Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol A-Series

Kontrol freak
Although they can be employed as regular ol’
MIDI keyboards with any software, the ASeries
is absolutely intended to be partnered with
Native Instruments’ Komplete Kontrol (included)
and/or, to a lesser extent, Maschine (Elements
edition included) software. Komplete Kontrol is
essentially a host shell for NKS-enabled plugins
that runs standalone or as a plugin (VST/AU/
AAX) itself, providing bidirectional
communication between instruments/efects
and the keyboard.
It all starts with a push of the ASeries’ Browse
button, which opens the Komplete Kontrol
browser onscreen. Here, your NKS instruments
and their presets are navigated using the 4D
encoder, drilling down through the Type and
Mode tags to get to the sound you’re after, with
the names of instruments, tags and presets
lying across the OLED display as you scroll
through them. Clicking the encoder loads the
selected preset and its host instrument plugin,
ready to play. This can then be followed by as
many NKS-enabled efects plugins as you like,
each browsed and loaded in the same way, with
the 4D encoder and Shift button used to step
through the chain, and bypass, delete and
reorder its constituent efects.
The best thing about the whole Komplete
Kontrol/NKS concept, though, is the automatic
mapping of plugin parameters to the ASeries’
eight knobs, across an unlimited number of
button-accessed pages. NI’s Massive, for
example, maps its eight Macros on the irst
page, EQ and Master controls on the second, FX
on the third, Oscillators on the next three, etc.
With the SSeries, these assignments are always
visible in the dual displays, or the alphanumeric
strip under the knobs of Mk1; to ind out what a
knob does with the ASeries, you have to touch
it, revealing the name and value of its mapped
parameter on the OLED screen. Clearly, the dual
display worklow is much faster and more
intuitive, but the ASeries display also tells you
the name of the page you’re on, so it doesn’t
take too long for the main assignments on each
page of your favourite instrument to start
sticking in memory.
As for Maschine, the ASeries doesn’t ofer
anywhere near as much hands-on action and
visualisation as the SSeries, which capitalises
on those big screens and features various
Maschine-dedicated buttons. You do, however,
get note input (natch), transport, Group and
Sound navigation within the Song and Ideas
views (and a button to switch between them),
and plugin control.
Komplete package
NI have made fewer compromises than we
would have expected to make a Komplete
Kontrol keyboard at almost a third to half the
price of the SSeries. Yes, the loss of the screens
is a sizeable downgrade, but the OLED does a
pretty good job, and you still get all the same
info from the Komplete Kontrol and Maschine
GUIs anyway, so the end result is the same.
Indeed, it could be argued that Light Guide is in
fact the greater loss, as there’s no workaround
for it. Even with those things taken away,
though, and the reduced level of Maschine
integration, we’re still very much blown away by
the value proposition presented by the ASeries.
Incredibly well-built and wonderfully playable,
they deliver up the Komplete Kontrol
experience at a truly irresistible price.
Web www.native-instruments.com
Verdict
For Top-notch build quality and keybed
Works great with Komplete Kontrol
Host Integration
Decent software bundle – see website
Against We’ll always want NKS plugins
to work without Komplete Kontrol
The A25 is comparatively bulky
At these prices, the ASeries makes for a
fantastic entry point into Komplete and
music production in general
1 0 / 1 0
Alternatively
Novation Impulse 49/61
179 » 8/10 » £239/£299
Also ofers instant plugin
parameter mapping, but via a
wrapper system
Nektar Impakt LX+
NA » NA » £89-£279
Available in 25-, 49-, 61- and 88-key
versions, this one integrates tightly
with a number of DAWs
Alongside Komplete Kontrol
integration, the ASeries (and SSeries)
keyboards also serve a secondary role
as DAW controllers. Known as ‘Host
Integration’, the speciics of this
functionality vary from DAW to DAW,
and involve some very brief faing
about in terms of initial setup in certain
cases (we’re looking at you, Ableton
Live). Once everything’s up and
running, though, it works very well.
The transport buttons – Play, Record,
Stop, Loop, etc – hook in just as you’d
expect, while pushing the Track button
switches the 4D Encoder, all eight
parameter knobs and the Previous/
Next buttons over from Komplete
Kontrol to DAW control (switch them
back with the Plugin button). Take
Logic Pro X as an example: the knobs
control the volume faders and – with
the Shift button held – pan for eight
tracks at a time; the Previous/Next
buttons (with Shift held, oddly) handle
mute and solo for the selected track;
while the 4D Encoder acts as a
playhead jogwheel when twisted, and
is used to navigate through tracks and
regions thereon when clicked up/down
and left/right.
At the time of writing, ASeries Host
Integration was up and running with
Logic Pro X and GarageBand, with
Ableton Live in the pipeline.
Host integration
The ASeries is built to work with the Komplete Kontrol
software, which hosts all your NI and NKS plugins
Host Integration allows ASeries (and SSeries) keyboards to act as DAW controllers
“We’re very much
blown away by the
value presented by
the ASeries”
native instruments komplete kontrol a-series / reviews <
December 2018 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 89
CMU263.rev_kka.indd 89 10/15/18 2:45 PM