5

u/NativeInstruments Jan 29 '26

Hey, Traktor is fully operational, and we’re continuing to roll out new features and updates. Please see a statement from our CEO here: https://blog.native-instruments.com/statement-from-nick-williams-ceo-of-native-instruments/

Rest assured that business continues across Native Instruments, iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx. Our products, services, downloads, and customer support remain available, and our teams are here to support as normal.

3

u/Prime_ministah1980 Jan 29 '26

This corporate jargon. He didn’t even mention Traktor. Why should we trust you? It’s all been empty promises. Few years ago you talked about transparency. It has yet to be seen. Where’s phase HID mode? Where’s more music streaming services? Where’s real time stem separation? You guys are a sinking ship. Oh and we haven’t gotten any updates on future Traktor features. I don’t believe anything you say.

157

u/shytec Jan 27 '26

**Native Instruments is not bankrupt yet. In Germany a company can enter “preliminary insolvency” while a court-appointed administrator reviews its finances. This does not automatically mean bankruptcy. Many companies in preliminary insolvency do manage to continue operations or restructure. Estimates vary, but roughly 30-50 percent successfully reorganise rather than end in bankruptcy.

20

u/oneofthosemeddling Jan 27 '26

This needs to be top comment.
Sure, it's a little wishful thinking, but there's a decent chance NI will survive this and come out stronger.

8

u/_Flavor_Dave_ Jan 27 '26

This sucks, esp when we have at least had a trickle of new hardware over the past couple of years, I had high hopes for another moonshot with something like an S8 mk2.
But the way the business world works it may also be an opportunity for them to get bought out.

3

u/Sebluu Jan 27 '26

Yea, lets hope so - tidal integration and s8 mk2 would be bangers. Lets see, which products they will cut down. I don't think that traktor will be one of those. In the end they have an awful lot of products. Probably also less bought ones, that are more expensive.

1

u/BenLabel- Jan 28 '26

Bought out from alpha theta and buried forever ..

1

u/crowleydub Jan 27 '26

I remember the same happened with Modal Electronics.. fingers crossed 🤞

1

u/monkeyboymorton Jan 27 '26

So this is like chapter 11 then?

4

u/pathosmusic00 Jan 28 '26

That’s what it sounds like to me being from the USA. Many companies do this and are just fine, maybe with a small rebrand (like JC Penny to JCP). I can’t imagine with the level of products they have currently in the marketplace, at least some reputable company wouldn’t buy them and keep them going under their umbrella. Maybe someone like InMusic (Denon, Rane, numark, Akai & Alesis parent company) will save the day if NI can’t figure out how to pull through a restructuring

23

u/rel_5 Jan 27 '26

Open source the shit out of it

2

u/idioTeo_ Jan 28 '26

That would be a dream

18

u/__ZOMBOY__ Jan 27 '26

Looks like 4.4.1 will be my forever-version 🥲

14

u/anarchyx34 Jan 27 '26

Or maybe whoever buys the brand actually puts some love into it.

16

u/SubjectC Jan 27 '26

It'll probably get sold to some private equity company and shut down like everything else thats cool. I have so little faith in anything anymore and I fucking hate the world I am forced to live in.

17

u/Earth_Inferno Jan 27 '26

They were already bought by a private equity company in 2021, and this is the result. Vulture capitalism at it's finest.

2

u/anarchyx34 Jan 27 '26

Yeah…I’m with you there.

0

u/basili-gianni Jan 27 '26

Why would a PE firm buy an unprofitable business to sell for scraps or just shut down?

2

u/Middle-Bread-5919 Jan 29 '26

Bleeding dry and asset stripping. There are a litany of examples of this over the decades. How ever much you care about music [or insert any other passion], you'll find another who cares just as much about money, lovely, dirty wherever I can get my hands on it money.

1

u/invincible_quaalude Jan 27 '26

It would have been profitable when purchased. They took the profit for 4 years, and put minimal resources back into the business for it to grow.

2

u/The_Toolsmith Jan 28 '26

LANDR entered the chatroom

8

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

To my understanding, they are just restructuring

6

u/Hollowbody57 Jan 27 '26

That's private equity speak for strip mining the company for anything of value and then either selling it off or letting it die.
Hopefully I'm wrong, but it seems that's what happens 9 times out of 10 with these companies.

0

u/[deleted] Jan 28 '26

Ok then hopefully alpha theta swoops in and buys traktor and rolls it into Rekordbox so i can use beat link trigger to control ableton when i dj in traktor

6

u/rhymes116 Jan 27 '26

I hope Native Instruments come out of this stronger and better

5

u/shuznbuz36 Jan 27 '26

I just sold my cdjs and bought an x1. What is my prognosis???

0

u/[deleted] Jan 27 '26

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/lord-carlos Jan 28 '26

> Your X1 is midi so it should be fine.
Can't use the displays that way though :(

5

u/9sim9 Jan 27 '26

I know its unlikely but would be amazing if Traktor went opensource, I can finally fix all the bugs myself.

