Kontakt 7 design

aidenstunes
aidenstunes Member Posts: 163 Advisor

Dear NI, I know you haven't promised any of what I am about to write, yet I still think it should have been obvious to you, as you are indeed known for high quality products and an awesome customer support!

May I ask why is Kontakt 7's GUI still old and ugly, after paying 599$ for an update? The header of the snapshots browsing, the tune, panning and master volume buttons, the information bar, the side pane, the output faders, the settings tab, everything is just a Ctrl + C / Ctrl + V of Kontakt 6.

The new browser is great, honestly, well done, I love it. But you should have refined way more sections of the GUI for this price tag! Way more.

If not the libraries themselves, then at least refine Kontakt. You could have make Kontakt's workspace resizeable, 125%, 150%, like Guitar RIG 6.

You could have changed the color scheme with that ugly old dark green-brown, and at least match it with the colors of the new browser.

You could have changed the typography to any Sans Serif font basically, and match it with the new browser just as well.

For now, Kontakt 7 is not even half baked in terms of a brand new interface.

Way less than a half. I truly hope more GUI improvents would arrive during the following weeks / months, and that it will all be free. Please don't redesign a single page of a whole software, and call it Kontakt 8.

Kontakt 7's visual language should be tightened up in my opinion, and I kindly ask that someone takes it seriously and realize that in 2022, people need modern GUIs not only since they are prettier, but since it's hard to create music using old ones in 2022.

Comments

  • EvilDragon
    EvilDragon Moderator Posts: 1,022 mod
    edited September 2022

    The new browser is the first step towards fully HiDPI interface. This is a humongous undertaking and will simply take a lot of time (more than a few weeks/months definitely), and done in steps.

  • aidenstunes
    aidenstunes Member Posts: 163 Advisor

    As a UI UX designer I know it is a tough job, yet as a client and as a producer, I am frustrated. So as long as NI's team do take care of it and won't charge us each time a new GUI update arrives, that's awesome.

    But it's 2023. People use 4K monitors. Way smaller companies had already redesigned their interfaces. So it's fair to expect more of NI.

  • EvilDragon
    EvilDragon Moderator Posts: 1,022 mod

    Many of those smaller companies you mentioned didn't have 20 years of tech debt to deal with.

  • aidenstunes
    aidenstunes Member Posts: 163 Advisor

    I agree. Yet NI is still late for the party.

    I merely think Komplete 14 could have been the right opportunity to at least refine a few products as a starting point.

    For example, the standalone VC compressors does not support rescaling, yet these very effects are a part of Guitar Rig 6 Pro, and there you can indeed rescale these VC modules.

    I am sure NI could have used it somehow to at least improve the standalone versions of the effects.

    Replika XT just as well. It is disgustingly pixelated even on a 1440p monitor.

    These are the "small" steps NI could have already taken. Yes. Not every UI UX design is tiny and quick to accomplish, I know it from my personal life and I respect the time and effort it takes to do so, but the plenty of time that you had and still have. And barely a thing has been progressed in terms of GUI improvements. That's a fact. I like NI's products. I play Kontakt almost on a daily basis. I merely want to see the same prodcuts I admire evolve and get pushed towards the next level they deserve.

  • Kymeia
    Kymeia Member Posts: 3,605 Expert

    Replika XT has had a HDPI version for ages

  • aidenstunes
    aidenstunes Member Posts: 163 Advisor

    Well yes and no. The interface is indeed resizable, yet the more you enlarge it is the more you see pixels. It is not a real scaling action that's been done there, it's just ugly pixel-stretching.

  • EvilDragon
    EvilDragon Moderator Posts: 1,022 mod

    For a bit more details, check the first entry in the K7 FAQ here.

  • Kymeia
    Kymeia Member Posts: 3,605 Expert

    I don't agree - maybe this is something on your system but it always comes out crisp and clear to me, as do all the FX that scale now

  • David Birdwell
    David Birdwell Member Posts: 11 Member

    Thanks for that K7 FAQ link @EvilDragon

    I had no idea we could add non player libraries to the scalable browser -that's a good step towards a fully scalable UI for now - very cool


    Is there a way to create a custom icon for the imported folder?

    (knowing of course it would involve some custom graphic/photoshop work on my end)




    https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/6677339715741

  • EvilDragon
    EvilDragon Moderator Posts: 1,022 mod
    edited November 2022
  • DunedinDragon
    DunedinDragon Member Posts: 363 Pro

    I've been a software engineer for commercial software most of my life and I guess I don't see the interface as being that big of an issue. But I'm a relatively new Kontakt user for the last year and a half so maybe I'm not coming at this with a lot of baggage.

    Personally I find the new interface quite easy to navigate especially given the amount of features that are crammed into it. Given my priorities, I'm far less interested in pretty color schemes and fancy knob interactions than I am in being able to quickly identify what button or action to take to make something happen the way I want it to. This is really the only area in Kontakt that's frustrating because there are so many various functions being exposed via icons and such that it's often hard to remember what I need to do to accomplish something. This is exacerbated by the fact that each library has it's own separate functions and they can differ significantly in their interfaces from library to library.

    What is odd in this day and age is the interface doesn't really provide any context sensitive help features such as a small pop up descriptions when you hover over something or right click access to context sensitive access to the documentation. This is highly unusual for any kind of highly technical/rich functionality type of software, so I'm surprised that at version 7 this hasn't been addressed yet.

    I realize there are challenges given the range of different vendors doing NK compliant software and how all of those would need to learn how to play nice in a context sensitive environment. But in my opinion that would raise Kontakt to the next level in professional usability.

  • Scoox
    Scoox Member Posts: 4 Member


    Hey ED, do you know if any progress has been made regarding a scalable UI? I'd be happy with one that's just 200% of the current size, even if it looks pixelated and horrible (but at least easier on the eyes).

  • EvilDragon
    EvilDragon Moderator Posts: 1,022 mod
    edited February 2023

    I can't really share even if I know what's happening, sorry. Hold your breath. :)

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