Maschine+ ~1 year with no updates = abandonware

Well, I do own a perfectly fine Push 2 so I don’t need to consider an upgrade to Push 3 (standalone), yet. But, as I’m owning a Push 2 it does feel very nice that with the Live 12 upgrade Ableton will also release a significant and valuable upgrade to their ‘old’ controller. It’s simply still not abandoned and that’s what makes Ableton a lot more reliable as a company.

But, back to NI and the M+ in particular. It’s a great machine!! For me, it beats Akai and Push 3 (at this time) on pretty much all points where it comes to being a standalone sampling workstation or groove box. I don’t need it to go into the woods, park or the beach. Simply my headphones or small speakerset, a wall socket and a couch to play around. Mostly using my own samples or the ones from the huge amount of Expansions that come with Komplete bundles. Add some of the included effects or instruments and there isn’t much you can’t do on this standalone piece of gear.

So when using it like a sketchbook or a DAW in a box I don’t think there’s a better offer, especially at its current price point and including the extra 12 Expansion packs (sale). You can also use it without any problems as a sampler / rompler within a broader setup. But there is where it falls short… when you’re back ‘at the office’. The integration part sucks big time. You have to save projects in a special way. File structure is very limited. Can’t use other plugins in your project, because the M+ simply doesn’t support them. You can’t auto-freeze those tracks neither to have them still available in your standalone project. So basically there are two separate worlds… Maschine and Maschine+.

And this is where the ‘abandoned’ part comes in. NI marketed and promised a lot, but neglects their customers when it comes to support and bridging the gaps between those promises and the real deal. When Maschine+ would have been called Workstation+ without any suggestions that it would be(come) a standalone companion to the desktop software, and that it could also be used as a controller for it, no one would have felt abandoned. Again, it’s a very fine piece of gear!

Oh yeah… and then there are some bugs… well don’t mind them. I don’t think they’ll ever get fixed. And that’s where a big company shines, too. They simply release shiny new products, without fixing the old. Simply neglecting their paying customers… yes, there will leave some, but there will join some, too. As long as marketing can bridge that gap everything is fine.

That's why I love my Maschine Plus in standalone with my M32, Komplete 14 CE, KK A49 and Traktor Pro 3 with S4mk3, but for new gear and software I will abandon NI as much as possible. As I set before, they’ve changed as a company… and now they’ll first have to change again.

Nah.

I bought the JAM when it launched because at that time I was looking for a MIDI mixer for Logic Pro X, and the stripes of the JAM served that purpose very well without the need of motorized faders that could break over time.

Plus, I was also interested on KOMPLETE, and JAM came with a version of it, that later allowed me to upgrade at a reduced price. Plus, being able to load and navigate a menu of instruments without using a mouse (I hate the mouse) was very appealing to me (Maschine DAW).

Wouldn't call Maschine+ abandonware just yet. New update should still be coming before new year

If it doesn't come, then I might agree with you

Edit - ******! its out! my timing was on point today hehehe

new logo! woohooooo!!!