NI's Komplete keyboards now make it easier to play unusual scales

Komplete Kontrol 1.8 adds over 100 new modes and scales.

Native Instruments has updated its Komplete Kontrol software to version 1.8, which makes it even easier to play a host of unusual scales using the company’s range of S Series keyboards.

NI’s update adds over 100 new scales and modes to Komplete Kontrol’s “Smart Play” function, which helps anyone without musical training to play music in key by illuminating all the notes in a selected scale on the keyboard.

The update brings scale options including aeolian, lydian and phrygian, Middle Eastern and Indian. They can be used on non-NI controller keyboards through the company’s synths, provided you are running the Komplete Kontrol 1.8 software.

NI has also improved Komplete Kontrol’s chord features. As well as the ability to play inversions of a chord by twisting an encoder, there’s a new “auto” setting, which uses and algorithm to create more realistic chord progressions based on those inversions.

The update is just one of many music-making tools from Native Instruments in the past few months. Last year it introduced a new tool for building tracks called Maschine Jam as well as a sample-based synth called Form.

Komplete Kontrol 1.8 is available now for owners of the software as a free download from the Native Access app. Check out the features in the video below.