KU10 update pricing is unreasonable

Thank you. I started to write a reply to this thread last night, and gave up- but those four words summarize my feelings exactly.

 

In any case, I'm hopping off of the NI wagon -- probably for the next couple of years. While I love their products I am not at all interested in a very mild update -- which include none of their flagship products -- at this time. There are a lot of places to spend my money. I'll likely purchase a KU update in 3 or 4 years, unless my enthusiasm has found a new direction at that point.

 

Wise choice, there is more software worth investing in. Last things I bought were the Waves CLA76 and PuigChild when they were on a discount to replace NI VC76 and IK Multimedia 670, it's amazing how much tracks improved by just trading up to a better emulation of the same hardware. I'm now working on a track where I put Waves HEQ and PuigChild on each channel of Modern Drummer, sounds so much better then the SSL modules in Kontakt 5.

 

Feel exactly the same.
Synapse audio and samplelogic have my attention right now

 

I stopped buying NI stuff after the Kore debacle. And I've loved it. I'm buying far more interesting stuff from others (VirSyn being high on the list). I've bought some Waves stuff, some hardware and a few wonderful VSTs. I initially mourned the fact that Kontakt would drop off the map but this has been replaced by the vastly superior Halion 5. True, Halion doesn't yet have a grand array of libraries but I'm sure that, once people realise how good it is, libraries (for those who want them) will come.

 

Completely expected the figures to be around what they are. £169 from K9 to K10 seems like a steal to me.... The new 'Rounds' seems to have avenues of depth akin to Molekular... which I'm still having fun with, and no where near mastering, plus there's the added bonus of those blue 'n' purpley colours which turn me on a little. Twisted always fail to make a poor ensemble, and a Stephen Schmidt synth? Go on then.

Going from K9 Ultimate to K10 U probably not gonna happen for me.... 50's kit, GT, and pro horns, meh. Action Strikes, and Rise & Hit would be nice to partner with the strings of the action variety, but.... still fair enough me thinks.

Count me in for Reaktor based treats!

 

Halion first has to be able to compare with Kontakt as far as CPU/RAM/DFD performance is concerned. I still haven't found this to be true. Kontakt is simply the only sampler that can make huge sample libraries work efficiently. It's simply the most optimized sampler out there. That's why it gets the most 3rd party content. The only other sampler having even a remote chance of continuing competition with Kontakt is MachFive as far as I'm concerned, not Halion (and this also shows in the amount of 3rd party content when you compare Kontakt vs MF3 vs Halion 5, MF3 has quite a decent number of it compared to H5).


Also, last time I checked, Kore is still working on W7, and W7 isn't going anywhere for at least 5 more years. If not more. As I don't use a Mac, dunno what's the status on OSX, but I'm pretty confident it's still working. So I wouldn't say Kore was a "debacle". Yes, perhaps it could have been better handled by NI, but it was just discontinued. This happens in any industry. You can dislike my post all you want, but that's the truth and if you can't face it, that's your problem, not mine. The software didn't break in any way by discontinuation - it's still working, and it's been how many years after NI discontinued it?

 

What you on about "dislike [your] post"? Why the hostile tone? I don't remember even being in conversation with you about this. I certainly did not suggest it was your problem.

I won't go over the same old arguments about the Kore debacle. There are plenty of us who got burned for reasons that all but NI fanboys understand. Perhaps you didn't invest as much time and effort into a system that was sold as..... Oh Bugger it! I simply can't be bothered.

I didn't start a conversation with you and I have no interest in continuing one.

 

Well, you did dislike this post of mine:

NI controller/keyboard coming


Bottom line is: is Kore still working for you? It sure is working for Kymeia and others (Kymeia being especially tied to the platform and doing controller pages for new plugins etc.). So I'm not really sure why such disappointment about lack of support for the platform that is STILL WORKING JUST FINE. It just won't get any more updates because it was apparently hell to maintain.

 

Different thread. I dislike any thread that contains the phrase "Live with it". It translates to "This means ****-all to me so it shouldn't to you".

Now. Explanation furnished. Conversation over.

