument I use often would be East Asia, I know for a fact there are key switches that show up in purple within the blue keybed when the key mode is on "extended", red key switches to the far left, and pink key switches to the far right or higher octave. I had the MK2 for 6 yrs before I upgraded to MK3 last month, and the purple LED keys would play an exaggerated velocity of the sample. For the MK3 however, like I said, it operates fine, so in that extended key mode I still hear that altered sound, but there are no other LED key switches, it is all blue on the keybed.

JesterMgee

Yeah not too sure. Having an MK2 and still using the KK v2 software, all is working as expected. Not sure with the MK3 software, haven't been convinced to update to it as yet, still too many problems and missing functionality to bother with.

Lazy Tiger

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/235308#Comment_235308

Yeah that's how I felt until their latest update in the Spring, along with the sale, I decided to get it. I still have the MK2 if I ever need to use that, but I do actually like the MK3 more than I thought I would. I didn't really use the Maschine integration since I usually just do Maschine stuff on Maschine, but aside from the LED annoyance I just posted about, I'm pretty happy with it. I appreciate you taking the time to try and help!

JesterMgee

If you have an MK2 keyboard have you tried to connect that up just to see if it does display the correct NKS colours? Would at least help answer if the issue is caused by the software or the MK3. I don't use Kontakt much myself, i use mostly the NKS libraries I create for 3rd party plugins and the lightguide is not supported to be programmed without code being injected into the instrument itself so I only ever see blue (because NI removed another feature from the MK2 being able to switch off the lightguide which you could do on the MK1).

Lazy Tiger

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/235398#Comment_235398

So I did what you said and reconnected the MK2, loaded up East Asia again and as expected, the LED lights are as they should be. Key switches are red, and the keybed is blue and purple. With the picture below from NI, you can see the MK3 is capable of doing the same, so it must be something with my model then?

JesterMgee

Of course the MK3 should be able to display the led key switch zones etc, possibly tho there is an issue with the software or some kind of service for the MK3. The fact your MK2 works suggests it is specifically an issue with the MK3, i'd place the problem down to the software, likely a bug as I am not sure there is anything to really set for it, should simply work.

What about if you load up just Kontakt with the MK3, does it work? The MK3 should directly work with Kontakt too so could be an issue between the MK3 and KK. Might need to try and push through the chatbot ****** and submit a ticket on this one.

Lazy Tiger

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/235403#Comment_235403

Sorry I was busy this weekend, thank you for the response. Before I even made this post, I actually loaded up the standalone versions of both KK and Kontakt 8 and the result is the same. I tried it again just now and same thing. I was going back and forth whether I should submit a ticket because it doesn't hinder the keyboard's ability to function, but I might contact support to see if there's maybe something they can have me download that could probably fix it.

JesterMgee

Since the MK2 works but the MK3 is neither working in KK or Kontakt that kind of points to an issue with either the MK3 or the hardware service that handles the comms between the MK3 and the software so would be worth a ticket to try and get that resolved, not really sure what the issue could be.

Lazy Tiger

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/235502#Comment_235502

Yeah I'll do that and hopefully it gets sorted, I appreciate you taking the time to help me with this! Enjoy your week! I'll let you know if it gets resolved

Lazy Tiger

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/235502#Comment_235502

I ended up doing a complete factory reset for the MK3 in the settings and now the lights work properly. I submitted a ticket to NI the other day and I just informed to them never mind.

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