My top feature requests

With the latest guitar rig update and the usage data tracking, my hope is that a new guitar rig is in the works. So, here are my requests after three years of gigging exclusively with guitar rig.

- GUI optimized for touch screens. Resizable window able to go full screen. Large buttons and knobs.

- ability to input text for parameter values. Often, the knob/slider resolution is too low and I can't dial in exactly what I want.

- Container with footswitch assignable next/prev buttons.

- New Rig Kontrol
- high visibility graphic display in direct daylight or on a dark stage. Show patch name and tuner
- keep the small form factor, but maybe make it expandable with additional expression pedal, footswitch or knob modules
- add XLR outputs, maybe an XLR mic input for vocal processing

- intelligent harmonizer

- bring back snap shots, those were cool

I would also suggest stealing as many ideas as you can from the Line 6 helix, and the kemper.

 

Lots of great ideas! Love the suggestion about inputting text for parameter values, I've been wanting that for a long time. That would really be useful, and hopefully should be simple to add to the new GR. I use GR and RK live too so I totally agree with you on the new RK. The display is impossible to read, especially when you're standing. The display is tiny and poorly lit. I still use mine 24/7, so they've already got a good foundation to improve on. I just hope they don't make it a massive device that weighs a ton and is difficult to carry/transport. Mine right now is a perfect size, and I love how light it is. It's also really solidly built. My point isn't to say it's great as is, I'm saying the size isn't something NI should change. I really agree with you on the display thing. I would really love for each button on the RK to have its own display screen (not a huge screen, but big enough and well-lit enough to use on stage). That would make a HUGE difference. Plus it would just be able to compete with current MIDI boards on a visual level- RK is a great product that everyone here really loves, but on a visual level it is kind of primitive. NI should continue to keep it simple, but we need to improve the display.

What they could do is make 2 new versions of RK. One would be a smaller version, the other would be a bigger version. Some people want a giant board, but others like me don't. A lot of GR users like me use GR because it's so portable. You don't have to carry massive amps and cabs because you can just carry your laptop. It's awesome. I can currently carry my guitar on my back and then carry my RK in a separate backpack along with my cables. That's really one of GR's best features, it's solid and lightweight.

 

Maybe they could make an additional pedal you could attach to your RK, I think that's where our we're going with your post. That's another great idea. Keep RK at a reasonable size but with the option to make it bigger if that's what you want. That way we don't have to get a massive new RK that's too big for us if we don't want. Great idea.

I agree with a lot of what you suggest, your suggestions about patch names and tuner displays are exactly what I know a lot of us on here want in a new RK. Something that I personally want most of all is having the display screens above each of the RK buttons show what the buttons are individually mapped to, i.e. turning a distortion on/off. That would make a massive difference in RK's usability. It's great to have a RK with many buttons, but if we can't see what they're each mapped to on our RK display as we're playing live then RK becomes far less useful. Adding these suggestions about RK's new display would truly take RK to the next level.

On a side note to the NI people who are hopefully reading stuff on the forum (PLEASE GIVE US A NEW GR & RK, WE LOVE THOSE PRODUCTS), I recently saw the new GR update will track usage. Does that mean how often we use GR, or how often we use specific features (amps, effects, etc)? I hope you don't remove units from GR because "not enough people use them." That would definitely anger a lot of people. Personally, I use everything currently in GR5 Pro. The posts you see in this forum in the GR section are really the best way to see what we want in a new GR. Data is certainly useful, but hearing it verbatim from GR users themselves is just as useful. Since there are people wondering if the "tracking" feature in the update means NI is trying to determine if GR is still something that people use, please just tell us you're working on GR. As someone who's on this forum probably more than anyone, I can tell you with 100% certainty that what we want most is a statement/email/something from NI saying GR isn't dead and is still being worked on. I'm not saying issue a massive press release saying that, but put it here on the forum or in an email to GR users. We've been kept in the dark for years, and we need to know what's going on with GR. Is it really being worked on? We really hope so, everyone loves GR. Please, stop keeping us in the dark. That's how you lose customers and supporters. Make it more transparent, GR users know what people want better than anyone.