 

You can keep repeating that argument all you like, but working and doing what it was supposed to do are two different things.
Kore 2 was perfectly integrated with Absynth 5, FM8, GR4 and Massive. Kore 2 was a perfect librarian tool for preset handling of those programs, could even perform batch tagging and besides morphing and deep editing of really cool soundpacks that was what I got it for. It was marketed as 'the perfect companion to Komplete". You could open presets in Kore 2, save them in Kore 2 and then open them in the plugin itself.
And then without prior notice, NI made Komplete incompatible with Kore 2. No direct access to presets, no koresounds for new products, no batch editing, dumbed down browsers in plugins, etc. That was half a year after I bought it. And it got worse, the current version of Absynth doesn't work in Kore 2. NI plugins don't even allow batch importing of presets.
If you buy something from NI, NI guarantees it works for 2 yrs. Since it was sold as the perfect companion to Komplete, Komplete should have been Kore integrated for 2 yrs after Kore was discontinued, or NI should have given Kore owners who still had warranty their money back if they wanted to return the product. I know a lot of people who paid $399 for Kore 2 just before the debacle, or even after, from stores that didn't know or tell customers it was discontinued, with the intention to use it with Komplete, and NI refused to refund them.
So, we got three free soundpacks, a 64 bit version and an engine bypass switch, but Kore could no longer perform that part of its functions.
Are you not surprised that three years later you still meet new people that are pissed at NI all over the internet? I've never seen something like it.

 

fwiw, on another thread, Kymeia said that Kore 2.1.4 works on his Mac that has Mavericks installed.

also, personally, i am a little underwhelmed with the Komplete 10 update - apart from the new Reaktor stuff, which i am excited about.

for me, Komplete 11 needs to be a serious update - Reaktor 6, Kontakt 6 and Guitar Rig 6 at the very least. and i have not even mentioned Massive, etc, etc.

sowari

 

I would agree with many of the other posters that this upgrade does not warrant the $400 price tag. Yes, perhaps the packages, individually add up to a significant savings. But adding more of their off-the-self libraries does not make an upgrade. It is just new packaging. Also, other than the pianos, which NI already supplies some great ones, the new included synths are innovative but not geared to bread and butter work, nor are they potentially ones I would pick if I was out shopping for new synths. There are so many great choices out there. The upgrade should have included some upgrades to their existing products or some significant library upgrades. More efficiency, improved workflow, continuing integration among other things would have been nice. This upgrade seems like a hastily released package aimed at bringing in revenue sooner and driving sales of their new keyboard line.

For $400 dollars, a purchase of Mach5 or Halion to add to Kompete would be a better investment. Both would bring fresh sounds, great workflows and spark the creative juices. I own Halion and even with its limited third party libraries the bundles sounds are highly useful.

I’ve been with NI for a lot of years. The product has served me well and I suspect I will use the current library until it is no longer useful or at least until NI has something more compelling for a reasonable price.

A few have presented the argument that $400 is not a lot of money. Agreed, for many this is a small amount for a tool that makes their livelihood possible. On the other hand, even if you are wealthy, why overpay for something. Why be a scmuck.

I do not see NI coming to a conclusion that they miss-priced this upgrade. They will stick to their guns. I am sure they thought carefully about this and were willing to take the risk. Perhaps they will have a sale at some point. In my mind $200 would have potentially been the right price for those sitting on R9 Ultimate.

As far as Kore, I cannot believe anyone is arguing that it is still useful or that NI treated the customer’s right with this product. It was a great platform for its short lived life. Big deal that the drivers work with Windows 7. The vision for the real usefulness of Kore died when NI discontinued it and did not integrate it with their proceeding products. I would never buy a hardware product from NI. That experience has lead me not to buy any hardware/software closely coupled products. It is not worth the risk from a return on investment. An open system is much better.

Anyway, all this bitching probably will not change a thing. NI has already weighed the risk/benefit of what I am sure they knew would be a contentious pricing model.

Should be interesting to see how they fair. Also, it would be interesting how this impacts people that are interested in a combination of Maschine and Komplete Ultimate, that combination has now become significantly more expensive.

 

Why don't you think sample libraries are worth the upgrade cost? Third party libraries (particularly cinematic ones) cost far more.

I've seen people say similar things about Reaktor ensembles too. What does it matter if a synth was written in Reaktor or C++ if the results are the same?

 

Every next version is a small step, I don't think NI expects everyone to buy every next version. If you had only bought Komplete 2, 4, 5, 7 and K10U you would have had about everything. You can wait for 11.

 

I do not remember any of those "small" upgrades costing $400.

 

Komplete 3 to 4 costed $339 seven years ago.

The upgrade from Kontakt 4 to 5 actually was annoying because third party libraries often only open in 5, forces you to upgrade or you're left behind.

 

Well, Plugin-Alliance is doing just that. On bundles you get a discount when you already have stuff included in this bundle.

 

For the libraries you only need the Kontakt 5 Player, which is a free download.

 

Whilst in theory you are right, i tend to overlook Reaktor ensembles and Guitar Rig effects during a creative flow.

Creative thoughts and ideas are fragile beings. The more steps i need to get it done, the bigger the chnace of it dying on the way.