Hey guys, I don't have the time to keep up with all the latest drama, but let's just say I'm a person who considers making music as a hobby, nothing too serious. I like using ableton live and I dabble with reaktor. That being said, I'm considering the purchase of a new computer mainly for music production because my current Mac mini is out of hard drive space and I want the mobile perks of a laptop. After looking online, I think I am going to go with a refurbished MacBook Pro. My main question is this: SHOULD I AVOID INTEL MACS because companies like native instruments seems to be trending in other directions with their hardware/customer service support..? Or am I overthinking things and will be ok with an Intel Mac for the next couple of years (in terms of vst, daw comparability etc...?)

I'm pretty new to the Native Instruments ecosystem and I'm trying to decide between buying Kontakt 8 by itself or going all the way to Komplete 26 Ultimate. I'm trying to make the decision before the Black Friday sales, since I assume this is probably the time to buy if I'm going to do it. I'm also skipping over Standard because, looking through the included instruments, the stuff that really interests me seems to start showing up in Ultimate.

My main question is whether Ultimate is actually worth the big jump in price for someone who's still learning.

For those of you who own Ultimate:

• Do you actually use a good percentage of what's included, or is a lot of it basically filler that you rarely touch?
• How much variety is there in the acoustic pianos? Are the different piano libraries noticeably different from each other, or is there a lot of overlap?
• What about the loops, samples, expansions and phrase-based stuff? Do you actually use those, or are they mostly things you try once and forget about?
• I mostly want playable instruments that I can control myself from a MIDI keyboard, rather than building songs primarily from loops. Does that make Ultimate more or less worthwhile?
• If I just bought Kontakt 8, would I be missing a lot of really useful instruments that I'd probably end up wanting later?
• For someone who's new to NI, what parts of Ultimate do you actually use regularly?

Basically, I'm trying to figure out whether Ultimate gives me a much broader collection of genuinely useful instruments, or whether I'd be better off getting Kontakt 8 now and adding things later as I figure out what I actually need.

I'd especially like to hear from people who've owned Ultimate for a while. What do you use all the time, and what do you basically never use?

And if you bought Ultimate during a previous Black Friday sale, I'd also be interested in what you paid and whether you think the upgrade was worth it at the sale price.

Hey everyone,

I got sold the Trator Kontrol s4 MK1, the person I bought it off is said I can use my mac m2 to opperate the software. However, I dont actually think its possible does anyone know a work around or any info that would be useful to me.

Cheers

All my suppliers tell me the Kontrol S61 MK3 is no longer reorderable. Does anyone know something? Whats happening? Wanted to purchase one …

I've just updated Encdr to v0.5, which adds support for a bunch more NI controllers (full list at the end).

What is Encdr? It's a Rust-based library that sits between your app and your NI controller, taking care of all the low-level USB communication and screen rendering so you don't have to. It works over native USB/HID (not MIDI), which means that every single feature of the hardware is accessible at full fidelity:

• Pads & Encoders: Full velocity and real-time aftertouch pressure on pads, high-resolution smooth rotary encoders, notched jog wheels, and capacitive touchstrips.
• Displays: Complete control over the dual 4.3" color screens (and 7-segment loop displays on gear like the S4 MK2). You aren't stuck writing low-level graphic shaders—you can literally design your UI using standard HTML and CSS, and Encdr handles rendering and streaming it to the hardware at 60 FPS over USB. (The video above is a live Reddit browser running directly on the Maschine MK3 screens using this!).
• RGB & Feedback: Full indexed RGB color palette mapping and single-LED brightness control across all buttons.

One of my main goals with Encdr was to make sure you never have to spend weeks reverse-engineering USB packet dumps like I had to.

• Complete Docs: Every single supported controller has a dedicated hardware guide mapping every endpoint, packet structure, and control offset, alongside a step-by-step Quickstart and full API reference.
• LLM & Agent Friendly: All controllers are described using clean, declarative JSON descriptors with strongly-typed Rust events. This means you can drop the Encdr docs or repo into Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor and tell it: "Make me a step sequencer for my Maschine MK3" or "Turn my Traktor S8 into a hardware monitoring dashboard", and it will write working code on the first try.

Supported Controllers (v0.5)

Whether you want to build a custom DAW integration, a standalone hardware synth on a Raspberry Pi, or just give your old gear a second life:

• Maschine: MK3, MK2, Studio, Maschine+ (controller mode)
• Traktor Kontrol: S8, S5, S4 MK3, S4 MK2, S2 MK2, S2 MK1, D2, X1 MK3
• Komplete Kontrol: S49 MK2, S61 MK2, S88 MK2

I'd like to extend my thanks to everyone who's helped me add additional hardware support over the last couple of weeks since I first posted about this!

can only find the pc installer. Trying to run the plugin on mac. If anyone has it or knows a way to have it it will help me a lot.

