WOW…. just WOW Not sure what to even say. If NI is working on a new version of Maschine, its got it work cut out for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1XbD59wDeM
The M+ is useless to many people
So why did they buy it in the first place? I see posts from people saying they need it to do X [an "essential" thing for them] but it never did that when they bought it, so why did they buy it? 🤔
IMO the M+ is far from terrible. Of course it may not have the features that the brand new Akai device has, but then neither have all the other devices in Akai's range. Are they now also useless?
No, I did not buy the M+ for brand loyalty. First NI hardware I bought. Neither did I have NI content before. I bought that after I got the M+
@iNate The M+ doesn't really do anything an MPC doesn't do, so you didn't buy it for that.
Reaktor. I bought M+ to run Reaktor over a collage of Audio loops and sequenced samples. It's perfect for that.
As a bonus, it runs Massive and FM8 and Prism and Monark, any one of which would be a flagship feature of a groove box of any kind. Imagine the next Elektron or Korg box listed top tier wavetable, FM, physical modelling, and analog modelling synthesisers, with the caveat that they're each so immensely complex and featured that you program them with a computer and save them to the device for performance because menu diving is impossible. Imagine this thing could run arbitrary DSP processing, user developed, so anyone could extend it with completely new instruments and effects like your sampler/sequencer/synthesisers/controller is ALSO on top of everything else, a monome norns.
It would be hailed as the greatest development in live electronic performance in years, and whole genres would be founded based on the ways users found to make it work.
But sure. Nobody bought M+ who wasn't just looking to play some Komplete elements on stage. Right. Just brand loyalty, nobody could ever have freely decided they liked the M+ concept and chosen to buy one for themselves.
Alottabody told me, “nothing is perfect.” They were all Liars. MPCe pads are flawless diamond, the buttons are tight as pliers.
They packed a box full of great features. Wons I like (?), prolly bout fih’ty The mic is sounding pretty damn good. Speaker got some big a** t*tties.lol
Rhymes and humor aside, Live III is an instant classic. It’s better than anything else on the market that does anything similar by a very large margin. Insurmountable even but that’s old news. Akai has been competing with itself for some time now.
As a long time user of Maschine, one thing is immediately evident as soon as you pull Live 3 out of the box. The pads initially feel ALOT like Maschine’s—but exponentially more functional. They say 3D but if you’re a musician they’re more like 12D. So expressive even my Aerophone is in the corner looking nervous. I have Maschine+, Live 2/3 and Push 3 and several Roland devices in my studio because I use whatever clients want to use. I’m no fanboy or even brand loyalist. I simply want the best tools and don't really care much who achieves it. I have personal preferences based on what inspires most and empowers me to be more productive for any given project or season. On that score, Akai is currently decimating the field.
L3 is what Push 3 SA promised to be at launch. It sputtered out the gate just like M+ did which is ironic because the first 2 Push versions (Made by Akai) flew off the shelves. Ableton discounts their new “flagship” even more than NI did. What’s that tell ya? Maschine and associated HW are still good products. I haven’t been around the forum as much because I’m not the type of person that complains much or haunts threads if I don’t have anything positive to add. Fact is, there isn’t much to talk about Maschine-wise. I feel for all 2 or 3 of their dev team. Can’t imagine what morale is like if any of them were around from 09. Best case, they've got their heads down working on something completely new and innovative that isn't Maschine or MPC. Years ago, NI expressed the desire to make Maschine more DAW like on this very forum. ‘Clips’ was the first update along that roadmap. That was meh and not many new features have made Maschine more DAW like since. Conversely, MPC 3.6 is a complete DAW full stop. You can complete full records including recording, editing and mixing vocals without ever touching a computer, external power or even headphones if you like. Just the box and your mind is the limit.
The chances NI releases something better than Live 3 is not impossible but a lot closer to zero. It’s closest H2H comp is MPC One+ and with Pro Pack it easily loses there too. Even if NI have been somehow hiding enough resources to release new HW, will they also release comp for One+3, Keys 3, SE X3? IMO, Roland would be the closest likely shop with the resources/expertise to answer that bell and they are going in a completely different direction (TR-1000).
Look, I’ll always love NI. They provided me with tools that helped me transform my business and subsequently my Life. I couldn’t have built the lifestyle I enjoy now and provide for my family without them. The ironic fact is, I love them even more now that I do not have any frustration or expectation attached to the brand. It doesn’t bother me at all when they miss projections or release anemic updates. I don’t care that new “flagship” KK aren’t fully compatible with Maschine—STILL. I don’t care if they are working on new HW or if they never release new HW. If they do great. I’ll check it out.
It feels great to only care if they keep making brilliant sounds which I remain confident they’ll do.
I rereally don'tddo understand the whole standalone thing. They'll always be catching up to what i can do on my computer. I've got all of Komplete, all of Ableton Live. All of Maschine.
