HiDPI - What's the Plan Going Forward?

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BIF
BIF Member Posts: 1,207 Guru
in Komplete General

So I have iZotope VocalSynth 2 waiting to be updated with "HiDPI" capability.

I'm excited about anything that can make it easier to read big hi-rez monitors, but I'm also curious; is this a one-off? Is it planned only for iZotope products, or is there a bigger plan for HiDPI across the line of Komplete?

Thanks in advance!

And a question for the forum members: What's your experience with HiDPI? Have you used apps with the capability, and has it made it easier for you to interface with the app on a big screen?

If you are so motivated, I'd be curious to hear your experience, and to know what size and resolution your big monitor is currently using under normal usage.

Thanks!

Comments

  • Matthew_NI
    Matthew_NI Product Team Posts: 1,840 mod

    I can only answer some of this question, as it relates to Kontakt.

    The user experience of Kontakt 8 is currently inconsistent, in a few ways. HiDPI is one such way. Some parts of the product are, whilst others are not.

    We'll continue to iterate on this slowly but surely, until even the least used areas of the product are updated. Hopefully you'll see this progress via the frequent updates we're making.

    Another inconsistency is in the user interfaces of the content loaded in Kontakt. Although almost all content released in the last few years is HiDPI, there are some specific exceptions, and of course a plethora of older 1st and 3rd party products that are not.

    This is ultimately up to the instrument builder(s). Kontakt has for some time (and even more so now, with January's official public release of Komplete UI in the Builder Toolkit) provided the ability to author HiDPI content. Whether a builder chooses to do so, or indeed chooses to re-release an older instrument with the updated graphical libraries, is up to them.

    Speaking for our internal instrument builders, I can say that not all old titles will be rereleased, although we've done some and may periodically do some more, the focus is mostly on new content.

  • MLARS
    MLARS Member Posts: 320 Pro
    edited May 9
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/225552#Comment_225552

    Is there any costs outside of actual man hours to release a Kontakt 8 HighDPI version (i.e. naming the newer version Deluxe or something) now? Important any barriers are lifted for increased HighDPI adoption. Still seeing vendors like Heavyocity selling very old looking Novo etc. For some reason they haven't updated the GUI.

    Would also like to see a Kontakt 8 Noire (current version looks very pixelated, GUI cannot be HighDPI), Kontakt 8 Una Corda and Kontakt 8 Grandeur with updated GUIs. The Giant, Maverick and Upright would be nice too (add Classic in the name or something on the updated versions). A new Model D (maybe call it Grandeur Neo could reach parity with the tech in Claire).

    The Play series (at lest the older libraries) would do well with updated Kontakt 8 HighDPI versions, for example Analog Dreams.

  • Matthew_NI
    Matthew_NI Product Team Posts: 1,840 mod
    edited May 9

    @MLARS

    If you're asking whether or not NI extracts any fees in addition to preexisting agreements for an update to an existing instrument, then the answer is no, we do not. For lots of reasons, instruments routinely get updated.

    If any vendor, ourselves included, is selling a product with an older GUI, that's simply because the time required to update has not yet risen to the top of the priority list.

    As per the requests, noted. Although I'll say if we were to update a product simply to improve the GUI, it would remain as previously named, rather than introduce a second product.

  • BIF
    BIF Member Posts: 1,207 Guru
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/225552#Comment_225552

    Thank you for the comprehensive response, @Matthew_NI ; much appreciated!

    A follow up question for you:

    Setting aside for a moment, the "interimness" of Kontakt 8's current status (and its current arc toward full implementation of HiDPI), is there a way to make a list of libraries/instruments that HAVE been updated already (and what version you need to have the capability)? Or maybe a way to tag them or apply a visual sprite of some sort to them in the Kontakt 8 browser?

    If indeed HiDPI is a huge benefit, it would seem to me that NI (and its partners) would want to tag that feature for the customer.

    I am super enthusiastic about anything real we can do to improve our user experience, and I think we should sing the benefits from every mountaintop. And we all know that visuals have been behind the times for many years now.

  • MLARS
    MLARS Member Posts: 320 Pro
    edited May 13
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/225557#Comment_225557

    To clarify, it would even be free (except development time) for the vendor and the customer even if the GUI update might require moving it to Kontakt 8?

    Suspect porting instruments to a new standard complicates things increasing the number of dev hours leading to products not being updated.

    Agree with BIF: Products should be labeled when they support modern HighDPI and has become "future ready". Would be helpful when it might be time to update my Komplete bundle - in this interim between standards I rather wait a couple of years more and vote with my wallet and not update this year.

    Reminder Arturia product presentation GUI etc is killer compared to the current NI software due to tech debt. Guess what bundle I might upgrade instead this year.

  • Matthew_NI
    Matthew_NI Product Team Posts: 1,840 mod

    To clarify, it would even be free (except development time) for the vendor and the customer even if the GUI update might require moving it to Kontakt 8?

    Yes. We're talking about a minor incremental update to a pre-existing software. These happen all the time. (think about any time you've seen an update available to an instrument you already owned in Native Access 2).

  • BIF
    BIF Member Posts: 1,207 Guru

    So we need to read the release notes, I guess. I would love to be able to see something in the K8 Browser. Like a little happyface with glasses, or a bloodshot eyeball or something. 😏😎

  • Maciej Repetowski
    Maciej Repetowski Member Posts: 732 Guru

    I really like that there's an actual progress on this subject, thanks NI !!!

    As a side note, Matthew, they should clone you and put a copy of you in all the teams, cause wherever you are (presently at Kontakt team), things seems to be moving way faster than before… 🀣

  • MLARS
    MLARS Member Posts: 320 Pro
    edited May 17
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/226491#Comment_226491

    A filter in the Kontakt 8 browser and Native Access would be a nice solution to see what Kontakt version the instrument currently is on + would be nice to also filter HighDPI confirmed instruments too.

  • BIF
    BIF Member Posts: 1,207 Guru
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/226700#Comment_226700

    I like your idea a lot.

    But the all-seeing eye of Mordor would be fun too. Okay, there would be copyright issues to solve, but that's just a mere bag of shells. πŸ˜‰

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