same
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Never had a problem with NI, good experience for me but I only bought softs, no hardware.
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The Komplete bundle is quite cheap if you buy it for half the price during the sales. You get quite a lot for that price (the prices for the individual plugins are non sense).
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You can update whenever you want (I’m on 12 right now and didn’t feel the need to update but well, I don’t use my computer that much these days…) and they give different upgrade paths so that it is still cheap even if you skipped several versions (upgrading to 14 will not cost me more because I didn’t get 13). It’s better than a subscription model, cheaper and they have to offer you new stuffs to entice you to upgrade.
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There’s no fee when you transfer licenses. It’s free and it’s easy to do.
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They did give me a refund when I bought a plugin just to discover it was on sale in a bundle the next day (and really, they didn’t have to…)
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Native access doesn’t force you to download all the plugins and works OK.
Now, a few things I wished they could improve upon:
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Reaktor offers a lot of really cool instruments but the “save before changing instruments” thing is driving me crazy and the interface is not the best out there (but that’s legacy right there…)
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Kontakt is ok but quite CPU intensive compared to just launching an individual plugin, they could try to improve that…
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It seems they don’t do standalone synths anymore. I like to launch Arturia Piano in stand alone, set it to my Apollo and get very low latency to play live but NI wants me to launch a DAW or Kontakt/Reaktor… it could be easier.
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No M1~ compatibility for everything (I don’t have an M1 though but that’s not a plus for them)
The libraries are really nice and only SpitFire would be on top for me but even though SF offers a lot of free stuffs, the paid libraries are expensive compared to a Komplete bundle.
Now, I was thinking of getting myself Maschine+ (so cheap now, can find it for $800) but the need for an active internet connection is a bummer and it seems to be missing probability/trig conditions a la Elektron… Latency might be another issue, not sure. I’ve heard it’s hard to sell the thing because of license transfer issues too (which is weird because software works great…)so I guess NI in the hardware world might offer a different story.
I had issues where the thumbnails wouldn’t install on the browser window, and I effed up using the 50% off code to buy expansions for massive x and customer service refunded me and generated a new code.
They also took a bit of time, but they made a Dropbox link for me and sent all the artwork.
They seem aware of the problems and go out of their way to resolve them
I do have to say, since I have an M1 Mac, and there is no vst3 support, a lot of sounds won’t load via battery or massive, but there are SOOOOO many to choose from. I can easily (well easy after the steep learning curve) swap out the missing sound with something useful.
Not knocking you opinion, just wanted to let you know my experience if you ever want to reconsider.
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I have the mk3, and I took out native access for a reason. Still works, so I don’t know if an internet connection is necessary after first install.
And mine has probability as well. Not sure about trig conditions though.
is it the same for Maschine+?
I’ve read it doesn’t have probability, no trig conditions but I’d be happy if I’m wrong!
I also think Maschine+ needs to connect to the internet and check your account but if it does work without internet once the initial installation is done, that’d be great! (I’ve just started thinking about getting one but it’s a different workflow and I’m lazy so I take my time…).
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Yeah they did this for me too which I appreciated
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They seem to be getting there. I think the main big one still not M1 native is Reaktor, which I guess is more challenging with its complexity but hopefully they can get there soon. In the meantime it works fine with Rosetta in my experience if you use AU
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I didn’t realize Reaktor hasn’t been updated for Arm processors. I am planning to switch to Mac from Windows soon, but Reaktor is one of my most used plugins. Are people who use it on modern macs having issues with it? Is it running well?
They have an Apple Silicone compatibility list with some timeframes here https://support.native-instruments.com/hc/en-us/articles/360014683497-Apple-Silicon-Compatibility-News
There are issues with sounds not being able to load.
Thanks for letting me know. I might have to look into this before making a computer decision then.
Don’t get me wrong I don’t think of them as especially bad it’s just we are now so spoiled with amazing plugin companies that you don’t have to get involved with anything you are not 100% with. It’s the same with IK. The synths looks interesting, but you hear stories and you could just go with Dreadbox and be supporting the little guys or Roland and know it’s going to be rock solid.
Having got experience of what is around I’m going to stick mostly to Synapse and UHE for synths and Baby Audio, Sound Toys and Fabfilter for FX.
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I was an NI follower since early 2000’s, when their focus was on synths, Dynamo/Reaktor and their quality synths (for that time) like FM7, Pro-Five, Absynth.
Bought Kore 1 around 2006/2007, used for several projects, updated to Kore 2 and then it was discontinued.
What I don’t get is that I should be able to still use it (within an older computer system to fullfill its requirements), but I can’t due to their authorization system that changed multiple times.
I’ve contacted their support and there was no way to authorize it again nowadays.
So I can’t load again these old projects.
i certainly like their audio interfaces.
rock solid workhorses (and mostly Linux-compatible, that matters for me).
when it comes to software, i got cracked versions of software i paid for – just in case they decide to discontinue it, as they already did.
They are still stuck in 2000’s. That’s their problem. Zero budget for R&D and spending money on BS. They had to lay off a lot of people even before lockdowns. I’m sure covid have shook their business a lot. So I’m not expecting something innovative from them for years. Solid devices though. I’ve never used nice pads as maschine .
I recently got their Komplete Kontrol mini keyboard, which will auto map knobs to for example Arturia and U-he synths (if ran in the NI host plugin, and has pre mapped transport controls for Ableton.
I also got a cheap used version of Komplete and I’m looking to upgrade it to Ultimate 14 during the summer sale. You get a ridiculous amount of content, especially sampled instruments like guitars, drums, percussion, cinematic etc. Feels like a one stop shop. Isotope Ozone standard is a good bonus.
I can imagine that they’ll include even more synths and effects from Plugin Alliance, going forward. I’m a recent fan of Brainworks (even if PA has some annoying marketing tactics but I can live with that…)
I also got Kore when it came out. I hadn’t used it in probably a decade, then recently, I was digging up really old projects of mine, and realized I needed to install Kore to use a couple of those projects. Anyway, it installed fine on my Windows computer. I assume it would not work on Mac. I couldn’t authorize it through Native Access, but I did manage to get it to Authorize. I think I used the old authorization method.
Yes, that’s the only way in that case, I even told them.
Kore was really good and the hardware was really cool to use. After they dropped support I stopped using it and converted the projects that used it in to audio so I could still open them.
It’s always been wary of NI hardware after that but I still have Komplete that I’ve been using for years but now mainly use Kontakt and occasionally some of the other synths.
I loved them but they ceased to love themselves so it became a bit toxic and I left.
On a more serious note, I still use a lot of their products but I haven’t considered the last upgrades. It’s just endless soundpacks.
- Guitar Rig 6 feels in an appalling state dev-wise. I still use the GR5 when I’m not looking for a top notch amp sim, it just starts faster and sounds the same.
- Massive X has some excellent presets and is a very capable synth but god the interface is dated. A lot of other players (Arturia, Korg with their last plugins) show modulation routing everywhere which is very helpful. Massive X is so static it’s almost an art statement.
I could continue but you got it.
You just have to look at their Glassdoor ratings to know that it’s deeply mismanaged.