October 2024 – a community update from our Chief Product Officer

Or does the vagueness lead to questioning…

We can go around in circles, I think clarity is a fine request even if it doesn’t come for 6 more months or ever.

So sad to see so many passionate users like me still holding hopes 😔

Divide and rule in full effect…

Some of us are fine with vague quarterly updates, because their GAS-needs are nicely being fulfilled.

Others seem to feel as if they’re psychologists (maybe some actually are…) or think they’re some sort of shareholders, that need to justify all money-driven decisions that are being made over decent product support.

And then there are users that feeling been stolen, simply by trusting NI as a company that would fix an incomplete product. They don’t get any concrete answers, simply because the Chief drops everything in one big, single update post and ‘cherry picks’ who gets an answer.

After that the topic is closed again, and the Chief vanishes for another 3-4 months. Taking no real responsibility for adequately fixing the problems. Once the M+ was NI’s flagship product… now it’s his pain in the ###.

Bugs should be fixed for free. Same goes for compatibility with the latest version of Maschine 2.0 on desktop. All part of the deal, the promise they’ve made. It’s how it was marketed and advertised.

So please, don’t mix up bug fixes, updates, and upgrades.

If the Chief needs Maschine 3.0 to be a paid upgrade on desktop and the M+, well fine. Customers have a free and fresh new choice to go for it… or not.

At this point I wouldn’t, and because of that stupid decision I cannot buy the all new and shiny expansions that are only compatible with Maschine 3.0 on desktop or upgraded M+. But I’m still entitled for fixes to an unstable and incomplete product, an update that has been delayed for months.

I think you have a good point, but more than divide and rule, it is just a company that offers a service, not everybody can be served, what we can do is give our feedback here, and decide to buy or not a product.

by the way, There is also a 4th category of users, the ones that actually just care about their workflow, it is just happened that I personally feel comfortable with most NI stuff, and I always criticise them when the system is unstable, but I never do that for the lack of features, because, if NI doesn't provide me with a particular feature I am looking for, I will look in other places, I might suggest that feature over here, but I don't aspect them to do it because I want it.

I think is not much different from picking a restaurant, I usually like Italian food, so I am happy with my pizza e and pasta most of the time, but if one day I want sushi, I don't go to the chef complaining and asking for sushi, I go to a sushi place. My only requirement is that when I eat my pizza, have to be done right, which is why the number one priority for me should be stability, which lately seems to be on point, no random crashes, no missing instruments etc…

I now understood that most people are complaining about M+ which I don't own, so I can't share the frustration, and I am not talking about that. but again that my philosophy in general.

also side note, in this time and age we have the easiest way to do music, it is hard to find a bad product, considering that some of the greatest music have been done with way less tools.

just saying. I really understand your point of view and kind of agree on something, but we need to distance ourself a little bit, we bought it because we wanted it, very simple.

« a basic Kontrol S-Series MK3 integration» was hoping a COMPLET INTEGRATION of Maschine on S-Serie MK3 reinventing with more useful tools, taking advantage of the big screen ok S-Series MK3.

Now NI is condemned to to big to make the fan happy and surprising, this is should be now your goal and partially Marketing strategy.

it is been to long for Maschine update, for true innovation, white Maschine software as the hardware is already very innovative, the new board didn't keeping the innovation UP. what make NI so attractive is the ecosystem integration very synchronise between hardware and software.

Nice work, Simon and team! Lots of great and creative tools in Kontakt 8 that I'm really enjoying using.

Komlete Kontrol seems like quite an overlap with Kontakt 8 now. I think the only thing missing from KK in Kontakt 8 is synth integration with MassiveX, Reaktor, etc. Why have such similar products?

Also, as an S61 MK2 owner, I would love to see upgrades to it to maybe minimally support Kontakt 8. It's a wonderful keyboard, and feels super wasteful and expensive to replace it. I understand that this request may not be technically possible, but I wanted to mention it.

I've never really gotten into Maschine as a DAW, (I use mostly Ableton, with some Bitwig, Cubase, and Logic). All DAWs require a learning curve, and in the past, every time I took a run at learning Maschine, I felt it was "too different" than the others I mentioned, and never pushed through to learn it properly. I will give it another shot when it's updated.

Thanks!