r/NativeInstruments

Hi everyone,

I need a reality check. Am I stupid, or is the Native Instruments software ecosystem one of the most unintuitive, over-complicated pieces of garbage ever designed for "creatives"?

I just bought an M32 controller to start making music at home. I’ve got my DAW (Tracktion Waveform), my guitars, and I just wanted to play. How I imagined this ecosystem: M32 controller allows browsing and I'm instantly playing and enjoying plethora of sounds to choose from. Instead, I’ve spent the last few hours studying the "quantum physics" of NI hierarchy and reasons behind applications freezeing on Windows 11.

Here is my experience so far:

• MIDI issues: I plug in the M32. It lights up. I open Komplete Kontrol. No sound. Why? Because I have to manually find a hidden checkbox in a MIDI sub-menu to enable the actual keys of the controller. Why is this not on by default for a dedicated NI controller in a dedicated NI app?
• Software bloat/freezing: Komplete Kontrol standalone now keeps hanging on picking the M32 controller, so I effectively can't select it anymore.
• Redundancy: why does Komplete Kontrol feel like a clunky wrapper for Kontakt, which is a clunky wrapper for libraries?
• The K-naming hell: Komplete, Kontakt, Kontrol, Kontakt Player, ... why? It’s like they intentionally tried to make it as confusing as possible.

I feel like I’m spending 90% of my time troubleshooting "Host Integration Agents" and MIDI port conflicts, and 0% actually playing my instruments.

Is this just "how it is" with NI? Do you guys actually use Komplete Kontrol, or do you just bypass this mess and load VSTs directly into your DAW?

How do you guys deal with the "option paralysis" and the technical friction? I’m seriously considering nuking everything NI-related and just sticking to simple, 3rd party VSTs that actually work when you click them.

Curious to hear your thoughts.

Started on Maschine back with the MK1. Watched it grow into one of the most complete beatmaking ecosystems on the planet. Yet somehow the “just a hip-hop sampler” label never went away. Why do you think that is?

Yo, I’m new here. I’m on a maschine subreddit but I figured this would be a better place to start.

So a good friend of mine passed away last year and his dad gave me his music gear and included in that was Komplete 9 software. It has 8 discs of instruments & effects. I googled it and found out it’s like 13 years old.

Is there anyway I can get this onto my computer? (don’t have a disc drive) or laptop? (also doesn’t have a disc drive)

What is for you the most playable piano vst by native instruments for you?
The vst piano that you dont make adjustments all the time but in the same time has character?

I'm using a Drummer plugin in Kontakt.

I think the technique is called a wash, where a drummer quickly hits the rim softly with increasing power, so that the waveform is all decay/sustain, and almost no attack. The effect is kind of like a wave crashing.

I tried drawing the velocity on the piano roll, but the attack, the portion of the sample where the stick-head hits the cymbal remains loud in the volume, louder than the rest of the sample at that volume. I tried different cymbals, different volumes, different speeds, and used the slope control "concave" selection.

Anyone successfully done this?

Suggestions, other than hiring a drummer, which I can't afford, welcome.

TIA

EDIT: thanks to commenters who exposed my error. My DAW is Ableton, whatever the most recent update is.

MOAR EDIT: Im using the 60’s Drummer plugin. Because I am a Old.

This problem was sudden, and has been dragging on a couple weeks now. Wondering if it's possible for updates to break them, and how to roll back. They say DEMO in Kontakt 7, but look entirely fine in Native Access.

Hey guys. I own Komplete Ultimate and recorded a radioplay with children at School. Now I want to make some Music and happy atmospheres in a fast way. I found a lot of Sounds in Action strikes and pharlight, but they are rather for a Horror Movie creating tensions and fear. Does anyone now a good preset for happy sounds like in Songs for childrens?

Those happy loop Kind of thing where I play a few Chords on the Piano and it Fills up the Radio play.

Hey all, Does anyone familiar with Noire know what does crackling sound is? I've tried turning off and on all the different effects inside the plugin from the particle machine to all the different noise pedals etc, it is always there no matter what I do, if you have any idea where this annoying sound is coming from within the plugin, i'd love to hear suggestions.

It happens at 0:11 and 0:16.

Thanks!

Which 40Gbps dock do people recommend for a Samsung 990 pro SSD?

I’ve been looking at the ORICO MiniLink, UGREEN and Raycue 40Gbps docks.

Thanks.

Effect ”Bite” > re-sampled > bad sampling, and a lightly pressed C5 (specifically using the “classic electric piano” sound in GarageBand) sounds similar to the beginning of “Attention Attention” by Shinedown…also, I might have somewhat of a “perfect pitch?” Cause sometimes it’s works and sometimes it doesn’t lol…oki carry on 🤭👋🏻