I launched Komplete Kontrol software and it informed me that there was a firmware update available for the keyboard. After rebooting my PC, the keyboard was redetected by Windows. I let Windows update my Intel chipset drivers *and, of course, the Komplete Kontrol hardware driver. Boy! I sure was glad that I kept the device connected while I checked for Windows updates, otherwise the NI driver would have been missed.

Anyhoo, lo and behold there were a few driver updates available, and among them was a driver specific to the Komplete Kontrol A61. ( Yes, I’m using some nifty 3rd party tools to assist me with that process). Having said that, I have Win 10 configured to NOT automatically download and install every update, but rather, to give me the choice of selecting which updates I will permit. As a quick aside, I have my computer configured very securely after all, I’d worked as a professional IT ‘guy’ for two decades.

Now just between you and me, I really don’t like fiddle-faddling with RMAs ( Return Merchandise Authorization) so I figured I’d let my Windows 10 production machine temporarily go online and check for Windows updates – just in case. The small studio and home producer crowd really sat up and took notice when NI released their industry-shaking line of dedicated keyboard controllers: Komplete Kontrol “S” series – in 49, 61 and 88 key configurations. Machine hybrid systems, which married percussive pad controllers to software samples, allowed electronic music artists to get as creative and hip-hoppy as their one drop hearts desired.

In particular, their Traktor rigs became tremendously popular with our musical wannabe cousins (DJs), and many a fine home recording was captured using Komplete Audio devices. Well, in regard to the personal computer and software DAW domains that is.Īs magnanimous as NI’s sample and software archive is, they've not been strangers to the hardware side of the equation either. Be that as it may, NI has pretty much always been the industry leader – perhaps even the industry creator – of all samples-based virtual instrumentation. Chances are, the percentage of contemporary music producers, home-recordists, and DAW users who don’t own at least one NI product, is probably so low that it’s negligible to measure. Unless you've been imprisoned in Iqaluit, Nunavut, since the early 1990s, you’re no doubt very familiar with music technology mega brand, “Native Instruments” (NI).

Komplete a61