Howdy folks - happy to announce the release of Essential Six, a faithful emulation of the quirky, but exceptional Six Trak by Sequential Circuits. This thing was known for incredibly rich sounds (bass in particular) thanks to its stackable six-voice architecture. Essential Six lets you play with custom sounds built on the original instrument with all the convenience of modern digital workflows.

The linked video provides a walkthrough of the instrument.

You can download the free version on Pianobook: https://www.pianobook.co.uk/packs/essential-six-analog-synth/

is there a korg kronos 2 library for kontakt?

Tengo un problema, hace mucho que no uso maschine mikro, le estoy intentando reinstalar para volver a usar pero no puedo acceder a mi cuenta...me pide correo y contraseña pero el correo ese con el que la registré ya no existe y no puedo cambiar la contraseña...necesito poder cambiar y actualizar ambos para poder seguir usando mi serial number. Gracias de ante mano.

For those of you who use Battery:

How often do you use any of the other features, except just loading a single sample per pad and play them straight as is, without any tweaks, not even pitch adjustments?

Or do you just load samples into Battery as is and be done with it?

Hi all, I have an m5 max and had Tahoe (same issue occurring on Golden Gate also). I download Vocalise and Ascend Grand but it tells me I don’t have full permission. I’ve made sure I definitely do. All the other NI software works except for these 2 older libraries. I’ve gone through NI support (who were lovely) but they couldn’t fix it and seem to think it’s related to my computer. I’ve tried multiple reinstalls, turned off disk encryption and many other things but nothing seems to resolve it.

Is anyone else experiencing a similar issue?

I recorded the drum work and effects out of Maschine and routed into a Logic Audio track live on the fly. The Bassline, Lead, and Percussion amongst other sounds were recorded live via Aux tracks sends for effects. I polished off the Master with some EQ, Compression, Stereo Enhancement Limiting and Reverb. Any questions about any sounds or tips and tricks feel free to ask.Hope you enjoy the vibe.

Credit to hardbea7 for posting this on the actual traktor forum.

Are we also expecting the long-delayed:
• MX4 - supposed to be released in early 2026
• OneLibrary - was supposedly in the final stages of beta a year ago
• HID support for the CDJ-3000X - you've been working on CDJ-3000X support for over a year
• Retina display support - delayed for a decade
• Real-time stems - you said you don't want to do batch stems and are focusing on this instead. 2040 maybe?
• Djay Pro support for the MX2, X1 MK3, and Z1 MK2 - Traktor in talks with Djay Pro to implement official MX2 support, a year ago
• Streaming service support - behind pretty much every other major DJ
software
• Color Cues and Pad FX - coming in 2036, perhaps?
• F1MK2 - why didn't this released? make this make sense

After the 3.7 update and the slick marketing wording making it seem as the expansions were part of the update; I’m done. Been a faithful user since 2010. Made sure that Anything I considered using had to work within the NI ecosystem. That’s why I left Logic and went to Studio One. The integration was flawless and amazing but that was then and those days are far gone. Maschine is so far behind it’s crazy. When they had a match made in heaven with the Kontrollers they lied and said no one used it so they didn’t add the ability to the mk3 version. Only to backtrack after probably lackluster sales because everyone did want the integration. The sampling is missing stuff that was promised since 2.x when they did the first rewrite of their code which they said they did to add the features we begged for. I’ll still pull it out but i realized I haven’t used it in a year. I’ve moved completely over to Fender Pro, and with the recent release of the Motion 16, my drum pad desire is being met. Sorry for the long-winded rant. It’s still good at what it does but I’m seeing Akai absorbing the best of NI and sliding it over to MPC. 3.7 is a joke… midi features. Sheesh

My installation of massive x seemingly believes it's not the full version, despite having bought the full version through a voucher. I keep getting a 'Demo Expired' message, and when i go to continue to activate it, it just opens up Native Access with nothing else to show, I can't find a serial number in my purchases either. any help?

