NI Komplete Kontrol vs. Akai Advance

It would be cool if people got back to the comparisons not personal preference so others could try and make a better decision. I only got to play on a demo kk in a guitar center over an hour away from me because my local one hardly ever gets new keyboards let alone demo. But I didn't like the kk from the feel of keys to the 3rd party vst exclusion. The keyboard display was lacking as well and still found myself having to look at the screen. I can play my own chords which I prefer so the chord feature is nice but not needed, though I will say the grouping of chords is a nice touch. I don't know if any of the updates fixed midi notes being recorded or not but that was missing as well. I hope the advance is better if only to push NI in the right direction. I would like to see a kontrol keyboard or even machine studio with an interface especially at the cost. I have a keyboard interface that came with plugins pre and post which is over 10 years old and still working with a great sound comparable to protools. I also wish that NI would make a hardware device that can be a controller and a true stand alone without PC. I would gladly pay $1700-2000 if you combine both suggestions hell I would even pay more if you just make me one

 

I have the Akai advance 61 just a week or two.
Nice keyboard but the VIP software is full of bugs.
VIP freezing many times and more of this problems.
It seems that manufactures this day's makes nice keyboards but very bad software.
Maybe the time not ready for this kind keyboards or manufactures only what to sell as mush keyboards as they can without come with proper software.

 

I've been using VIP for a few months now and have to be honest and say that, even though this is version 1, I have come across very few bugs. The tagging system is fast friendly and flexible. Out of my large collection of plugins, only two failed to scan properly and these were taken care of by loading them into VIP via Kore.

I THINK I may know the freeze you talk of and, yes, this IS one of the few bugs. It's easy to clear, however. Just goto Settings/Plugin Manager and hit 'OK'. This should get you back to the Browser - unfrozen.

Hope this helps.

What other bugs have you found? I'd be keen to try to replicate them.

 

Fixing the maschine sequencer should be a priority over anything at the moment.

 

That sucks. I'm sure akai wil do their best to fix some issues and catch up with NI. Maybe one of the 20 or so issues people are having with are listed here:
http://community.akaipro.com/akai_professional/topics/many-problems-with-vip
http://community.akaipro.com/akai_professional/products/akai_professional_advance_61

We shall see what happens next monday with NI.

 

Yes but its comes back the freezing after a few minutes.

 

This is me Kim du Moulin.

 

Can't argue that... But they did make the Studio with plenty sequencer issues going unanswered, and started charging for updates so let's see what's coming next. I personally like the integration, though I have felt the sequencer sting, so I use my daws to really lay out the song not maschine.

Thanks guys for sharing your opinions & issues they're appreciated saved me a trip just to demo, seems like they need more time to get the kinks out.
@Kimbo72 is that Cubase8?

 

Jip i use Cubase 8 64 bit
But the freezing of VIP is also in standalone mode.

 

I have a question. I own Komplete 9 and uh-e Zebra2, so should I buy a Kontrol-s or a Akai Advance?

 

Akai have a full support for almost all plugins and you can map them your self.
But thy software (VIP) have many bugs and no one knows when there will be a bug fix for this problems.
So on this moment go for the Akai or wait for the KK update.

 

Well the VIP update is here now

 

Details please? Where can I read/watch about it?

 

To late i own the panorama p6 now.
Fully integrated for cubase and many VSTi

 

http://www.kvraudio.com/news/vip-mu...o-update-software-for-advance-keyboards-31593

 

Why were you asking about the nks format on gearslutz and kvr forum? You need to work on your gui and update your presets. Rhino sounds old. For Gui design you should check NI's work.

 

Thank you so much for your invaluable insight on how to run my business. I can't even begin to tell how much I appreciate it.

 

For the record, give me a GUI that shows me what I want to see as cleanly and as easily as possible. Maximum info with minimum clutter. VIP does this perfectly. I can see what I want at a glance. I trust that Big Tick will be taking no lessons from thos who hold NI up as style gurus (his perfect response seems to attest to this).

