Maschine Hardware

Maybe that’s why before they released products that were “finished”.

Now they release incomplete products, even advertising features they don’t have at launch but telling you “they will come” and then taking one year just to fix things not working and only then releasing the first promised feature. And tell you “ in the next yearS the device will get better.

But…if you are worried that when all its potential will be expressed you will be already dead…don’t despair: they will abandon the product long before or ask you for money for a “new shiny version” that will give you all the things they promised you…but for the version before…

Yes…unexplainable why people moan 😏

Enjoy the future ;) https://thenextweb.com/news/update-brainwashes-microwaves-thinking-theyre-steam-ovens

Oh man, that’s my #1 risk, that in 5 years I may find my M+ not usable because NI dropped support… If aomeone will need to reactivate after a full reset… not good man, not good. A standalone device should have an “exit strategy”. At least an offline activation for those who nought it. Otherwise, you need to buy other products, but you already have one you can use.

@D-One asked

If it didn't have some sort of NA2-style of authentication how else could the device verify you own the libraries and expansions you install on them?

But there’s no necessity that the device cannot be activated or function without these additional Libraries and Expansions.

These plugins (and other engines) can also function perfectly fine without additional libraries, other than the one that came with the M+. You’ve paid for that dedicated library when you’ve invested in the M+, over a ‘standard’ sampling workstation… so-called ‘batteries included’.

I know the M+ is way more powerful when connected to your account, so you can download and use other, separately purchased expansions. I don’t think NA should be needed to validate your legal purchase, but that’s another topic. Besides that, we can also use the same contents in the desktop software, too.

And yes, that’s software… we ‘know’ that it is only compatible with your ‘current’ OS-version, hardware configuration, etc.. But, with the M+ NI expanded their ‘kontrol’ over your purchase to stand-alone hardware. And, that practice wasn’t very common. And I think it shouldn’t be accepted by users.

Roland, no need for online activation. You can use an SP-404mk2, TR8s, etc. without an account. Only when you want to access and download additional content, you need their library software. Elektron, no need for online activation. Even sample packs (DT) and patches (ST) can be bought and downloaded separately. Moog, Behringer, IK Multimedia, ASM… all synths so ‘maybe’ a different story, but no activation needed. Same goes for Polyend Play and Trackers, and also for their sample and sound packs.

No unnecessary dependency of desktop software or availability of servers. You’ve bought a device, you can update or upgrade it for a limited period of time. It’s yours. No lock-in.

Aside from what @MaikR already wrote…

The internal synth engines and effects are quite worthwhile, and I use them all the time. And to me, the Maschine workflow is much more enjoyable than those of the Elektrons. Compared to something like the Machinedrum (of which I love the sound engines) or the Digitakt, the only thing missing for me is probability/conditions for sequencer events. That alone would make it the best drum computer of all time (and the only one to miss tempo changes). Without any additional NI products!

Now, if you add all of those additional goodies, and especially Reaktor with the capability of using custom Ensembles, you have a standalone device that just kompletely slayed the drum computer and hardware sequencer market. In a single box. But nobody actually gets that, because everybody is looking in a different direction - «a DAW needs this, and that». It’s a freaking drum machine (hence the moniker) that is so mind blowingly powerful, it’s mistaken by many users for a fully fledged DAW!

And NI doesn’t understand it either. So they focus on the wrong features (regarding the Plus). But they aren’t the first creators to not understand the power and potential of their own creation.

I don't think this is actually true, I think corporations want it to be true so that they can force us to be dependent on them through "always online" services. It's like how "our user surveys show very few people actually use Maschine Integration with Komplete Kontrol" was an excuse to ship the Kontrol Mk3 keyboards half-finished. If the big-shots at NI were intelligent, they would have invested more resources into evangelizing the inter-operability between their products. Most of their marketing videos are essentially nothing of substance, and even the tutorials are…stupid. I don't think I've ever learned anything unique about Maschine through that Boris dude. If the glassdoor reviews reveal any truth to the company's culture, it's very likely that NI Staff rub many in the industry the wrong way, to the point where they simply -can't- get big names to vouch for them…so we get all these no-name techno and rap dudes. Like, imagine if Trent Reznor told someone in the company his gripes with Reaktor and the response he got was a bunch of neurotic man-baby excuses as to why his feature requests weren't possible (coupled with passive-aggressive jabs about his lack of DSP or coding knowledge). Relationship ruined. One of the biggest supporters of your product has been lost to the competition. Obviously, this is a theoretical, but I'm willing to bet something like this has happened before. They gave us nobodies the same grief when we asked for tempo/time sig automation, as if it were our problem to solve the logistics of, and not theirs.

tl;dr I think company culture and employee morale have a bigger part to play in why things are less convenient for the end-user.