Kontrol S-Series MK3 Firmware 2.0 - DAW Integration Discussion

Skijumptoes · 2025-08-13T16:49:46+00:00

There was an error rendering this rich post.

Wow! Was not expecting that DAW integration announcement, this is incredible as I never thought NI would go in this direction.

Announcement is here if anyone missed it:

Kontrol Mk3 Firmware 2.0 - DAW Integrations

Shocked that there was no discussion thread for it, I thought i'd start one - Anyone had a play with it yet? I'm almost bracing myself incase it's not as good as i'm hoping. But fingers crossed! :)

Find more posts tagged with

Kontrol MK3

Comments

Skijumptoes

I had to manually pull the script from the installer package to get it running with Cubase on Mac, hopefully it's only me with the problem and it's not going to affect everyone.

EDIT - DELETED INSTRUCTIONS TO FIX INSTALL ISSUES - See discussion with @apsande below.

The integration is truly fantastic from what i've seen so far - absolutely brilliant job NI!! Mk3 is hands down the best controller on the market now, so good. A lot of controllers can't deal with inserts and instruments on the same screen as Cubase handles them differently, yet NI have managed to put them on the chain together so brilliant work!

I'm a big lover of hardware workstations, and this gets very very close to that same level of interaction now - without any need for additional wrappers in the DAW, love it!!!

apsande

@Skijumptoes

It's not just you the Steinberg scripts didn't install for me either. But I'll try your method tomorrow.

apsande

Actually I ran the package installer manually on my Mac and iy copied the script correctly.

Skijumptoes

@apsande Ah thanks for that, i'm now trying the same after seeing windows users are having a problem with the hardware connection service via Native Access.

Manual downloads are here if anyone else needs it, i'll edit this post if it works for me too:

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/account/downloads/

Edit: yes, can confirm this worked for me too.

oobe79

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/237355#Comment_237355

Wow, this sounds amazing. I am only using Logic Pro (11.2.2). I assume the integration with Logic Pro is to mirror the Smart Controls (and only the Smart Controls) on the Kontrol screen. Is this correct? I also don’t use Smart Controls. I just open up the plugins individually and control them conventionally with the mouse. But this firmware update may get me to start using them, just based on the convenience factor. I’ve also been told it can be faster workflow for automation using the Smart Controls rather than the plugin controls themselves. For now, I’m holding off updating, as there are numerous reports of 2.0 causing breaking integration with KK and Kontakt in various DAWs.

Kymeia

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/237407#Comment_237407

Actually with Logic you get 2 tabs giving you a choice of both types of control - one with the full automapped controls for the device and one with the smart controls for the simplified interface. It's a nice idea but one issue with this is you get controls in the order Apple have decided on which is not optimal imho for some devices eg I'm not happy with the Alchemy mappings in the full panel, and the Smart Control doesn't seem to display anything that is an XY on the Kontrol screen. It's OK for simpler ones like Vintage Electric Piano though (below). I've tried customising smart controls but the interface for doing this is awful and so far I have not had any joy doing that.

Yoshiondapiano

@apsande @Skijumptoes

installing it manually worked for me . thanks!

Yoshiondapiano

I got to say it's this update is a major step in the right direction.

I would love to make the perimeters follow based on which plugin window is most up front, kinda like how I have it set up with quick controls.

also to have custom images for the plugins.

TruePrism

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/237346#Comment_237346

I wonder what you see when you try to load either complete control or contact 8 while you are in Bitwig. At this point, I can only see the bitwig representation, which is useless, and complete control standalone and contact standalone no longer recognize the S61...

SteveB32

I also had to manually run the hardware connection installer to get it working on Cubase 14 on windows 11.

Thanks to the folks in here for that advice!

Loving this update. Thank you NI!

TruePrism

I've gone through all firmware update, the hardware service update, and the bitwig update. Even after a reboot, contact eight and complete control are completely unaware of the S61 MK3 controller anymore, regardless of standalone or svst is inside bitwig.

Kymeia

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/237418#Comment_237418

Sorry it's not working for you yet - perhaps there is a setup issue - make sure your MIDI ins and Outs are setup the way it states in the instructions. Otherwise I suggest reaching out to support. For me I see this which is what you should also be seeing for Kontakt 8 (obviously if a particular library is not loaded you should see the library browser):

Pete James

I'm using Ableton Live. Can you edit parameters of which instrument show up in each page, delete parameters, rename etc (for NKS and non NKS plugins)? I want what you can do in midi templates to apply here, so every time I select a track ,then select the instrument on that track, the kontrol mk3 automatically shows me my custom mapping for that instrument. Is that possible?

For each of my synths I'd probably want to make page 1 for oscillators and filters, page 2 for envelopes, page 3 for lfos, page 4 and 5 for various effects and have that those controls recall each time I select that instrument. Seems to be the only workflow that makes sense - otherwise these knobs aren't at all useful for vsts showing 10s of pages of disorganised, random parameters.

I don't want to try to remember what parameters have been mapped to what pages and it's different for each instrument - thats not intuitive at all and defeats the purpose.

This video I watched seems to show that each plugin will have its parameters organised in different orders on different pages and you just have to try and remember them or scroll through endless pages trying to find them. I'd much rather use a mouse if that's the case.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dy5lJyhwIi8

TruePrism

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/237423#Comment_237423

The midi ins and outs changed in KK? I'm saying that complete control itself, stand alone, can no longer see the s61 controller. That I doubt has anything to do with bitwig

Conjure0193

Same script issue on mac M4 under sequia and i run package installer manually : working !

@apsande @Skijumptoes Thank you guys !

Quick links

Unanswered questions