Ask me anything: Kontrol S-Series MK3

How deep is the integration with Pro Tools?

no, it mk2 keyboards will keep doing their thing for years to come.

But they will miss out on the fun of nks2

I would love more information on how Kontrol mk3 behaves with Maschine. We know integration has been rolled back, but what does that mean exactly? Is Kontrol mk3 just a brick when working with Maschine?

I thought that the possibility to work in a purely NI ecosystem was what NI ultimately desired for their clients, but leaving Maschine users behind with this new piece of incompatible hardware is pretty surprising.

I like the new mk3. The screen is cool and nks2 looks great and I think I'd enjoy this controller, but Maschine is the main component of my workflow, which seems to indicate this new Kontrol isn't an option for me.

It will allow you to play notes like any MIDI keyboard, you can also setup some basic midi mapped controls. Currently what it means is you do not have access to the NKS browser or NKS control of instruments, the mixer or the transport controls. All of these functions are available on Maschine itself so what KK will offer is just a way of inputting notes via a keyboard. Likely at some stage next year we will see transport working, possibly mixer control and the NKS control of instruments tho still may not mean you can browse presets on the keyboard in Maschine.

That's what I was thinking, and confirms that the new Kontrol mk3 isn't made for Maschine users. Pretty steep price point for a basic midi controller.

Here’s the thing…incremental change is ok if there are plans to expand the ecosystem quicker than every 4 or 6 years. This update is not for me, and here’s why.

I have been BEGGING the support team to integrate sliders and drum pads on the extra real estate on the 88-key controller especially. While I support the large screen, the fact that so MANY manufacturers make touch screens for their flagship controllers and NI did not is appalling. And while I’m on the topic of sliders and pads, the mixing that many of us would like to do from the keyboard is not just one track at a time, but a mix environment where we can mix two or more channels at once. Using the rotary encoders doesn’t make that at all possible, as a circular motion to make incremental or sweeping changes ON MULTIPLE CHANNELS is insanely hard.

Full disclosure, the work I personally do doesn’t involve polyphonic aftertouch, but having that in addition to pads and sliders would’ve MAYBE tipped the scales for me. The loss of integrating Maschine feels extremely off too. Gaining access to Kontakt directly IS exciting to me as is the new NKS protocol, but it’s not gonna make me plop down $1300. Had the engineers come up with a solution to match controllers like the Keylab, or others, I’d be totally into the new controllers. For now, I will stay with my workflow: a perfectly working S88 MK2 and a fader bank by its side. No reason to upgrade. What a shame.

Will the new S88 mk3 contain the same keybed as the mk2. I didn’t buy the mk2 as I disliked the stiff heavy action of its keybed. I think the idea of Komplete Kontrol and NKS is fantastic and ended up buying a S61 mk2 just to get the integration and a Kronos for the hammer action. I know that a number of folk are not happy with the s88 mk2 action in the forums and given that it is being sold as a high end controller, the inclusion of a superior hammer action more comparable with a Roland FP60/90 would be good thing.