nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

[v2.0.1] MASCHINE for Live: MIKRO MK3, MK3 & MASCHINE+ in Ableton Live 12 by Elton47

Elton Memishaj

Hey everyone,

Many of you know me (Elton47) for my previous v1 (v1.6.1) Ableton Live 11/12 integration for MK3 and MIKRO.

v2 of my MASCHINE script for Ableton Live is out today. It's the biggest update since I started in 2021.

Watch v2 in 70 seconds:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLEhg_wnoFY

What's new:

The MK3's two screens and 8 knobs: a mixer, your devices as pictures, the browser, PATTERN, STEP and more, laid out as in MASCHINE
A real SHIFT on every button
Live's colours on the pads
Your MASCHINE Kits in Live, without the plug-in
Chords, a step sequencer, note repeat and an arpeggiator

Setup: copy one folder, plug in your MASCHINE, start Live. No templates, no Controller Editor, no MIDI mode.

It's for Ableton Live 12, on Windows 10/11 and macOS.
MASCHINE+ works in Controller Mode by USB. It's built from the MK3's protocol and not tested on a real MASCHINE+ yet. If you have one, I'd love to hear how it goes.

See every feature moving: https://elton47.com/maschine4live/
The manual, with a guided Tour of every button: https://elton47.com/maschine4live/manual/
My YouTube channel, where I'll post videos about this script: https://youtube.com/47music

Two editions: MIKRO MK3 ($30), and MK3, MASCHINE+ & MIKRO MK3 ($45).
Get it: https://elton47.com/maschine4live (Gumroad or Payhip, plus the manual and the video)
v1 owners get 50% off. The details are in the email I sent you.

Questions and bug reports: right here, or the report form in the manual. I answer everything myself.

Full Changelog: https://elton47.com/maschine4live/changelog

Old v1 Forum thread: link

Thanks for all the support since 2021 :)
Elton Memishaj

Find more posts tagged with

Maschine Plus

Maschine MK3

Maschine Mikro MK3

Ableton

Remote Script

Comments

janpeeters

@Elton Memishaj Looks wild, purchased right away. Thanks!

Elton Memishaj

Much appreciated! I thank you for all the support for ages :)

paQ

Hi everyone,

I am writing this to alert the community and express my absolute rejection of the anti-consumer licensing policy that Elton47 has recently implemented in his popular Ableton Live script for the Maschine MK3.

If you are thinking about buying this script, or if you already own it and rely on it for your studio, you need to know the truth: the script now forces you to renew a validation key every 90 days if your system is offline.

Many of us intentionally keep our production and live-performance computers disconnected from the internet. We do this to ensure system stability, avoid unexpected updates mid-session, and prevent performance drops. By turning a standard software purchase into a monitored, time-bomb license, Elton47 has completely ruined the reliability of this tool. If you are on tour, working in a remote studio, or if the developer decides to disappear or drop support in a year, your hardware control in Ableton Live will simply stop working due to an artificial restriction.

We live in an era with an incredible explosion of open-source projects and vibe-coding communities. The community itself is built on sharing and keeping tools accessible. Implementing an aggressive DRM that punishes legitimate, paying customers is completely unacceptable.

I strongly urge everyone to think twice before purchasing this script under these conditions. Don't support developers who turn utility scripts into hidden subscription models that dictate when and how you can use your own hardware. There are free, community-driven, open-source alternatives out there (like Chiaki's project on GitHub) that respect your workflow and don't require internet check-ins.

Let's protect our right to own the software we pay for.

Elton Memishaj

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/271604#Comment_271604

Hi paQ, thanks for raising it. It doesn't quite work like that, so let me clear it up.

There is no key to renew. You activate once on each computer and that's it. When the computer is online, it checks itself in the background and you don't notice anything.

If a computer stays offline, everything keeps working for 90 days. After that it asks to go online once. A few seconds on Wi-Fi or a phone hotspot is enough, and you're good for another 90 days. It never stops in the middle of a session or a show.

This is on the store page and in the manual, so nobody gets surprised.

It's a one-time purchase, not a subscription. The licence is there to protect my work from copies, not to control how you use your hardware.

About me disappearing: fair point. If I ever stop MASCHINE for Live, I'll release a last update that removes the check. Nobody loses their controller.

About how it's made: yes, I use AI coding tools, like a lot of developers do now. But nothing in it is a weekend job. I've worked on this project since 2021 and on v2 since February. I decided every feature and how it should feel, and tested every one on my own MIKRO and MK3, over 30 rounds of hardware tests before release. It has more than 11,000 automated tests behind it. That's the work you're paying for.

If anyone is stuck somewhere with no internet at all, message me and I'll sort it out.

Elton Memishaj

One more thing, for context. With v1 I dealt with a lot of fraud, and zips of it kept showing up on pirate sites. I spent a lot of time sending DMCA requests to take them down. That's why v2 has a license.

You activate once and that's it. You don't need to do anything after that. It checks itself in the background when you're online, and offline it keeps working for 90 days. One purchase covers up to 3 computers. You can deactivate one and activate another at any time.

paQ

Thanks for the clarification, but you are missing the entire point and, in fact, you just confirmed exactly what I warned the community about.

