Native Instruments Intros Komplete Now Virtual Instrument Subscription Service

Native Instruments has introduced Komplete Now, a new subscription service for virtual instruments and effects.

Subscribers get access to NI’s flagship synthesizer Massive X, a new edition of the legendary drum sampling platform Battery 4, and three instruments from the Play Series collection: Cloud Supply, Lo-Fi Glow & Hybrid Keys. Komplete Now also includes Retro Machines MK2 with 16 virtual analog synthesizers and keyboards, plus the Raum and Replika effects.

Official walkthrough video:

Pricing and Availability:

Komplete Now is available now, priced at $9.99 USD per month.

45 thoughts on “Native Instruments Intros Komplete Now Virtual Instrument Subscription Service”

      2. LOL – that´s the thing: NI Komplete (where complete is complete) but then Komplete Ultimate where complete is even more complete – and then Komplete Now, where complete is less complete than complete but … now. One just has to love those wordings – and to be fair, it is written differently.

    1. I agree… why should anyone pay $10 a month for one (awesome) synth and a couple of sample players? At this price i would expect simply more.

      maybe comparing apples & tomatoes… but for $10/month you could get Arcade or at $20/month you’d get reason+ with a lot more instruments & sounds.

  7. They wanna fish the new generation. The young producers who don’t have the money for the real komplete.
    But I keep still waiting for komplete 14 😛

  9. Bottom line is that most if not every major software producers will switch to subscription model by the end of 2022.
    Protools, Roland, NI, Reasonstudios, among others have it in place already and new Steinberg activation system for Cubase 12 is heading this way as well…
    Is there anyone out of BIG software players that is not on subscription bandwagon yet?
    Apple will probably stay with Logic Pro as the only one non subscription major DAW…

    1. Ableton has no subscription model. But, I’m sure they are thinking about it. Every company wants a model that has the best chance of keeping the cash flow. The rental/subscription model works best for them. But I outright refuse to buy in. I found alternatives to Adobe products when they went that way and I’ll do the same with other companies.

  11. I don’t have a problem with subscription if its good value (I subscribe to Office365, Netflix, etc) but this is just such a poor value offering…1 decent VST (be great when its finished!), a cut down version drum sample player they hadn’t updated for 4 years, a few Kontakt instruments (but no Kontakt!) and some fx that have in the past been given away free! Come on NI, you can do much better than that!

  13. I *really* dislike monthly subscriptions for software. Sometimes, my life is incredibly busy and I simply don’t have time to make music for 3-4 months at a stretch. Why should I pay a monthly fee for something I’m not using?

    Hard pass.

      2. Except for “serious” musicians, there are also hobbyists (like myself). Sometimes we have time for music like 3-4 days a month. Why should we pay for the whole month? Also, those days are usually vacation, and so – no internet available.
        This model sucks for us.
        And serious musicians usually rely on their hardware. So, in my opinion, this model is not suitable for for anyone.
        But the market will decide, of course.

    2. But why would you rather pay full price for something you don’t have the time to use instead of just renting it when you actually do use it? I don’t get your point.

      1. How easy is it to pause/resume? I suppose one thing about buying software is you don’t have to keep track of anything. If ALL my software was subscription-based, that would be a nightmare.

        Perhaps someone will (or already has) come up with a unified subscription manager to flip subscriptions on/off en masse. But will THAT software be subscription based?

      2. I think the point is that for a hobbyist, if you figure out that you’ve got a free evening to come back to your project for a couple of hours, you don’t really want to have to fiddle around paying $20 x 5 to get your five different subscriptions up and running again before you can even get started.

        The subscription systems I’ve seen are not really set up for people who want to keep pausing and restarting. The idea seems to be that you’ll subscribe and then forget about it. Could end up like gym membership for many people.

  14. I suggest taking the product line of Maschine+ down a different path, with its own software library instead of dealing with CPU overload each time and/or having incompatible sound libraries by NI. Better still, a newer hardware that has sufficient juice to handle all the transfer from PC to standalone.

  15. how the heck can they sling a subscription for software that they’ve been giving away for *free* for years? Massive X is the only thing here worth paying for, and it’d be much more reasonable to just charge for a rent-to-own plan than some totally half-baked and incoherent subscription suite. it probably is a matter of “testing the waters” as some have said ITT, but it’s an incredibly poorly thought-out way to roll the idea out. i’m not even inherently against subscriptions (Reason+ is honestly good value!), but this is just dumb. I straight up would pay for subscription access to certain NI products – the more esoteric kontakt suites, for example. so i hope they get their head screwed on right in the future.

  19. Was Massive X ever updated or did they leave the flaws in after the release? Massive was fine the way it was. The X version was just a step sideways in progress.

    1. That’s a really good point. Some users install software and keep their work machines offline– or want to just have stuff ready to work when the power is out.

  21. The writing is on the wall for native instruments and Izotope, they make decent products but have saturated the market and they have weak corporate leadership. Just look at RX9, terrible update with almost no new features and the ones that were added are not that good. This is just a money grab, you’d have to be dumb to sign up.

  23. i think what makes more sense than subscription is a rent to own option. this helps those who can’t drop the full amount right away but then at some point they own it. i think NI would do very well if they gave this option to all their instruments. otherwise i think the subscription should include all of their instruments.

  24. This model also really sucks if you work for a larger company where the core business is not sound design or music making.
    I can go to our investment board and explain I need to invest in a software for 500 EUR, that is no problem, the investment gets approved and I buy the SW, end of story.
    There is NO WAY I’m going to get some approval to pay $10 a month, put it on travel expenses or whatever, do all of that paperwork every month.
    It is simply out of the question!

