What is Maschine 3.0 for?

Lionzinio · 2024-11-07T10:52:06+00:00

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I've been playing with Maschine 3.0 for a while now and I'm bothered by one thing.

Originally the purpose of the Maschine software was simple. It was the software you needed in order for your Maschine hardware to actually work as something that wasn't simply a midi controller.

And, for me at least, the objective of the software was that it was intended to be used by the hardware and not really by a mouse and keyboard.

And that's great. And you can see the ultimate expression of this in the Maschine +, where the software is integrated and you don't need a computer to use the Maschine +.

However, Maschine 3.0 seems to introduce a whole set of functions that don't seem to be controllable from the hardware unit. I can't find a way to use any of the new midi functionality to edit patterns for instance. And Maschine 3.0 seems to be introducing a whole load of other elements that seem far more designed to be used onscreen by a mouse and keyboard than by the actual controllers it was originally made for.

So is the direction of travel that Maschine The Software is trying to become something that exists beyond the restrictions of the hardware rather than something that exclusively enables the hardware to function?

Will it start to have some purpose that exists away from the hardware?

Will NI spend its time trying to make Maschine The Software more like a cut down, limbless version of Ableton at the expense of deepening the things the hardware allows us to do?

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Cretin Dilettante

Prediction: Maschine Mk4/Plus Mk2 is getting USB Mouse support to bring it up to speed with the Roland MV-8800.

tetsuneko

Didn't MV also allow an external screen? We could get a HDMI port in MKII ;)

Just kidding. That'd be too much like Maschine desktop running on a NUC. whats the point of it being standalone at that point really, just to get a lesser CPU?

Michael Paluzzi

Hey @Matthew_NI, can you PLEASE also bring another, similar idea back to your designers? The ability to bring up the Mixer screen in the Software from the HW? This used to be possible on the MK2 but no longer on MK3. Shift+Mixer would be great.

Michael Paluzzi

I think the main frustration from a lot of the people in the community is that we feel as though our voices are not being heard. There were two surveys sent out to folks over the past couple years asking us what features we want. Then, a forum was created to facilitate the discussion. But then 3.0 came out and truly, all we are got was Stem separation. Bounce in place is fine, but we already had the Audio Capture icon. The MIDI tools are fine, but we really wanted to use third-party MIDI tools; like Scaler.

Native Instruments truly has a terrific suite of products. I own just about all of them. And it really breaks my heart to not have them all living up to their potential. Guitar Rig + Maschinie is such a HUGE opportunity that is not being capitalized on at all. Maschine MK3 + Guitar Rig + Traktor X1 could be a live performance monster… Make a tune - add individual components form GR - control send fx from X1…

I know these are lofty ideas, but the pipeline of information is so hush-hush that we can only dream. I would just love to know if our user requested features are going to be revisited post-launch?

Lionzinio

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/189012#Comment_189012

Hey there

You can bring up the Mixer onscreen via the hardware. Use Shift + Variation button and press Navigate on the top row to pin it. Release the Shift + Variation and you'll see a nice row of display options

I really like the ability to bring up the LHS browser (or close it) from the hardware.

Michael Paluzzi

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/189033#Comment_189033

this is awesome. Thank you!

Beetleborg93

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/188916#Comment_188916

Hey Matthew, do you think the way in which you guys at NI collected feedback for what users want had a, for lack of a better word, false sense of what is important? Don't get me wrong, stem separation would have had to be added at some point, but a crucial area for improvement that I'm willing to bet all users want to see improvements in is automation, and that's for both hardware and software users.

Matthew_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/189040#Comment_189040

I don't. Automation was also quite a popular request - we just didn't get to it yet.

Lionzinio

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/189018#Comment_189018

I think it's great that NI consulted users and tried to do as much user research as possible.

One thing we have to remember is that it's up to NI how to interpret and use the insight we give them. Not every really popular feature is easy to implement. Some easy to implement features might only appeal to a smaller number of people, but will get implemented 'early' because they're easy. Some will get implemented because they fit NI's vision.

And not having my/our 'favourite' feature implemented doesn't mean NI didn't hear my/our request for it.

Ultimately, NI should have a clear vision for what Maschine should be and what functions it should fulfil and develop a road map for that, our feedback just colours this in.

Drexor

It's still version 2 they just needed a way to charge you and add more features to buy DLC from them(they only care about sound packs now) so they called it version 3

Rebelkleff

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/38149/what-is-maschine-3-0-for

this post was so well written and articulates my exact feelings to a tee. I couldn’t agree more. The software/hardware integration of maschine is second to none and the reason I love it so much. The note editing workflow is also pretty fuild and straightforward from the hardware and the new midi edit tools had me excited initially, but discovering they were inaccessible from the hardware and required a mouse quickly dampened that

the web page for maschine 3 also has a whole segment highlighting ‘no need for hardware’ anymore. Maybe I’m reading into it too much but it seems concerning…

I enjoy so much about maschine and welcome its evolution, however maintaining its super tight integration has to surely be a priority. I hope that some of these functions find their way back to the hardware, which I’m assuming they must in order for maschine+ to accommodate it.

@Matthew_NI are you able to ease some of our minds on this? Thanks for all your work getting this over the line too. Exciting times ahead regardless

BigPictureSound

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/188804#Comment_188804

If Maschine is going to provide more flexibility and DAW-like features there absolutely needs to be some decoupling of the hardware and software. I've said this before, and it seems NI may be understanding this compromise.

It's contradictory to expect every editing option be available from the controller while also wanting more modern DAW features. This thinking will severely restrict what Maschine can do in the future.

Expecting 1:1 software hardware access isn't really fair to people like me who want to take my tracks from start to finish inside Maschine.

At some point my production is done. I'm done performing and arranging and now ready to mix it and ship it. Why do I need the controller to edit a thousand envelope points or EQ when the mouse is faster?

And a question to ask, if a feature could only be implemented via mouse interface would you not want it since it excludes hardware manipulation?

I think better to open our minds to different ways of working with Machine, like including mixing and mastering and faster DAW editing and not just focusing on hardware which really is for performative purposes.

MorrisEd

It was certainly very weird that the launch video kept pointing users to keyboard shortcut and even touted at 9:46 that the hardware wasn’t necessary anymore.

Jean Voyage

nothing anyone from NI has said about this update and their process explains why there’s still no time stretch and no way to dial in stereo to mono on the sampler plugin.

Andy Wt

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/189072#Comment_189072

Decoupling of the hardware and software looks quite suspicious from M+ owner standpoint. Basically expect none of such new decoupled features to work on M+ version of v3

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