Native Instruments has entered preliminary insolvency proceedings

Native Instruments – one of the world’s leading manufacturers of music-making software and hardware – has entered preliminary insolvency proceedings, it has been revealed.

According to a report by Create Digital Music, Prof. Dr. Torsten Martini has been appointed preliminary insolvency administrator for the Berlin-based company, and will be responsible for restructuring the company and selling off existing Native Instruments assets.

Further information about the preliminary insolvency proceedings is unavailable at this time, and it’s unclear what the future entails for existing Native Instruments customers and users, as well as the company’s hundreds of employees.

Native Instruments – known for its industry-leading music-making products including its Massive soft synth and Kontakt software sampler, and Maschine and Traktor hardware units – has undergone a number of changes in recent years, including a period between 2019 and 2020 involving staff layoffs and restructuring.

Since 2021, Native Instruments has been majority-owned by private equity firm Francisco Partners. Since then, the company has also acquired music brands including iZotope, Brainworx and Plugin Alliance. 

The brands were initially brought under the Soundwide umbrella, but 2023 saw the dismissal of 8% of Soundwide’s global workforce, and the consolidation of the aforementioned brands under Native Instruments brand.

As maker of some of the industry’s leading music-making products, users will no doubt be curious as to what effect the insolvency proceedings will have on ongoing user support for these products.

MusicTech has reached out to Native Instruments for comment. We’ll bring you more information as we have it.

Sam is the Associate News Editor for Guitar.com and MusicTech. Thoroughly immersed in music culture for the majority of his life, Sam has played guitar for 20 years, studied music technology and production at university, and also written for the likes of MusicRadar, Guitar World, Total Guitar and Metal Hammer.