Is M+ the next product to be abandoned by NI?

Schmapps1

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/49349#Comment_49349

I'm in the same boat....Maschine+ is super tempting....I've got a mk3 and some hardware synths/drum machines connected, and I like the Maschine workflow.

I want to get a Maschine+ so that I can go more 'Dawless' and stop needing to rely on the computer. But a few things hold me back...such as, the fact that using the Plus as the "brain" of a dawless setup seems to be kind of buggy-at-best at the moment. Being able to reliably control multiple synths and other hardware from the Plus, using MIDI and program changes, etc., doesn't seem too reliable yet, from what I have seen? Or am I wrong? I hope I am wrong.

Also, there are some really great Maschine plugins and synths that I am losing confidence will ever be ported and made compatible with the Plus. I use Supercharger GT all the time, it sounds amazing but will probably never be ported over. Same with Kontakt instruments like the Play series, etc. And it doesn't feel like being able to use 3rd party VST's will ever be a thing either.

Tough decisions indeed. It WOULD be really nice to not need a computer though. Especially for live performances/jamming.

nanobit

I don't know if this is the right place to say this, but all I ask is that NI can address as many addressable issues as possible.

I understand that it is materially non-possible to ask for improvements that could only be achieved through hardware modification, for example, it is technically impossible to ask for more speed in the SD card slot, or better processor/memory performance, that's completely understandable, but I would like to see all software issues addressed correctly and as soon as possible.

In particular there are 3 issues that, if addressed correctly, will drastically improve the performance of the M+.

—UI. Really, NI team needs to start thinking on M+ as a standalone. The current UI is built around the MK3 as a computer Maschine controller. Not only is it inadequate, but a certain abandonment and laziness can be felt in here.

—VST3. There is no excuse. This would significantly reduce CPU usage in plugins. Period.

—Decouple Maschine from Linux and make the Maschine software completely standalone (as an independent OS). MPC (standalone) works perfectly well with much less hardware resources than M+, not to mention that the software on PC or Mac runs equally adequate.

I think that, if the NI team addresses these 3 issues correctly and as soon as possible, we will have the best DAW in a box on the market, or at least the right product that was sold to us from the beginning, no matter even if at some point NI would stop providing updates, IMHO.

Cretin Dilettante

I just want hardware/software companies to "git gud" and stop releasing half-baked products, then marketing & pricing them as if they're ready for a professional setting. I really hate the "if it breaks, replace it" culture, and despite the fact that I personally love the M+, the fact that NI don't seem to offer schematics or replacement parts for third party repair bothers me because there's no guarantee that NI will be willing to repair my Maschine+ 5-10 years from now. I was raised to maintain things, and always saw the digital era and the modularity of PCs as a utopian dream...but it's currently being crushed by the greed of tech companies and the fact that they all want you to rely solely on them. It's very authoritarian, even if governments aren't always directly involved. Like, I'm willing to bet that if the Maschine software went open source that almost all of its bugs and all of the Maschine+'s bugs would disappear almost overnight. If I could get some guy to replace a critical component the week before the gig because my Maschine broke on me, I would feel way less anxious about having spent as much as I did on it.

Flexi

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/49365#Comment_49365

There are some issues here.

The UI is Maschine, this is simply how Maschine works, any UI updates that would work well on M+, would work well on Mk3, so If you change M+ and it is not also on Mk3, it is no longer Maschine.

VST3 has absolutely zero bearing at all on M+, the plugins that have been ported to M+ are headless Linux VST and in this case VST3 makes no difference whatsoever, also the idea that VST3 somehow saves CPU over VST2 is laughable Steinberg nonsense, most developers had already added their own extensions to the VST2 standard that does near enough everything that VST3 does, the only standout would be auto creation of multiple outs (Hardly a game changer, especially in Maschine with its limited routing) in fact VST3 actually lost useful VST2 features, and this is why standards like CLAP are now being pushed heavily by a lot of developers.

Decoupling Maschine from Linux and then using the MPCOS as an example makes absolutely no sense whatsoever, MPCOS is 100% Linux, MPCOS plugins are way less intensive than Maschine plugins because they are inferior/simpler in a lot of areas (Not comparing sound, that is subjective and I love some of the MPCOS/AIR stuff) not because they don't use Linux as their OS, the most likely disparity between MPCOS standalones and M+ is the architecture (ARM vs X86) and even then, honestly the M+ is no where near as underpowered as people make out, yes it is underpowered compared to a modern computer, compared to the MPCOS standalones, not so much (Yes I own MPC Live and Force)

The only area that is absolutely horrific on the M+ is file management, that is the only area that is comparatively terrible on M+OS vs MPCOS (Not comparing actual software feature sets)

Flexi

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/49372#Comment_49372

Most quality repair engineers will be able to replace parts on the M+, NI are unlikely to have used much that is not off the shelf, they simply aren't that clever to be perfectly honest, compare this to all the SP808s out there from Roland with failing Zip drives, and no replacement because they used some obscure plug n play protocol that nothing but CD Roms ever used.

spock

I don't know if they'll discontinue it, but one thing is for sure they don't give it much love, apart from critical bug fixes (and it's still unstable), nothing new since release of the Maschine+.

Kubrak

I guess that most of NI human resources were focused on Apple Silicon and VST3 transition. It will be completed soon, so developers may focus to other tasks, soon.

Fugazi81

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/49613#Comment_49613

That's not entirely true, because at least we got a polysynthesizer and the autosampling function. But, and this saddens me, we got very little for a "flagship" product. I can not comprehend that. For example, I thought that the "standalone" concept would be developed further, which unfortunately is not the case. None of this prevents me from using my M+. But it has a bitter aftertaste.

Acidizer

It is down to £900 price now, not sure if that is a bad sign or not.

I bought it and am impressed. Would love for lock states to be able to be recorded in arrangement. Apart from that I could have fun with this for ages. Impressed with the sound and hardware quality.