Has NI abandoned Maschine

Kubrak · September 2023

Keyboard is not available, yet. And you do not know, when/if Maschine with dedicated support for mk3 keyboars come. It may be before mk3 availability....

And even if nothing comes, one may use mk3 via KK wraper in Maschine. ;-)

IMHO it is good decision to remove Maschine specific buttons from MK3. Less is often more.

spock · September 2023

To stay optimistic, it will mean fewer bugs to fix!

[Deleted User] · September 2023

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Kubrak · September 2023

OK, but maybe it will change in the next release of Maschine.

D-One · September 2023

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/94420#Comment_94420

Apparently, it will... That's how it's been until now but some of the YouTubers have shown this workaround, so I guess they enabled this possibility, it comes with a bunch of caveats tho, i cant list it as I didn't pay that much attention tbh.

GoKeez · September 2023

I think it’s evidence that they’ll be onto new maschine hardware with the same single large screen. The fact the two aren’t integrated kind of answers a major issue many complain about—that Komplete keyboards can’t work independently with maschine mk3/plus when in the same instance of maschine. That won’t be an issue anymore if both are focused on doing what they do. Same Ecosystem, more focused controllers.

The move I’m suggesting would surely be a smack in the face of M+ users but it’s kind of the NI way of late. Under support and under develop “new” products just to let them die early and sell new ones with a fresh set of future promises.

D-One · September 2023

There are always new devices on the horizon, just like Expansions or SW instruments; for sure i'd also expect an eventual new MAS to also have that single screen and other fancy new stuff.

I'd temper expectations that this will happen soon, MAS MK3 and KKS MK2 were released at the same time, with the integration and all, now not only it's not a double release there is no integration, to me this makes it obvious that for now the priority is getting this new keyboard sorted, developed, etc... A "new tech stack" (the current dev buzz word to explain big changes) means that unlike previous releases they cant reuse a huge chunk of the code of the previous models like they used to (?) (I know they do this because I am somewhat familiar with the code related to HW integration altho I am not an expert), this code is also reused in between KK and MAS SW.

The M+ HW control code reuses is 90% of the MK3 code. The Mk3 uses maybe 70% of the Studio code, this goes on and on up to the first MK1, so if this 'new tech stack' is that much of a problem that they can't reuse code practically to get integration with Mas for the keyboard it means a new Maschine with this new "tech stack" will also be a lot of work, thus is not gonna happen that soon...

Or a TL;DR could be - If just integrating MAS into the new stack of the KKS3 is that hard that it's worth getting the user base disappointed than imagine making a new MAS HW based on it, especially if it is to support all the old controllers... 😬

Theres also a 3 year pattern in recent history.

2017 - MAS Mk3 / KKS Mk2
2020 - MAS Plus
2023 - KKS MK3
2026 - ???

Maybe I am being a bit pessimistic in terms of dates but I am willing to bet 100$ on it. Is anyone up for it? 🤣

AdelV · September 2023

To be honest - maybe Maschine will not die anytime soon but this coming 1.5 update for Maschine+ feels like last and then support will end somehow. Don't get me wrong, we can still make some music on this devices. I hope I will be wrong. Peace!

Percivale · September 2023

If Maschine+ goes EOL, please let us do away with online activation and be untethered at last.

LostInFoundation · September 2023

Waiting for the next Maschine MK4 controller without support for Maschine software, here 😂

Frankly, I would not be surprised if it really happens…

defyosef · September 2023

I can't see why Maschine would be abandoned. It's one of the flashiest controllers around and a notable gateway drug into NI's ecosystem.

Speaking from experience, when I was shopping for a versatile sampled instruments software bundle and saw that I could get that at a "discount" which included that quirky colorful toy to play around with, it became a no-brainer.

D-One · September 2023

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/96658#Comment_96658

Because there hasn't been any significant update in at least half a decade, i'd argue that it has prob been longer... Just look at the release notes and dates. People tend to expect their software to evolve at a pace similar to their DAW, Id be happy with 25% speed to be honest.

defyosef · September 2023

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/96777#Comment_96777

There were clips added as well as auto-sampling IIRC? VST3, Apple updates? Especially the latter would not make sense to do if they were to abandon the software - it's would seem like wasted effort.

