Kontrol S-Series MK3 - Feeling like a beta tester. :(

Sorry to hear about that, you are missing out.

I can offer some perspective on that. Basically it's a math problem; and specifically, it's a problem of percentages.

A lot of people turn off data sharing. When you do that, your usage statistics are not collected by the vendor. Microsoft has the same thing for Windows.

If you happen to be somebody who turns off data collection, your usage statistics are unknown. So if you turn it off and you make heavy use of one particular feature, the vendor won't know that YOU like that feature.

Now let's extrapolate that by an order of magnitude. If there are a LOT of people who turn off data collection and they make HEAVY USE of the same particular onscreen control or feature, then the vendor will not see that aggregated preference of the people.

This might be rare. Or it might not, but if the REMAINING users (the ones with data collection turned on) happen to not use that feature, then the reality becomes skewed from the stats.

And the vendor, NI in this case, starts to make future product decisions based on that information. Features get enhanced or dropped based on what the usage reports show or don't show.

I get it; a lot of people don't want snooping of any kind. But it's like voting; if you don't participate, you may be ceding control to those who do participate. Your preferences never get counted, and if a significant percentage of other users who also disable data collection happen to have the same preferences as you, then you all could be missing out.

A vendor can and should seek other inputs before making product and feature lifecycle decisions, but that can be super challenging, and might even yield ostensible preferences that are not actionable for some reason or another...which would end up being a waste of time and money.

This is why I'm leaving my data collection on, at least for the time being.

Yes, all good points. That's why feature decisions, product decisions, and more all need to have multiple inputs.

And those inputs need to be understood well enough to be properly linked. For example, 1% of users edit NKS. Maybe that number includes a dozen Jester McGees and a half-dozen Kymeias.

Now, 45% of users use the products produced by the Jester McGees and/or the Kymeias.

Well if you don't understand the AGGREGATE of the data you're looking at, you'd know better than to get rid of that feature that only 1% of us use directly.

And some of that information is only going to be learned if you TALK TO YOUR CUSTOMERS.

Now maybe NI talks to its beta team members. But I'll bet a lot of them won't be power users; they'll be people who run studios and don't dawdle around with features so much. They need to make tracks, and sometimes it's just best to knock that part out by hand rather than try to automate it or perfect its EFX settings.

So more talking with the users. The NI people lately have been doing a good job with that, but it's kind of too late for the KK 3 launch.

My mom used to tell my dad whenever her car was making a noise. Dad worked in loud factory type places for his whole adult life, so by the time he got to his 40s, he couldn't hear those subtle car noises anymore. "It sounds good to me." Then they would both look at me.

Before I started working on my own cars, I'd respond, "well it sounds like two blocks of rubber rubbing against each other" or "it sounds like a low squeal with an intermittent dog barking." Hahaha, I might as well have said the sound was "dark" or "bright"! 🤣

But after a few years of being my own car owner and fixing or paying for things to be fixed, I got a lot better at describing things. "Yeah, it's a bad lifter, dad" or "it sounds like a bad wheel bearing". When you can talk to a knowledgeable person familiar with the UI, you have a better chance of getting it right the first time. There's no sense is changing out the engine mounts when the problem is really just a bad U-Joint or a loose accessory drive belt!

Also all good points. I do have faith that we WILL get to a workable point with the MK3 and KK3, where our creators will be able to use their power tools once again; and even more effectively than before. It does feel to me that NI "gets it".

But we all probably should stay on them and keep holding their feet to the fire.

NO company is completely immune to competition. The Steinberg Halion people, along with the MUSE people and the Falcon people would like nothing more than to eat Native Instruments' lunch in this space. And I think NI knows this.

So we'll see how it goes as the year unfolds. In the meantime, if your car guy tells you that your ride needs a new Frammitz Valve or a Disgronifier Actuator, always get a second opinion, or at least Google them before you give a green light! Those things don't exist, well not in gasoline or diesel vehicles anyway! I can't say one way or another with all that EV voodoo! 😉

battery isn't working for Logic Pro x