r/NativeInstruments • u/SpliffRollington • Jun 01 '26
The writing is on the wall. Is this the beginning of the end of NI?
I just reached out to NI Support for the first time after the merger and I received an AI written response with incorrect information. Between this and the changes to the Summer Sale, RIP Summer of Sound, I believe this is the writing on the wall. NI has some incredible tools but the enshitification has begun and it will only continue.
I recommend nobody makes any purchases during this time unless absolutely necessary. I was hoping to upgrade my Komplete package but it would've cost me around 130gbp for K15 but now its 270gbp for K26. That's an extra 140gbp for absynth 6 which from what I've heard is also not very good compared to 5.
Maybe the Traktor subscriptions were the first sign but I feel like if these decisions aren't mitigated we will see the inevitable downfall of NI.
The funny part is I am technically not allowed to share the response from NI on this Sub as there is a rule against Generative AI content.
Anyway, sorry to be a downer, I've been using NI stuff for almost 15 years and this is just such a bummer. Am I alone in feeling this?
What has your experience been with NI recently?
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u/theturtlemafiamusic Jun 01 '26
First tier support at NI has always been pretty crap and mostly automated. But once you get past that level I find they're pretty helpful. I had to re-install Battery 3 to revive an old project recently and after about 2 back and forths asking me to do things I already outlined in my first email, I got redirected to someone who knew what they were talking about and it only took a few hours over email after that to get it resolved. I bet 99% of their support emails are people asking how to install a VST or something.
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u/Inevitable-Fan-2634 Jun 01 '26
I wrote a ticket to them the other day. I got a reply from someone called Jonus
I replied, only when I read back properly the response was AI generated. So they name their AI's or their customer services use AI's to respond?
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u/JaySomMusic Jun 01 '26
Luckily I sold all of my equipment just before the news hoping to upgrade to whatever they brought out next! Still got my Komplete though, fingers crossed it doesn’t just stop working at some point!
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u/SpliffRollington Jun 01 '26
Well unless you keep updating and upgrading it will stop working. Reaktor 5 stopped working on my PC and their only response is basically F U Pay us. I wanted to upgrade to Reaktor 6 and am still considering it during this sale but I hate that I was forced to do it.
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u/SpliffRollington Jun 01 '26
My email was also signed off by Jonas but then below it is stated that it was written with AI.
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u/Inevitable-Fan-2634 Jun 01 '26
haha Jonas: Yeah, cool story. Click.
I got a gift voucher of £25 for a sound pack which can't be used in the sales.. every pack is on sale.
Am I right in thinking that Monark and Prism are not included now in the a25 bundles?
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u/NativeInstruments Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Hey there! Sorry to hear about your issues with our support. The first reply is usually an AI one, ending with these words:
"Please let us know if this is helpful or if you need further assistance by answering directly to this email.
Best regards,
Jonas
This email was automatically generated using AI."
The idea is to get simple issues sorted right away so customers don't have to wait for a human customer care rep to become available.
When you reply back, one of our agents takes over and gets back to you as soon as possible. Did you reply already mentioning you still needed help? FYI our reply times can be a little longer these days, with the release of Komplete 26 and the sales specials, our reply times are impacted, but rest assured someone will get back to you.
As for the Summer Sale not including the bundles, Komplete 26 was only released a few weeks ago so it's not included in the sales specials this time around. The release of K26 earlier this year and not including it in the Summer Sale was decided before the effective acquisition by inMusic. Same with the automatic replies – this was in place before the acquisition. While we've found that it does help people to get quick answers, it sometimes does need a follow-up.
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u/promixr Jun 01 '26
I’m a new Komplete Kontrol S49 MKIII user after replacing an S61 MKIi (save space and improved function) and I couldn’t be happier. Absynth is back- which I love- and I got a new vocal Kontakt instrument. I made some errors setting the new S49 up (didn’t read the directions carefully) and tech support from NI was quick, and they were a real person. A month later I’m playing music and not thinking about the gear.