Then also wouldn't you be able to make the same point about KK until recently? I think it may be that they are just shuffling focus - it was Maschine oriented for quite some time (together with M+ release) and KK line did not evolve much feature-wise since 2018-ish.

Inferring from what I recall you said yourself in another thread - if Kontakt is indeed a substantial source of income for NI then HW Maschine is, and maybe has always been a "bait" into the ecosystem.

D-One · September 2023

Note that this is all sort of debatable, depends on perspective. I'm not saying MAS is abandoned, i know for a fact it is not, updates are always coming but it does feel like it is abandoned to me.

@defyosef said:

There were clips added as well as auto-sampling IIRC? VST3, Apple updates? Especially the latter would not make sense to do if they were to abandon the software - it's would seem like wasted effort.

Clips: half baked, potentially only implemented for loops / sound.com integration which is now dead btw, never further developed.
Auto Sampler: only released due to the M+ (not supporting 90% of's NI's instrument catalog), not much if any use for the majority of Maschine users.
VST3 and Apple Silicon: Great but not something I'd be super thankfull for like it's some kind of favour, id expect any company making products for Apple to do it and any company making VST plugs update to do VST3, it's expected, an obligation if you will. Also, Apple Silicon means nothing to Windows Users.
The M+ itself means nothing to me, i never invested in Maschine because i wanted a standalone... I would have stayed with AKAI if that was the case, MAS was an alternative.

All this is very underwhelming to me but could very well be groundbreaking new tech from someone else's perspective.

Then also wouldn't you be able to make the same point about KK until recently? I think it may be that they are just shuffling focus - it was Maschine oriented for quite some time (together with M+ release) and KK line did not evolve much feature-wise since 2018-ish.

Yes, absolutely.

I've sold my KKS Mk2 over this very problem, to me it (or KK2) didn't evolve at all since i bought it uppon release and it did not feel at all like a 650$ keyboard feature-wise. Now that I know it cant evolve to be what I wanted it to be due to it's "tech stack" making everything impossible I am glad I sold it and didnt wait any longer since the used market will now be flooded. I dont think it was a bad product tho, just disappointing to me personally.

Inferring from what I recall you said yourself in another thread - if Kontakt is indeed a substantial source of income for NI then HW Maschine is, and maybe has always been a "bait" into the ecosystem.

Kontakt is the vast majority of users but as critical as I am I don't believe they think in terms of 'baiting users', I think the people behind Maschine really wanted to make a great product, and it was... Then those people get moved to work on other products, move to other companies, new people came in, god knows what else. It was the first 4x4 controller inspired by standalone devices like MPC's tethered to a computer so it wouldn't have all the limitation's that standalones have, people could use Plug-Ins, work mostly on the controller, etc... With all the Ram, CPU and plugs they wanted, crazy! It took ages for AKAI to respond with the MPC renaissance, to which NI responded with the MAS Studio now with Hi-Res screens on a device of this type, again for the 1st time... It was disruptive.

I miss those days when exiting things were happening instead of waiting for Apple Silicon for 3 years and VST3 for 5 years.

defyosef · September 2023

@D-One

All this is very underwhelming to me but could very well be groundbreaking new tech from someone else's perspective.

None of these were especially exciting to me either. I would welcome things like preset randomization, tempo/time signature automation, PDC, aftertouch, hardware-side note repeat/arpeggiation, plugin workflow streamlining much more.

If the thread is asking about Maschine being abandoned: I think not for the reasons listed in my previous post, but if on the other hand it's asking if people are disappointed at the slow pace of feature development - I bet they are and I am too.

Though I did find the most use in KKMK2 together with Reaper+ReaKontrol. I like that I can add new KK tracks from the controller, automate, record all within the DAW without even touching a mouse and not having to deal with quirks of Maschine software most of the time.

Has NI abandoned Maschine

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