emptysea wrote:Battery/Kontakt/DAWs can have all the deep programmability they want but if it's not fun and immediate like the MPC or Maschine then I won't be very productive with them. None of those software tools comes anywhere near the productivity you get from fun, tactile, efficient workflow of hardware and now, Maschine.
I think this depends on the person. Many people are extremely productive using Battery, Kontakt, and other tools, and also have fun using them. Those same people still enjoy that workf flow. A lot of those same people also have no interest in Maschine. Same thing with a lot of MPC users. What does one gain attempting to change their minds when they probably have already looked into the Maschine and simply wasn't interested?
The work flow depends a lot on how the person's mindset connects with the design. Many people actually do not have any problems whatsoever using a larger computer screen nor mouse...not even mention a controller. I like Maschine, that's why I bought it. However as many here are saying, it falls in between two extremes, and though that's great for those looking for a fun simple tool the embodies a good share of both, it does not do either of those extremes better than a MPC nor a DAW and controller. It takes
some of the best fundamental features of each (standalone units like the MPC and software like a DAW, Battery and a controller) and present them in a very nice well thought out package...but it does not exceed either extreme. It takes the MPC paradigm and allows it to have a simpler (though not necessarily better) means of integration via it's inherited nature, being itself software. I think that's what many here are saying, and that's fair enough. Maschine is not for everyone and that's fine. Really, I will never understand what provokes someone to try and convince others to use what they use anyway, or to try to validate their own choices by questioning other people's choices.
The Maschine is a step in the right direction, but it doesn't do anything new. Maschine is also very limited currently as a stand-alone application and it still has quite a few stumbling blocks as a plug-in. Whoever doubts this needs to spend more time with the Maschine and/or visit the NI Forums, where those limitations become blatantly obvious. It has a great future and NI are being great with the communication with the user base, but only a fool would pretend that it's not still lacking some basic features that even the oldest and most modest MPC has....and currently the only way to get those features is to use another application or DAW. ReWire would have been a real stone in the court of Maschine, but a lot of it's "integration" still involves jumping through hoops, even as a plug-in. Some of those hoops the MPC does out of the box.
I dig Maschine, but I'm not going to pretend it's better than it is nor try to coax others into using it because quite frankly there are other and even better fitting options for each individual. People differ. For you the Maschine may be the new bar from which everything must be measured, and fun, and fast, and completely what you need. For others Maschine doesn't do everything they need, but instead they use it as only a component of their tools, using Battery and DAW still. Others see Maschine and think they are better off with what they have. Why? The keyword of the thread is, "work flow" and work flow is not a single thing, it is many things, to many people.
