The Company That Makes Your MPC Just Bought Kontakt, Maschine, and iZotope
Is your Kontakt library safe? Here's what the inMusic acquisition of Native Instruments actually means for your plugins and workflow.
Native Instruments Acquired by inMusic: What It Means for Your Plugins, Your MPC, and Your Workflow
Today, the music technology world woke up to news that’s been brewing for the past few months. In case you’ve been under a rock, the company behind your favorite plugins like Traktor, Kontakt, Maschine, and Ozone has officially signed a definitive agreement to be acquired by inMusic Brands!
And if that name sounds familiar, it should, inMusic has recently acquired companies like Moog Music, M-Audio, and Rane, and is home to the entire Akai Pro line of products. That’s right, the same company that makes the MPC now owns the flagship sampler platform the entire industry runs on. (and its hardware competitor battery)
SO here’s everything you need to know about the acquisition and what it means
What does the Native Instruments inMusic acquisition mean?
InMusic Brands signed a definitive agreement today (May 7, 2026) to acquire Native Instruments GMH and its assets, including Kontakt, Maschine, Traktor, iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx. They have ensured their existing customers that all support and products will continue as usual. The transaction will be finalized in the weeks to come.
What Just Happened?
We reported on Native Instruments’ preliminary insolvency proceedings back in March. CEO Nick Williams acknowledged at the time that the company was in active merger/acquisition conversations with multiple parties. That process was concluded today with Music Brands as the buyer.
Ironically, signed at Superbooth, the transaction will close in the coming weeks, pending the standard process under German Insolvency Law.
The deal is a 100% acquisition, meaning inMusic acquires Native Instruments in its entirety, including hardware, software, and all subsidiary brands, Brainworkx and Plugin Alliance included. Not to mention the 25 million users that are now a part of the inMusic ecosystem.
Why was NI in Trouble
We didn’t cover much of this in our insolvency article. You can read more on that here.
In 2021, a private equity deal went sideways, and NI sold a majority stake to an investment firm, Francisco Partners. That leveraged buyout left the company roughly $250m in debt, with annual revenue of $25m. NI had a balance sheet that could never survive the post-pandemic market adjustment in the music software industry. sector
After years of trying to restructure, lay off massive numbers of employees, and pivot toward membership models, etc., nothing could fix the fundamental deficit. As of early this year, insolvency proceedings were the only remaining path for NI to stay ‘alive’.
Notably, the community behind products like Kontakt, Maschine, and Traktor stayed loyal, which may have made the acquisition more palatable for a company like Inmusica, which has been able to keep the gears running post-pandemic.
What inMusic Gets
First off, inMusic gets the credit for completing one of the largest software acquisitions in music history. Since their 1992 purchase of Numark, they have been a hardware-first company.
Their purchase of Akai in 2005 signaled a greater ability to turn failing companies around by embracing advancing technology, and Akai Pro’s, as well as AIR, Moog, Denon, and M-Audio, remain staples in music professionals’ arsenals.
Bragging rights aside, they’ve added to their arsenal of successful products:
What inMusic Gets
Kontakt - The most dominant sampler platform and engine behind countless third-party libraries
Maschine - MPC direct software competitor, now owned by the same parent company.
Traktor - Professional DJ Software platform now under the same house as Denon DJ and Numark
iZotope - The Industry’s leading mastering and repair suite, including Ozone, iZotope RX, and Neutron
NKS - The hardware integration that bridges NI software to Akai and NI hardware controllers.
Jack O’Donnell, CEO of inMusic, says the company is committed to continued investment across all brands and to a long-term approach to innovation.
Basically, stating that they will continue to make winners out of companies that were fledgling in the first place.
The MPC Connection and What I Really Feel
I’m not gonna lie. As soon as I saw this news this morning, I was excited. I mean, I’m super happy that in music is taking this step to bring in some high-quality products like native instruments, Kontakt, and Maschine into their product line. I’m excited for the Force. I’m excited for the MPC.
I do think it’s a great collaboration. If you haven’t been paying attention, the cloud supply, the duets, and the Native Instruments and expansion packs have indicated a larger collaboration between the two companies.
And my honest take on it is that it’s for the better of both. I don’t think anything changes with the MPC.
I think, if anything, the deeper the NPC gets and the deeper the integrations get, the better the software becomes.
But I don’t think the product itself will change. Remember, the Maschine looks like an MPC because the MPC was first. It was groundbreaking, and its style works. Everything else is a workflow. adjustment.
So one thing I don’t want to see in music is the adoption of Native Instruments’ workflow in the MPC ecosystem.
I believe that Native Instruments has a very powerful media editor built into Maschine. That could be utilized. The tightest integration with NKS should also be utilized.
