In December 2021 music software Titan Native Instruments joined the likes of Roland and Adobe by offering a suite of curated software which subscribers can access while paying a monthly/annual subscription. Called “Komplete Now”, Native Instruments are hoping their subscription model will attract a whole new user base.
What do you get with a Komplete Now subscription?
A Komplete Now subscription gives you access to the instruments listed below:
- Battery Now (Special Now version of Battery, NI’s flagship drum sampler.)
- Massive X (NI’s flagship wavetable synth.)
- Cloud Supply (One of NI’s easy to use “Play Series” instruments. For trap, hip hop, drill, and grime sounds.)
- Hybrid Keys (Sampled pianos, synthesizers, and mallets.)
- Lo-Fi Glow (Ready to use Lofi and hazy sounds including keys, synths, guitars, and bass. Perfect for your next down tempo, lofi and hip hop beats.)
- Retro Machines MK2 (Sample based instrument featuring the sounds of 16 iconic analog synthesizers and keyboards.)
In addition Komplete Now gives you the effects listed below:
- Replika (delay effect)
- Raum (creative reverb effect)
Komplete Now Walkthrough:
Watch the video below for a complete (no pun intended!) Komplete Now walkthrough:
What is Battery Now?
Battery Now is a special edition of Native Instrument’s flagship Battery drum sampling software. Battery Now comes with 50 kits. Watch the Battery Now walkthrough below:
Does Komplete Now have a trial?
You can try Komplete Now for free for 3 months.
Can I cancel my Komplete Now subscription?
You can cancel your Komplete Now subscription at any time.
Is Komplete discontinued?
Komplete has long been one of the biggest and most popular music software bundles and Native Instruments say that they will continue to develop the Komplete line.
Is Komplete Now worth it?
Komplete Now currently costs $10/£9 a month but NI are offering a 17% annual discount when you subscribe for a full year so you are looking at shelling out around $90/£89 a year. You’ll need to decide if the software you get with Komplete Now is worth an ongoing monthly or annual cost.
If you’re put off by the thought of paying a monthly or annual fee to NI, you might want to look into what Komplete bundles you can get especially during holiday seasons such as Black Friday when the entire Komplete range gets some pretty hefty discounts.
My own experience with music software and folders full of VSTs spread across multiple computers is that there are only a handful of instruments and effects I deem to be absolutely essential to my production work (Dune 3 and Hive 2, to name just two of my bread and butter soft synths) and which I use year after year which more than justifies any initial outlay. I am pleased I own such software outright rather than paying, say, $100 a year which would work out at $1000 over a decade. Much as I love Dune 3, for example, I’m not sure if I’d be happy paying $1000 for it even if that cost was racked up over a 10 year period.
If you already own a Komplete bundle then there’s probably nothing here to tempt you to pay a monthly subscription to access whatever bits of software you don’t have already.
I would have liked to see Komplete Now delivering at least a couple more instruments and effects right from the off but Native Instruments are promising that Komplete Now is going to get bigger and better with monthly drops of additional products which could be preset and sound packs, new instruments or effects.
Komplete Now system requirements:
Operating system:
macOS 10.15 (latest update) or 11.6 (latest update)
Windows 10 (64-bit, latest Service Pack)
CPU:
Intel Core i5 or equivalent AMD CPU (with AVX for Massive X)
Apple M1 CPU (with Rosetta 2 installed)
RAM:
4 GB (6 GB recommended)
Disk space:
13 GB (21 GB temporarily for installation)*
*at time of release – please note that as the bundle grows so you’ll need more disk space.
Graphics hardware:
Support for OpenGL 2.1 or higher.
Can I use Komplete Now when offline?
An internet connection is required to install and activate Komplete Now. Once installed, all products can be used offline – however, you´ll have to open your Native Acess app at least once per payment cycle to refresh your token.
Learn more about Komplete Now:
Native Instruments have a number of tutorials and guides to walk you through installing and using Komplete Now here.
Best Alternatives to Komplete Now:
If you’re looking for a music software subscription service that rivals Komplete Now in terms of value for money and included instruments then you should consider:
- Roland Cloud (www.rolandcloud.com): Take out a subscription to Roland Cloud and you’ll get access to more than 50 Roland virtual instruments including recreations of legendary drum machines and synths such as the TR-808 and JD-800. As well as an impressive library of vintage Roland gear to play with, Roland Cloud also delivers an ever expanding library of genre-specific synth patches, patterns, and sound packs.
As well as a basic free Roland Account, Roland Cloud offers three paid membership tiers: Core, Pro, and Ultimate.
Best of all, if there’s any software in the library you particularly like you can opt to buy it outright (via a ‘Lifetime Key’) and then use it for as long as your Roland account is active even if you decide to stop your subscription. - Reason+ (www.reasonstudios.com): Reason+ subscription service includes 75+ Reason instruments, devices and effects. In addition to a huge library of quality instruments and the Reason DAW, monthly subscribers get access to weekly Sound Packs.
You can try Reason+ for $1/£1 for one month after which time a monthly Reason+ subscription costs $19.99.