KOMPLETE KONTROL – GETTING UP & RUNNING FROM AN ACCESSIBILITY PERSPECTIVE
KK-ACCESS GUIDE
One of the main questions that new users will most often want to know, is ‘how to get started with Komplete Kontrol.
This guide is intended as a quick start with accessibility in mind. Please realise that this will not be a substitute for reading Native Instruments own documentation, nor will it be able to cover all computer systems, platforms and unique equipment and setup variations, but hopefully it might cut through some of the confusing jargon, and provide you with enough confidence in navigating the task of a first time installation.
GETTING STARTED
Quite naturally, everybody will want to get the installation over and done with as quickly as possible, and begin browsing, playing, editing and making music with their system.
There are however some essential steps to go through in order to achieve this, and a little extra time spent in preparation and getting things right at this early stage will pay dividends and often save a lot of headaches further down the line in terms of troubleshooting things if they do not work as expected.
PREPARATION
Before you begin your installation, it is well worth spending a little time to assess your computer system, and deciding where the best place to install the products will be.
Komplete Kontrol does have default locations pre-defined, and in general these are perfectly acceptable.
Things like the location you want your VST plug-ins to go (remember Komplete Kontrol is now 64bit only, ), and in the vast majority of cases VST3 will be used,the path where your downloads will temporarily reside prior to being un archived and installed, where you want the actual applications to be installed and then finally where you want those all important yet disk hungry sample libraries to reside.
Unless you have any really good reasons, then the default locations should be fine, (see notes on download folder later in the article), however the main one you will want to consider is the ultimate destination of your sample libraries, referred to as the library content path.
Here, ideally in order to maximise loading time, a solid state drive should be used, these are dropping in price all the time and are well worth the investment for performance reasons alone, however if your budget will not stretch to one that meets the size requirements of the version of Komplete you have, then at the very least a 7200rpm mechanical drive should be employed to try to avoid frustrating load times and sample instrument performance.
If your computer is reasonably new, then hopefully your main operating system drive will already be an SSD, as along with computer ram, this is probably the best speed and performance investment you can possibly make, so having one for your sample libraries as well as your main operating system drive will give you the benefit of both worlds.
When it comes to choosing the installation location for your Komplete Kontrol/Kontakt libraries, try to think big.
Komplete Kontrol can have a habit of becoming an addictive pastime at whatever level you intend to use it. We are constantly bombarded by special offers and tempting promotions and these additional sample libraries can rapidly swallow up hard drive space, so where possible try to use a drive in excess of your immediate installation needs.
As of Komplete 15, released in October 2024, a full installation of the flagship ultimate collectors edition, takes around 2Terrabytes of hard drive space for all of the sample library content, so try to consider this when forward planning, and this would not account for any additional third party libraries you may wish to add later.
Windows users should format the drive as NTFS, while MAC users should use APFS (Apple File System).
Exfat should be avoided at all costs when using sample libraries, as it will reduce loading times, and is not broadly considered conducive to working with the demands of modern sample based products.
KOMPLETE KONTROL APPLICATIONS & ASSOCIATED CONTENT
When we discuss Komplete Kontrol as a software entity, it does not actually produce any sounds at all in its own right.
Instead, it can be thought of as a host wrapper for other plug-ins, which may be instruments or effects.
The workflow convenience of Komplete Kontrol means that we are able to quickly switch between a myriad of different products, without ever needing to leave the Komplete Kontrol environment.
This has a strong workflow advantage particularly in terms of accessibility, where users would instead need to load separate plug-ins, and then potentially wrestle with an inaccessible user interface, or continually arrow up and down the parameter list of a DAW in order to make adjustments to controls.
The Komplete Kontrol and NKS (Native Kontrol Standard), take advantage of parameters from the product user interface which the developer has made host automatable, which can vary between extensive and minimalistic.
Given that there is also the further keyboard hardware integration for most of the accessible DAW’s that blind users are working with, and Komplete Kontrol although not perfect, is arguably the most accessible solution from a single company that is also open for using third party products that have supporting NKS presets available either from official or third party sources.
When installing your Komplete software for the first time, you may wish to prioritise the order in which you perform the download and installation in terms of content, particularly if you need to consider the amount of disk space versus overall content size.
With this in mind, It’s worth noting that some applications are instruments in their own right, and others work as a means of deliverance, so it’s important to know what you will definitely need installed in order for things to work correctly.
For example Absynth, FM8, Massive, Massive X when installed and loaded will all have their associated presets and banks installed, of course it is possible to add third party presets (which will generally appear on the user side of the Komplete Kontrol browser), but the point is that they are largely self contained plug-ins.
The lines become blurred slightly only because to the newcomer it may not be immediately obvious that Kontakt, Reaktor and to a lesser degree Battery are what I would deem as container applications, by this I mean that on their own they are essentially voiceless until they load and play a library or sub bank associated with them.
Kontakt is probably the best example of this, being a sample player it is the delivery vehicle responsible for providing a large part of the Komplete software suite of sounds.