And they should take a look at how the keyboards integrate with Maschine and the software. Outside of that, Akai has already established itself as a leader in the industry, and they don’t need to change much.
💡 **Quick reality check:** 💡
InMusic now owns both MPC & Maschine.
Two devices that have competed for the same customers
for over a decade.
That’s not by chance,
and not something just any company can handle.
The Rumor Mill
Myth: inMusic Will Merge Maschine and MPC Into One Platform
A rumor is already circulating in the forums, and is actually worth addressing.
While this may seem like a smart strategy, inMusic’s acquisition history suggests otherwise. When they acquired Moog in 2023, Moog retained its brand identity, engineering team, and product roadmap, the same thing with Rane. The pattern is clear: preserve the existing brand, centralize the operations on the back end, optimize for long-term stability, and keep innovating.
MPC and Maschine are the most direct overlap that inMusic has ever had to manage. Interestingly, the CEO has been on record opposing market consolidation, which reduces consumer choice. Killing one option would be exactly that.
I’m interested in how the two platforms can exist under one umbrella. I’m a huge fan of InMusic creating a value ladder across its product offerings, with multiple options serving the same purpose; the market will eventually decide which one will die, potentially.
More than likely, with inMusic, they will find a way to spread out the NKS integration and upgrade some components of Akai products with what’s working at Native Instruments.
Having two competing development teams under one umbrella puts inMusic at a strategic advantage in the marketplace. Not only will the competition drive innovation, but they also own two distinct producer cultures under one brand. something that hasn’t been done in music up until this point.
We may see a publicly traded company in the future.
A few videos I’ve seen today suggest that some creators are a little nervous about this. Now, this is something I foresaw coming for a while, given that native instruments was in preliminary insolvency.
I’m happy to see this. Given the tight integration between contact and Native Instruments hardware, I believe Akai can learn a lot from this ecosystem and borrow features from it for the MPC platform. I do think, however, that you have two competing products, and eventually, one of them will win out in the public's opinion. Which one? I don’t know.
All I know is this: I’ve built my career on Akai’s ecosystem. I’m not going anywhere, a few years ago I opted not to get Kontakt in place of AIR Structure. I do not regret the decision; however, now that Kontakt is under the inMusic umbrella, I believe there is room for my arsenal to grow.
My one message forJackO’Donnelll in this case is not a product message; it is a financing question. ON exit, can we trust the board to see your vision? What is the succession plan? Is inMusic stock a long-term play? With this large a user base, it's almost another brain-er to go public; however, can that version of “the company” withstand the pressure? The questions keep piling…
Frequently Asked Questions
**Will my Native Instruments plugins still work after the acquisition?**
Yes. Both Native Instruments and inMusic have confirmed that all products, services, platforms, and customer support continue operating as normal. No action is required from users.
**Did inMusic acquire iZotope and Plugin Alliance too?**
Yes. The acquisition includes Native Instruments in its entirety — Kontakt, Maschine, Traktor, iZotope (Ozone, RX, Neutron), Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx are all now part of the inMusic portfolio.
**Why did Native Instruments go into insolvency?**
NI sold a majority stake to private equity firm Francisco Partners in 2021. The leveraged buyout left the company with significant debt relative to its annual revenue, and the company entered preliminary insolvency proceedings in Germany in early 2026.
**Will Maschine be discontinued now that inMusic owns both Maschine and MPC?**
There is no indication that either platform will be discontinued.InMusic's history with acquired brands — including Moog and Rane — shows a pattern of preserving brand identity while letting products continue to operate independently. Both Maschine and MPC are expected to continue their separate roadmaps.
**What is NKS and why does it matter for MPC users?**
NKS (Native Kontrol Standard) is Native Instruments' hardware integration protocol. In 2025, inMusic and NI announced NKS integration across Akai MPK controllers and M-Audio's Oxygen series, and brought NI sounds to the MPC standalone platform for the first time. With full ownership, deeper integration is now possible.
**When will the acquisition officially close?**
The definitive agreement was signed on May 7, 2026. The transaction is expected to close in the coming weeks, pending completion of German insolvency proceedings.
**Does this affect Native Instruments' subscriptions like Komplete Now?**
No changes have been announced to NI's subscription services. Business continues as normal, according to official statements from both companies.
**What does this mean for the future of Kontakt libraries and third-party developers?**
No changes to Kontakt's platform or the NKS ecosystem have been announced. Third-party Kontakt library developers and NKS hardware partners are expected to continue as normal.
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FInal Thoughts
All right, before getting into how I feel, what do you think?
Are you excited about contact landing right in the middle of the music family? Or are you nervous about it?
Yeah, eff that noise. I still have the original kontakt, logic, reason and enough gear older than most of these execs. Runs just fine.