Sad state of Native Instruments

[Bombadil]

I haven't had any issues after it updated. You on PCs?

[thecontrolcentre]

You on PCs?

I am. NA has been broken since October last year.

[felis]

Every 8 months or so, I spent some time updating all the software in my music workstation. Last night, after updating most of them without a glitch, from Arturia to Steinberg, SSL to UAD, etc, I had the great idea to check NI Access for updates. This turned out to be a colossal mistake!

The application began by updating itself and then repeatedly prompted me to log in, almost 10 times. After escaping this login loop, it became hopelessly stuck on "Loading Products." I spent 2 frustrating hours troubleshooting: reinstalling, cleaning the registry, and running SFC, to no avail. I finally gave up.

If a company cannot invest in developing reliable software to manage its installations (and the only way to do it so); software that isn’t even for making music but merely for installing THE music software, it's impossible to trust them.

Had a similar thing happen. I won't go into all the details, but it's still not working right.

[Milkman]

Ive had to rebuild a workstation at least twice to solve NA installation issues, and I'm aware of the risk now.

The first time, NI sent me their 64bit software removal tool, and this solved the issue with one single title but broke something in the windows registry, leading to other titles failing. Failing to update, failing to uninstall, failing to reinstall. Had to rebuild a PC for that, and then I had the pleasure of rebuilding it again for Steinberg thanks to a 'stuck licensing process' they also couldnt fix.

[Scoops]

I just got off the NI Forum Website
They just got spammed again. That's like the 3rd or 4th time this year.
Seems like you get what you sow

On a different subject. For those on PC, disable the NTK Daemon at startup. I updated all of my NI stuff in February and decided to turn that off. No adverse effect. Not sure if that can be done in other systems

[chk071]

You on PCs?

I am. NA has been broken since October last year.

You always forget to mention that you're on an unsupported OS (Windows 8.1). Which pretty much makes it a lottery if stuff works or not. At the very least, the software isn't tested, thus can't be guaranteed to work.

[machinesworking]

You on PCs?

I am. NA has been broken since October last year.

You always forget to mention that you're on an unsupported OS (Windows 8.1). Which pretty much makes it a lottery if stuff works or not. At the very least, the software isn't tested, thus can't be guaranteed to work.

Not trying to dogpile thecontrolcentre (although I agree his right to complain is nil on an unsupported OS), but I wonder how often it is that people neglect to mention their OS when contacting tech support and getting all Karen about it? Probably the reason some companies force you to input that information every single time you contact support.

[glokraw]

A few linux users have settled on using the old NA v 1.14. It doesn't seem to stir up or succomb to OS troubles like some of the new releases do. I use it with Kontakt and Reaktor 6.x versions, and most everything in Komplete 13 works good enough on my old i7 setup. Massive X has trouble sometimes, depending on the wine version, and OS graphics libs at hand. All the other older Komplete instruments/effects are usable.
I did have to use the NI registry cleaner tool before installing the old Native Access. Same goes for some other NI installers that have issues with wine filesystems. And once it works, updates to 'anything' come to a screeching halt. I have extra linux setups for newer/different needs.
Cheers

[Bombadil]

Native Access and KK went wacky on me yesterday. At first, I thought it was Musio or OPUS. I had to find a recent scratch track that didn't have either, to rebuild my template.
Vintage Organs was available on its own, now I have to open Kontakt to get the Farfisa.
I uninstalled something irrelevant to me the other day. It was working fine until I did that.

[thecontrolcentre]

You always forget to mention that you're on an unsupported OS (Windows 8.1). Which pretty much makes it a lottery if stuff works or not.

If I always forget to mention it, how come you know what my OS is?

[chk071]

Because you mentioned it, like, once.

And only after we tried to figure out if there's something we could do to make NA run. viewtopic.php?p=8807930&hilit=windows+8#p8807930

Anyway, my point is that they can't possibly guarantee that it's running on an unsupported OS, otherwise they would have to guarantee that it runs on every Windows 98 potato.

[thecontrolcentre]

Because you mentioned it, like, once.

And only after we tried to figure out if there's something we could do to make NA run. viewtopic.php?p=8807930&hilit=windows+8#p8807930

Anyway, my point is that they can't possibly guarantee that it's running on an unsupported OS, otherwise they would have to guarantee that it runs on every Windows 98 potato.

My issue was that I had a working setup until NA forced an unannounced update on me that didn't work on my OS. A heads up from NI would have been acceptable, but now I am left with a bunch of unregistered Kontakt plugins that I can't use without upgrading my PC.

[chk071]

And I'm sorry for that. But, again, the point is that it's simply impossible to guarantee software to work forever on unsupported/untested operating systems.

Support for Windows 8 from Microsoft ended in 2016, and support for Windows 8.1 ended in January 2023. Most software companies have moved on, and ended testing on anything lower than Windows 10. Understandably, when you take a look at how many people are still using unsupported and not updated operating systems.

I could tell you now that it would have been a great idea to update to Windows 10 when you still could (it's not possible anymore, I read), but, that's solely your decision, which you have to live with regarding the consequences it brings.

[enroe]

... the point is that it's simply impossible to guarantee software to work forever on unsupported/untested operating systems ...

Yes I also think so: if you don't keep your software up to date,
then it's your own fault! No wonder that so many things suddenly
stop working!

For example, we first spend the morning of every day updating all
the software. It's not just Windows that needs to be updated every
2 weeks. The DAW, various JAVA environments and even many plugins,
VST + CLAP, also always need to be updated. Update, update, update!
Yes, actually life is nothing more than constant updating! You get used
to it.

OK, so at some point we'll get around to making music. But first
we HAVE to update!

It's actually funny that there is software that is so robust and
compatible that some people use it for years without having to
update it? Which even runs well with Windows XP. How can that
be?

[Harry_HH]

... the point is that it's simply impossible to guarantee software to work forever on unsupported/untested operating systems ...

Yes I also think so: if you don't keep your software up to date,
then it's your own fault! No wonder that so many things suddenly
stop working!

For example, we first spend the morning of every day updating all
the software. It's not just Windows that needs to be updated every
2 weeks. The DAW, various JAVA environments and even many plugins,
VST + CLAP, also always need to be updated. Update, update, update!
Yes, actually life is nothing more than constant updating! You get used
to it.

OK, so at some point we'll get around to making music. But first
we HAVE to update!

It's actually funny that there is software that is so robust and
compatible that some people use it for years without having to
update it? Which even runs well with Windows XP. How can that
be?

This MAY be the case.

But at the same the music software end-user could count, what is the balance of the time budget between
1.Making and producing music
2. Updating, downloading, installing, authorizing the used tools

If all kind of ”software administration” takes more than 30 % of the total time, I would say that there is something wrong in the music software culture and environment.