According to bankruptcy documentsBerlin-based Native Instruments GmbH (also the parent company of iZotope, Plugin Alliance and Brainworx) is in preliminary bankruptcy proceedings. This is important news for one of the biggest brands in music production technology.

Professor Torsten Martini Listed as the company’s bankruptcy administrator on the applicable documents (“Worleufiger Insolventsverwalter”), which means he will be responsible for restructuring. (In addition to what is stated in the documents, I can confirm his involvement; look for 3612 IN 602/26 in the insolvency database.) Without speculating too much, that means that the next likely step could be for NI’s various assets to be sold off in some way — but at this stage there are still no details as to what the reorganization would entail.

Since 2021, Francisco Partners held a majority stake in NI. There’s probably more to be said about how NI got here, both as part of industry trends and as NI’s own unique story, but let’s wait for now.

The importance of NI cannot be overstated. Maschine, Komplete, and Traktor users are passionate about integrated hardware workflows. Reaktor and Kontakt are their own ecosystems for many development companies. Transactions with partners will be affected. Countless users have spent time creating Reaktor. And we know that every product in our stable means something to someone every day. So it will be important to see how this plays out.

While our employees should be supported in the short term, we know this will be a difficult time for NI operations and our employees. We hope for better times for NI employees and tools after this transition. To be clear, this doesn’t bode well for the rest of the industry either.

I think this will also cause concern for NI product owners who have invested in tools from Kontakt to Reaktor and others. Therefore, over the coming months, we will do our best to communicate these impacts as they become clearer. It remains to be seen how the company’s current “Soundwide” state (including iZotope, etc.) will be dismantled and sold off.

In the short term: It is important to note that basic operations will continue. At this stage of the process, the lights don’t go out. All of this will have consequences. The purpose of bankruptcy proceedings is to pay creditors, so there is always a result. This means that while small independent businesses can decide to close, NI’s valuable assets like Kontakt will absolutely have to stay open or find a new home and stay open to repay outstanding debt. But it also creates uncertainty, which I know is a source of anxiety.

We’ve had our ups and downs, but you’ve provided us with great tools, NI. I have many memories with the NI staff both past and present. Therefore, no matter what happens to NI’s business structure, we hope that the equipment and personnel will find a good future.

NI has not yet responded to a request for comment.

We received reader comments suggesting this was not clear, so this article has been updated with clarification “in the short term.”