The Sound Board

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/s ... mplete-26/

From Komplete 15 to Komplete 26 in a single bound. And a very important change to the Natural Order Of Things - Komplete updates now look set to be annual affairs, not every two years. Which also means the famous Summer Of Sound discounts are very likely gone.

Maybe they move to Black Friday / XMAS for the half price deals? Or there's no half price deals at all any more?

One more change - it used to be one fixed upgrade price from earlier versions going back many years. Now it's tiered - the less current you are, the more you pay.

NI's financial position may have had some bearing on these changes, about which there has been no solid move for some time. I believe under German law there has to be some clarity in the coming months, but I'm very sketchy on the details.

What's new in (versions of) Komplete 26:

Absynth 6
The cult semi-modular synth has returned, more expressive and alive than ever.

Odes
​​Bring any scene to life with this cinematic ensemble driven by rhythm.

Circular
Transform simple chords into delicate evolving soundscapes.

Electric Keys
Explore decades of iconic sounds with six authentic vintage keyboards and pianos.

LCO Producer Strings
The genre-defying sound of the London Contemporary Orchestra.

Claire
Get the unmatched tonal clarity of one of the world’s largest grand pianos.

Very hard to know whether to buy NI products at this point, and the jump in version number doesn’t inspire confidence, at least not to me. Feels sort of silly, actually.

Once again there is little to inspire me to open my wallet! And if I do change my mind I see no reason to change from the standard package.

The jump in version number is odd, and I hope an explanation is out there somewhere!

On the version number - it seems a lot of companies have changed to reflect year of release in their naming. Avid did it some time ago with Pro Tools. No biggie imo, I guess you kind of know where you are more easily.

I really want NI to succeed. IMO they went through a pretty rough patch but in the last couple of years I think they turned a corner. I'm still floored by their 180 degree u-turn on Absynth after we'd all attended the funeral. Kontakt 7 was a nightmare, Kontakt 8 is very much headed in the right direction.

This seems to be another sorry tale of venture capitalism destroying a healthy company.

I think people are understandably reluctant to upgrade with such a cloud hanging over the company. Increasing the cost to upgrade for older customers will likely hurt them further. The current prospect is not too enticing, but half price will still be a good deal, at least for some.

Seems like the mists have cleared and NI is aquired by inMusic (AKAI, Moog, M-Audio and more)
https://blog.native-instruments.com/an- ... -williams/

Thanks Jaap - worthy of its own thread! https://thesoundboard.net/viewtopic.php?t=6948