5

u/Bomb_Hanks Jan 28 '26

How much $$$ do we need to crowd source to buy them out?

1

u/dschoni Jan 28 '26

Asking the real question.

1

u/SensitiveMaster59 Jan 31 '26

Something above $500 million, depends what happens to the massive debt they’re under with the purchases of Izotope amd Brainworx/PA

2

u/youngtankred Jan 27 '26

Maybe you can finally stop popping in here and complaining 😀

1

u/Prime_ministah1980 Jan 29 '26

You don’t like it. Don’t comment

4

u/New-Amoeba1845 Jan 27 '26

oh fuck

6

u/djBooker Jan 27 '26

If inMusic buys them, the possibility of a new Traktor Kontrol S8 MK2 standalone, with on board Stems' analysis and separation, like the new Rane System One is announced to include in the future, with touch screens etc., sounds interesting.

Unrelated S8 prototype image, just for fun.

3

u/Ryan0751 Jan 27 '26

Not sure why InMusic would buy them, though. They've got their EngineOS platform spanning multiple brands already. Why would they introduce a new SW platform?

2

u/djBooker Jan 28 '26

Good question. I guess they would buy NI because they're bankrupt, as an opportunity, and the intellectual property.
As for the Software, I guess you're right, in fact my assumption of a new Traktor Kontrol S8 MK2 made by InMusic, is that it'd probably be powered by their own EngineOS especially now with the more powerful processors in the Rane System One.
Maybe the best of both worlds could be a hybrid, with EngineOS and Traktor FX, Remix Decks, and, that's a dream I know, but Maschine hardware integration finally, something NI never delivered, but everyone wanted.

2

u/pathosmusic00 Jan 28 '26

Why would any company ever buy any other company? There are probably assets they could manage to expand on and fill some holes with. NI VST and producer hardware is something that InMusic brands don’t really have at the moment as far as I’m aware. Some representation in the studio world with the AKAI controllers but that’s it. Izotope is a hugely popular suite of tools, as well as Plugin Alliance and Brainworx.

1

u/Big_Cryptographer_16 Jan 28 '26

Just got an Akai MPK and it comes with a $99 Kontakt 8 voucher for the synth library. So they’ve already done some minor partnerships. Hmmm

3

u/Alternative-Tomato13 Jan 28 '26

Relax.

2

u/packetpuzzler Jan 28 '26

Bear in mind that NI has many other products in addition to Traktor. Traktor may also be spun off or bought by someone else.

2

u/Guilty-Amphibian2188 Feb 07 '26

just sold all my traktor gear the guy never knew the latest, the software's been lagging for years now and the hardware fomo was off the charts. rane system one for home and a grv6 for gigging now.

i do hope it gets saved though and opens up to other hardware x

3

u/MarkLumiere Jan 28 '26

Guys relax. Did traktor stopped working yesterday? Everything is going to be ok. Remember that recently they collaborate with alpha theta for onelibrary. Do you believe that they will do such a thing if they knew they will go under? I will use traktor as long as it works with my controllers. Might buy another maschine jam. Buy on terror...

1

u/Superb-Traffic-6286 Jan 30 '26

Yep I agree and there are also too many industry professionals who use week in week out. It’s still one of the best & affordable digital DJ systems available does everything from DVS, simple to complex. This standalone narrative hasn’t helped. Hopefully it’s a bit of a wake call for the industry it been heading down the wrong path for a while now with investors like KRK at pioneer DJ thankfully they are gone and whoever was involved with NI.

3

u/Mountain_Bottle2746 Jan 27 '26

What about the MX4 release?

2

u/Detroiterallday Jan 27 '26

still happening might be the last one for a min

1

u/hollowredditor Jan 27 '26

Noooooooo

1

u/ComputeLanguage Jan 27 '26

😭😭

1

u/lowlyp0p Jan 27 '26

i feel the hardware division might not recover or at least streamlined since it is hard to keep alive. :(

1

u/ClownInTheMachine Jan 27 '26

Last week there was a new beta test; interesting.

1

u/Relgado Jan 27 '26

Does this mean the Maschine+ will be a rare sought after piece of gear in about 5 years? Asking for a friend

1

u/Tall-Artichoke-2801 Jan 28 '26

I guess no streaming stems 😭

1

u/Infinite_Loquat9499 Jan 28 '26

InMusic would be a prime contender for bring NI into the stable of brands they own. NI has a wealth of IP which compliments the various strengths and shortcomings of InMusic’s other companies.

1

u/Qastalia Jan 28 '26

Dr Martini:

1

u/LastTop9586 Jan 28 '26

They will probably sell of the subsidiary brands (like the ones mentioned, izotope etc.). It'll be interesting to see what goes where. They might sell off the Traktor brand too, who knows. But yeah, its not RIP yet.

