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Native Instruments is a German company that develops, manufactures, and supplies
music software This is a list of software for creating, performing, learning, analyzing, researching, broadcasting and editing music. This article only includes software, not services. For streaming services such as iHeartRadio, Pandora, Prime Music, and Spotify, ...
and hardware for music production,
sound design Sound design is the art and practice of creating sound tracks for a variety of needs. It involves specifying, acquiring or creating auditory elements using audio production techniques and tools. It is employed in a variety of disciplines including ...
, performance, and DJing. The company's corporate headquarters and main development facilities are located in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, with additional offices in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, and
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
.


History

Native Instruments as a company was founded in 1999 in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, Germany, where its headquarters are still located. Founders Stephan Schmitt and Volker Hinz began using the name Native Instruments in 1996, when they developed Generator, a
modular synth Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules for different functions. The modules can be connected together by the user to create a patch. The outputs from the modules may include audio signals, analog control voltages ...
software package (which would later form the foundations for their ongoing product,
Reaktor Reaktor is a graphical modular software music studio developed by Native Instruments (NI). It allows musicians and sound specialists to design and build their own instruments, samplers, effects and sound design tools. It is supplied with many r ...
). Following the release of Generator, the company's employees expanded to include Bernd Roggendorf (later a founder of
Ableton Ableton AG is a German music software company that produces and distributes the production and performance program Ableton Live and a collection of related instruments and sample libraries, as well as their own hardware controller Ableton Push. ...
) and Daniel Haver, who later became Native Instruments' CEO. In 1999, Native Instruments expanded their staff count and moved to their current building in
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
's
Kreuzberg Kreuzberg () is a district of Berlin, Germany. It is part of the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg borough located south of Mitte. During the Cold War era, it was one of the poorest areas of West Berlin, but since German reunification in 1990 it ha ...
district. In 2000, the company began creating products for the DJ community, beginning with the first version of their
Traktor Traktor is DJ software developed by Native Instruments. It is also used as a sub-brand for Native Instruments' associated DJ hardware products. History Traktor was first released in 2000. The initial versions available were ''Traktor DJ'' ...
software. In 2002, they expanded further to include
software sampler A sampler is an electronic or digital musical instrument which uses sound recordings (or " samples") of real instrument sounds (e.g., a piano, violin, trumpet, or other synthesizer), excerpts from recorded songs (e.g., a five-second bass guitar ...
s, in the form of ongoing products Kontakt and Battery. In September 2004, the company began a partnership with the DJ hardware manufacturing company
Stanton Magnetics Stanton Magnetics, doing business as Stanton, is a business unit of inMusic Brands that designs and markets turntables, cartridges, DJ mixers, DJ media players, and DJ controllers. History Stanton Magnetics was founded in 1946 by Norman C ...
and with
online music store A digital music store is a business that sells digital audio files of music recordings over the Internet. Customers gain ownership of a license to use the files, in contrast to a music streaming service, where they listen to recordings without ...
Beatport Beatport is an American electronic music-oriented online music store owned by LiveStyle. The company is based in Denver, Los Angeles, and Berlin. Beatport is oriented primarily towards DJs, selling full songs as well as resources that can be used ...
. 2004 also saw the release of their guitar
amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the v ...
and
effects pedal An effects unit or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing. Common effects include distortion/overdrive, often used with electric guitar in ele ...
emulation software,
Guitar Rig Guitar Rig is an amp and effects modeling software package developed by Native Instruments. The software can function either as a standalone application, or as a plug-in for other software. It was originally released in 2004. Overview The Gu ...
. In 2006, Native Instruments restructured into 3 divisions: instruments, DJ, and guitar. In March 2017, Native Instruments acquired remix-licensing startup MetaPop. In January 2020, a
works council A works council is a shop-floor organization representing workers that functions as a local/firm-level complement to trade unions but is independent of these at least in some countries. Works councils exist with different names in a variety of re ...
was elected that represents the employees of the Berlin office. In January 2021, it was reported that private investment firm, Francisco Partners acquired a majority stake in Native Instruments. Native Instruments now also has offices in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
,
Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
,
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
, and
Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...
. In April 2022, Native instruments became a subsidiary brand of Soundwide.