Let’s break down why your explanation doesn't make this any better:

It is a kill-switch, period: You say "everything keeps working for 90 days," which literally means on day 91, if I am in a studio with no internet or a secure environment, my script stops working. Forcing a user to connect a production computer to the internet—even via a phone hotspot—just to "ping" a server is the definition of invasive DRM. Legitimate users shouldn't have to manage a 90-day countdown for a MIDI script.
Promises don't equal permanence: You claim that if you ever disappear, you will release a final update to remove the check. We have seen dozens of indie developers disappear overnight, get acquired, or simply abandon projects due to life circumstances without leaving a "final patch." Relying on a developer's word instead of true software ownership is a massive risk for anyone using this hardware professionally.
The AI and Open Source contradiction: You admit to using AI tools and developing this since 2021. The community knows that Ableton's Python API framework is heavily documented by open-source pioneers who shared their knowledge for free. Wrapping that collective knowledge into a proprietary script and slapping a phone-home DRM on it to "protect your work" while penalizing paying customers is a terrible practice.

If a user pays for a utility script, they should own it. It shouldn't depend on your servers, internet connections, or a 90-day leash.

If anyone else in this forum values their studio stability and true ownership of their tools, I highly recommend looking into open-source alternatives that respect your privacy and workflow without any "phone-home" requirements.

Elton Memishaj

There will be an update soon about the 90 day check. It will be this month, for everyone.

For the price that everyone pays, they are getting the full Ableton Push 3 experience with just the existing hardware, with a considerable interactive user manual and tour, including report issue tracker and lifetime support.

I have gratitude for a loyal customer like you, a happy user since 2023 and I am willing to provide the full refund, for the inconvenience caused.

Let me know about the email you used to make the purchase.

You can still keep using the new script for lifetime.

Master Obi Wagwan

Thanks for the script Elton, it works great!

paQ

Elton,

Keep the money. I am not accepting the refund because this isn’t about getting a few dollars back—it’s about software ownership, user trust, and consumer rights. A refund doesn't fix a broken and invasive policy.

When I purchased your script, I placed my full trust in you. I paid for your work, and as a loyal, honest customer since 2023, I have never shared, leaked, or distributed your script anywhere. I respected your intellectual property completely. In return, you punished legitimate users like me with an offline time-bomb DRM that forces us to keep our studio hardware on a digital leash.

Don't try to buy my silence or wave away the issue by tossing a refund at me. Saying there will be "an update about the check" sounds like corporate damage control—it is vague, and it doesn't state that you will actually remove the kill-switch.

My stance stands, and I won't lock this thread or stop warning the community. Until you explicitly commit to delivering a 100% DRM-free, offline-permanent script that respects the people who pay for it, other buyers need to know exactly what they are getting into.

Elton Memishaj

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/271614#Comment_271614

Thanks,

I stated that it would be an update this month for that, because I agree that some users have studios with offline-only for their reasons.

I know and support that buying equals owning.

janpeeters

@paQ, why all this strong wording? You write that Elton “punished” you, as if his licensing choice were aimed at you personally. Then you publicly burn someone who built this software with great care, software you are in no way obliged to buy. This tone does not fit this community.

paQ

Saying "buying equals owning" is technically compatible with keeping a DRM active now and promising to remove it only when you drop support. But for a professional studio, that is not true ownership—that is a conditional lease based on your word.

If my studio computer has to check in every 90 days, I don’t fully own the tool today; I am just renting its usage under your terms until you decide otherwise. True ownership means unconditional, lifetime offline operation from day one, without relying on future promises or "final patches" that might never come if life circumstances change.

So, to be completely clear for everyone following this thread: Will this month's update completely remove the 90-day offline check right now, or are you just tweaking how the restriction works?

A simple clarification on this would be greatly appreciated by the community.

paQ

@janpeeters

Let’s not twist the facts here. This has nothing to do with being "obliged to buy" a new product, nor is it a personal attack on Elton.

As a customer who bought into this ecosystem, I have every right to discuss its future. When developers take a community-driven utility script, upgrade it for v2, and then lock it behind an invasive 90-day offline kill-switch, it affects the entire user base. Calling out anti-consumer licensing models isn't "burning" a developer; it’s holding them accountable.

What people like you fail to realize is that this kind of aggressive DRM backfires. It doesn't stop piracy; it just penalizes legitimate buyers. In an era with an incredible explosion of open-source projects and live-coding communities, pushing restrictive leashes on studio hardware will only force users to migrate to free, community-driven alternatives (like Chiaki's project on GitHub) that actually respect their workflow and privacy without phone-home requirements.

If you are perfectly fine with a countdown timer on your studio hardware, that is your choice. But don't lecture me about "community tone" for demanding transparency. Consumers have every right to voice their concerns, and blindly defending these restrictions only encourages independent software to become worse for everyone—including you.

Elton Memishaj

Clear answer: yes. With the update, tonight if I can make it on time, the 90-day offline check goes away completely. You activate once on each computer, and after that it works offline for good. No countdown, and it never locks for being offline.

Activation stays, once per computer, up to 3. That's what stops shared zips, and it's the only thing I need.

The update is free for everyone.

If i make it tonight or as soon as possible, I will update the zip 2.0.0 again and everyone will have to download it again to get this. Nothing is cut, each feature works, just that check is removed. Licenses, as I said, stay.

@janpeeters thanks, much appreciated.

janpeeters

@paQ No need to say much more, you proved my point. You have an enormously aggressive and assuming tone and seemingly don't even realize it. That was what I was mainly addressing. Again in your reply to me you assume many things about what I do and do not think or realize, without asking me for my opinion or what I really think.

Quick links

Unanswered questions