KOMPLETE AUDIO 10 DRIVERS
KOMPLETE AUDIO 10 PORTABLE
KOMPLETE AUDIO 10 SOFTWARE

I often find that audio interface mixing applications tend to get in the way, adding an extra level of potentially getting things wrong between the hardware and your DAW. There are no mixer applications or routing options, just a box to set buffer size and sample rate. On the computer there's very little in terms of control software. In fact there are no indicator LEDs on the front panel at all. It's all quite sparkly on that reflective surface and it is so much more helpful to have it on the top of the interface rather than squeezed onto the front panel like so many others do. There's separate input monitoring on all four analogue inputs, with four blue LEDs leading to a red LED peak light. Three white LEDs tell you if it's getting USB power, if the phantom power is on and whether there's any MIDI activity.

The white text stands out nicely from the reflective black.

KOMPLETE AUDIO 10 DRIVERS

Once you've installed the drivers (Windows) and plugged it in, the monitoring panel lights up pleasingly. It could be a bit humdrum if it wasn't for the fact that it looked so fabulous!

The switches switch like they should and the sockets plug in solidly. The knobs are small but good, with very little play or noisiness. There's no socket or option for a power supply.Īt the price of £189 $249 the Komplete Audio 6 MkII is a decent, robust, elegant and well-built audio interface with a common physical feature set. A single USB socket rounds off the connections and points out that this is purely USB bus powered. There's also the very welcome sight of MIDI in and out ports, which is often a rarity at this price. On the back there are the other two inputs, four analogue outputs and S/PDIF coaxial in and out. Round the back of the Komplete Audio 6 we find a USB port, MIDI I/O sockets, S/PDIF I/O, and four audio outputs and two audio inputs on quarter-inch jack sockets.

KOMPLETE AUDIO 10 SOFTWARE

(There's a mono/stereo switch for linking the channels.) Twin headphone sockets with independent volume control, for you and a friend, can be switched to monitor either outputs 1+2 or 3+4, and a knob mixes between direct input monitoring and software monitoring from the host. Two 'combi' mic/line/instrument inputs have individual gain knobs and 48V phantom power. It keeps the ergonomically useful top–mounted volume knob from the original, but this only handles the output volume of channels 1+2.Īll other controls are on the front, and they are exactly as you'd imagine them to be. It is also larger than the original, being roughly the size of a Game Of Thrones DVD boxset and just as imposing. The KA6 MkII is weighty with effective rubberised feet that stop it slipping on the desktop. But they all share the very reflective and shiny fingerprint-magnet monitoring LED panel on the top. The hard plastic of the KA1 and 2 is outclassed by the metal sandwiching of the KA6 MkII. The Komplete PackageĪll three of the interfaces follow the current Native Instruments design philosophy of smooth lines, square corners and deeply black, minimally featured surfaces. The MkII goes for a completely different aesthetic but retains all the most important features. At a time when everybody else was making fiddly little 1U rack height devices with all the controls on the front panel, it had a very cool volume dial on the top. It was a smart little box made from an aluminium extrusion and featured the six channels of audio (four analogue inputs and outputs, and S/PDIF) that gave it its name. This is the successor to the long-lived Komplete Audio 6, originally released in 2011. This has a solid feature set at a decent price, but there's something a bit extra that may well tempt you away from the competitors. But following on a couple of months behind is the Komplete Audio 6 MkII. The first two, the Komplete Audio 1 and Komplete Audio 2 are sub- £100 $150 two in/two out jobbies that if it wasn't for their striking looks would be lost amongst the crowd of similar offerings from many other companies.

KOMPLETE AUDIO 10 PORTABLE

Into the crowded market of portable USB audio interfaces, Native Instruments have released three new boxes. If you want an affordable audio interface that also offers control of your modular system, read on.

Komplete audio 10