NI Maschine

Put a big hard drive, loads of RAM and audio in/outs in this thing, make it stand-alone hardware and it would be killer just for non-stop groove building! especially for house and techno!

If this thing were proper hardware I would buy it! and i don't mean in a snobby 'i hate software' kind of way, because most of us use software too at some point in the music making process... its just that most of us use computers all day in our jobs too and it's nice to get away from a screen properly, sit some hardware in your lap and just jam... just you and the sound... no distracting, eye fatiguing screen... just you and the music!

Make it hardware, keep it the same price... winner!

henryoakley wrote:Make it hardware, keep it the same price... winner!

You also forgot to ask peace on earth...

is it onsale, or pre-ordering?
if its on sale anybody got one, and got any review for the rest?

henryoakley wrote:Put a big hard drive, loads of RAM and audio in/outs in this thing, make it stand-alone hardware and it would be killer just for non-stop groove building! especially for house and techno!

An mpc has all of that. just buy an mpc

modular wrote:

henryoakley wrote:Make it hardware, keep it the same price... winner!

You also forgot to ask peace on earth...

Ha ha, yeah peace on earth would be good too... as long as it's the same price as the Maschine!

respect_mbs wrote:

henryoakley wrote:Put a big hard drive, loads of RAM and audio in/outs in this thing, make it stand-alone hardware and it would be killer just for non-stop groove building! especially for house and techno!

An mpc has all of that. just buy an mpc

Yeah I just got an mpc recently and they're great, but a couple of things I like about the maschine are:

1. everything backlit - easier for live performance in dark clubs (i know what you're gonna say, get an SP for live use right... but they're not so good in the studio!)
2. the x0x style input option (I make house and techno) is great
3. the maschine looks amazingly straight-forward in terms of workflow... not that mpcs aren't!

Anyway I like my mpc, I'm not complaining about it at all... and everyone always wants everything from a box... never gonna happen!

respect_mbs wrote:An mpc has all of that.

No it doesn't. And realtime control over swing and quantize makes it (potentially, at least) a much more interesting performance tool than any MPC I've ever used.

i hear where you guys are coming from but there are also machines like Korg electribes. Point being, there is nothing on the market like this so whats the advantage of making something thats already available on the market? Almost everyone is already using a laptop on stage...this just bridges the gap.

maybe i m gonna get one for next christmas...i already own a 2500 jj os but i like the concept but i wanna wait ist not the only one groovebox thats about to get released this year.

Ahh, this is cool. If this is a midi controller, and you could chop samples with it, that would be dope.

Hi I've owned the maschine for about a week and use to own an mpc1000 w/ the other os and 100gb hd. It was nice and I enjoyed it but I have say the ni maschine is just little bit smoother integration for computer based plugin users. It loads and chops samples via hardware. Maps the keys and gives you a midi score with it. Every sound has a piano roll. Snare drum hit button and bam 88 keys of pitched snare drum. These are some nice features has sequencer that is built in and works in stanalone or as a plugin again cool feature. The word is it will also host vst plugins big plus. So cpu users fl studio, ableton, cubase, and prtools a good choice maybe not the best depends on your taste. But if you want hard ware fill a great independent support this ain't it. but large pc based sample loop bank and vst synths think about it.

Yes it can be used as a midi controller as well.

Maschine is a nice concept but the software is missing some very basic features. There is no midi out and the midi in is limited. The midi out feature will be added in the future along with more sample formats but thats all that has been confirmed. I would wait before purchasing.

Here are more of the basic things that it is still missing.

Normalize
Snap to zero
truncate
time stretch
Zoom to start/ end marker
scrolling cursor
External wave editor tab
Slice to midi
ability to add and delete slice markers
at least 16 stereo audio outs vs. 8
full midi in and 16 channel out
midi and audio drag and drop in both directions.
Acidized, Apple loops, rex2 and battery cell support.
Groove quantize from midi templates.
Mute and solo groups
Mute and solo automation
Load kits to groups without overwriting pattern
metronome during record option
count in from stop

Fung45 wrote:^You make it sound kinda crappy.

I was thinking the same thing.

It's up to you to decide if it is crappy but those are the things that it does not do. I think the idea is cool and it is a good skeleton for building a killer software sampling drum machine/sequencer groove box. Right now though, it is very restricted in all those areas due to the software being deprived of many basic features you would expect from such a device.

I disagree with the wishes that it be a stand alone box. It would not be what it is. You already have Akai and Roland building hardware samplers. This product is software with a dedicated midi pad controller with bi-directional feedback. What makes it special is that it IS software. The dedicated midi controller solves the big missing link in software plug-ins. This part is what is new and was done superbly. The controller really interacts and makes it an instrument that is intuitive and fun to use. Unfortunately, the software has a long way to go to match the functionality of an MPC. I think of it as more an excellent concept than a complete product. It could have been a head turner at a science fair but its not finished enough for real world use IMO.

Right now it's best use is as an expensive midi controller for Guru, BPM or Ableton Live.