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inMusic FLOW — A Vision for the Next Generation of Music Hardware

el fino fino

From my point of view and my experience working with Akai MPC and Maschine, I imagine the future not as two separate worlds, but as the evolution of both philosophies into a completely new type of instrument.

I call this concept:

inMusic FLOW

A hybrid standalone performance system that combines the strongest ideas from MPC, Maschine and modern AI-assisted creation tools into one unified experience.

The idea is not to replace the artist.

The idea is to create a machine that evolves together with the human using it.

FLOW would combine:

modular live workflow
expressive performance control
real-time FX interaction
standalone recording
stem separation
AI-assisted beat and melody generation
chromatic expressive performance
dynamic behavioral states
gesture interaction
full DAW workflow integrated directly into hardware

But the most important part would be the AI philosophy behind it.

The AI would work both offline and online.

Offline:
The machine would still function completely standalone, helping the user generate ideas, rhythms, melodies, chord suggestions and live variations without needing internet access.

Online:
When connected again, the AI could synchronize, evolve and expand its creative assistance by learning more deeply about the user’s workflow, musical preferences and creative goals.

In a way, every FLOW machine would slowly become personalized to its owner over time, almost like a creative musical companion that evolves through interaction and experience.

The user could even speak directly to the machine:

explain ideas
describe moods
ask for musical directions
request sound transformations
search for inspiration
build projects collaboratively with the AI

The goal is not automation replacing creativity.

The goal is deeper interaction between human emotion, behavior, movement and sound.

Everything needed for this future already exists separately:
AI generation, stem separation, gesture control, live FX, standalone systems, voice interaction and behavioral workflows.

The next step is bringing all these elements together into one coherent instrument.

Pads become expressive instruments.
FX become playable.
Scenes become living states.
The machine becomes adaptive.
The workflow becomes alive.

The future of music hardware is not just more power.

It’s machines that understand interaction, adapt to human creativity and evolve together with the artist.

inMusic FLOW — Real-Time Behavioral Music System.

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Comments

JesterMgee

"Flow", you know it's that time of the month and boy this time it's heavy.

I hope to see zero AI assistive tools clogging up creativity. I don't need artificial assistance to be creative, like, at all but I can understand some people need it to be creative, not everyone has inspiration.

Sounds like a pretty bleak future.

b-righteous

Please, no AI assisted or random computer generated music. Music should be a human experience on both sides. I am fine with using computers for tools but I feel it crosses the line when the computer is involved in the creative/generative part in any way. No thanks.

I think the biggest win from the merger is integration of NI instruments and FX to the MPC platform. Not the current cut down version of play series but full on Kontakt for MPC standalone and NKS integration with KKMK3.

el fino fino

I understand the concern, and honestly I think that fear comes from the fact that every generation experiences music differently.Years ago, many people also thought electronic music, samplers and computers were “destroying” real music because artists were no longer playing everything traditionally with instruments.Today, for many people, producing music on a computer or hardware workstation is already completely normal and accepted as part of modern musical expression.The way humans create music keeps evolving with time, technology and culture.Future generations will not think exactly like ours, just like our generation does not think exactly like the generations before us.For me, the important part is not AI replacing the artist.The important part is keeping the human emotion, intention and creativity at the center while using new tools to expand expression and experimentation.I don’t see AI as “making music for humans”.I see it more as a creative companion that can help generate ideas, assist workflows, suggest possibilities and interact with the artist, while the human still decides the direction, emotion and meaning behind the music.The tools evolve, but the human experience behind music is still what gives it soul.

JesterMgee

So glad I grew up with an interesting life and invested my time learning things instead of prompting machines to come up with ideas for me. This all sounds and reads as a terrible future. Have fun chatting with your machine, i'd rather go assimilate with other like minded 'humans' as you call them…

roccitynative

If Akai could take maschines intuitiveness (software/hardware integration) and ease of use and put THAT into the MPC going forward its an industry checkmate

LostInFoundation

Please no!

I really want tools focused in doing THEIR job… and doing it always better and better.

Not a single tool doing EVERYTHING… and probably doing EVERYTHING bad or poorly…

It’s a little bit like the history of NI. Instead of focusing on what they had invented and improving it, they decided to always expand and expand… ending up in not having enough resources and having to send teams to work (slowly) on the other departments… “hey, Traktor specialists: now you must abandon Traktor for 2-3 years and go work on Maschine, even if you don’t know anything about it”…

I always asked myself why people, instead of wanting a marvelous “Groovebox style” device as Maschine improve in its “Groovebox duties”, want it to become a DAW.
Isn’t it better to have the groovebox excel in what it has to do and then move the things to a REAL DAW, that will excel in DAW’s duties instead of having one device doing everything but in a “meh” way?

