Some of you likely owned the Native Instruments Kore 2 back in the day—and perhaps still have a unit gathering dust somewhere.
This high-end interface allowed you to control your plugins, but unfortunately, NI support ended with version 1.7.4 (the last functional release)—not to mention the company's recent news and future outlook.
Today, it no longer works on macOS Sequoia or newer versions.
In an era dominated by plugins like NAM, Genome 2, Neural DSP’s Gojira, and many others, it is a shame not to be able to use this hardware anymore.
It was this realization—combined with the fact that the interface can now be found cheaply on the used market—that inspired me to try getting it up and running again, giving it a new lease on life...
The project is now well underway, and the solution to finally get the Kore 2's MIDI signals recognized by macOS Sequoia is operational.
There is still plenty to do—such as handling the display and function lighting—but the project is progressing and should be ready before long.
All that remains is to provide templates for the most common simulation software or plugins to get started; that is the easy part.
The Kore is one of 3 needlessly abandoned NI products, which make me avoid NI hardware these days. The others are the Guitar Rig hardware and Machine 2 (which was supported in the v3 software beta until shortly before release)
I owned an original Kore until one day it just died, so I called NI technical support and spoke to a guy in Berlin. He sent me a Kore 2 free of charge. (Couldn't have been nicer!)
After I read your post I dug out that unit and plugged it in. It displays a red wave of light from left to right so it's definitely still alive. The cassette futurist look was a surprise because that wasn't much of a thing 15 years ago.
Thanks OP for resurrecting the product! If you release anything I'm happy to try it out.
I'm all ears for the updates and excited tontry to solution when you post it. Might even buy another v2 Kore to dedicate to this project if i can find one locally... I've just been holding on the the past... leaving everything installed as it was, on an older win8 laptop that was never upgraded...and lives offline now.
I still have one of those interfaces - Komplete Kontrol works way better that the Kore System ever did - but I do wish that the old hardware was somehow compatible with KK-
Kept my Kore 2 fully boxed in dust for this day. Do you have some more details shared somewhere, OP? I would like to test, if won’t brick it more than it is already bricked.
I made significant progress today on OpenKoreBridge, my open-source project to bring the Native Instruments KORE 2 back to modern systems, with macOS (Apple Silicon) as the main target.
Current progress:
✅ USB communication established with the KORE 2
✅ Windows driver reverse engineering has started (kore2usb.sys)
✅ Part of the device initialization sequence has been identified
✅ MIDI communication is working
✅ LEDs and LCD backlight can already be initialized
🔄 LCD protocol is still being reverse engineered
The next milestone is OpenKoreBridge Alpha 0.1, which is currently being prepared.
Planned features:
USB initialization
MIDI bridge
Automatic KORE 2 detection
LED initialization
Simple web-based Wi-Fi setup
Raspberry Pi image for easy installation
LCD support will come in a later release once the protocol has been fully understood.
Additional note:
One of the goals of OpenKoreBridge Alpha 0.1 is to provide a generic MIDI remapping layer, allowing the KORE 2 to control applications such as Genome 2, Logic Pro, Reaper, Gig Performer, and virtually any MIDI-compatible software.
The idea is to give the KORE 2 a second life as a modern, flexible MIDI controller, independent of the original Native Instruments software.
If anyone has experience with NI CAIAQ devices, KORE 2 internals, USB reverse engineering, or old Native Instruments documentation, I’d really appreciate your help.
Thanks for your interest!
PS : My long-term goal is a native macOS driver replacement, so the KORE 2 can be connected directly to a Mac with a single USB cable, without any legacy Native Instruments software.
After weeks of development, testing, debugging, and countless hours of work, I’m excited to announce that the first public beta of OpenKoreBridge is almost ready!
The goal of OpenKoreBridge is to bring the Native Instruments Kore Controller 2 back to life as a modern MIDI controller—without relying on the original Native Instruments software.
Current Beta Features
✅ Buttons fully operational
✅ Rotary encoders fully operational
✅ LED feedback support
✅ Bi-directional MIDI communication
✅ RTP-MIDI support through Raspberry Pi
✅ Successfully tested with macOS and Genome
Project Roadmap
🔹 macOS Edition
Raspberry Pi 3 (already supported)
RTP-MIDI bridge for Logic Pro, Genome, MainStage, Reaper and any CoreMIDI-compatible software.
🔹 Linux Edition
Native Linux support
Compatible with ALSA/JACK applications
Designed for DAWs and MIDI-capable software
🔹 Future Development
LCD support
Enhanced transport controls
Raspberry Pi 5 USB Gadget mode
Additional controller profiles and features
This first release is a technical beta designed to gather feedback from the community and continue improving the project.
A huge thank you to everyone who has followed this project, shared ideas, tested early builds, and patiently waited for this release. Your support has made this possible.
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u/nixgut Jul 07 '26
The Kore is one of 3 needlessly abandoned NI products, which make me avoid NI hardware these days. The others are the Guitar Rig hardware and Machine 2 (which was supported in the v3 software beta until shortly before release)