Winter NAMM 2026 predictions

[timbuck3]

If that doesn't mean "we have a surprise for you this NAMM", then what does.

He was f Ing with us all

 

[Guitarplayer1969]

He posted this on this thread so I assumed it was going to happen at NAMM.

I read around the time of NAMM since Fractal doesnt actually exhibit at NAMM ever.

 

[Aleksi]

Biggest post-NAMM news for the time being: Native Instruments is possibly history. They're in preliminary insolvency.

Damn, I just got a Kontrol keyboard last year. Well if they go down I'll still have Thomann warranty for a few years

 

[FrankyFire]

Biggest post-NAMM news for the time being: Native Instruments is possibly history. They're in preliminary insolvency.

Wow! That's unexpected (if you, like me, haven't checked how they are doing financially). I thought they should be doing good with all the stuff they have up their sleeves. Lots of good Keyboard Controller, Maschine, DJ stuff and especially Kontakt Player which seems to be some sort of standard for some.

 

[Sascha Franck]

Lots of good Keyboard Controller, Maschine, DJ stuff and especially Kontakt Player which seems to be some sort of standard for some.

And lots of totally awkward business decisions over the last years.

 

[LP59]

Wow! That's unexpected (if you, like me, haven't checked how they are doing financially). I thought they should be doing good with all the stuff they have up their sleeves. Lots of good Keyboard Controller, Maschine, DJ stuff and especially Kontakt Player which seems to be some sort of standard for some.

If you pile on enough debt (due to filling VC pockets), you can turn any business into a failure.

 

[Chocol8]

If you pile on enough debt (due to filling VC pockets), you can turn any business into a failure.

Sure, but FYI you guys know way less about business than they know about music. For example, VC's don't do leveraged buyouts at all and rarely if ever load companies up with debt. They don't typically invest in established brands either. You are thinking of a subset of PE firms, and even they don't operate the way most people on forums think.

I mean, do you really think banks and other lenders are stupid? They don't like lending to companies that fail, since they like to get paid back. While some are happy to carry risky credit card and other consumer debt, the high fees and interest and relatively small balances allow them to absorb losses spread across very large portfolios. Lending tens or hundreds of millions to PE backed firms is very different. Each one of the losses stings a lot more, so lenders will only tolerate a much much lower failure rate from PE than keyboard finance experts assume.

 

[LP59]

VC's don't do leveraged buyouts at all and rarely if ever load companies up with debt.

That's exactly what happened with Native Instruments. Another example of this is Guitar Center. It sounds like you're trying to make a pedantic semantic point about the difference between VC and PE.

 

[Chocol8]

That's exactly what happened with Native Instruments. Another example of this is Guitar Center. It sounds like you're trying to make a pedantic semantic point about the difference between VC and PE.

Its not just a pendantic semantic point. Its more of a polite way of pointing out that you clearly have no fucking clue what you are talking about.

I work in the finance world and have VC's, PE firms, big investors, lenders, and the companies themselves as clients. They make mistakes, they make bets that don't pan out, sometimes people act badly and someone gets screwed, just like in all facets of life. BUT, it doesn’t work the way you think it does. Not even close.