Maschine + successor

Alex1974

How likely is it that NI is working on a Maschine + MK2?

I'm thinking about buying a M+ but if they are working on a successor I might wait for the newer version.

Acidizer

Not likely at all.

The original has been borderline neglected sadly. Don't think they have the will or the resources. They would need to step up big time, but they should have made the Plus more capable to begin with, that was a major mistake. I would invest in lots of NI products if they would run standalone but it seems Plus is too underpowered. So... now if they make a newer model that has a decent processor that will alienate all existing customers or stick with the original which doesn't seem to have the grunt beyond running a few decade+ year old plug-ins.

Sad state of affairs. If you like what M+ can already do it is very fun and capable. I only had mine a very short while and would upgrade to a v2 if it looked like they went all in supporting it.

I would be extremely surprised if a new model came out. It would be a nice surprise though, but I don't have confidence.

Peter Harris

Seems very unlikely in the foreseeable future IMHO but who knows.

Acidizer

Not likely at all.

The original has been borderline neglected sadly. Don't think they have the will or the resources. They would need to step up big time, but they should have made the Plus more capable to begin with, that was a major mistake. I would invest in lots of NI products if they would run standalone but it seems Plus is too underpowered. So... now if they make a newer model that has a decent processor that will alienate all existing customers or stick with the original which doesn't seem to have the grunt beyond running a few decade+ year old plug-ins.

Sad state of affairs. If you like what M+ can already do it is very fun and capable. I only had mine a very short while and would upgrade to a v2 if it looked like they went all in supporting it.

I would be extremely surprised if a new model came out. It would be a nice surprise though, but I don't have confidence.

Peter Harris

Seems very unlikely in the foreseeable future IMHO but who knows.

Alex1974

Thank you both for your insights!

basehead617

I think it’s likely - companies often release updated and more capable versions of hardware, that isn’t alienating anyone unless it’s like a year later.

Plus they could probably just make almost the same device with a replacement better CPU and call it a day.

Mutis

The problem is that theoretical new cpu will be expensive but still underpowered against alternatives such Maschine mk3 and mac mini or macbook like OG M+ was.

Embed mainboards and cpus are expensive and underpowered even against an old iPad/iPhone and they should be more optimized but in the end it’s up to developers.

Other brands like Roland (Zenbeats), Korg (Gadget among others) or Yamaha (Cubasis) got proposals (to name big ones in our field) but even akai mpc new OS was developed by people with iOS developing experience (Retronyms) even they failed in iOS market (it isn’t perfect as I say usually)

There’s also solutions like ElkOS but NI didn’t seem interested last time I pointed them and again hardware receptor is expensive in comparison…

I’m curious about next NI movements.

tetsuneko

I'd be quite upset if M+ MK2 came out now. M+ has just barely reached a stable form, and still needs at least a few years to properly mature.

Users wishlisting for a more powerful M+, but I don't see how a more powerful CPU would solve the current issues even the MK1 suffers from. Immature codebase is immature codebase.

Mutis

The problem could be even worse... Users asking for more powerful CPU because it seems underpowered but NI not releasing an mk2 but neither improving too much mk1 (at the moment it seems in stand by due other priorities as a moderator recently suggested) and then... what?

Users will ask for better, faster, stronger... everytime! Also for the code.

People should buy for released specs and brands should release what advertised but there's any single brand (including Pioneer) doing that nowadays. Instead of, people buy on expected features or promises (or directly auto-hype) and brands sell advertised + promised + wrecked in the making + PR damage control... and I'm not talking just about NI but it's certain that since the lay off and brand merging things had been slow, full of stumbling blocks and white/violet/orange cosmetic releases but so~so user experience (almost as feedback in the forums, old and new) alongside news of CEO board changes in less than a year making users wonder if people who pushed the M+ "do it button" maybe have been moved from its place to another by the new board... vey hard to know because we shouldn't know who is who in the first place since transparency has still "room for improvement". Lazy Roadmaps not matching even their own deadlines making users wonder if they will do it someday... etc etc

That's why I try to engage board members such Pedram or moderators into discussions (almost to get some statement) or try to discuss about the implications of Apple Silicon transition (even PR damage control still keeps saying "it has nothing in common") like back in the day PPC into Intel burnt some projects and that time NI was NI instead part of Soundwide.

My hopes are that part of Soundwide will mean in the future some resources set in place and development hits the market but, as most I read about how these merging usually gone and how impacted the user in the end, the less hope I keep.

IMO M+ born dead by lack of awareness towards AS and too much optimism about what M+ could be. I said it at the release time at the old forum and I still believe it because it was halted by the previous board (the OG) for a reason. New board (not the actual but the in the middle) decided to release it since one of them was the developer and as bet it had some risks. After people starting complain they tried to improve the product to its maximum and even add JAM controller support listening to the community forum but also NI keep the PR damage control working on "advertised" features narrative against "expected" narrative from users. It's ok because users auto-hyped themselves and (IMO) they deserve the consequent pain as a teaching lesson for their buying behaviour. This topic is an example itself.

I hope be proved so so soooo wrong about mk2 or mk1 itself so users will get what they expect and NI can make a pile of money selling these. The cost of being wrong will be totally worth so as I usually end...

Time will tell us.

m2c

Space Cat 303

I am very happy with the Maschine Plus personally, the HW is excellent, indeed the firmware is I think the biggest problem, even if the stability has become very good.

but there is also the fact that Ni puts a lot of M+ aside, and certain features, much requested by users, will certainly never be implemented... (I am fixated on editing automations), in my opinion this function does not should not be missing from an all-in-one standalone machine, the MPC one does it so well.

it's a bit of all this that makes me think of changing to an Akai Force for example, which corrects a lot of missing functions, and above all which benefits from greater follow-up from its manufacturer.