If I buy a mower, I want it to cut grass very good. Not to cut grass badly but also make a (bad) coffee in the meanwhile…

Leave alone the AI argument… I do understand your “generational discourse”… and it is indeed a thing… but remember we are talking about a new generation that merely uses sample packs stuff, put 7 or 8 of them together and goes around saying “I’m a producer, I’m a musician”… (and really believe to be one, while the real musicians are the people who created those loops…). And then maybe put together a 7 seconds TikTok “choreography” (if you want to call waving arms left and right a choreography…) and then say “hey, I’m also a dancer. I’m also a choreographer”…
THIS is the difference between what is happening nowadays and what happened when we were younger and (as you said) we have been accused not to make “REAL” music because we were not using “REAL” instruments.
A BIG difference: we were doing the same thing (composing, playing, arranging, inventing, mixing,…) with different tools… sample packs ”fishermen” are not…

And it’s not even comparable to the old school sampling.
Back in the days, if you decided to sample some old music, you were really cautious to flip it and make the sample not recognizable. You “re-played” it and make it a new thing. Your thing. Not only for a question of permissions, but also for being able to be proud and respected by other producers.
Of course we also had people simply taking the whole refrain of a famous song and glue it with a boom bap style drum… but in that case you were not a respected producer… you were Puff Daddy…

LostInFoundation

That said… I’m not AGAINST what’s happening today…

If the ease of being able to do everything (without even knowing how to do it) opens the way for people with a good taste to realize successful products that entertain the mass… let it be it…

But… please… don’t call yourself “a musician”… not to mention “an artist”

In the cinematography industry a guy with good taste putting together videos already created by someone else calls himself a Film Editor… not a Director…

MLARS

Sidenote: Softube just released a product called Flow Studio. Macro based (no AI).

Unfortunately I think the MPC is a stronger product brand with a longer history. Question here is: how much inMusic will allow competing product eco systems?

My educated guess is we will see Maschine supported for a while (maybe we will get a MKIV if we are lucky) but InMusic will likely want to move Maschine assets into the MPC eco system long term and offer a path forward for Maschine users. In a hardware generation Maschine may reach end of life if not earlier.

I own Maschine MK3 myself and expansions from the Komplete Collector's edition so this is a reality that hurts to hear for me too. inMusic should preferably let us get MPC versions of the expansions for free as way to support loyal customers, but there is a chance they won't.

Komplete Kontrol and Kontakt are likely safe but the Akai MPK product line may be less safe long term. If MPK will be removed long term, fun thing to consider, may we will finally see drum pads on the Komplete Kontrol keyboards.

In general my view is brace your self. Things may change.

Rilkecat

I think any AI assistance is already there, they know all manuals, and can help you anyway. I dont think the value in art is the human creating the emotion, directions and meanings in music. That is the easiest part, and could also be done by an AI (sooner or later anyway).

For me, what makes art a really "human thing", are the ways each person finds for itself to express that emotion or meaning. That is, with his limited knowledge, limited tools, but own creativity and ways of solving.

Beatsandmore

Not to sound negative but I want zero vision from Native instruments with MPCs at all.. NI ruined and have been dishonest to there customers base and put out controllers that have taken almost 3 years to develop.

That being said I dont want to see anyone lose there jobs but vision that been in place the past 5 years need to change we spent alot of money and asked for basic features that should have been on launch and there transparent quarterly updates news always missed with updates if any at all the software has gotten better but like myself I chose not to use it until the latest update ..

Jester made great nks tools and NI didn't listen to what made them money.. I hope they in the next 18 months keep maschine workflow but allow the mpc to integrate and removed the bloat from Komplete kontrol software and bring back feature in 2.9.. put absynth and kontakt libraries on the live 3 and XL..

I love the MPC workflow but existing customers who love maschine workflow shouldn't change. Good times ahead and now we will get real updates.

ehdyn

Did you use AI to write this post?

There's a certain cadence and structure that kind of gives it away..

macchinista

"inMusic FLOW — Real-Time Behavioral Music System."

this def gives it away 😅

raphaël_

that all sounds pretty terrible. so much that i think its meant as an ironic post for getting a reaction. certainly im stupid enougv to fall for it.

telling your mood to a maschine, so that it creates a certain type of music for you… cmon, you cant be serious.

6xes

i personally dont see any issue with the musical elements side of creation…

the only REAL unique element from a musical artist.. is there voice/thoughts and how they wish to express it over the backdrop of other musical elements

If AI is writing and creating the lyrics… can a person truely be called Artist?

the origin of a "Native instrument" quite literally resides in our mouths & everything that is connected to it, ie our being, our thoughts, our tongue, our tone & our personal expression!

everything else is external, non native

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