The music technology powerhouse inMusic is acquiring Native Instruments. This move carries significant implications for several reasons. Most notably, it places Native Instruments under the same corporate umbrella as its long-standing competitor, Akai. Based in the United States, inMusic also controls other well-known brands such as Moog, M-Audio, Denon, and Numark.
Native Instruments holds ownership of several widely used digital brands, including Plugin Alliance, iZotope, and Brainworx, all of which will now fall under inMusic’s management. This acquisition also concludes the Native Instruments insolvency proceedings, which had cast doubt on the company’s future. The firm will continue its operations, offering reassurance to those invested in NI’s product ecosystem. However, this consolidation creates a formidable force within the industry.
The transaction was somewhat anticipated. A buyer for Native Instruments was inevitable, and inMusic had previously collaborated with the company to integrate some of its plugins into Akai devices. This acquisition is expected to result in more NI software appearing on hardware such as the Akai MPC XL. Native Instruments is renowned for producing some of the industry’s most respected software, with synthesizers like Reaktor and Massive being frequently utilized across various music genres.
Questions remain regarding hardware integration. Akai produces several standalone grooveboxes, and it is unclear where Native Instruments’ standalone Maschine+ fits into this lineup, if at all. There will also be significant product overlap in the MIDI controller market. Both Akai and Native Instruments produce popular controllers, as do other inMusic-owned brands like M-Audio.
Native Instruments CEO Nick Williams stated in a blog post that the business will continue to operate normally as the transaction concludes in the coming weeks. The company recently launched Komplete 26, the latest version of its music production bundle. This includes over 190 digital instruments with 180,000 presets. The latest release features a new version of the popular Abysynth synthesizer, along with updated pianos, vocal soundscapes, and more.