As first reported by Create Digital Music (CDM), Native Instruments GmbH has entered into preliminary insolvency proceedings.
This news, understandably, sets off alarm bells for producers worldwide who have invested heavily in NI products.
As questions continue to mount, the most important ones will likely remain unanswered for a while, as insolvency introduces a period of uncertainty and speculation.
We’re taking a look at everything we know so far and what the future could bring for all involved.
What is insolvency?
A quick Google search on insolvency will tell you everything that you need to know from a consumer level, so I won’t dig too deep into it here.
The word insolvency still intimidates people, and is often assumed to signal the end, but it ain’t necessarily so.
Insolvency is when a company can’t meet its debt obligations or when its total liabilities exceed the value of its assets.
Insolvency and bankruptcy are not the same; insolvency is the problem, and bankruptcy is a potential solution, or at least the start of one.
There are a few directions that a company can take upon entering the insolvency process, including:
- Restructuring the company – exploring new payment plans where possible.
- Administration – restructuring a company typically involves a 3rd-party administrator who evaluates the situation with the intent of clearing all debts (or obtaining the best possible result for creditors) and, if possible, preserving the company. In this case, the administrator would manage the company’s assets and operations, not the company owners/directors.
- Liquidation – when rescuing a company isn’t viable, the company ceases trading, and all assets are sold to pay creditors. Liquidation can be voluntary or forced.
The NI story so far
Before we get to the insolvency announcement, it’s worth looking at the company’s history to understand why we might be here now.
Native Instruments started in Berlin, way back in 1996, with a modular soft synth called Generator (later Reaktor).
2002 brought the first version of Kontakt, and in 2009, Native Instruments launched its first hardware unit, Maschine.
As an early Maschine user (before switching to MPC), I was on the bandwagon, and for a while, Native Instruments seemed to be on top of the world.
As we entered the 2010s and beyond, many producers became frustrated and disillusioned with the company, and I was one of them.
I began to feel like NI’s drive to be the best was replaced with the exclusive goal of selling farther and wider than any other brand in the industry.
Now, it’s business, and any business needs to sell, but selling the most and providing the best product don’t always go hand in hand.
For a period, I felt like NI was stagnating; Maschine improvements were often more superficial than significant (it took far too long to see any real improvement to the feel and responsiveness of the pads), and Kontakt releases were uninspired.
Innovation became rinse and repeat, so much so that I used to share my Kontakt frustrations here regularly, probably too often. It wasn’t because I hated Kontakt; I just got used to it being underwhelming and switched off.
The Soundwide era.
The priority of becoming the market leader (some would say over listening to customers) was further clarified in 2021, when the investment firm Francisco Partners. became the majority shareholder.
This company restructuring ushered in the Soundwide era. Native Instruments seized the opportunity for rapid expansion by acquiring industry-leading brands, including iZotope, Plugin Alliance, and Brainworx, under the Soundwide umbrella.
Huge acquisitions show a clear intent, but they also entail the responsibility of servicing substantial debt while managing customer experiences and expectations.
Despite the display of grandeur, some users continued to question the company’s direction and decision-making.
For example, in 2023, NI reversed its decision to place newly acquired brands under the Soundwide umbrella because the name was less recognizable to customers/fans.
Those brands were moved directly into the Native Instruments family, which somewhat changed the user experience and highlights Soundwide as a misstep at a pivotal moment.
Although we started to see signs of improvement regarding Kontakt releases, and there were no signs of declining sales, at least not at any surface level, some decisions continued to upset music makers.
None more so than the decision to discontinue the fan-favorite Absynth in 2022. This decision was also reversed in 2025 with the release of Absynth 6, highlighting the potential disconnect with customers and unclear direction.
NI is so deeply entrenched in music production that it could possibly sustain sales, even with some disgruntled customers, because many of us rely on certain products in our workflow, making it hard to walk away.
However, the trappings of rapid expansion and expensive acquisitions led to a 2023 financial filing that declared £250m in debt against just £25m in revenue (thanks to CDM for that info).
Insolvency
It’s been a few years since the above-mentioned financial return, but it paints a clearer picture of how NI arrived at insolvency in 2026.
Now we can focus on the insolvency timeline.
- The European Commission, under the EU Merger Regulation, approved the acquisition of joint control of Native Instruments Group GmbH by Bridgepoint Group Holdings (UK) and Bain Capital Credit (US) in November 2025.
- According to notices from the insolvency courts of the Federal Republic of Germany, Native Instruments GmbH has entered preliminary insolvency proceedings.
- Prof. Dr. Torsten Martini has been appointed as the insolvency administrator, overseeing the entire process.
- Mo Volans, the GM of Plugin Alliance and Brainworx, addressed questions on the Plugin Alliance Audiophiles Facebook Group.
Mo Volans said, “As of today, Plugin Alliance entities are not part of the insolvency filing. Our operations in Langenfeld and the US remain outside these proceedings. For now, it’s business as usual. We continue to operate normally – product releases, support, installers, and all other activities continue unchanged.”
From these comments, we can assume that Plugin Alliance isn’t currently part of the process, but, without a formal statement, we can’t be sure things won’t change.
What does insolvency mean for NI?
Well, it’s hard to say at the moment.
What we can say for sure is that Native Instruments is in financial difficulty and needs to find a solution.
That solution is most likely to be a restructuring that involves selling assets in a way that allows core products to continue.
Adding further confusion, the acquisition by Bridgepoint and Bain Capital appears to have fallen through, or at least stumbled (we’ll await further updates).
Whether core products like Kontakt continue under the NI name or not, they have an imperative to continue, as too many producers rely on them.
With the potentially failed acquisition, it’s uncertain where NI and its collective brands will land, but the name power alone is certain to generate further interest.
As I said above, despite some disgruntled customers, Native Instruments’ core products appear to be selling well enough, and rapid expansion seems to have unsteadied the ship.
So, the next step for the original Native Instruments business will be the most interesting.
We should also consider what the future holds for NI employees, who will almost certainly be feeling major unrest at the moment.
Customers
For NI users like us, we carry on as normal for the time being. There are the inevitable questions about updates, support, and releases, but until we hear differently, daily operations remain the same.
When the dust settles, it’s hard to imagine our user experience (logins, etc.) won’t change again due to the crossover of multiple brands here.
The legacy of Native Instruments
There are examples of huge brands that went on to bigger and better things after barely escaping bankruptcy.
See Apple, Marvel, and Converse for a few examples.
We aren’t yet at the end for Native Instruments, and who knows what the future holds.
But if we look back at history, Native Instruments has already left an indelible mark. It’s rare to find a producer who doesn’t use something from Native Instruments, and if the worst came to pass and the brand didn’t exist by name, people would remember the NI era with great fondness, and I would list my old 2011 Maschine Mikro on eBay for $10,000.
However, I’m sure we’ll hear about wholesale changes that don’t affect how we use our NI products or stop us from using them. Hopefully.
In any case, when one of the true industry heavyweights enters insolvency, it certainly shakes things up.
Stay tuned, and we will be keeping you posted!
Official website: Native Instruments GmbH
More:
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Last Updated on January 31, 2026 by Tomislav Zlatic.
