All user reviews of 3/5 for the Native Instruments Guitar Rig Kontrol

The Rig Kontrol is a hardware interface to be used with Guitar Rig software. It includes audio in/out as well as midi in/out. It connects with USB to a computer, and then can be used to control functions in Guitar Rig. In the software, you just have to right-click 'learn' and then step on the pedal that you want to control that function.
The pedal comes with 6 assignable foot switches. There is one 'variable' foot pedal (think wah-wah, or volume pedal). The variable pedal also has a switch that can be used to activate/deactivate the variable foot pedal. Therefore, relatively realistic experiences can be achieved for wah-wah effects in the Guitar Rig software if you combine the on/off switch with the variable foot pedal.
Rig Kontrol also has analog in and out connections if you don't have a different audio interface. The headphone jack will also be a convenient aspect to some users that just want to use Rig Kontrol with the stand-alone Guitar Rig software outside a DAW.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

My opinion of the Kontrol hardware is largely based on the fact that two switches stopped working after about a year of ownership. This definitely made me feel like the unit was poorly made. I liked that the pedal was made of metal because a lot of other multi-effects pedals were made of plastic as that time (Line 6, Boss, Digitech, etc). However, the fact that the switches stopped functioning was a huge disappointment. Rather than pay the money to get them fixed, I mostly just stopped using them.

OVERALL OPINION

I purchased the Kontrol Edition of Guitar Rig 2 a long time ago. I used the hardware for a while in my studio. It was nice to switch on/off virtual stomp-boxes, control wah-wah effects, and select different presets. After playing with it for a while, there isn't a whole lot of utility of the hardware in the studio. I basically have used the hardware as a MIDI interface for the past few years, and nothing more. I have never liked the idea of using a computer for guitar effects when gigging. I prefer to use hardware (POD HD) with internal DSP so I don't have to worry about buffering by a CPU that causes delay. Guitar Rig is a great piece of software, but my opinion is that the hardware isn't all that necessary or reliable.