Native Instruments Komplete Kontrol A-Series

Native Instruments’ SSeries MIDI keyboards
(10/10,
250) provide deep hands- and
eyes-on control of their Komplete range of
virtual instruments and efects, as well as those
of an ever-expanding range of third parties
(u-he, Rob Papen, Arturia et al) via the open NKS
standard and Komplete Kontrol ‘shell’.
As great as the SSeries is, however, with
prices starting at £239 for the 25-key S25 and
hitting £799 for the S88, it’s a bit of a reach for
many novice producers. So, to open up that end
of the market, NI have come up with the ASeries
– a much cheaper, cut-down, bus-powered USB
2.0 controller keyboard that interfaces with the
exact same Komplete Kontrol software.
Numbers game
Available in 25-, 49- and 61-key versions (we
received the A25 for review), the ASeries
borrows many of the SSeries’ best features,
including the 4D Encoder (a joystick/rotary
control/button combo) for software navigation;
eight touch-sensitive knobs for plugin
parameter control; beefy pitch and mod wheels;
and most of the same backlit buttons, albeit laid
out slightly diferently. There are, however, two
major cuts: the dual colour LED screens (or
alphanumeric LEDs on the S25, which still
languishes at Mk1), and the unique per-key Light
Guide LEDs, which mirror Kontakt’s coloured
key assignments and work with Komplete
Native Instruments
Komplete Kontrol
A-Series
£119/£159/£199
Their Mk2 SSeries wowed us last year, and now NI have packed the
majority of its functionality into a range of much cheaper ’boards…
“The ASeries shares
the superlative build
quality of its more
expensive siblings”
Kontrol’s Smart Play features to highlight the
notes of selected scales and chords. The screens
have been substituted with a tiny OLED display
for text-only visual feedback, but Light Guide is
simply gone – although Smart Play itself still
works, of course. Also missing are the touchstrip
and one of the two footpedal input jacks around
the back, both of which are acceptable losses.
Despite being made entirely of plastic, the
ASeries shares the superlative build quality of
its much more expensive siblings, from the
conidently solid casing, and laterally immobile
pitch and mod wheels, to the consistent knob
resistance and nicely sprung semi-weighted
keys. Interestingly, the keybed is designed by NI
themselves rather than Fatar, who make the
SSeries beds for them, and is up there with the
very best that we’ve come across in this price
range. NI tell us there are no plans to switch the
SSeries to the same one, though, as the Fatar is
the ‘superior’ of the two.
> reviews / native instruments komplete kontrol a-series
88 / COMPUTER MUSIC / December 2018
CMU263.rev_kka.indd 88 10/15/18 2:45 PM