 

(TL;DR: lots of great suggestions for the new RK. Better displays are a must for the new RK, which people desperately want. NI, we love you, we really do, but we hate that you're keeping us in the dark about a new GR. Let us help you make it better since we know what people like better than anyone. Please just tell us if you're working on a new GR.)

 

hey thanks! I read your post too, totally agree. The size right now is perfect - it fits into my laptop case!

I've never found an external expression pedal I liked, and I thought if NI could make one that screws into either side of the chasis and connects to the GUI representation of the board, that would be way cool. If they could do that, then certainly other modules would be possible too.

I would love a display per switch (I've been tempted by the line 6 helix). but if the cost becomes an issue, I wouldn't need it. But it would be great to have. yea, maybe two versions at different price point like what their doing with traktor and machine. They really do make nice hardware.

 

- Also on my wishlist, a vocoder effect.

 

Re usage tracking, they are more interested in your hardware configuration for testing purposes - what OS, what system specs, what audio interface, stuff like that.

 

Quiet switchs on the new Rig Kontrol.......

 

+1

 

I don't know how anyone else feels, but I usually can't wear shoes when I use the RK3 because the switches are too close together - but I do like having 4 in a row vs 3. It's a difficult call.

another idea, what if you could use two rig kontrols at the same time, treat one as a slave? I'd like to not have to sell my rk3.

 

Be able to use Replika (full) inside GR6.
Device blow up larger for tweaking when selected.
Control Room Pro used to import new cab IRs, not Reflektor.
Better graphical interface for reflektor and the IRs from reverbs imported.
Updated and warmer FX. (when using reflecktor vs other reverbs creates instant shine to presets as example)
Updated amps and cabs. Currently still very good but needs update.
Partner with Torpedo to allow use of Torpedo WOS inside for cab control.
Allow pulling in of older presets to updated FX and devices used.
Resizable GUI.
More synth type FX, maybe allow The Mouth to be used inside GR6.
Better harmonizer and Oktaver.
More artist packs like Rammfire. Maybe Vai pack, Primus pack etc.

 

to add make the FX for Traktor maybe more pronounced as at times I can hear little difference when adding to preset.

 

Mostly I want NI not to abandon Guitar Rig. I've used it for well over a decade, and it's extremely overdue for an update. Throw us a bone so we don't wish we had gone with NI's competitors. I'm about to switch to something else (haven't decided what yet), but I hate to invest all the effort it would take for me to rebuild all my custom tones with different software.

The RigKontrol needs to work with the faster interface standards (e.g., Thunderbolt and USB 3.0) out there. I'd also happily invest in a small interface that made it easy to punch in pre-saved tones via up-down buttons and, I hope, a numeric keypad. Serious bonus points if there are ways to hook up the new Rig Kontrol and mini-RK to iOS devices. Why should I have to get and carry around an extra interface just because I want to use an already-available iOS product while NI is working on theirs!

Needless to say, I would also like to see an iOS version of GR -- preferably one that will let me save and sync my custom tones in the cloud.

The ability to enter numeric values when appropriate (e.g., for delay times) is very important to me too. Not being able to do this has given me headaches with multi-delay music in particular for years.

Finally, a new version of the RK should make switch operation smoother and quieter. Compared to other products that have come on the market since the last RK came out, the RK brings a new level of meaning of "stomp" to the phrase "stomp box"! I feel like I'm trying to kill an armadillo with my boot every time I need to go from one song to the next, and I've pretty much given up on using my RK for effects I need to switch on and off during a given song.

Any posts from the NI team showing ongoing interest in keeping GR users happy would be greatly appreciated, and I thank you in advance!

 

revisiting this post just because the other day I was REALLY craving this feature request:

- Container with footswitch assignable next/prev buttons

 

just gonna bump this because these are still my top requests.