Abbey Road, Action Strikes, Action Strings, Damage, Drum Lab, Evolve R2, Hybrid Keys, Kinetic Metal,Middle East, Scarbee series, Session Guitarist, Studio Drummer, Symphony series and West Africa are all examples of the many available sample libraries plucked from an alphabetical list of Komplete software content that will all require the installation of Kontakt to work.
Depending on the version of Komplete software you own, this will either be the full version of Kontakt 7 or the freely available Kontakt player which will allow anyone to use an officially licensed NKS library.
Reaktor does work in it’s own right, however their are also libraries or banks that will appear in your list of products that essentially use Reaktor as their means of delivery. Blocks Space, Blocks Prime, Flesh, Form, Kontour, Monarch, Polyplex, Prism, Razor, Spark and TrK01, Kick and Bass will all require Reaktor or Reaktor player to be installed, again with a full or player version.
Native Instruments have also now introduced a player version of Massive X which enables users to purchase additional licensed preset packs without the necessity to own the full version of Massive x, the full version has the capability of loading third party unlicensed presets.
Battery, does have it’s own set of factory sounds, however many of the Native Instruments expansion packs which were originally marketed as Maschine add on packs, do also contain additional kits for use in Battery which get added to your bank category when installed. These expansions also often feature presets for Reaktor, Massive and other reaktor derivatives.
There is not however, a player version of Battery, so it would be necessary to own a version of Komplete that includes this application.
You may find this related UTube video from Andre Louis helpful, which further discusses this topic:
https://youtu.be/uHdDgwp4OTU
NATIVE ACCESS
The gateway to installing Komplete Kontrol and related products is Native Access, which is the Native Instruments software management utility.
Native Access uses a web based format, and should now be quite accessible with any screen reader.
It can be downloaded from here:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/specials/native-access/?srsltid=AfmBOorSKtsBBuiykBWjV2d7IptWn1Tc_VU0F1jgDoW79ORKZKdtRv35
INSTALLATION
When you first launched the Native Access application, you will first need to go through the initial ULA software license agreement, (on Windows I suggest using NVDA as the screen reader), arrowing all the way through the text down to the bottom in order to agree and continue.
you will then be prompted to enter your email address and password for your Native Instruments account, this is the one that you should already have registered on their website. once logged in Native Access will connect and check the status of your products, showing anything that is not installed or needs updating.
You should find a ‘add Serial’ option, this allows you to paste in a new product code, and this is true for either new individual licensed NKS products, or a complete multi software suite such as Komplete Start, Komplete select, Komplete, Komplete Ultimate or Komplete Ultimate Collectors Edition.
Having said this, it is often now the case that when you make a purchase on the Native Instruments website, then your serial number will already be included within Native Access when you load it, making installation quite seamless.
In the case of a brand new installation of hardware, pasting your Komplete product code into the add serial edit field, and hitting enter should then authorise your newly available hardware and unlock any associated content.
When first registering your Native Instruments hardware, there will be a serial number included on a card within the box, and this serial number is also replicated on the underneath of your keyboard.
You can use a suitable phone app to scan the serial number, some newer AI based apps can be directed to specifically look for a serial number, or a human based utility such as Be My Eyes or Aira are other good options in the absence of having sighted help on hand.
The serial number will take the form of 5 groups of 5 letters and numbers separated by a dash, the entire set can be copied and pasted into the first edit field.
The account preferences section, is where you will be able to check and set the paths for your software installations, and once done you can exit this area safe in the knowledge that future content, downloads and updates will end up in the right place.
You can then choose ‘install all’, and depending on the suite you have, this can take a considerable amount of time. This of course will vary depending on your Internet connection speed.
THE DOWNLOAD FOLDER
Native Instruments products are downloaded and temporarily held in a download folder on your system. Here they are first un archived before being installed, and then the archive file is deleted, leaving space for the next product in the installation sequence.
One consideration to bear in mind, is that Komplete can require a considerable amount of free disk space available to successfully download, and extract large sample libraries. If your default download folder is on your operating system drive, and this drive is small such as 128, 256 or possibly 500Gb in size there can be installation bottlenecks, especially if you selected the ‘install all’ option.
If you do only have a small drive, then it might be worth only installing a few products at a time, this can be frustrating and obviously means the install process has to be monitored more closely, but it should avoid the disappointment of installation failures.
The other option would be to choose an alternate download folder location, with larger available disk space, perhaps on an alternate or external drive, and this selection should be made prior to commencement of the download process in the Native Access file preferences tab mentioned earlier, and after you have created the said ‘download folder in your location of choice.
Once the installation has finished, within Native Access there should be no entries remaining in the ‘not installed’ products section, and also no ‘updates’ outstanding in the updates section.
At this stage you can close Native Access and prepare to launch the main Komplete Kontrol standalone application from your desktop.
SOME NOTES ON THIRD PARTY LIBRARIES & APPLICATIONS
We have only spoken thus far about Native Instruments own products and sample libraries which are associated with and included within the various Komplete software suites.
Other developers also do produce NKS compatible libraries and plugins which may require licensing through Native Access.
Some Native Instrument partners products can be authorised and downloaded directly through Native Access just as if they were NI products themselves, which makes things much simpler.
