Guitar Center and Native Instruments have a mess
Interesting experience with Guitar Center and Maschine
Lol, so 3 machines 3 sold as new, all 3 were actually open box and one wasn’t even a + in the box. None could be registered. All looked brand new on the outside,
At this point, Native Instruments owns a large part of the blame for their registration system. A piece of hardware should not need to be unregistered. They need to be doing what Akai does, and allow the same piece of hardware to be registered an infinite number of times. It’s a huge piece of equipment, not software you can pirate.
A new one should be here tomorrow. I’m done with guitar center, and part of me wants to cancel the order and be done with NI. That would only hurt me, though, as I know I’ll enjoy it once it works.
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I wonder if that means the M+ has a high rate of returns? 😬 3 times is kind of crazy.
The retailer I use marks returned items and offers a tiny discount, I thought this was common practice everywhere, apparently not.
Have you talked with GC's rep? It seems so odd to continuously send the same customer previously opened boxes... I would be mad too. If you're OK with a previously opened box support could have just fixed the registration for you, usually done in a couple of days.
I would be done the 2nd time and asked for my money back and just bought it directly from NI or another retailer. Out of curiosity, why didn't you just order from NI?
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I would have ordered from Sweetwater, but I was able to get the Maschine because I sold some old gear I wasn’t using (and didn’t want to ship via Reverb or eBay) and took store credit towards it. So once I took credit and not cash, I was locked in at Guitar Center. Post was out of frustration, they have assured me they will find a way to make it right (we’ll see). I have also now received a new one, and 4th time is the charm it seems. All registered and hooked up. Ran a pretty heavy stress test with 4 Raum’s, 2 Reaktors, 2 Kontakt instruments, monark, massive and drums, as well as some internal effects. Got an exclamation mark a few times, but it seems to hold up pretty well. Didn’t crash or crack and pop. Seems they’ve improved things a good bit since I had a launch edition. Also enjoy the KK compatibility that is available now.
As far as support fixing the registration. Pretty disappointing response from *******
Seems they wouldn’t be willing to help, and have ignored the message I put in the support request with picture of the serial and telling them it was purchased supposedly as new. I responded with all documentation requested, within minutes and never received a response. Poor service on ****** part. I would have thought they’d be interested in helping out a customer of over 15 years, with a fortune spent with the company. Apparently not.
Enjoying the Maschine, though. Just wish NI had a more courteous and common sense approach to customer service.
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As far as open boxes floating around Guitar Center. There are at least 11 being sold in Atlanta area stores, all customer returns and likely unable to registered. That is where NI has a problem. A company like GC shouldn’t be expected to eat the total cost of the product every time someone makes a return, and a customer has no obligation to unregister a product before making a return. NI should clearly be obligated to support the customer in these situations, but it appears they can’t seem to figure that out.
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The registration at AKAI is as simple as it gets. The product is registered to the last person (user) who entered the serial number. If you sell (or return in my case) it the new user creates an account, enters the SN and that's all there is to it.
But the pads on the MPC LIVE II SUCK BIG TIME!!
Another product with a very high turnover rate. At least they make it easy.
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I think that response you got is just an automated one to cover the common scenario of buying used HW, which is not relevant to you; in your case you have to escalate the ticket and talk with a human. Whenever I needed to interact with support for registration it was always 2 days max to reach a resolution, but I do anticipate questions and send all info at once.
So... They do support the customer, you just gotta get thru to support and get past the automated stuff.
I'm not 100% sure but I think there's a system for NI and retailers to deal with registration stuff, maybe it requires a lot of back and forth and retailers ignore it? idk...
Yeah that's true but I also don't like the idea of paying full price for something that has had a previous owner, even if only for a week or two, legally anyone can return anything within 14 days of purchase except for consumables, at least in the EU; not sure about the US.
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It’s all taken care of now. The new one came and works great, was brand new this time. It’s a bit more smooth than my launch Maschine, and Reaktor instrument and effect ensembles as well as Kontakt libraries seem to work. That has made it immensely powerful, to me, for original material. I still like the MPC sampler a bit better for sample based beats, so I’ll keep my live, but this is great. Also happy to have Komplete Kontrol integrated. I’ve always been a pad player, and while I know theory, I’m not a great piano player. Easy mode is great. Even picked up an M32 in addition to my 61.
I’m torn on whether I think this thread should just be removed, but feel like others should know what to expect buying one IN store from GC. It’s a risk.
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Great!
I’m torn on whether I think this thread should just be removed, but feel like others should know what to expect buying one IN store from GC. It’s a risk.
I'm OK with the thread being here, it's your experience and maybe it helps others altho you could have avoided all the F Bombs.
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Wow, I didn’t realize I had put that in the first post. I apologize for that. The latter posts where there is a ***** is actually me just blocking out the support persons name who sent the email.
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I was just thinking about this the other day. I suggest NI offers a Lite version of Maschine software free to anyone who wants to sample and take a baby step to try things out, similar to what Serato does. Lite version (but with most functions enabled) for the budget/entry level controllers and Pro version for the rest of their hardware. Ableton does this too with Ableton Live Lite?
Another consideration is to offer full Maschine software to anyone to download and install but tie it to use with hardware, i.e. the software will not function until you plug in an approved hardware device from NI.
In short, free for anyone to download and install Lite/Pro. However, only approved hardware IDs connected will activate Pro functions. Without approved hardware ID - only Lite may be used. Users can pay extra for a "software-only" Pro licence untethered to any hardware requirements as an option.
Advantages:
- eliminate the pain points relating to selling and buying used hardware
- enable NI to still monetise Maschine software and continue to improve it
- outreach to new markets, e.g. customers who just want to find out more about Maschine world
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Fwiw, I wasn’t buying used hardware. It was sold as new.
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I think @Percivale's suggestion is brilliant!
Not for us, the humble user, to suggest NI strategy - but giving away a free version of Maschine - like Akai do with the excellent MPC Beats software - would seem to be a total no-brainer
Perhaps bundle it as pare of Komplete Start?
I bet it would massively increase maschine hardware sales
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well...i just bought one in 2023 used at GC and wish i would have seen what a pain in the ass this is to deal with.
I bought a roland TR8S used, and it was as simple as registering the product online and claiming it. GUESS ILL JUST WAIT around until they can tell me i can use my purchase...
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