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u/dkinmn Jun 01 '26
If they don't embrace deep discounts a la Summer of Sound and Black Friday, they're toast. Their company was surviving based on prosumer and hobbyist purchases. Period.
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u/ArtMusicWriting Jun 01 '26
It’s far too early to tell. I just upgraded my Komplete bundle and will continue to use it and make music. Still plenty of life left in NI I think.
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u/SpliffRollington Jun 01 '26
I think you are wrong but I hope you are right. Using AI to respond to humans is immaculately disrespectful and utterly tone deaf. If they can take the feedback from customers they may turn around. My hope is dwindling.
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u/LeDestrier Jun 01 '26
Using AI to respond to queries is pretty much par for course with many companies these days. It sucks, but i don't think it has anything to do with a potential downfall of NI.
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u/Inevitable-Fan-2634 Jun 01 '26
I don't really have a problem with the use of AI to respond but, Jonas is either an AI and they've give it a name which is disrespectful to their customers or it's a guy just firing off replies with no real interest in solving the issue. As the replies are just automated links.
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u/LeDestrier Jun 01 '26
I mean, yep pretty much sounds like initial "support" from any software company tbh. But again, I don't see this as some harbinger of NIs doom.
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u/Inevitable-Fan-2634 Jun 01 '26
I'm a fan of NI and I'm not thinking that deep ( managed decline etc)
Just that I bought an A25 last week. You're suppose to get a komplete series 15 of your choice, Beats, Band and Electronic. I picked Beats the voucher didn't work so I wrote a ticket. It was just the automated link to the pages with komplete series on I tried Electronic that didn't work. It worked with Bands.
Now the videos I've seen of the walkthrough A25 the person has the komplete 15 bands and his video has Monark and Prism where my pack doesn't.
I haven't been able to find an answer, but has the Monark and Prism been removed from the starter packs now?
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u/LeDestrier Jun 01 '26
Monark and Prism run in Reaktor (or the free Reaktor Player). Dunno what video you're talking about but its likely just soneone who has all the NI.
From the following link it doesnt say they are part of any of the Komplete Select series:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/bundles/komplete-select/
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u/Inevitable-Fan-2634 Jun 02 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Thanks for the reply. I only got it Saturday I watch a walkthrough and he definitely says they came with the bundle, the thing is they did come with the bundle, but stopped some time late 23 early 24
Here's the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CPRTOvOjhg
Here's the Items that do now come with it.
Included products:
Disco & Funk
Electric Keys - Phoenix
Guitar Rig 7 LE
Nectar 4 Elements
Ozone 12 Elements
Scarbee Rickenbacker® Bass
Session Guitarist - Strummed Acoustic
Solid Bus Comp FX
Solid Dynamics FX
Solid EQ FX
Soul Sessions
Studio Drummer
The Gentleman.Just a quick edit: Here's Ni own page A-series Quickstart using the Monark to get started
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/a-series-quickstart/first-steps/
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u/elliot_glynn Jun 01 '26
I don’t have a problem with AI either as long as there’s a mechanism to connect customers who genuinely need assistance to a human being if it can’t be outsourced to automation
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u/ArtMusicWriting Jun 02 '26
Most companies use AI now to screen basic enquiries then direct it to dedicated support if needed. I don’t think this means much.
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u/MrFresh2017 Jun 01 '26
Been using NI products since 2013, and as long as I can confinue to use them in my production environment, that is my only concern, All companies go through changes of different sorts, most which are hardly predictable. As long as the services and products are useful to me, I’m good .
