Do the three Massive expansions work with Maschine+?

PK The DJ · 2022-04-02T20:35:02+00:00

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It's not clear from reading the product pages of each Massive expansion. Before buying, I'd like to be sure these can install and run on Maschine+ standalone.

There are only three, but it seems one (Spectrum Quake) is a compilation of presets from other expansions, so I'm interested in two - if they can be used with M+.

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ozon

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/expansions/stadium-flex/

System Requirements: Massive 1.5.5

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/expansions/nocturnal-state/

System Requirements: Massive 1.5.5

Maschine+ offers Massive 1.5.8. These Expansions are compatible and show up for installation.

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ozon

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/expansions/stadium-flex/

System Requirements: Massive 1.5.5

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/expansions/nocturnal-state/

System Requirements: Massive 1.5.5

Maschine+ offers Massive 1.5.8. These Expansions are compatible and show up for installation.

PK The DJ

Thanks but it turns out I have them already, as part of K13 UCE. It's annoying that the site doesn't flag any owned products so you know what you have and what you don't.

Now I'll check to see which Massive X ones I have...

Peter Harris

(After writing this epic-length response below, I realized that yes, PK, you were in fact correct and I was wrong: those three Massive expansions ARE compatible with M+! I stupidly misread your message and thought you were referring to the 10 Massive X expansions that I have often lusted over. But in case you or anyone else were having any regrets like I once did about making the right decision to buy M+, I decided to just append my earlier response because I thought it might still be useful to someone. So thanks for bearing with me with what I wrote earlier below...)

To my understanding (and disappointment) none of the Massive X expansions is compatible with Maschine+. Though I found it confusing when I first came to M+ and despite the similar name, Massive X is a completely different and architecturally distinct synth than Massive, not merely its latest update.

I figured that given that Maschine+ was NI's latest and greatest (as I thought I understood it at the time), I figured it was only a matter of time before X would be ported to M+, but I have since been made to understand that is essentially impossible, ever. And I won't lie, I was really disappointed initially. But there was a light at the end of the tunnel at least for me in this way:

If it's any consolation, I have since upgraded my computer and was delighted to learn that if I merely connect my M+ in controller mode (with a USB-B cable and without needing the M+ power supply AT ALL) I can quietly run the Maschine software on my PC, close the laptop lid, put my M+ on top of it (effectively using it like a little riser/stand 😉) and not only run Massive X on the M+ screens (almost magically to my mind) without using the keyboard or monitor, but also MANY other full NI products (including the FABULOUS new Musicbox and almost the entire K13UCE suite), all while using the full standalone workflow we love of M+. Of course in reality you have now effectively turned your $1400 M+ into a $700 MK3 but I actually don't mind now that I've adjusted my mindset to it. From my perspective this really gives me the best of BOTH worlds, fully standalone most of the time when I want that but easily "convertible" when the added features of that full NKI software universe are temporarily offset by being "tethered" by a single computer cable. You just have to have the discipline to not open the clamshell of your computer and get sucked into the morass of email and social media and other distractions that the M+ liberated us from. (In this regard I know Jef Gibbons, a real musical virtuoso in the analog world in addition to being a Maschine guru, agrees with me. Check out his YT channel if you need more convincing that you still made the right choice. 😁)

If you don't mind a little mental tweak the bonus here is that you and I now know that with a halfway-decent laptop I have in some ways a MORE FULLY standalone music workstation with this setup because when I want I can go entirely disconnected from the power grid and sit outside in the park making beats, with a single USB cable providing power to the M+ controller for as long as the battery in my laptop holds out.

I don't know if it will make you feel any better but for me I feel like it's the best of all worlds. 😊

PK The DJ

Yes I get what you're saying - but I personally bought the M+ specifically to use standalone, and really only for the sampling side rather than synths.

To that end, I bought a small battery bank and one of those "smart" 15V PD cables.

I was never in doubt that the X expansions wouldn't run. I'm just in the process of finishing off my expansions collection now that I have all the Maschine ones. 😁

Peter Harris

You too? So glad I'm not alone in having a complete set. I must really have an addiction because now I'm rationalizing the occasional duplicate license so I can gift them to friends or collaborators when we're working on a project together that uses the same expansion but they don't have it. 😂

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