  25. I’ve been a komplete user since version 1, and a Generator user far before that. If NI moves to a subscription only based service…I’m out. And I’ll bash the hell out of everything they make for it.

    We already have Avid doing this funny business, and their customers are furious.

    Musicians don’t want that. It will cost more over the long run. It requires more frequent online use for the DAW computer, which makes our systems less stable. It assumes we will want to upgrade constantly rather than use what we have on a stable platform. For seriously modified PC computers, these updates create all sorts of annoyances. My life doesn’t revolve around a product, and sometimes months go by when I will use something else. Why continue to pay just to remain tethered to a service? I want to own my license to use your product indefinitely, and I want stability and bug fix updates to be free, because that’s what I assumed I already paid for.

    Hard pass on subscriptions.

  26. Subscriptions are all well and good if you only want one or two programs. How many musicians only use one or two………….

    The way this is all going if you have a DAW, use say 5 or even 10 different sample libraries and then another couple of VST collections or effects all on subscription how much disposeable money every month do you have for this? If this isn’t your main job can you afford £100 a month or maybe £200 to £300 a month when you add it all up? A lot won’t be able to that. Hit a bad couple of months finaniclally – well thats no music making for you then unless you can find some free alternatives!

    No. Just no!

  27. It seems when software programmers can’t come up with enough innovative ideas to justify the consumer to buy the next version of Komplete/Cubase/Izotope/Adobe Premiere/Office/etc it’s better to just get the money from being able to use the software. This introduces lazyness for new features: why develop for a new version, if consumers are forced to pay for the use of products? I will, and I recommend everyone else to BOYCOT every software developer, who forces their counsumers to move on to a subscription model. Just like Adobe did with their Creative Cloud. But this is great news for the competition. As long as they don’t follow this consumer scamming business model, they may find new customers.

  28. Arturia usually finds a way to get about $150/year from me in updates and new instruments – but they are good about updating their plugins, and they come out with 1-2 brand new instruments a year that are really good and another 1-2 that arn’t my cup of tea. In contrast, Native Instruuments barely updates its stuff. Their User interfaces remain mired in 2003. I havent had reason to pay them any money since 2017. Korg updates are slow, but when they do update they do a good job. They are pretty slow at coming up with new things. Roland? Their constantly changing software plan confuses me, and I don’t need anything they sell enough to keep up with their changes. Full Bucket – they are going to get my next money even though they release their stuff as shareware. They are better at putting stuff out and updating it than Native Instruments and even Korg. Cherry Audio – They have put out at least a dozen new instruments since NI released Massive X. Cherry Audio is the rising star in the industry. My beef with Cherry Audio is they move too fast for me to keep up with them, so I stopped trying.

  30. If subscription is optional, fine, if it’s mandatory then no money will leave my pocket. They look out for their own interests only, I’ll look out for mine. A company needs to be extraordinarily selfish and evil to do what Adobe did.

    1. People love Adobe’s subscription model. Adobe is literally worth 20 times what it was worth 10 years ago, before Creative Cloud was introduced.

      The entry level pricing for Adobe’s Creative Suite was $1300 back then. People could only use it if they were rich or if they had it at work.

      The subscription model removed that barrier to entry and makes it possible for just about anybody to use their software. So Adobe customers and investors have benefited tremendously.

      There are obviously some people, like you, that hate subscription models. Maybe they were heavily invested in software ownership. Maybe they don’t like that new users can get the software, without spending the type of money you had to 10 years ago.

      The haters are a loud minority, though. Otherwise, Adobe’s model wouldn’t be incredibly successful and other companies would not be trying so hard to duplicate their success.

      Native Instruments is going to have to do a lot more to be able to duplicate Adobe’s model, but they’re obviously taking a step in that direction.

      1. iMan… If they are as successful as you claim they are, then they can sure have a perpetual license as an option.
        They have removed barriers for non rich people, and cause of that all of a sudden nothing outside of the subscription model is even conceivable??! Try harder.

        “Maybe they were heavily invested in software ownership. Maybe they don’t like that new users can get the software, without spending the type of money you had to 10 years ago.”

        Yes, that phenomenon exists but I’m not part of it. I’m not selfish and petty. As you can see from my original post “if subscription is optional, fine”. My beef is forcing us to spend way da fuk much more money in the long run. No, I never paid for any Adobe application, the thing was… I was getting ready to, but they didn’t give me a chance and started out with this model then.

        And then there’s also that phenomenon of people staying in the wrong side of the issue in an attempt to justify to themselves their own big perpetual investment – perhaps, that would be you.

        “Otherwise, Adobe’s model wouldn’t be incredibly successful”
        Hey maybe the model is incredibly successful because artists have decades long worth of projects already done in Adobe applications that may need re-work at any time and they’re now hostage to the company the minute they decide to value their precious time and work. Maybe that’s where the “incredible success” comes from. Maybe this whole thing was really well thought out and they soon arrived at the conclusion that holding ‘prisoners’ is where the real money and the safe bet are. No regard for the customers situation, at all. The success they’re having is kinda like mandatory.

        In a way I’m thankful to Adobe cause I got to know Blackmagic Design, Hitfilm and Affinity. Now those offer extraordinary value, they’re brilliant and they’r extremely inexpensive. You even get Davinci Resolve and Fusion, both in their premium versions, for free if you buy a Blackmagic camera. You don’t get to feel like a prisoner and the people from these companies can sleep peacefully at night. And if Affinity don’t support plugins, some incredible free programs like Inkscape do.

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