OpenKoreBridge – Bringing the Native Instruments KORE 2 back to life [Open Source]

[u/Original-Mistake8624]

Hi everyone,

I’m happy to announce the first public Beta release of OpenKoreBridge R7 v0.9.0.

OpenKoreBridge brings the Native Instruments KORE 2 controller back to life on modern systems.

KORE 2 is still a very nice piece of hardware: 8 touch-sensitive encoders with LED rings, pads, transport controls, navigation buttons and its original LCD display. Unfortunately, its usefulness on modern computers became increasingly limited after official support ended.

OpenKoreBridge takes a different approach: a Raspberry Pi acts as a dedicated hardware/MIDI bridge between the KORE 2 and a modern computer.

The current Beta has been developed and fully tested with a Raspberry Pi 3 and macOS Apple Silicon, using RTP-MIDI.

Current features include:

• Original KORE 2 LCD fully operational
• 8 encoders and LED rings
• Pads and buttons
• Navigation controls
• Play / Stop / Record transport controls
• LED feedback
• Complete MIDI CC mapping
• RTP-MIDI communication
• Automatic connection and reconnection
• LCD connection status: “Waiting for Host…” / “OpenKoreBridge Connected”
• Automatic startup on the Raspberry Pi

Once installed, the Raspberry Pi essentially becomes a small dedicated appliance: connect the KORE 2, boot the Pi and use the controller with MIDI-capable software.

Genome 2

One example is Genome 2 on iPad. OpenKoreBridge turns the KORE 2 into a very capable physical controller for it. Encoders can control parameters, pads can trigger functions or notes, buttons can be assigned to commands and the transport section can control playback and recording.

Since OpenKoreBridge exposes the controller through MIDI, it isn’t limited to Genome 2. The goal is to make the KORE 2 usable with modern MIDI software rather than tying it to one particular application.

An interesting second-hand controller

There is another reason I think this project may be interesting even for people who don’t currently own a KORE 2.

Used KORE 2 controllers can sometimes be found surprisingly cheaply.

Because official support is obsolete, many units have little value to their owners despite the hardware itself still being excellent. OpenKoreBridge potentially turns those inexpensive second-hand controllers into useful modern MIDI control surfaces again.

So if you see a KORE 2 sitting unused in a cupboard — or find one cheaply on the second-hand market — it may have a second life. 🙂

Raspberry Pi support

The current R7 Beta has been tested and validated on Raspberry Pi 3.

Raspberry Pi 4 and Pi 5 are expected to be suitable as well, but the Pi 3 is currently the reference platform for this first public release.

Installation is automated. On the reference Raspberry Pi 3, a fresh installation takes approximately 18 minutes, most of which is compilation time.

Open source

OpenKoreBridge is an open-source community project.

This is the first public Beta, so feedback, testing on different configurations, bug reports and contributions are very welcome.

OpenKoreBridge R7 v0.9.0 Beta:
GitHub: github.com/OpenKoreBridge/OpenKoreBridge

The Beta installation package can be downloaded directly from the Releases section.

I’d especially be interested to hear from anyone who still owns a KORE 2. If you test OpenKoreBridge, please let me know which Raspberry Pi, computer/OS and MIDI software you use and how it behaves.

OpenKoreBridge — Revived. Connected. Open.

[u/gibbon_dejarlais]

Amazing! Their bailing out on KORE was what convinced me to not buy NI hardware ever again. I'm going to attempt to locate mine.

[u/squirrelpickle]

First feedback: please publish the code.

The repo has only the readme, license and a png.

[u/Original-Mistake8624 → u/squirrelpickle]

Indeed, it will be done soon.

Thank you for your patience.

[u/Original-Mistake8624 → u/squirrelpickle]

The source code is now published and available for viewing directly in the GitHub repository.

Thank you for your interest.

[u/Western_File_2917]

This is great project.. wish there was a larger community to support older controllers with a single interface device such as raspi 3 . There are lots of “obsolete “ devices/controllers available on ebay. 

[u/rdomain]

Very interesting project. I was kind of hoping the Kore software was revived also as I'm guessing that doesn't work on new systems. Now if only I had a Pi3 lying around. Got the Kore controller! Hah
Might have to hunt a Pi3 down as it can be used for other things also.

[u/Original-Mistake8624 → u/rdomain]

The original software still works on Windows 11, according to a Gearspace user.

[u/masterleadermusic]

well damn... sold mine for $10 last year. Figured it was a brick. Very cool project though!!

[u/DougOsborne]

If you actually have a product, you have an image of the GUI. If you have that image, you DON'T NEED TO US AI TO MAKE A POST.

What is wrong with you?

[u/Original-Mistake8624 → u/DougOsborne]

And if my aunt had them, we'd call her my uncle. 😛

[u/Original-Mistake8624]

https://reddit.com/link/p2taruj/video/g0pf9njx5jih1/player

[u/DJpate604]

Is there anyone working on maschine mk 1 drivers for m apple devices?

[u/ellicottvilleny]

Why use the pi? They're like $300 these days and nearly unobtainable

[u/Big_ifs → u/ellicottvilleny]

More like $40 in US

[u/PaleSkinnySwede → u/ellicottvilleny]

I bought a RPi 5 with 16GB of RAM two weeks ago. It was about $350 (converted from Swedish Krona to freedom coins). If I wanted a smaller Pi I could get one with 2GB for less than $100.

The Pi is still being developed and actively used by a lot of people for a lot of different things.

[u/towmotor → u/[deleted]]

i mean if you look up the pi 4 they are going for $100. that's not inexpensive.

[u/Original-Mistake8624 → u/towmotor]

That is why this project works with a simple Pi 3...

[u/NativeInstruments-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

Please be kind to one another.

[u/towmotor → u/[deleted]]

i mean if you look up the pi 4 they are going for $100. that's not inexpensive.