Products


Software

Software produced by Native Instruments includes the following: *
Reaktor Reaktor is a graphical modular software music studio developed by Native Instruments (NI). It allows musicians and sound specialists to design and build their own instruments, samplers, effects and sound design tools. It is supplied with many r ...
: A visual programming environment based on modules and wires. Several of Native Instruments products were built using Reaktor, including Monark – NI's emulation of the Moog Model D. In addition to the company's own offerings, it also hosts a large collection of community creations on the Reaktor User Library. *
Kontakt Kontakt may refer to: * ''Kontakt'' (film), a 2005 Macedonian film directed by Sergej Stanojkovski * ''Kontakt'' (magazine), a Norwegian political magazine (1947–1954) * Kontakt (software), a music sampler See also * Contact (disambiguation) * ...
: A
software sampler A sampler is an electronic or digital musical instrument which uses sound recordings (or " samples") of real instrument sounds (e.g., a piano, violin, trumpet, or other synthesizer), excerpts from recorded songs (e.g., a five-second bass guitar ...
with support for users to program their own virtual instruments. *
Guitar Rig Guitar Rig is an amp and effects modeling software package developed by Native Instruments. The software can function either as a standalone application, or as a plug-in for other software. It was originally released in 2004. Overview The Gu ...
: A modular
software effect processor A software effect processor is a computer program which is able to modify the signal coming from a digital audio source in real time. Principle of operation The digital audio signal, whose origin may be analog (by conversion to digital) or be i ...
, focused on
amplifier An amplifier, electronic amplifier or (informally) amp is an electronic device that can increase the magnitude of a signal (a time-varying voltage or current). It may increase the power significantly, or its main effect may be to boost the v ...
and
effects pedal An effects unit or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing. Common effects include distortion/overdrive, often used with electric guitar in ele ...
emulation for guitar. * Multiple
software synthesizer A software synthesizer or softsynth is a computer program that generates digital audio, usually for music. Computer software that can create sounds or music is not new, but advances in processing speed now allow softsynths to accomplish the sam ...
s, such as Massive ( wavetable-based), Absynth ( semi-modular), and FM8 ( frequency-modulation-based). *
Traktor Traktor is DJ software developed by Native Instruments. It is also used as a sub-brand for Native Instruments' associated DJ hardware products. History Traktor was first released in 2000. The initial versions available were ''Traktor DJ'' ...
: Digital DJ and
vinyl emulation software A close-up of a time-coded vinyl record Vinyl emulation allows a user to physically manipulate the playback of digital audio files on a computer using the turntables as an interface, thus preserving the hands-on control and feel of DJing with vi ...
. Native instruments also produce a number of other sample libraries, virtual instruments and effects processing plug-ins, many of which function through the architecture of Reaktor or Kontakt. Some of these software items are also grouped together in their Komplete software bundle. The company also develops the Native Kontrol Standard (NKS), a plug-in extension which allows integration with Kontrol and Maschine products (both hardware and software).


Hardware

Native instruments also produce music hardware, such as: *
Maschine Maschine is a hardware/software digital audio workstation developed by Native Instruments. Maschine consists of a controller that connects to the included sequencing software, which can be installed on any compatible computer or laptop. Hardware ...
: A system with integrated software for creating
drum beat A drum beat or drum pattern is a rhythmic pattern, or repeated rhythm establishing the meter and groove through the pulse and subdivision, played on drum kits and other percussion instruments. As such a "beat" consists of multiple drum strokes ...
s. * Kontrol: A series of
MIDI controllers A MIDI controller is any hardware or software that generates and transmits Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) data to MIDI-enabled devices, typically to trigger sounds and control parameters of an electronic music performance. They mos ...
, audio interfaces and DJ controllers with software instrument support.


References


External links

*
Daniel Haver Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2021) {{Native Instruments Software companies of Germany Privately held companies of Germany Companies established in 1996