Is NI kickin' it or what!

[Anubis]

A bunch of updates (most in public beta) most in the last month! Absynth 5.0.2, FM 8 1.1.0, Traktor 2!, Massive 1.2, Battery 3.2, Maschine 1.6, Kontakt 4.2, Reaktor 5.5 All of their products sporting full 64-bit support too. These guys sure didn't abuse the egg nog during the holidays.

meanwhile... WTF Ableton! Over two weeks to deal with four lame bugfixes? No mention of 64bit support?

[HeadrickProductions]

i was thinking the same thing when I saw the public beta's yesterday of fm8 and absynth. Sometimes you don't know if it's even worth buying software, but these guys really are doing a solid job updating their stuff.

I have a feeling that ableton has moved on to live 9. I agree that is has taken a while for the lastest beta (for what seems like very few fixes) and there are no bridge fixes?!?

I think traktor 2 (once all bugs are fixed) will be a great program. Zoom on the colored wave forums!

[William]

NI is definitely killing it. Maschine + Kore 3 or whatever they come up with will no doubt be an incredibly powerful combination.

[smaucher]

seems like Ableton is about to quit business...

[JuanSOLO]

However Reaktor updates have just recently started, remember there was like a 6 year hiatus on anything Reaktor, and still no mention of 64 support. And no mention of Kore updates, and Kore has been idle for a while as well. Chances are there will not be Kore updates till all of thier stuff is up to speed and compatible with new ideas of Kore 64. Everything needs to be out of beta and then, we might see all of these things running smoothly in a full release. I remember when Native Instruments was looking pretty stagnant. I remember when it looked like Guitar Rig, Traktor, and sound packs had taken over production of all their other cool shit. Not to mention their website was messed up forever, and the customer service via internet was a slow miserable process.

NI is definitely showing they have intentions on "kicking it," but to list these betas and hold them up to Ableton, as if Ableton is behind the times, just seems like a lack of memory or experience with using NI gear.

[JuanSOLO]

Thought this was funny and related to the post somewhat...
http://www.native-instruments.com/forum ... post806330

Surely there is 1 or more threads like this on every audio software forum.

[Szuumm]

remember there was like a 6 year hiatus on anything Reaktor, and still no mention of 64 support.

64 bit support was announced soon after the newest version was released in September:

http://www.native-instruments.com/forum ... p?t=114767

[Coupe70]

I'm not sure what to think about the upcoming Traktor 2 upgrade.
I have the feeling that there was information on the forum that
the sample decks introduced for the S4 software would become
available for Traktor Pro as upDATE, not as upGRADE.

Besides that there are some nasty little bugs left in Traktor Pro 1
which would be easy to fix, but now I would have to buy the upgrade
to have these fixed. And as always - besides the sample decks -
there are again lots of new features I am not interested in
at all...

edit:
Ah, I found it on the NI site:

Q: Will the TRAKTOR PRO S4 software be available separately?

A: No, TRAKTOR KONTROL S4 is designed as a fully integrated DJ system
and the TRAKTOR PRO S4 version was designed specifically with the S4
controller in mind. However, owners of TRAKTOR PRO will get access to
the new software features through a future update.

[JuanSOLO]

remember there was like a 6 year hiatus on anything Reaktor, and still no mention of 64 support.

64 bit support was announced soon after the newest version was released in September:

http://www.native-instruments.com/forum ... p?t=114767

My mistake, they "mentioned" it, and it's still in development, and for Reaktor users who sat idle for 6 years, " development can be unsettling as well as promising. I still don't see this forum post as a means to manipulate Ableton successfully.

[Machinesworking]

However Reaktor updates have just recently started, remember there was like a 6 year hiatus on anything Reaktor, and still no mention of 64 support. And no mention of Kore updates, and Kore has been idle for a while as well. Chances are there will not be Kore updates till all of thier stuff is up to speed and compatible with new ideas of Kore 64. Everything needs to be out of beta and then, we might see all of these things running smoothly in a full release. I remember when Native Instruments was looking pretty stagnant. I remember when it looked like Guitar Rig, Traktor, and sound packs had taken over production of all their other cool shit. Not to mention their website was messed up forever, and the customer service via internet was a slow miserable process.

NI is definitely showing they have intentions on "kicking it," but to list these betas and hold them up to Ableton, as if Ableton is behind the times, just seems like a lack of memory or experience with using NI gear.

I would say that the track record for the last two years with NI has been vastly improved. From my perspective it's a bit like NI and Ableton traded places. Years ago NI had lousy product support, buggy plug ins and a lot a really good ideas, lately the ideas are more practical (Kore sound packs), but the products are all pretty much crash free. The huge upgrades are slow coming but less likely to introduce production killing bugs. Kore and Reactor would of course take the most time to get solid 64 bit versions, I would expect that.
These days Ableton have a lot of good ideas, (M4L, Bridge etc.), but have lost footing in terms of being bug free, much like NI were about 3 years ago. So yeah I see a direct comparison. A wild guess is that Ableton introduce a few more much requested features in Live 9 then spend resources ironing out bugs, enforcing stability, and selling creatively conceived Live Packs.

[Mister36]

Just my opinion on this discussion...

NI produce a lot of different kinds of software and are expected to keep all of them up-to-date and running smoothly. Ableton produce one (or one and a half including Max for Live) and are expected to keep it up-to-date and running smoothly.
Ableton Live touches upon many of the areas covered by NI's various products but in one (and a half) package. NI's Maschine is the closest they have to an all-in-one package, which it neither is nor is trying to be.
NI are more obliged to make their software "play nice" with other software (hosts). Ableton do not feel this obligation so strongly.

Past performance is pretty much irrelevant in this game. All that matters is what's being done now. And there is little evidence of late that Ableton are

Although I do see why Ableton and NI are compared so frequently, I also see that it's quite unfair to do so in some respects. As companies though, it does seem that recently NI have gained a lot of respect and Ableton may have lost it...
Someone mentioned in a similar discussion on here about how many new users there were on the forum recently, which was true and is a fairly good indicator, but I also noticed a LOT of people selling on their licenses. Swings and roundabouts. Let's just hope Ableton soon comes round again.

[JuanSOLO]

I would say that the track record for the last two years with NI has been vastly improved. From my perspective it's a bit like NI and Ableton traded places.

Agreed

Let's just hope Ableton soon comes round again.

If NI can do it, I don't see why Ableton can't re-invent itself, I hope they do too.

[starving student]

watch, Ableton is going to kick ass so hard in Live 9 that there will be a crusty old size 12 1/2 boot included in every new box.

[swishniak]

NI: still no DAW

[The Leveller]

I also wonder whats next for guitar rig...some of those amp sims could do with an serious update...