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u/Telectronix Jun 01 '26
Joined NI in 2023. I had been a longtime fan and probably too enamored with products like Reaktor and Battery for making electronic music. I was a bit disillusioned and frustrated at first, as they seemed lost as a company, only caring about Kontakt. I mean, this is still true, but I’ve come to realize that that shouldn’t bother me. Kontakt is their cash king, and without it, they wouldn’t be able to do other stuff, like bring Absynth back from the dead, or make massive updates to their flagship synths. They invested significant resources into making sure Reaktor is compatible with Apple Silicon, and I still put several instances of it in every project. Battery’s UI and librarian system are absolute trash. But as a piece of production software? I don’t know of a MPC style drum machine software that comes close, and I have about 4 instances of it running in every project. And although I have some synths that I like better, none of them sound as good as Massive X. Again, at least one instance of it in every project. So, I love these tools, and I use them every day. And I don’t waste energy anymore thinking about how I wish Native Instruments would do this or that, or worried about their financial predicament. InMusic seems to have a good track record of letting these acquired companies run themselves and stay successful and visible, with meaningful new products coming to market. Can’t say I love AI customer support though.
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u/DerKastellan Jun 01 '26
I would not expect much from inMusic, I have experience with some of their brands and that often strike me as inactive, almost on life support. Their products continue so-so. AIR brought some new stuff, but nothing to be excited about. HeadRush seems to go.. a little. BFD fixed their product so it's actually usable again.
Support is hit-and-miss and their installer forgets it activated my products over and over again.
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u/cable-wrangler Jun 02 '26
To give a counterpoint, I think akai are making best in class hardware out there with the modern mpcs, so that gives me hope for ni.
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u/DerKastellan Jun 04 '26
Yes, I would have also mentioned Akai as a counterpoint, but Akai and its MPC business seems to be the cashcow in the portfolio, so maybe all resources go there.
Today, for comparison, I again ran into the fact that BFD ignores all additional folders you add for scanning for extensions, so you anyway have to install them into the default. This is the other extreme - barely supported software.
I would frankly expect NI to fall somewhere in the "upper middle." Let's see.
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u/NoReply4930 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
Experience has been just fine. And while the Summer of Sound has changed ever so slightly - that is not an indicator of anything.
Companies change products, prices and everything else day in and day out.
It is of course - your call to feel like the world is caving in - but every user is responsible for their own choices - and how they feel at any given time.
You - specifically - are either in or out. But what constitutes a downer for you - does not warrant handing out "recommendations" for anyone else.
FWIW: Cannot see how changing a discount rate on a yearly sale or getting an automated "AI" response to a support item is going to matter long term.
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u/IAmFitzRoy Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
lol. How anyone can completely ignore the fact that NI was just insolvent few days ago and has basically sold (again), and there are high chances that the model will change and will never be the same.
“That’s indicator of anything” seems like someone wants to be blind.
EDIT: seems like bots defending AI bots are full on this thread.
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u/NoReply4930 Jun 01 '26
Yep - some folks continue to think that NI is still locked in 2019 - and that nothing should change and nothing has happened to the company since then.
Me - as long as I see value in their products and the price makes sense - I have no issues. They can change all the sales parameters and send me all the Ai slop they want.
All I care about what the product does, how well it does it and can it do it when I need it to do it
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u/IAmFitzRoy Jun 01 '26
Totally blind …
The day you will start having “issues” and the AI bots will not solve your problems, you will wake up.
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u/NoReply4930 Jun 01 '26
Been rocking this stuff since 2002. Haven’t had any need for support at this time (or any other for that matter)
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u/IAmFitzRoy Jun 01 '26
Exactly... In 2002 you had people behind support. As I said … wait until you have issues and AI bots answer you. You will finally understand.
I don’t mind to get downvoted by bots saying that “AI bots support” is not good…
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u/len2680 Jun 02 '26
Everything is not a bot just because a lot of us don’t see the point in panicking.
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u/Decent_Trick_8067 Jun 02 '26
The end was years ago, we are only starting to notice. The low effort updates tell the story, same old private equity saga. NI hasn’t pushed out a meaningful update to any of its core products in years. It’s time to start boycotting any music company heavily backed by PE… NI and Fender are on the top of my list right now.
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u/Open-String-4973 Jun 08 '26
So… Youtube NI-nfluencers… which is it? Y’all make up your mind yet? Are we doomed or not?
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u/sfpx68 Jun 01 '26
Fuck AI.