The MASCHINE+ Feedback Thread

Ok, my comments on Maschine+ so far:

I bought M+ as soon as it was announced, and received the unit early on. In the beginning the OS was buggy and I experienced crashes almost every time I used it. In addition to this, any and all Reaktor content, even the included Factory Sounds, had an issue where the instances would make no sound after reloading the project. I also had issues with the DIN MIDI i/o, which would mysteriously stop working after a while or after a restart. So things didn't start out well..

Now, a bit over a year later I am happy to report all of my early problems have been addressed. Reaktor sounds work even after reload, my DIN MIDI connected master keyboard never misses a beat, and even the crashes have gone from occurring at least once every session to only occuring once in a blue moon. So I'd say M+ has reached a state of maturity which, addmittedly, it should have had since its product launch.

M+ was my first introduction to Maschine, and I'm really hooked on the workflow. Writing beats on M+ feels very fast and hassle-free. The UI is well laid out and having developed an intermediate muscle memory to it, it is fun to use. The included factory content is top notch and offers good scope and variety. So there is a lot to like about it in my opinion.

But there are also things I think need to be criticized about it.

Firstly, the biggest omission in Maschine+ presently is the lack of standard MIDI sequencer capabilities such as sending and defining MIDI Program and Bank Change Messages. I use a lot of hardware synthesizers with my M+, and I have to rename my MIDI groups and sounds with patch notes so that I know what MIDI presets I used for each MIDI sequence. This needs to be addressed ASAP.

Another issue for me is the lack of any visual editing capability for automation, as well as the inability to assign macros in standalone mode. These are all things that competitor's comparable hardware sequencers handle better (cough Akai cough).

Third issue for me is the lack of any possibility to "perform" a song arrangement in realtime and being able to record it into the Song mode. I have used ableton live since version 3, and it has become a must-have feature to me for programming song arrangements; Once I have built up my patterns and sections, I always record the first arrangement "skeleton" in realtime to the arranger, and continue editing and refining things from there. This is a vital feature for me, because without it, my arrangements end up lacking energy, and I lose motivation even before I have the full arrangement fleshed out.

It must also be said that importing your own custom content into M+ is not handled as well as it could be. NI would do well to offer more in depth tutorials covering this aspect of the M+: Show us how to best tag and organize our own samples, how to import our Kontakt and Reaktor content into the M+, and so on. Not everyone who uses M+ wants to only rely on the precooked Maschine expansions as content for their music making.

I hope Maschine+ will outgrow its original state and end up becoming a "future classic" for sampling and sequencing! All that is required from NI is continued commitment to making it a great hardware platform.

I must say, coming from years in m1 and m2 software with an mk2 controller, I have learned so much more by using M+ about the m2 ecosystem. I prefer to work with the “limitations” M+ comes with but I make much better music because of that. The M+ potential is enormous. Even in current state (functions, possibilities) it is a superior music creating unit. I still experience a few crashes and freezes, but I’ve learned to save projects continuously. I have the M+ since launch. The addition of the Poly synth was really eliberating in terms of creative freedom.

What I wish for (and maybe I should not have to ask for it) is not any features that I probably won’t use, the workflow is insanely awesome, but 100% stability so I can trust it to play live.

My impression on the M+ so far, after using it for over one year :

Great :

- Very inspiring workflow : learning curve past, once it's quick and efficient

- Very inspiring sounds : very good quality, very well curated and organized sounds

- Great hardware : the material used, the inspiring design

- Excellent sound engines and FX : they do sound very good and the FX sound magic.


Bad/Ugly/Improvement requests : 

- This is NOT "standalone" : still needs to be tethered. NI needs to develop a stand/handle accessory with built-in battery and why not a speaker, it will quickly become a must have for any M+ user

- Needs to be more open : free diving, search and tagging into our own .wav samples collections right from the unit, support for and recording of .wav based multi-samples right from the unit, support for user-made expansions

- Needs vocal FX : every other serious groovebox now has auto-tune/vocoder/doubler/etc... type FX for voice processing.

- Stability & performance : let's be honest, we are still in beta phase, early adopters paid this product way too much, we deserve some free expansion coupons or the battery-handle for free

NI has an amazing foundation to make the best groovebox in the planet with the current hardware, it's all about making the firmware more stable, more open, add a few features/plugins in there and making the unit truly standalone with some accessory.

The ecosystem is cool, but please don't keep it as a walled garden, that strategy would fail for NI as it is currently positioned on the market. It pisses off many of us who are ending up converting our expansions for the MPC and moving to this product.