NAMM 2019: NI strikes a low-end blow with free software, an affordable MIDI controller and budget audio interfaces

NAMM 2019: If its NAMM announcements are anything to go by, Native Instruments wants to make 2019 the year that it gets more people into making electronic music. The company’s new roster of products is laser-targeted at the entry-level, and includes a MIDI keyboard, budget audio interfaces and software.

Kicking things off we have the Komplete Kontrol M32 ($129/£99/€119), NI’s most compact and affordable MIDI keyboard controller yet. Coming on 6 March, this promises the same kind of workflow and DAW integration that you get from NI’s S-Series and A-Series controllers, and ships with Maschine Essentials, Ableton Live 10 Lite, NI’s Monark synth and more.

Next, NI is kicking off an updated range of audio interfaces with the 2-channel Komplete Audio 1 and 2. These will cost $109/£79/€99 and $139/£109/€129 respectively when they’re released in March. As you’d expect, each offers a slightly different I/O configuration and, again, plenty of software comes in the box - Maschine Essentials and Ableton Live 10 Lite included.

Better still, there’s some free software on the agenda: Komplete Start. This gives you 15 software instruments, two effects and almost 1,500 loops to play with, including the TRK-01 Bass instrument, Mikro Prism synth and Supercharger tube compressor.

Elsewhere, improvements have been made to Sounds.com, NI’s online sample service. New collections have been added, credits can roll over from month to month, and from February, all loops and samples will be NKS-tagged and sync to Komplete Kontrol and Maschine with a single click.

The ID

NI is also introducing Native ID, a single sign-on mechanism that gives everyone who has a Native Instruments account instant access to the Sounds.com free tier and an option to activate a two-week trial membership. Sounds.com is also set to be integrated into the forthcoming Komplete Kontrol 2.1 and Maschine 2.8 software updates, giving you fast access to your content.

Commenting on the releases, Native Instruments CEO and co-founder, Daniel Haver, said: “Following our vision that anyone can make music, today’s announcements demonstrate our continued removal of barriers to music creation. Our hardware and software releases deliver new entry points for creators of every level, Sounds.com integration puts millions of loops and samples at artist's fingertips, and we continue to push industry standards with NKS. Lastly, a universal Native ID login creates a seamless experience for our customers, better connecting our services and platforms.”

Find out more about all the new products on the Native Instruments website.

––––––––––––––––––––––––––

NAMM 2019 - all the news

The dust is settling, but our ears are still ringing. You'll find all the stories that counted in our massive news hub. Below, enjoy our editors' findings as we regrouped at the end of the show.