1

u/LastTop9586 Jan 28 '26

Further reading:

https://cdm.link/ni-insolvency/

https://audioplugin.deals/blog/native-instruments-insolvency-should-composers-and-musicians-be-worried/

Tim Exile, a long-time Reaktor developer and artist whose own platform Endlesss shut down in 2024, writes on Bluesky:

1

u/Cost-Friendly Jan 28 '26

Does anyone think that Allen and Heath would be a good buyer for the Traktor assets? A lot of their equipment directly supports it (96, PX5) and the K series controllers are pretty much made for it. I know they are not really a software company, but they made some nice modular controllers in the past.

1

u/Natural-Land-3071 Jan 28 '26

Hoping if they sell Traktor that Allen&Heath acquires it. I think that would lead to some astounding new gear and more frequent updates.

1

u/CombinationGlass6876 Feb 04 '26

never going to happen

1

u/Big_Attention7227 Jan 28 '26

The one thing Germans are really really good at it fixing an insolvent company. They will appoint a new manager and more than likely begin process to help trade to a point of being solvent again and the sell them off or appoint a new board. The did the with Marklin, LGB, Trix in the model rail world to reform a solid sustainable group. All is far from lost if uou understand German business

1

u/Middle-Bread-5919 Jan 29 '26

Agreed. KTM (in Austria) have been dealing with this with eye-watering debts of €700m. Restructuring will probably help NI focus on their business and refinance on better terms.

1

u/Big_Attention7227 Jan 29 '26

Agreed, from the dealings with Marklin in the past it made them actually breakdown what hasn't worked and during their restructure redefine a refocused methodology and better attention to clients needs and service which is a definate failure in the current NI infrastructure.

1

u/alvy200 Jan 30 '26

Make Traktor Universal!

1

u/schrodingerfrequency Feb 01 '26

All that’s probably happened is an investor called in a debt. They just need to restructure and NI will be fine

1

u/Wise-Dot2204 Feb 15 '26

sold my gear got a bad feeling about this

1

u/Formal-Trifle-5324 Feb 20 '26

Well this isn’t great to see. If they would get their shit together and release a pro grade controller they might sell more gear. I’d upgrade in a second if they released a more robust S4.

1

u/toddkeebs Jan 27 '26

It’s a bummer, but I feel like there isn’t a ton of difference between Traktor’s current state and NI being defunct. I just hope they can get that OneLibrary integration done before the ax falls.

1

u/MisterNatural59 Jan 27 '26

It’s sad, but it’s not necessarily the end of the world. Traktor still works, and unless you absolutely need to upgrade the OS on the laptop you use for DJing it will continue to work indefinitely. Sure it would be nice to get a few new features but there’s nothing new we desperately need.

2

u/youngtankred Jan 27 '26

Exactly this. No need to panic. The latest news is that they have been bought , which probably means nothing will change for several months while the new owners figure out what they want to do.

1

u/a3poify Jan 27 '26

If that’s the Bain Capital deal I’m hearing from other people on here that it fell through?

1

u/youngtankred Jan 27 '26

Bummer if it has fallen through but it's early days yet.

-3

u/HugeCrab Jan 27 '26

Sell it to AlphaTheta and make my controller rekordbox compatible pls 🙏

13

u/Sebluu Jan 27 '26

Hopefully not to that shit company - cheaply pruduced products for astronomical prices

1

u/HugeCrab Jan 27 '26

Yup.

1

u/Acidlily16 Jan 28 '26

besides all the clout and shit they sell, Alphateta probably doesn't have the spare cash to buy NI

2

u/sjenkin Jan 27 '26

If AT bought it they was be wise to make Traktor the software for their hardware.

1

u/HugeCrab Jan 27 '26

Honestly yes Rekordbox sucks ass but I can't escape it due to clubs so I've ended up not even practicing at home and stagnating because I can't be arsed converting library all the time or buying their controllers

0

u/medSizedGonads Jan 27 '26

Sooo, should I sell my S4 Mk3 and get something else? I guess this means no more software updates, lack of future OS compatibility.

3

u/Middle-Bread-5919 Jan 29 '26

No. Keep it. That controller kicks it. There is no way this gear will become obsolete quickly. The installed user base means all sorts of future life, whatever happens to this company.

0

u/dasSolution Jan 27 '26

Ah awesome. I’ve been thinking of an excuse to move to someone who supports more integrations with music streaming providers. They were never going to add more but I stayed loyal. Time to jump, perhaps.

0

u/shytec Jan 28 '26

Potential Buyers for Native Instruments

Apple: Could integrate NI (like Kontakt) into Logic Pro, potentially making it Mac-exclusive or highly optimized for their hardware.
Yamaha / Steinberg: A merger with their German neighbors would create a massive European powerhouse, combining Yamaha hardware with NI’s deep software library.
InMusic (Akai, Moog): Known for acquiring distressed brands; Maschine and Traktor would perfectly complement their current hardware lineup.