I also own a Kronos. It's not competing with my DAW. Neither would MPC Live III if I were to get one.
Maschine user since MK1, and heavy standalone M+ user.
I Can’t believe how little NI has progressed compared to the competition.
NI had the best sounds in the game, absolute winners! but others have started to catch up, and with much better hardware. The future is standalone! the market is showing that more and more. NI has become the losers in the Hardware game. Please change, we love NI. Rant over
Standalone is convenient for live performances. It's your midi controller, sound card, and laptop all in one device, and all you gotta do is plug it in & send some cables to the front of house. Speaking from experience, laptops don't take that long to set up, but trimming down the amount of time it takes for you to set up/tear down/sound check makes people appreciate you more.
I'll be buying and trying at some point as I love testing new gear and this excites me as a new product as it redresses a lot of the problems i've had with my MPC's in this new era of fast easy fully featured grooveboxes. I'll be waiting to see if they hit the used market for a big discount like the other new era standalone MPC's first though, as reselling when I inevitably find it hard to live with will probably mean I don't lose much cash.
I use the M+ on my lap and it feels perfect jamming there. This new MPC is 1.5x the weight and has the steel cage finish that feels nasty on the MPC One, which despite being lighter than the M+, feels wrong on my lap. Not being tethered to a power supply might mean i'm more likely to pick it up though. I've been using a Move a lot just because it's a grab and go with a pair of headphones and i'm knocking up beats quickly. If this loads quickly too, then it might be comparable to that.
I'm hoping NI are taking notes. I'm still a massive fan of the M+, but it's unlikely to stay top of my favourite grooveboxes for ever.
It’s a much better update than Maschine 3 but nothing in this Akai update interests me considering I have Maschine, Ableton and Push.
Maschine + should be marked down and sold for $699 the device is old and cannot support any future changes such as real kontakt player hosting.. I know it's been restored some but let's be real it going to be slow and limited
What i mean is NI should focus on partnering fully as a app to hardware for akai only.. I have not use the M+ from what I have seen anything it could do better canot due to the processing power and tied to native access.. M+ was release 4 years ago and haven't made any major leaps with its own platform
Yeah maybe the Moog Model D should also be marked down because it was first released in 1970 so it's old, limited and hasn't made any major leaps. 😀
A thing can still be good, regardless of how old it is or whether it's had an update recently.
A new Maschine+ can be had for half the price of the Live III here in the UK.
The synths in the Maschine+ are not a selling point. The MPCs have stock synths, and they're good. This has been the case since before Maschine+ even existed, and they have expanded their synths and FX there since then.
Quote: "It would be hailed as the greatest development in live electronic performance in years, and whole genres would be founded based on the ways users found to make it work."
Lol.
Quote: "But sure. Nobody bought M+ who wasn't just looking to play some Komplete elements on stage. Right. Just brand loyalty, nobody could ever have freely decided they liked the M+ concept and chosen to buy one for themselves."
We all know how the REAKTOR thing is panning out, these days…
And those market segments are dominated by Ableton Live, which has Max4Live which literally replaces REAKTOR for those users and has a far more active and productive user community at this point.
I went standalone because I was tired of the constant battle of apple and Microsoft BREAKING things that worked just fine the day before and then having to spend an entire day troubleshooting that I otherwise would've spent creating music. Dawless. That way the only thing the computer does is upload the music to share with the world.
My setup runs 4 separate synthesisers, with their patch changes, CC changes, etc. I also double as the bass player in my band. Tracker + routed through maschine + controls my pedal board, my guitarists pedalboard, and his amp, as well as all of our vocal effects and switching. All of this runs without the Internet, and without apple and Microsoft's lazy programmers and coders ruining everything.
Thats why I went standalone. To ditch the unreliable laptop or MacBook. Because you cannot count on them to work when it matters.
This new MPC is a thing of beauty. Basically a full-on, performance oriented standalone DAW. If I was ever to ditch computer in my studio, due to reasons outlined above, this would be my choice as a replacement.
I used to rock MV-8800 long time ago and (within its limits) that was a great experience and fond memories left.
It's a bit beyond the scope of this thread for me to inform you about the relationship between technology and genre, but it's out there for you if you want understand. The very short version is genre and technology are inseparable, often down to specific models of instrument or equipment. The relationship of Massive specifically to North American Dubstep is a particularly appropriate example. "They'll found new genres with this" is a perfectly normal compliment to pay to a piece of gear.
As for Reaktor, how it's panning out is that I make music with it every day, lately phase driven sequencers in the vein of the Hetrick VCV Rack modules, that let me add evolving polyrhythmic, modulatable grooves to M+. As someone who's been using Max for 15 years, I'm well aware of its many benefits over Reaktor. They're sitting in the dock next to each other at the bottom of this very screen, and I'm choosing Reaktor more often.
But do tell me again how it's a problem for me that a company released a product with a faster processor and more RAM. Spec sheets are such a rich vein of musical inspiration.
