Maschine + Overall stability, reliable enough for live?

Alex1974
Alex1974 Member Posts: 25 Member
edited February 2023 in Maschine

I am thinking about getting a Maschine + (currently own a MK3) so I don't have to bring my macbook too gigs anymore. The setup with macbook is too fragile imo, so I would make the switch to the + for the sake of stability.

I have read and heard stories that the M+ would be less stable / crashing etc.

My question is if that has improved and if the M+ is reliable enough to use in a live setting?

Best Answers

  • Cretin Dilettante
    Cretin Dilettante Member Posts: 129 Advisor
    Answer ✓

    I personally use it as a controller most of the time, but when I first bought mine, I used it extensively in standalone mode. Older versions of the firmware crashed intermittently and seemingly at random, and over time stability has gotten better, but the newest update is giving people a bit of trouble. When the M+ misbehaves otherwise, it's usually due to a kontakt ensemble. I get way more crashes when I use anything involving Kontakt than when I use the other plugins. In addition, like many on this forum, other crashes seemingly happen at random when loading a plugin, turning the unit on, switching to mixer mode, etc.

    Since I bought the thing, I've just waited a few months every time an update rolls out, just in case it breaks something. I waited almost a year to download the autosampler update until I saw people here chiming in about it being "stable enough".

    But honestly, I've had crashes and mishaps with almost every category of music gear that I've owned. My first sampler, the Roland SP-808, for example, loved to erase its own zip disks! And just about all synths with patch memory have an internal battery that will die and erase your presets, if you don't back them up! If you want a digital music device impervious to crashes, just get an SP-404SX or a Microsampler. The microsampler's made of plastic, but I have literally punched the keys on stage (noise music lol) and it was fine.

  • Andy Wt
    Andy Wt Member Posts: 85 Helper
    Answer ✓

    For fingerdrumming with samples i suppose M+ is quite reliable for going live. For any other scenario - especially which includes playing dense arrangements and switching scenes - no, it is not reliable enough. I would think twice before using it.

    It was second to last update which was troublesom - shutdown time was several minutes and list of recent projects was broken. But last update fixed all these new issues.

  • D-One
    D-One Moderator Posts: 2,884 mod
    edited February 2023 Answer ✓

    Personally, I never had any of my MacBooks randomly reboot, crash, having the audio start acting strange like glitching and such... can't quite say the same for the M+. For me, laptops only start giving me issues when they became no longer powerful enough to do what I want them to do... that means buying a new one every 6-7 years. Sometimes there's issues but in my case, it has always been software bugs and the blame is on the developers of that SW, not my laptop.

    With that mind my laptops (MacBook in my case) are 10x more reliable than the M+ or other standalone's I've had; you cant really compare OS's that have been developing for decades made by billion $ companies like Apple or Microsoft to custom linux OS's made by NI or Akai. Simpler standalone with those pixelated screens tend to be way more stable due to their simplicity (in comparison) but also usually do less stuff.

    The thing is computers may require the user to be tech literate enough to keep up with drivers, updates, SW fixes, etc.. and know when to update if at all, which can be confusing in the Mac world, much simper for Windows. Some folks swear by the keep everything outdated tactic ("if it ain't broke don't fix/update it" )while personally, I do the opposite within reason.

    Overall I consider the M+ sort of stable, as long as you don't need a ton of stuff in your projects; it never failed me live. Worst case scenario it reboots itself when on for a long time (between sound check and performance if left On) or requires me to go into the settings and twist the interface knob when audio glitches after boot, that last thing seems to have been solved but not 100% sure. There's some other issues like noise changing Scenes and whatnot but those tend to also happen the in the controller/sw version.

Answers

  • Cretin Dilettante
    Cretin Dilettante Member Posts: 129 Advisor
    Answer ✓

    I personally use it as a controller most of the time, but when I first bought mine, I used it extensively in standalone mode. Older versions of the firmware crashed intermittently and seemingly at random, and over time stability has gotten better, but the newest update is giving people a bit of trouble. When the M+ misbehaves otherwise, it's usually due to a kontakt ensemble. I get way more crashes when I use anything involving Kontakt than when I use the other plugins. In addition, like many on this forum, other crashes seemingly happen at random when loading a plugin, turning the unit on, switching to mixer mode, etc.

    Since I bought the thing, I've just waited a few months every time an update rolls out, just in case it breaks something. I waited almost a year to download the autosampler update until I saw people here chiming in about it being "stable enough".

    But honestly, I've had crashes and mishaps with almost every category of music gear that I've owned. My first sampler, the Roland SP-808, for example, loved to erase its own zip disks! And just about all synths with patch memory have an internal battery that will die and erase your presets, if you don't back them up! If you want a digital music device impervious to crashes, just get an SP-404SX or a Microsampler. The microsampler's made of plastic, but I have literally punched the keys on stage (noise music lol) and it was fine.

  • Alex1974
    Alex1974 Member Posts: 25 Member
    edited February 2023

    Thanks for your extensive answer! So as I understand thing are kinda stable now, except when using kontakt?

    I use my Maschine only for live fingerdrumming with mostly wav samples, in pad mode. Nothing special really in terms of plug ins or instruments.

    What is the issue with the latest update that is giving people trouble?

    I have used an Akai MPC in the past, and I experienced crashes in a live set for thousands of people. The thing took a couple of minutes to reboot at that time, and I can tell you those were very long lasting minutes.

    Would love to go back to a one device setup without laptop, but only if it is reliable enough.

  • Mutis
    Mutis Member Posts: 472 Pro

    Get a Toraiz.

  • Andy Wt
    Andy Wt Member Posts: 85 Helper
    Answer ✓

    For fingerdrumming with samples i suppose M+ is quite reliable for going live. For any other scenario - especially which includes playing dense arrangements and switching scenes - no, it is not reliable enough. I would think twice before using it.

    It was second to last update which was troublesom - shutdown time was several minutes and list of recent projects was broken. But last update fixed all these new issues.

  • D-One
    D-One Moderator Posts: 2,884 mod
    edited February 2023 Answer ✓

    Personally, I never had any of my MacBooks randomly reboot, crash, having the audio start acting strange like glitching and such... can't quite say the same for the M+. For me, laptops only start giving me issues when they became no longer powerful enough to do what I want them to do... that means buying a new one every 6-7 years. Sometimes there's issues but in my case, it has always been software bugs and the blame is on the developers of that SW, not my laptop.

    With that mind my laptops (MacBook in my case) are 10x more reliable than the M+ or other standalone's I've had; you cant really compare OS's that have been developing for decades made by billion $ companies like Apple or Microsoft to custom linux OS's made by NI or Akai. Simpler standalone with those pixelated screens tend to be way more stable due to their simplicity (in comparison) but also usually do less stuff.

    The thing is computers may require the user to be tech literate enough to keep up with drivers, updates, SW fixes, etc.. and know when to update if at all, which can be confusing in the Mac world, much simper for Windows. Some folks swear by the keep everything outdated tactic ("if it ain't broke don't fix/update it" )while personally, I do the opposite within reason.

    Overall I consider the M+ sort of stable, as long as you don't need a ton of stuff in your projects; it never failed me live. Worst case scenario it reboots itself when on for a long time (between sound check and performance if left On) or requires me to go into the settings and twist the interface knob when audio glitches after boot, that last thing seems to have been solved but not 100% sure. There's some other issues like noise changing Scenes and whatnot but those tend to also happen the in the controller/sw version.

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