Hi everyone, Do you know if Native Instruments is planning to run a Summer of Sound 2026 sale this year? I’m trying to plan some upgrades and I’d like to know if the usual June/July discount period is happening. Thanks in advance for any info.
Native Instruments never publish any information about sales ahead of their occurrence. Anybody who have any real information will not be allowed to tell and anybody else will just be guessing.
What you can do is to check when the NI summer sale usually happens though that is no guarantee that it will happen at that time this year. But from what we have seen so far then I would be very surprised if we do not see a summer sale around usual time this year….
So if a "summer sale" is happening then it could happen soon, like later today or maybe next Monday ? , who knows ? 🙂 (though I think that it would sort of collide with the Big Partner Sale)
.
A few minutes Googling reveals that NI Japan posted on X that Summer Of Sound begins in June (and that newly released products are not discounted).
Thank you PK , I did of course Google it prior to posting my answer but found no exact information.
But you are right , there is a post on X that says , quote X post :
<Announcement> During the “Summer of Sound” event scheduled to begin this June, we do not plan to offer discounts on the following new products immediately following their release:・NI Komplete 26 (Standard and above) ・iZotope RX 12 and bundles containing it
<Announcement> During the “Summer of Sound” event scheduled to begin this June, we do not plan to offer discounts on the following new products immediately following their release:
・NI Komplete 26 (Standard and above) ・iZotope RX 12 and bundles containing it
So , well , maybe the sale starts Monday as was part of my guess above. I mean it would appear to me that this X post is something that usually is never occurring , so that could indicate that the sale is imminent (?)
If I were a marketing type and wanted the ideal "monthly" sales window (per the calendar) - Monday sounds like the perfect day to start this…
VP
If you go to https://ni-japan.jp/ they don't have the Big Partner Sale…
It would definitely clash for us, as it runs until the end of June.
Hmmm 🤔
Just speculating, but I wouldn't be surprised if the Summer of Sound sale overlaps the Big Partner Sale, both running until the end of June.
For me the bigger question is whether or not Komplete upgrades will be on sale. I think the only honest answer is that we don't know. The Japan subsidiary said they're not planning to have new products on sale, which would align with NI past behaviour of not discounting newly released products. But even in the Japan subsidiary follows through with that plan, does that determine what will happen on the primary Native Instruments website? Enough things are different this year from past years, that I don't know what to make of it: * The Komplete bundle was released much earlier than usual * Komplete 26 wasn't launched alongside anything new — e.g. no new Kontact * The Summer of Sound sale seems likely to start in June, not in late May, putting a little more time between the Komplete release and the sale Personally, I got serious about learning piano, music theory, and songwriting in January as a sort of new year's resolution. It's just a hobby, but I'd still be a bit disappointed if I need to wait another 6 months to get a discounted upgrade from Komplete 15 Select. I would've been happy to get Komplete 15 Standard at 50% off, but then Komplete 26 happened. I know that some people will be disappointed if Komplete goes on sale, because they bought it early, assuming it wouldn't go on sale right away. And NI has definitely been pushing people to upgrade at full price by sending out emails, even this week. There's no way they can please everybody. From a business standpoint, maybe NI has data on past sales that inform the decision. Have they made more or less money in years where they withheld their new bundles from Black Friday sales? Only they know. Since I am a hobbyist, I will be patient and wait for the next big sale for Komplete, even if that doesn't happen in June.
Obviously, because of how things are very different this year, it's hard to tell… But, in the past you had a Komplete release in Fall/Autumn and impending sales - like the Cyber Season one - didn't have it on sale.
I can imagine that it will be the same. Well, we'll find out soon anyway 🤷🏻♂️
I think hoping for Komplete to be half price so soon after release is a little optimistic.
Whichever way it goes, people are sure to complain.
It'll either be "but I only just bought it. It's so unfair" or "why isn't it included? It's so unfair". 😍
Not upgrading to Komplete Ultimate until they get serious about the price with respect to the value on offer for people who already own the previous version.
Did you actually work out how much it costs per new item to upgrade?
I went from 15 CE to 26 CE and the upgrade price divided by the number of new products meant I paid just over £6 per new product. I believe that's less than half the cost of the cheapest things NI sell.
Even buying CE at full price, if you divide the cost by the number of products, you're paying just over £5 per product.
Yeah. I received another marketing push email today "Still thinking about Komplete 26?" If Summer of Sound does start on Monday, it seems incredibly unlikely that Komplete will be on sale. Unless NI is actively trying to upset people by encouraging them to buy it at full price 2 days before it goes on sale. Oh well.
I looked back though my emails and the 2025 Summer of Sound started on 22 May, preceded by announcement email on the 21st (including a 10% voucher for spending over £270). Last year's Partner Sale ran from 1 September to 30 September so the two didn't overlap. Perhaps we have to wait a little longer for the Summer of Sound this year because the Partner Sale runs until 30 June.
CC : @Vocalpoint
As predicted (/ guessed) :
Like clock work.
Curious tho - it is not called the "Summer of Sound" this time round and the discounts have gone down as well. from 50% to 30%
And of course (as predicted) - no deals on Komplete.
And no hardware deals … yet?
