42 thoughts on “What Is Native Instruments’ New Hardware? It’s A Komplete Mystery

  1. I was very excited to see them create a hardware controller…until I saw the ribbon strips instead of a proper Pitch and Mod wheel. That’s how you lose a keyboard player. But I’m sure it will be something cool for other folks.

      1. Ribbons are kind of neat because they are like elastic, once you let go, they can go back to a setting. I don’t think there is going to be a keyboard. Imagine a encoder version of the APC40MK2.

        1. I had a Kurzweil keyboard with a couple mod strips, and I ESPECIALLY loved it for pitch control. The fact that you could do really fast trills & patterns by tapping was fantastic.

          1. Kurzweils are way underrated. If you can get one used, they make fantastic control keyboards. Plus, they’re still great synths!

  2. It’s a Komplete MIDI controller with Keyboard, Pitch, Mode wheel. Maybe it has 49 keys to keep it portable like rest of the NI controllers. There’s seems to be also a LED/OLED based screen on the top, much like the maschine studio controller. At the end of the day, it’s just a glorified midi Kontroller…. prob will be priced around $599.

  3. As you can see from leaked pictures (on gearslutz or KVR) it’s rather uninspiring set of keyboard controllers (but I have to say that the displays below the encoders are really nice). All hope is in integration with Komplete (Kontakt and the NI synths).

    And the price… oh boy… it’s HIGH!

    1. Yes – I will only be interested if it’s not tightly tied to the current version of Komplete.

      Native instruments has a bad habit of releasing these hardware controllers for their products and then dumping support for them 3 years later.

      1. that’s the reason why i think i’ll stick with a secondary monitor that has multi-touch for manipulating vst parameters and my SH-201 for the keys for the time being. although it is about time that NI made a dedicated controller for komplete considering it has been a bit of a flagship for about 10 years.

  4. I’m hoping it is a “Komplete Studio” Host for Komplete instruments that works in tandem with maschine offering complete control over all things NI

  5. Das blinkenlights! If this is a 25/49 key keyboard/controller that works well with Massive and its friends, (and has aforementioned blinky lights) it will sell like crazy. “MaschineKontrol”?

  6. Whatever it is… (Kontrol S 25/49/61) i will wait for a MK2 version… as we all know NI, they will relaese a way better MK2 version at Xmas 2014….

    Happy days 🙂

  7. still pumping out toys I see… still no Reaktor 6, Absynth 6, or FM9. It’s like they’ve completely left behind the very people that put them in business and gone after the kiddy crowd. Oh and P.S: Pretty much all of Gearslutz has known about this “news” since like 2 weeks ago. Spoiler Alert: its a keyboard controller like Maschine with cookie cutter synths for the kiddies

    1. yes- the kiddie crowd. Very astute. Everything seems like a cheap toy now. I do love Reaktor & FM8, as well as a couple of Logic synths. Other than that, I’ll stick to hardware synths. Musical instruments that you can play & operate through human interaction. (I’m not bashing soft synths for those of you who won’t/can’t spend money on a real synth)

  8. Yes,
    And I remember all too well the ultimate controller (you’ll never need another), future-proof Kore that never really worked either because, er, um, development and support were reallocated to a more ultimate controller, Maschine, which you could trade in for the ultimate ultimate tool, Maschine 2… which is also future proof if you have only 12 months left to live…

  9. Actually, saw the leaked photos. Midi controller. Proof that innovation in electronic musical instruments is at a standstill. Animoog is the only interesting innovation I’ve seen. Personally, I don’t care, I’m into analogues, but I’m amazed these people think it’s ok to churn out the same old stuff.

    1. I agree Animoog is one of the most innovative news in years. But dont forget Lep Motion. That is a very different way to controll sound then your standard controllers.

  10. I think that NI is trying to catch up with Roland Korg, and Arturia a bit. These other companies have dedicated controllers for their plugins and even ones that can be standalone plugout or analogue. Since NI has been in the HW market they haven’t really done the keyboard thing yet and . If Komplete could run standalone in a plugout or Receptor style, I think it would be interesting, but I doubt that this is going to happen so soon. They’ve been churning out more products for 2 of their 3 platforms, Maschine and Traktor. Komplete has been lost in the mix here and it seems they have pushed for Maschine to be Kore’s successor. It’s hard for me to get excited when I have a desk covered with a Remote SL, Maschine, Analogue Factory, MAudios, Presonus, Monome, Lemur. More plastic to add to the pile?

  11. NI use too much time and effort for their communication than for their innovative idea.
    Just an overpriced keyboard controller with 10 knobs and 2 ribbon.
    That would have been a real news, if they had made a real synth !

  12. Yamaha SPX-90 reverb emulation, GX-1 synth emulation, and FS1R in FM9 with DX7ii and DX1 circuit emulations and Absynth 6… you know you want it

  13. It’s a controller, Like Softube console 1, control there software, Ribbon Fader can automation, rotary Knob, Don’t see the LED Screen.

  14. Have the Arturia keyboard on the MIDI I/O of Maschine, when you open the NI synths from Maschine they automap the parameters to the hardware. The mod and pitchwheel are preferred to the ribbon, bla bla…
    Far more interested in the additions to Komplete 10 vs 9

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