Tag Archives: Native Instruments

Winter NAMM 2019: You Komplete me

Posted on by

Native Instruments are trolling the low end and that ain’t bad.

I haven’t jumped into the deep end of the NI pool. Over the holidays, I downloaded the free player versions of Guitar Rig 5, Kontakt and Reaktor 6. I believe in the low end theory which says that you can make good music without dropping a lot of change.

Native Instruments have announced KOMPLETE START, “a new collection of sounds, instruments, and effects that’s 100% free; and new software integration that puts millions of loops and samples from Sounds.com at your fingertips.” The latter part of that message steals a page from Loopmasters’ Loopcloud. This builds on the success of NI’s Sounds.com site.

The KOMPLETE START page promises:

  • Produce and perform with over 2,000 studio-quality sounds — for free
  • 15 pro-grade synths and sampled instruments, plus effects, loops, and samples
  • Browse, preview, and play it all in your recording software with KOMPLETE KONTROL

KOMPLETE START includes over 6GB of instruments, effects, loops and samples. Synths are: TRK-01 Bass, Mikro Prism, Lazerbass, Carbon 2, Space Drone and Newscool. Sampled instruments include World, Band, Synth, Vintage, Urban Beats, Kinetic Treats and the Play Series Selection. Guitar Rig 5 Player is included (17 cabinet emulations and 13 effects) plus the Supercharger tube compressor.

Now, a lot of this sounds like the old free bundle and you would be right. There’s a few new freebies here and there. If the first taste is good, you can upgrade to Komplete 12 Select for $99 USD.

NI have new low-end hardware, too. The Komplete Kontrol M32 is a keyboard controller (32 mini keys)with OLED display, touch strips, knobs and NKS integration. Street price is $129 USD. Ableton Live 10 Lite is bundled in, just in case the ten copies that you have aren’t enough.

Komplete Kontrol M32 features are:

  • Play Smarter: Chord progressions and arpeggios
  • Eight touch sensitive knobs premapped for presets
  • Buttons for DAW control
  • Octave transpose buttons
  • Two touch strips
  • A four-direction push encoder for navigation
  • 10GB of content including the Scarbee Mark I
  • USB MIDI (USB bus powered)
  • TRS pedal input (assignable to sustain)

This sounds like an inexpensive way to get familiar with NKS integration. Not bad. I like these kinds of introductory packages because I can try the software and donate the microcontroller if I don’t like it. There is always some deserving youngster…

NI also announced the Komplete Audio 1 (one channel) and Komplete Audio 2 (two channel) audio interfaces. Street price is $109. Specs for the Komplete Audio 2 are:

  • 2 inputs: 2x combi-XLR/jack inputs with 48V phantom power and individual gain control
  • Outputs: Stereo jack out
  • VU-meter for adjusting levels
  • Direct monitoring for blending audio playback while recording
  • Big volume knob
  • Headphone out with high power output and volume control
  • USB 2.0 bus powered
  • Audio quality: Premium quality at 192 kHz and 24 bit
  • Included software: Ableton Live 10 Lite, MASCHINE Essentials, MONARK, REPLIKA, PHASIS, SOLID BUS COMP, and KOMPLETE START

Per Internet tradition, let’s gripe before we’ve even seen product. I wish it had 5-pin MIDI IN and OUT. The new Mackie and PreSonus interfaces one-up the new NI interfaces in this regard.

The Komplete Kontrol M32, Komplete Audio 1 and 2 are pre-order items. NI are projecting March 6, 2019 availability for the M32.

Copyright © 2019 Paul J. Drongowski