And, as for Rhino sounding "old"; it sounds as 'old' as the people who do sound design for it. An up to the minute synth programmed by a twerp will sound *****. Conversely I've heard many VERY old synths creating fresh, exciting sounds. May the non-existant deity save us from fashion fools.

 

Well I have test run both the Akai Advance and Komplete Kontrol solutions to put each through their paces (and am also an Akai Advance Beta Tester now). I have a complete write up that puts both against each other. It will come down to personal opinion in some cases but after testing both options my opinion is the Komplete Kontrol is the "better" option based on:

- Fun Factor
- Usability
- Software "reliability"
- Community
- Support
- Design
- Operation

http://freelancesoundlabs.com/index...0-comparison-akai-advance-vs-komplete-kontrol

Akai Advance = 5 minutes of initial fun, bugs, GUI lockups, jittery encoders, unintuitive display of encoder feedback (2x4 lines compared to the 1 x 8 encoder rows = hard to find in the dark), lack of proper DAW integration (Transport buttons will not follow DAW state) and the VIP software (though I liked it and it worked quite well) I found there was often too much info getting in the way (and i'm a complex person who loves all the fiddly stuff)

Komplete = Was stuck just playing with the Arp and Scales feature for an hour... Just Fun and only contacted support 1 time for a simple issue which I resolved easily. The unlimited pages of controls, much easier Control Centre software and proper DAW integration had me not thinking in the back of my mind (have I made a $1000 mistake).

I do wish they would add a description with presets that showed which instrument they belonged to. Has been suggested already and it does make a difference.

Either way you go neither of the options on offer is perfect and of course people will prefer different things. I personally found the Komplete a more enjoyable experience and even after being invited to the Akai Beta program and helping to address almost all the issues I was having I still prefer my choice and unless you test both side by side (which few can do) you are never going to know which is the better fit for you. Still, compare the mood of the people here (and I know the name Kimbo up there because he had the same issues as me) compared to the Akai forums there I am still yet to see one post here threatening to take the Komplete back for a refund (or you have to dig a lot).

 

Jester? Seriously? Are you trying to live up to your name there?

• GUI lockups? What on earth were you doing? The very occasional freeze (I've had this happen 6 times in nearly as many months of heavy use) is quickly cleared by a simple two-step process (which takes about a second).
• Jittery encoders? Not found that in months of heavy use.
• Unintuitive encoder feedback? I'll let you have that one. It took me nearly five minutes to learn the relative positions of the 1 * 8 as corresponding to the 2 * 4. But hard to find in the dark? No. Again relative position (that's if you're trying to operate in pitch-blackness). And huge.
• Can't comment on DAW integration as I tend to use dedicated controllers for Cubase. I use it to start and stop Ableton.
  
• VIP - too much stuff getting in the way? WHAT 'stuff'? I see the stuff I need to see. I see an incredibly flexible and easy to use tagging and searching system. I also see a system that allows me to use nearly ALL of my VSTi's (and those 2 that cause problems are loaded perfectly through Kore).

As for your 'better' option, what about the many complaints about those touch strips?

• What about the need for other manufacturers to 'get on board' with NI before everything non-NI works?'
• Unlimited control pages'? How many pages do you need? VIP offers 8 (and this is only version 1.1) Are you HONESTLY going to tell me that you are going to map more than 64 knobs, pads and buttons?
  
• 'Easier' control centre software? What are you comparing that with? VIP?
  
• How about 8 part Multi's? Does KK do that yet?
  
• And look a bit more deeply, my friend. You WILL find people who have threatened to or have actually taken their KK's back. The control strips, clunking keybeds......

I'll end by honestly stating that I have not compared. I remain scared to spend money with NI after the Kore issue. Any brief temptations to change (and there were some) were driven away (and this was before the Akai) by:-

The initial limitations of the system - NI stuff only? No thanks.
The number of complaints I read on this forum coupled with:-
The number of complaints I have read about basic functions being screamed for (and those screams being apparently ignored) on the Maschine forum.

Out of interest, I bought the Akai as it appeared to be a better replacement for Kore. NI now seem to be trying to get back to the functions that Kore provided. I find it ironic that the Akai is streets ahead of KK in this quest.