Scaling music productivity via improved software UX & architecture
Native Instruments
PO, Scrum Master, Developers, QA, Customer Insights, 4x Product Designers, plus 4 more Product Squads
Overview
Native Instruments (NI) is an international leader in building software and hardware for musicians, producers, and sound designers worldwide.
In the past decades, NI released countless music productivity assets (i.e. sound libraries, plugins); manageable via Native Access, a desktop application enabling users to install, manage, and activate digital instruments via perpetual licensing. 1.5ML users use Native Access.
Challenge
Native Access was originally designed as a plugin installer. As users accumulated large libraries (often 300+ plugins), the product unintentionally became a library management tool without the necessary scalability, creating ample usability issues.
This raised a critical research question: How do musicians manage large plugin libraries, and what prevents efficient discovery?
This case study focuses on how I used UX research to guide product re-design direction, helping evolve Native Access from a utility tool into a scalable asset discovery platform.
Duties
- Roadmap management with PO & Scrum Master
- Defined UX & research strategy
- Led cross-functional ideation
- UX & Design auditing
- Concept design and architecture
Methods
I led UX and research efforts by relying on the following methods:
Market research & competitive benchmarking
Secondary research
User interviews (establishing requirements)
Quick & dirty tests (wizard of oz, paper prototypes)
Card sorts
Usability evaluation
- Survey study (system usability scale)
Data synthesis
Impact
By enabling scalable asset discovery, the project contributed to broader product and business outcomes:
- Increased engagement with the product
- Decreased time-on-task
- 75% avg SUS score (perceived usability levels)
- 8/10 NPS Score
- Positive reviews via the press and Youtube content creators
Case Study
An overview of the research, methods, processes, findings and deliverables.
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