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Will iMaschine make a return?

carliii

Good day everyone! I am a huge fan of Native Instruments and use lots of their products including hardware and software. As a part of my workflow there are times where I still use iMaschine as I can begin a project on the go and get home, transfer the iMaschine project to my mac, then open and complete the project within Maschine desktop software.

While I understand in the past iMaschine was discontinued, I wonder if given the recent purchase by InMusic will iMaschine be returning? I love that iMaschine still works perfectly and is still ahead of the game in my opinion in terms of music creation options available. Be great to see iMaschine updated and back in the game as no one has a workflow in my opinion like Native Instruments. Thank you!

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Dubalab

Most probably not. The whole mobile division was laid off when Traktor Dj2 universal app was discontinued (AFAIK) and with them the iOS expertise.

The good news are Apple announcing no more support for intel macs means software developers should find solutions to keep update (or lose the Apple market). This means the software under NI's software is build (Qt) should put these solutions so NI apps should be ready to whatever Apple brings in the future… including the possibility of running desktop apps over iDevices now macbook Neo shown it's possible.

Maybe iMaschine never will come back but maybe full Maschine will run over iDevices some day. I know it's not the same but NI let escape the "companion app train" some time ago…

Jeremy_NI

Hey everyone. It is a bit premature to answer to all this. A lot of discussions are happening. As for now, there is nothing planned for the near future around this.

All comments

Dubalab

Most probably not. The whole mobile division was laid off when Traktor Dj2 universal app was discontinued (AFAIK) and with them the iOS expertise.

Maybe iMaschine never will come back but maybe full Maschine will run over iDevices some day. I know it's not the same but NI let escape the "companion app train" some time ago…

carliii

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/263278#Comment_263278

Thank you so much for your response! I did not know about the mobile division being laid off. That’s so sad. Full Maschine over iDevices? I’ll take it! The good news is my iMaschine 2 software works flawlessly and I can still create on the go and finish when I get home. I know another artist who does the same. We shall see what great things come our way coming soon! Thank you again.

Dubalab

Wait for others (maybe @Jeremy_NI) to confirm if mobile division has almost someone doing maintenance but the team behind Traktor Dj2 app (mobile/Universal experts) were mostly out AFAIK.

If that macOS/iPadOS merge finally came out (there are some hints pointing in that direction as I said) then you will get Maschine and Traktor on iDevices and common sense should be “dedicated layout for each device” (it’s up to Apple explain how to… maybe the next developers conference or the 2027 when intel get totally deprecated).

It’s taking time but it seems happening.

Cheers.

Jeremy_NI

Hey everyone. It is a bit premature to answer to all this. A lot of discussions are happening. As for now, there is nothing planned for the near future around this.

Dubalab

Thanks @Jeremy_NI

carliii

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/263355#Comment_263355

thank you @Jeremy_NI Much appreciated!

LostInFoundation

One thing to consider is that also Akai doesn’t have a “proper” mobile division developing apps.

The ones they released (like iMPC) have been made in collaboration with a developer studio that was already working on iDevices apps (Retronyms). Which, imo, is not the best of the best.

I’m not saying that iMPC is not a nice app, but it is not perfect.

One example: they never even thought about giving exporting projects to MPCs options to continue the work done on the mobile.

Things that, at least, NI implemented to transfer iMaschine projects to Maschine.

If something will be done in the future, I hope they will take in consideration to change partner developer.

carliii

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/263443#Comment_263443

Well said! Or perhaps NI will redevelop a mobile devision where Maschine and MPC can have proper mobile integration and development in house.

LostInFoundation

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/263711#Comment_263711

I wouldn’t count too much on that…

Although we must give them credit to at least have tried to walk that way (I suspect it was some enlightened NI employee that was previously working there), the NI of the last 10+ years never showed too much love for mobile devices… probably because, driven by mere “data analysis” about incomes from that sector, they decided it was not profitable. Forgetting (as usual) to make a deeper analysis of those data (how many people started using Maschine/Traktor on desktops because they also had a companion app on mobiles? What “prestige” did the company gain from being pioneers also on that “new world”? Would expanding/improving those (basic) apps once mobile devices became more powerful (and users started accepting to pay for mobile apps a higher price (although still not comparable to desktop apps) lead to different results?).

Those are all questions that NI simply decided not to ask themselves. It was not profitable. Dot. They were not interested anymore. Dot.

Another point is that they always had a big fear about “cannibalizing” their own (bigger) products.
“If someone can have an almost full functional Maschine/Traktor on a mobile device, they will not buy our bigger products”.
Thing that I don’t see in the same way. Quite the opposite: I think that someone STARTING with a simpler version would probably then want a “bigger, more complete” version.

This is the only hope we have now that InMusic/Akai is part of the equation. At least they seem not so scared about that fear. See the release of the “streamlined” MPC Sample. I’m sure what they are pointing at is bringing people in the ecosystem at a cheaper price to then sell them the “bigger brothers” (on top of taking advantage of the GAS already existing users have nowadays. Almost a sort of collecting. “I own an MPC Live 3. And an MPC XL. Now I NEED to also own a MPC Sample”).

But I’m still doubtful. We are always dealing with NI. The same company that never even thought about a REAL companion app for Maschine (think in the order of a Maschine Jam app). THAT would have been a perfect app. Adding more functionalities to Maschine software/hardware combination and therefore eventually only making them risk to sell more units of their already existing products. But… I suppose they fell in the same way of thinking… “it would be a “rival” to our Maschine Jam hardware”. Even if Maschine Jam was already (and so soon) discontinued (at least in production/selling) 😂

And we are dealing with the same company that never even took in consideration a user feedback (“Why is not possible to use multiple Maschines/Kontrol keyboards together in tandem?”) that would have cause them only one risk: eventually SELLING MORE UNITS… 😶?😶?😶?

A lot of STRANGE (to me) decisions that lead the company… where we now know it is…

One thing it’s clear: if you are the first not BELIEVING in your products, even if sometimes they need time and effort before revealing their real potential (see the cas e of Akai Force), nobody else will 😏

jacqui brookes

still use mine and still love it

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