How well do you think the Maschine+ did for NI?

[apoclypse]

Maschine being tied to a computer was never an issue for me, so the fact that the + is more crippled than the hybrid just doesnt make sense for me to purchase. I wouldve added it if it offered a better experience but I find it too clunky so I added a retro One to my Live and Force instead.

I still get the betas and if something came along that radically changed its workflow for the better Id reconsider it, otherwise Ive shelved NI as well as Komplete Ultimate, thats unused too. Akai (and others) killed NI for me unfortunately

NI are not known to stick with things and if it’s really not selling well I expect them to drop Maschine+ and move on to something else which will basically undermine any trust anyone has for NI.

I don’t think it sold as well as NI hoped and they are going to have to do a lot better than including Pro53 to get people interested.

[_leras]

I get now why Massive has become necessary even though I've really come to personally dislike it's sound.

I used to dislike the sound of Massive,but I have come to appreciate it a lot more over time...

It has attitude,sits well in the mix and blends well with the other instruments...

It definitely has its own kind of sound. When it first came out, i couldn't always click with it and couldn't get it to sound 'right' for me.

I think its been used in so much music over the years that the sound is now part of the 'normal' range of synth sounds.

Now, more sounds I make tend to sound fine to me, instead of slightly off.

I still wish that they had made a v 2.0, just with updated filters and FX...

[digitalboytn]

I get now why Massive has become necessary even though I've really come to personally dislike it's sound.

I used to dislike the sound of Massive,but I have come to appreciate it a lot more over time...

It has attitude,sits well in the mix and blends well with the other instruments...

It definitely has its own kind of sound. When it first came out, i couldn't always click with it and couldn't get it to sound 'right' for me.

I think its been used in so much music over the years that the sound is now part of the 'normal' range of synth sounds.

Now, more sounds I make tend to sound fine to me, instead of slightly off.

I still wish that they had made a v 2.0, just with updated filters and FX...

NI probably wishes that they had just stuck with the recipie and updated the original Massive now too

It had proved itself to be a real winner...

A classic...

Ever since that promotional video was released, Massive X has been a bit of a head scratcher

[bungle]

M+ is a huge failure in sales, update since release have shown this too.
The fact they can't even be bothered to sort out the browsing is very telling.

[SLiC]

I think the MPC One for around £500 ands with the software update 2.10 just kills M+ for value and features and AKAI are pushing out so many great updates they are getting a great reputation as active developer unlike NI who seemed to have slowed down on all fronts.

The much discussed 'next' update V3 looks like it will have disk streaming and better arranger/song modes (like FORCE) -it must be hard for the M+ team to know what to do other than reduce the price drastically...AKAI's MPC DEV team are on a fantastic roll...just check out what they gave us free with 2.10 (including massive browser updates )!

https://www.akaipro.com/amfile/file/dow ... duct/9017/

I just cant see anything like that coming from NI, they are slipping so far behind....

[pdxindy]

It definitely has its own kind of sound. When it first came out, i couldn't always click with it and couldn't get it to sound 'right' for me.

I think its been used in so much music over the years that the sound is now part of the 'normal' range of synth sounds.

Now, more sounds I make tend to sound fine to me, instead of slightly off.

I still wish that they had made a v 2.0, just with updated filters and FX...

Serum took the next step after Massive. Serum is the successor to the original Massive. NI waited too long.

[pdxindy]

I think the MPC One for around £500 ands with the software update 2.10 just kills M+ for value and features and AKAI are pushing out so many great updates they are getting a great reputation as active developer unlike NI who seemed to have slowed down on all fronts.

I think NI has a couple advantages.

1 - NI has better DSP. I did not like the synthesis that came with the MPC Live. NI's Monark, FM8, Prism and Massive is a far better offering. Plus the NI FX are excellent too.

2 - I don't like the quality of the MPC's touch screens. The MPC touchscreen is too finicky. I prefer the NI approach of foregoing touch in the workflow.

Of course my explorations took me away from these sorts of do everything grooveboxes. I am eagerly awaiting my soon to be arriving Isla S2400 which in my opinion, is drum sampling done right.

[SLiC]

I think the MPC One for around £500 ands with the software update 2.10 just kills M+ for value and features and AKAI are pushing out so many great updates they are getting a great reputation as active developer unlike NI who seemed to have slowed down on all fronts.

I think NI has a couple advantages.

1 - NI has better DSP. I did not like the synthesis that came with the MPC Live. NI's Monark, FM8, Prism and Massive is a far better offering. Plus the NI FX are excellent too.

2 - I don't like the quality of the MPC's touch screens. The MPC touchscreen is too finicky. I prefer the NI approach of foregoing touch in the workflow.

Of course my explorations took me away from these sorts of do everything grooveboxes. I am eagerly awaiting my soon to be arriving Isla S2400 which in my opinion, is drum sampling done right.

I think you have to judge AKAI now by the quality of what's in 2.10....the new instruments, AKAI now have more instruments and a lot more FX than NI which is crazy given where they started from! WayOutWare Oddesy and Hype are really good



...but it is the FX that matter to me, and AKAI have really killed it here- vocal pitch correction, granulators like NI Clouds, half time FX...some really great stuff.



I am OK with the touch screen, but you don't need it much if you use the Pads, 4 touch encoders and jog wheel...I would rather have a touch screen that not, even if its just for the QWERTY Keyboard for naming and search....but having the option to 'draw' in envelopes and FX (and the XY PAD) is great.

[machinesworking]

I’m always shocked by lack of discussion about this in threads on the MPC and Maschine, neither of them work with multiple time signatures well, Maschine just doesn’t change signature at all in its own song timeline. The MPC does it great in the software version, and not so great in the hardware. I see no progress on NI’s part to fix this, in fact the progress on their Song ‘feature’ is stalled it seems. On the other hand Akai are moving forward.

