Choose your wardrobe carefully before you shoot, or be skewered by YouTube uploaders. But these producers have some points about the new Maschine, too.
YouTube videos are proliferating and – some of them are pretty strange. Maschine MK3 units are barely reaching artists and reviewers, and there’s an embargo on official press reviews until next week. But that isn’t stopping passionate YouTube users from uploading videos that just run webcam commentary over top of the official videos and promo shots from Native Instruments. (Not every product launch prompts this sort of reaction – it’s clear Maschine is a big deal to beat producers, and that NI has stolen some of that thunder from Akai and the MPC, even with recent standalone hardware competition.)
But, wait a minute… live video commentary over top of a video? This seems to set up some Mystery Science Theater 3000 / Beavis and Butthead commentary potential.
Well, UnQuantized Podcast, via Instagram livestream with SoundOracle and Triza, gets that vibe.
Oddly, the most irreverent commentary may also be one of the best informed – SoundOracle programs sounds for Timbaland and Polow Da Don; Triza is a producer for Chris Brown, Justin Bieber, Rico Love, and Sean Kingston.
So, sure enough, I think they’re spot on with some of their comments. I don’t agree entirely about some of the criticisms of playability (though I’ve had at least a few minutes hands-on with the new hardware, which they haven’t yet). But they have some great points about layout and functionality, design and usability.
And – wait for it. At 1:37, their first comment is exactly right. Maschine MK3’s high-resolution color displays are in fact the same ones found on Maschine Studio. That’s not a bad thing, as those screens are great, and now you get all of that workflow and those displays condensed onto more portable hardware, with audio. (That said, I think if you’ve got a Studio, you should enjoy it – it’s still great hardware, even if I’d definitely choose the MK3 were I buying now.)
Of course, while I should be focused on the hardware and their production chops I’m… now also cracking up about them picking on the product specialist’s shirt. (Mean, but… funny.)
Given I may have some video appearances soon, I’m going to be careful not to look like a green-suited “lumberjack with the hat to match.” Though… heh, I have a sense of humor. Troll away.
Nice to “meet” these guys, though – skip the punters, going to subscribe to this one.
(What would you want in a video? Let us know in comments.)