Kontrol S-Series Mk3 Roadmap?
I would love to see a roadmap from NI on the new Kontrol S-Series Mk3 controllers, I'm a bit surprised that there isn't some sort of communication on this already considering that the Mk3 controllers are out now and clearly lacking in many ways (all software, the hardware aspect is great!). Hopefully NI is monitoring these posts, and we will see something soon...
Some of these overlap with my other thread, but worth raising this as its own topic, I think.
Here are my top-of-mind items:
- Maschine2+ integration, no word here yet except that they are looking into it. This is a huge miss in my opinion and the fact that they are still pushing Maschine in the current Winter sale but with no mention of future support seems like very confusing messaging to me.
- Control Editor software support for things like creating/modifying MIDI templates. The KSmk3 only has a single "Default MIDI Template" which is unusable as it's hard coded with one small set of CCs and no way to change anything.
- Play Assist controls in standalone mode. It has been hinted that the KSmk3 has some sort of onboard processing capabilities, so why not put the Play Assist functionality on the controller itself so they can be used with non-KK/Kontakt plugins directly and/or hardware synths.
- Better integration with DAWs, such as automatically latching to whatever instance of Komplete Kontrol or Kontakt is in focus. For Live users, this is all working, but for other DAWs, it's not a great experience as you need to manuall select the controller every time you switch between instances of KK or Kontakt.
It's a great controller but it really feels like NI is way too focused on captivating their users into the NI ecosystem. Even for one that owns all of NIs software (and several Maschines), I have trouble envisioning this thing as a key component in my studio as it is so limited when not within the NI ecosystem and even within their ecosystem, it feels half baked.
Please NI, give us some clue on what your plan is here because right now it seems like there is no plan.
Comments
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- Play Assist controls in standalone mode. It has been hinted that the KSmk3 has some sort of onboard processing capabilities, so why not put the Play Assist functionality on the controller itself so they can be used with non-KK/Kontakt plugins directly and/or hardware synths.
That's already planned as outlined in the recent AMA
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You mean the one with 40+ pages? 😁 ... do you by chance have a link to that particular callout? I did read through the AMA, well, scanned through it as it is quite long. If only there was an official "roadmap" that NI would have posted somewhere. Being only part of some giant AMA thread seems a bit obscure...
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Probably assume for the next 6 months at least we will see little in the way of new features, most of the effort will be in just making it work reliably and addressing the current bugs and missing functionality first. Could be 12+ months before anything new is included.
With the amount of noise at the moment I wouldn't even try looking for potential glimpses of features to come or any roadmap, i'd wait for the rather large dust cloud to settle first then check back in 6 months for some updated news.
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I think rather the opposite. I think we'll see a fairly robust development path within the next 6 months.
Significant Play Assist stuff will happen within this timeframe I believe.
Whatever it may be, I will enjoy the ride of things changing for a better future.
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For example - not a full roadmap but certainly what's planned next
More details - bits of a roadmap at least:
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Hey, that is great. I would love to be as optimistic as you but I have only 15 years of past experience to go on.
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Re your last bullet point - this is how Logic operates already - and did with previous version of KK and Mk2 hardware. It could be a bit flakey with earlier versions but my Mk3 and KK3 seems to have this sorted.
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It does have some processing capability, at least enough to run embedded Linux, so something like play assist seems like it should be possible. The main processor is an stm32mp157a. which contains a dual core ARM Cortex-A7 (650MHz) and a single core Cortex-M4, so I wouldn't expect anything to crazy in the future though.
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And I have years of experience too...
Been dealing with the ebb and flow of pro audio/music gear evolution cycles for more than 40 years.
And in this case, it is recognizing the signals of a significant behind-the-scenes change of a company rather than only look at its past.
2023 has had lots of signals of significant change within NI.
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What's your source of information on the processor in the S-MK3? Is there a link to someone doing a take-apart already?
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I work in the tech industry. I had my MK3 to bits hours after it showed up, thought I bricked it the same day I got it but it was just the Mac/USB-C issue.
I've had a peek at the firmware as well, it's actually pretty easy to modify and reflash. Still in the early days of trying to figure out how it all works.
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Thanks and awesome!
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Yeah, but I don't want blue kittens on my screen, lol!
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So what's the processor being used? Memory?
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roadmap update: KK MK3 Keyboards are MAC exclusive now?
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