That said I sold the MPC Live and still have Maschine Studio. Mostly because selling it is too much of a hassle, and in terms of using in a DAW it works barring NI introducing bugs at one point. I also have a copy of the MPC 2 software version which does time signature changes with no issues in its song timeline.

In the bigger picture I don’t really use either anymore. The promise of a modern hardware drum sequencer DAW for me falls horribly short of it can’t do multiple time signatures and things like a one beat pick up line without falling on its ass and making a mess. MPC does it slightly better but stand alone it’s still a PITA. Then there’s the fact that DAWs on a computer are simply fine tuned compared. I’m reaching for Battery or Bitwig built in drum machine and a Launchpad these days.

[kcearl]

I think the MPC One for around £500 ands with the software update 2.10 just kills M+ for value and features and AKAI are pushing out so many great updates they are getting a great reputation as active developer unlike NI who seemed to have slowed down on all fronts.

I think NI has a couple advantages.

1 - NI has better DSP. I did not like the synthesis that came with the MPC Live. NI's Monark, FM8, Prism and Massive is a far better offering. Plus the NI FX are excellent too.

2 - I don't like the quality of the MPC's touch screens. The MPC touchscreen is too finicky. I prefer the NI approach of foregoing touch in the workflow.

Of course my explorations took me away from these sorts of do everything grooveboxes. I am eagerly awaiting my soon to be arriving Isla S2400 which in my opinion, is drum sampling done right.

Funny that, Im kinda totally used to touchscreens for navigating that when I have to go back to a click knob I hate it…I have so many projects named KC1, KCoject, Knit, on interfaces with no touchscreen

My cars navigation etc is touchscreen and while on vacation I rented an Audi Q7, nice motor, nice ride, no touchscreen! Could not wait to give it back…Im officially a 54 year old millennial now

Im on the fence about the synths, Ive had maschine and the NI plugs for over 10 years now…hype and the oddy are great on the MPC, but in truth I just autosample hardware. NIs libraries are better…converted them all into the akai format, Ill continue to buy them

I hope the maschine + continues to develope but as a Kore II and Maschine Jam owner I have my doubts…or Id add it for a decent price.

[kcearl]

Oh forgot, the S2400 is great, cuts it right back to what a drum sampler should be…it wasnt for me but its solid and so easy to use and sounded great…dont think I ever looked for a manual as it just seemed obvious.

[apoclypse]

I think the MPC One for around £500 ands with the software update 2.10 just kills M+ for value and features and AKAI are pushing out so many great updates they are getting a great reputation as active developer unlike NI who seemed to have slowed down on all fronts.

I think NI has a couple advantages.

1 - NI has better DSP. I did not like the synthesis that came with the MPC Live. NI's Monark, FM8, Prism and Massive is a far better offering. Plus the NI FX are excellent too.

2 - I don't like the quality of the MPC's touch screens. The MPC touchscreen is too finicky. I prefer the NI approach of foregoing touch in the workflow.

Of course my explorations took me away from these sorts of do everything grooveboxes. I am eagerly awaiting my soon to be arriving Isla S2400 which in my opinion, is drum sampling done right.

Hmm.I have to disagree here.

1 - For me I don't see the point of having great DSP if you can't even really use it from the device standalone. Maschine is just a preset machine at this point. Great for some but I personally don't think it's a great experience.

2 - The touch screen is not iPad level but it's pretty good and responsive imo. NI's approach is not great if you are dealing with complex instruments, or if you are dealing with the piano roll. It works, but you'll be paging for days to get to a specific parameter (assuming it was mapped by NI in the preset you chose). On the MPC I just literally tap what I want and move the data wheel. Can't get any easier than that.

[bharris22]

How is the overall quality on the MPC One? I have the Akai LPK midi controller, and it really feels like a poorly made toy. That experience has soured me on Akai generally, but am curious if their higher end hardware is better/more substantial.

[apoclypse]

How is the overall quality on the MPC One? I have the Akai LPK midi controller, and it really feels like a poorly made toy. That experience has soured me on Akai generally, but am curious if their higher end hardware is better/more substantial.

Night and day. The MPCs are rock solid. Great knobs, the pads are pretty good and the build quality imo is exceptional.

There are a few issues and one of them isn't really an issue but more of a philosophy on how things should work.

1. The pads aren't as sensitive as something like the Maschine. That's because the MPC pads require more force to trigger things. Some consider that a negative but the MPC wants you to bang the pads and that seems to be how they want you to use the device. You can mess around with the sesitivity of the pads but it still won't be like Maschine's.

2. The data wheel knob (at least on the OG Live) tends to fall off. I haven't had the same issue on the Force so newer MPCs may not have the same issue. You can always buy a nicer data wheel to replace the one on the MPC, most people do.

3. The rubber coating kind of sucks. I hate it. But a vinyl wrap should take care of that.

[pdxindy]

2 - The touch screen is not iPad level but it's pretty good and responsive imo. NI's approach is not great if you are dealing with complex instruments, or if you are dealing with the piano roll. It works, but you'll be paging for days to get to a specific parameter (assuming it was mapped by NI in the preset you chose). On the MPC I just literally tap what I want and move the data wheel. Can't get any easier than that.

To each their own I guess...

I regularly 'missed' when trying to touch something on the MPC Live screen. I found it a bit annoying. Never do on the iPad.

In any case, the MPC Live felt like an underpowered, weak-GUI'ed computer. Made me realize I would much rather use the computer. Far superior DAW, big beautiful screen, I can use exactly the instruments and FX I wish and so on.

It's all good. Buying (and selling) the MPC was part of me figuring out what worked for me.