The thing is, for me not so much for the VSTs bundled, although that adds a lot of value for sure. The Massive synth which got great reviews (not interested in another synth deep-dive), a piano, The Gentleman (I've got that covered already with PianoTeq), which is probably as good as the existing NI ones and Monark which is supposed to be a really good MiniMoog emulation (hey, it's free and if it is that good, a MiniMoog ain't no modular and could be tweaked pretty quick).
What attracts me is the keyboard itself with supposedly high-end Fatar keybed (if so, the price is good right there). I like the idea of the NKS for the VST/DAW navigation sans mouse along with the controller's ability to be auto-mapped to the supported manufacturer's (NI, Arturia, u-he, etc.) VST controls which are loaded into the thing automatically (and settings saved) when in current focus in the DAW and having the parameters displayed on the controller's smallish but apparently not so tiny screen. Of course I'd have to see and try this in person but it seems to me this could be huge, especially for piano players like me who rely on PianoTeq, VB3, and Lounge Lizard, should they get on board. This new “Native Kontrol Standard” (NKS) will allow developers to customize support for the colored LEDs above the keys, parameters, unique behaviors for the touch strips, so plug-in developers add tagging (this is code and NOT MIDI) so their presets show up alongside NI’s. Coding for NKS may be hard, IDK, but it should be much tighter than MIDI ccs.
"This isn’t accomplished via MIDI, so you’ll need to be a plug-in maker with access to NI’s developer tools to exploit those parameter controls. Those developers are granted access to what is essentially a simple API for the Komplete Kontrol host software (and, by extension, both the Browser and the hardware functions on the keyboard). This isn’t some new control protocol, and it isn’t a new plug-in format; it’s some kind of thin layer of description that plug-in developers add when they bundle their software for release". It looks like the DAW folks don't need to do anything????, just the VST guys?.
Now this is a neat feature, if it works as advertised, loading VST plug-ins directly into Komplete Kontrol. Supposedly, once loaded, those VSTs will work in any host – Pro Tools, Logic Audio Unit hosts, etc., with all parameters controllable by the keyboard.
Considering the price, it might be worth eating eggs and pasta for a while.
The ability to bring such a keyboard controller (kontroller?), not exactly light at 31? lbs, (14 kg) but manageable; with a laptop able to handle NI, Pianoteq, VB3, Lounge Lizard, Diva, etc., is pretty compelling. With a nice VST host like Cantabile, with it's live features this could be the winter of the egg.