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Proposal for a Dual-Engine Approach to Solve UI Scaling Issues

SuHyun

Dear Native Instruments Development Team,

I am writing to propose a practical, long-term solution for the ongoing High DPI and UI scaling issues in Kontakt.

Many of us are no longer working on small screens. We use 4K/high-resolution monitors and OS scaling at 125% or higher, which makes Kontakt's current bitmap-based interface look blurry and pixelated. This is not just a cosmetic issue; for musicians, who are perfectionists by nature, this visual quality is a direct trigger for frustration. Music is a craft of fine nuances, and when our workspace feels disorganized or low-quality, it immediately affects our mood and creative flow.

My Proposal: The Dual-Engine Strategy

I suggest that NI develops a new, modern vector-based Kontakt engine specifically designed for high-resolution displays. You do not need to break compatibility with the past. Run two versions side-by-side during a transitional period:

The Legacy Engine: Keep this for existing libraries that rely on the old bitmap architecture.
The Vector Engine: Build a clean, scalable, and crisp UI for modern production.

If you provide the tools, developers will naturally migrate their new libraries to the Vector Engine because it offers a superior user experience. Even NI’s own flagship libraries, like NOIRE, should be the first to showcase this modern interface.

We are artists, and we need our tools to be as precise and high-quality as the music we create. Please bridge this gap. We are waiting for a Kontakt that respects the visual standards of 2026.

Best regards,

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Comments

SuHyun

The current state of Kontakt is not just a UI issue; it is a threat to NI’s market position. As a long-time user, I see other developers like Spitfire, VSL, and Orchestral Tools moving toward their own proprietary engines to ensure high-resolution, vector-based interfaces.

If Kontakt remains stuck in the past with bitmap-based rendering, you are leaving the door wide open for developers to abandon the Kontakt platform entirely. Why would library developers continue to pay royalties to NI when they can build their own modern, optimized, and visually stunning players that respect the hardware standards of 2026?

NI, you are the pioneers, but you are currently becoming the bottleneck. If you do not modernize your UI engine immediately, you will lose the very ecosystem that made Kontakt the industry standard. Please treat this as a serious warning from your professional user base.

Vagus

Kontakt is constantly being updated, and UI is a major focus right now. The app itself has some updates upcoming (you can sign-up for the beta to test and feedback on these).

From a builder standpoint, Komplete UI is now a thing, which includes vectors etc, but it is up to these individual companies to update legacy instruments, or use Komplete UI when building new ones. Based on the Discord chat, it's a much more modern way to script instruments, and lots of folks are using Komplete UI when building.

Vagus

I've seen you've edited your original approach. What you describe is exactly what I wrote - Kontakt KSP is now suplimented with Komplete UI. You can read more here:

Home | Komplete UI

Monochrome

Kontakt 8 itself already supports High DPI and does make use of a vector-based UI (for its Default View). For libraries, it's called Komplete UI (which can read SVG files) and fairly new.

However, the decision to use that UI framework is ultimately up to individual instrument builders. And some might simply opt for raster/bitmap images 🤷‍♂️

There's also not much that NI can do about (very) old libraries - especially third-party ones that were released centuries ago. Again, it would be up to the instrument builders to re-release those libraries.

Matthew_NI

Kontakt itself is amidst a full user interface modernisation - this will complete within the next 6-9 months.

As content built for, and hosted within, the Kontakt platform, Kontakt instruments are unrelated to this.

Instrument Builders may build their user interfaces using either Kontakt Script Processor (KSP) or Komplete User Interface (KUI). Of those tools, KUI supports modern, high resolution user interface features.

So even when Kontakt is fully modernised, the content you use may not be – that is entirely up to the Instrument Builders themselves, and whether or not they choose to re-release that content with a modern user interface built with KUI.

Jeremy_NI

@SuHyun As others pointed out already, Kontakt already supports HighDPI, it's down to the library developers to implement it on their new or existing products.

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/264777#Comment_264777

"So even when Kontakt is fully modernised, the content you use may not be – that is entirely up to the Instrument Builders themselves, and whether or not they choose to re-release that content with a modern user interface built with KUI"

Exactly the same response that we all fall back on - every time this topic comes up.

And - to the OP - not everyone uses 4K modern displays - despite what you may think.

I have a half dozen well appointed studios in my regular rotaton - and only one of the 6 has any 4K monitors on site - and those are only ever used for video to my knowledge.

All audio in most of these commercial shops continues to be created and edited with a variety of normal looking Standard HD style monitors.

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