Others however will still require downloading from the associated vendor often using their own installers, which can vary greatly in terms of accessibility.
The final authorisation in the case of official NKS licensed sample libraries, will still be via Native Access.
You will need to paste in the new serial via the ‘add serial’ option , the library will then be authorised and appear in the ‘not installed’ tab, the final step will be to click on the install button, and then browse to the root folder containing the new library and then choosing install.
NKS PLUG-IN’S
There are also plenty of NKS software products that are not sample based (i.e they do not use Kontakt as their engine), examples of which are software instrument plug-ins from U-HE such as Diva, Repro 1 & Repro 5, Rob Papen Instruments, Applied Acoustic Systems, & Arturia, to name a few, as well as FX based NKS ware from Waves and Eventide.
In general these employ their own installers, and do not require registration through Native Access and use their own license and encryption methods such as Ilok.
All will still need to be scanned into Komplete Kontrol standalone in order for them to be included in your factory browser, which we are about to cover in the next section.
LAUNCHING KOMPLETE KONTROL FOR THE FIRST TIME
The Komplete Kontrol standalone application, should have an icon on your computer desktop, and this can now be launched.
When Komplete Kontrol runs for the first time it needs to do several important things. It will scan your system using the product location paths as defined earlier in Native Access.
It will scan and add the actual Native Instruments programs such as Absynth, Battery, FM8, Kontakt, Massive etc (dependant upon the suite version you own), it will look at the location of your sample libraries both factory and user content (the user content will probably be empty at this point).
It will gather a list and create a database for all of your product presets, sample libraries, one shots, loops, fx, and compatible audio files, from your pre-defined locations.
This database will then serve as the framework and structure for the Komplete Kontrol browsing experience.
Be sure to allow plenty of time for Komplete Kontrol to build this database for the first time, it can take a while for a large Komplete software suite given all of the components, or conversely a relatively short time for something like Komplete Start or Select.
## FIRMWARE UPDATES
When Komplete Kontrol is launched for the first time, and occasionally after an update, you may come across a dialogue box popping up informing you of a available firmware update for your connected model of Komplete Kontrol keyboard.
Generally this dialogue and procedure is accessible via a combination of OCR and basic screen reader techniques. Essentially it will update your keyboards inbuilt firmware and inform you again through a dialogue when this task is completed.
It is also possible to check if there is any firmware updates available for your hardware manually from the following links:
MK1, MK2, A-Series, M32:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/downloads/drivers-other-files/
Kontrol MK3 S-Series:
https://www.native-instruments.com/en/specials/komplete/kontrol-update/?srsltid=AfmBOoquRm3b1gqkjQEr2fiQEfJjU-vHniFdVrSyW-95cuds1KDs52h9
THE END GAME
Hopefully you will now successfully have Komplete Kontrol installed.
Most users opt to use KK within their DAW of choice as a plug-in, rather than using the desktop application,after all Komplete Kontrol is all about ideas and musical creation, so it makes perfect sense to be somewhere where you can record your ideas and work on them as and when they happen.
To this end, although Komplete Kontrol has the potential to be used as a standalone application, the standalone software is not currently as accessible as we would like, so configuration can be difficult.
Turning on speech accessibility has been covered elsewhere, but it will be the top left and top right buttons on MK1, MK2, and MK3 keyboard models, A-Series and M-32 will be top left and the row underneath far right ‘ideas’ button.
We have a separate guide for installing and using the newer Kontrol S-Series Mk3 range, as there is accessibility helper and hardware connection service software that differentiates slightly from the older hardware.
There are also keyboard layout guides available from our tutorials section which cover all of the Komplete Kontrol keyboard range.
You should now be all set to load up Komplete Kontrol as you would any other software instrument from your DAW, press the browse button on your keyboard and enjoy a new world of musical instrument accessibility browsing, playing, editing and creation!
(c) Chris Ankin
KK-Access
June 2019
Updated November 2025
FURTHER USEFUL LINKS:
Freelance Soundlabs is a website where NKS preset packs for many third party instruments can be purchased at relatively low cost:
https://freelancesoundlabs.com/#content
Native Instruments NKS user Forum:
https://community.native-instruments.com/categories/nks-user-library/p1
Disclaimer
Due to the fluid nature of software development, information and facts mentioned within this article will inevitably change and/or become outdated from time to time. Furthermore the information provided is based on my own personal gathered knowledge and experience of using Komplete Kontrol since the inception of it’s accessibility features in 2016.
to this end there may be elements for which others may have a differing view, opinion or experience. I will endeavour to amend and add information from time to time in an effort to keep the article relevant and informative as a whole.
No responsibility falls upon the author as a result of actions or damage to computer systems or software as a result of any information or misinformation included in this article.. Furthermore the author accepts no responsibility for subsequent purchase decisions made as a result of this article,or Any inaccuracies found within this review. All opinions or product functions stated are based solely on information perceived as a blind user whilst using the product or gathered from official factual sources on the web or product manual.
About the Author
Chris Ankin has worked previously as a freelance review contributor with articles published in Sound On Sound, Home & Studio Recording and ST Format Magazines.
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