NI layoffs & restructuring
 

I know we have a lot of NI users here from Kontakt to Massive to Maschine and thought this pair of links would be of interest to people.
From Create Digital Music:
https://cdm.link/2019/09/native-instruments-cuts/

and from Music Radar:
https://www.musicradar.com/news/nati...ified-platform

I know there was a posting over on GS about a 50% layoff and that that's what was holding up Unfiltered Audio's Lion synth from being released due to not getting the NKS bits signed off on. Reading these articles suggest things are much deeper than that.

A new platform? Scary. And there are still bugs in Kontakt 6 that aren't getting fixed even though NI has acknowledged they exist. Couple this with the botched rollout of Massive X and one can see things aren't that rosy. Really - what other sampler engine has as deep offerings from third party developers as those that run on Kontakt? UVI doesn't begin to come close that I can see. And neither does the EW Play engine.

Re: NI layoffs & restructuring
 

NI should have just written “we are moving to subscriptions” because that is clearly where this is leading with “new platform.”

Re: NI layoffs & restructuring
 

So you don't think they're rewriting code then?

Re: NI layoffs & restructuring
 

No. They are going to put out something like Avid Link with even more unwanted “service products” and have their sample library partners forced into that ecosystem with subscription-model sales.

There’s a reason why Spitfire (who has grown into one of the largest sample producers) has abandoned Kontakt. And it doesn’t have to do with the sample engine.

Re: NI layoffs & restructuring
 

We have NI Komplete Ultimate 12 now and will stay there should crap hit the fan. No more subs for us as we have had plugin overload for way too long and only buy hardware now :-)

Re: NI layoffs & restructuring
 

Same here. NI are you listening?

Re: NI layoffs & restructuring
 

Exactly what it looks like to me.

Re: NI layoffs & restructuring
 

Oh boy - just what we don't need.
Not to be a snot but Spitfire is abandoning Kontakt? I took a look at a couple of their libraries and they're still providing Kontakt Player with them. I didn't look at them all though. Are they going to be using their own engine?

Re: NI layoffs & restructuring
 

Let's hope this doesn't delay Catalina compatibility for NI. Any new Macs coming out later this year will probably not run Mojave (that's the way Apple typically rolls) and there's a pent-up demand for the new Pros. The majority of stuff I run on my system has been 64-bit compatible for quite a while. The notable exceptions are NI and (cough, cough) Avid.

Re: NI layoffs & restructuring
 

Yes. Nothing new in about a year uses Kontakt (may be longer.) Spitfire uses their own engine/plugin.

They are still submitting for NKS approval though -- I'm guessing that is free/low cost since NI is still trying to build up that platform.