So this NI Komplete Special is definitely the talk of the music production blogs today. It’s a great deal IMHO, but it raises some questions…

Q1: It kind of makes everyone who dropped $1200 on Komplete recently feel like a chump, doesn’t it?

Q2: Does this mean NI is hard up for cash?

Q3: Is this an indication that NI is no longer as relevant as it once was?

Personally I use all the NI stuff much less than I once did. I paid for Reaktor and several upgrades, before I started getting NFR review copies — the only instruments I don’t have are Massive, Absynth, Elektrik Piano and Akoustic Piano. Those might justify buying Komplete, but like a lot of people (I think) who have started doing most their work in Ableton Live, there aren’t a lot of reasons to go beyond the instruments built into Live.

The Live Instruments are by no means the be-all and end-all of virtual instruments, but they’re good enough to get the job done, especially when you’re putting something together whose musical charms aren’t primarily a matter of sound design.