Native Access

Native Instruments is one of the most well-known developers and manufacturers of electronic music instruments, both virtual and physical. While you can expect nothing less than quality when it comes to their sound, one could argue that their plugins are a little hard to get. I’m not trying to imply that they are too expensive or anything, just that, for some tools you have to take a few extra steps before you can actually have them installed on your computer.

And one of the first steps you have to take is called Native Access.

First off, it should be noted that you don’t actually need Native Access to download all of the NI plugins. However, you do need it to download Kontakt Player, which is a piece of software that’s required to play many of the developer’s instruments. For me, this is approach seems a bit excessive, and even though I understand that it’s a measure to fight piracy, I find it a bit frustrating that you have to install three programs in order to get just the one you want.

Native Access can be used to install the programs and update them, and it also provides product descriptions as well as changelogs. But that’s about all it does.

One thing you can’t say about Native Access is that it’s difficult to use. The interface is minimalistic and it allows you to browse with ease through the list of products that you have installed, the list of products that you own but haven’t yet installed, and through the list of products that need to be updated. You can also set locations on your computer for the installers you download, but also for the VST plugins and applications you install.

Native Access is a decent program, but I can’t really say that I’m completely sold on the reason it exists.