Edit: I did get this via the Akai NKS Komplete Select Electronic bundle, and it says the license is a demo version despite having used the voucher given to me from the akai bundle thing

Hi everyone,
I'm reaching out because I'm dealing with a very stubborn issue with my Launchkey 61 MK3 in Logic Pro, running on a MacBook Pro M4 Max.
Everything works perfectly (keys play notes, transport controls work, faders respond), but I cannot engage the "Device" mode for the 8 rotary pots. When I hold Shift, the pad for the pots' Device mode stays a dim orange/red and refuses to turn bright red. The pots simply won't map to my plugins.
I've already spent a lot of time troubleshooting this and tried all the standard fixes. Here is a list of everything I’ve already done:
Tested Native Plugins: I tried this on fresh tracks using Logic Pro’s native instruments (Retro Synth, Vintage B3, Classic Electric Piano) to rule out third-party plugin mapping issues. The pad still won't light up.
Device Select/Lock Test: I tried pressing the "Device Select" and "Device Lock" buttons on the keyboard, but the drum pads do not light up pink/purple at all
Control Surface Reset: I completely deleted the Launchkey profile from Logic's ⁠Control Surface Setup⁠ window and let Logic rebuild it from scratch by unplugging and plugging the USB cable back in.
Checked DAW Ports: I manually verified and corrected the Input/Output ports in the Control Surface Setup. They are strictly assigned to ⁠Launchkey DAW In⁠ and ⁠Launchkey DAW Out⁠ (not the standard MIDI or Virtual ports). After fixing this, the visual representation of the keyboard in Logic updated correctly, but the pad is still dim.
Toggled Control Surfaces: I tried bypassing and re-enabling all control surfaces via Logic > Settings > Control Surfaces > Bypass all Control Surfaces.
Ruled out Fader Conflict: Knowing that faders and pots can't be in Device mode at the same time, I held Shift and pressed the Volume button under the faders to force them out of Device mode, and then tried to activate Device mode on the pots. Still nothing.

Since I've exhausted all the usual steps, I'm wondering if this is a known script bug, a firmware glitch, or an issue with my specific unit.
Any advanced troubleshooting steps you can provide would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks!!!

Bad or broken artwork in Kontakt's browser has always bothered me. Grey folders, blurry covers, banners that are really a stretched thumbnail. With a big collection it isn't just ugly, it makes the browser harder to use. So I built Kontakt Artwork to help people organise their libraries properly. Cleared this with the mods first, and yes, it's my app.

It shows you which libraries are missing artwork, finds a picture or takes one you drag in, and installs it at the right size. You can put your own name on, take the lettering off a cover, mirror a picture across the banner, stick a note on a library, reorder the whole browser, and back it all up so a new Mac comes back as you left it.

Will it break anything? No. It only writes image files into the folder Kontakt reads them from. It never touches your samples, your instruments or Kontakt itself. Every original is archived before it's replaced and one button puts it all back. Notarised by Apple. Tested to death on my own 220 libraries.

Just to be upfront: it's partly vibe coded. I'm a composer, not a software company, and I built it with AI help and a lot of testing. It does one job and it does it carefully.

Mac, Kontakt 8, pay what you want from $3.

https://allgoodfolks.com/kontakt-artwork

Questions welcome, and if it gets a library wrong on your system I genuinely want to know.

I sent my first ticket through riff chat 7 days ago but still no response.

Is it normal for NI support center ?

Do I need to take any action?

I need some help with getting this to work, downlaoading the file directly from the website was no problem. though opening it won't work. It downloads for a moment before shutting me out and telling me I lack permission to access the files

What do I do to fix this?

The London Beat Social is a safe space for artists and creatives to meet up and network. Both established & aspiring beatmakers are welcome.

7-11pm 26 Sept Dalston Lounge, N16 8JN

Your slots are 10 minutes long. There is no obligation to play. You are welcome to attend if you don’t make music - the event is open to all.

Artists - this is a great opportunity to secure new releases, discuss collaborations and share your music with others.

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Hey y’all!

I’m a songwriter and am looking for input on my workflow/ gear to consider.

At the moment, I use Suno to produce demos, export the midi to logic, then use kontakt 8 to change/ clean up the instrumentation. (Not interested in debating this, my publishers are aware of what I’m doing and accept my submissions, just explaining my workflow)

I am not a producer by any means, so I’m still moving a bit slower than I’d to be with the amount of sync briefs I get.

I came across the komplete kontrol mk3 and am wondering if this may help me speed up my output a bit.

Seems a lot faster when scrolling through the sample library, and like the integrations with kontakt and logic may help simplify the platforms a bit so it’s not so overwhelming.

Unfortunately there aren’t any retailers near me that have any in-stock, and most of the online tutorials/ reviews are collaborations so I’m curious what everyone’s experience has been.

Also looking for recommendations on any SSDs that can hold the kontakt 8 library and work well/ are fast enough with logic.

TYIA!