Can a software/hardware combination be as tactile as standalone gear like the MPC, but do, you know, computer-y things, too? That’s the question posed by Native Instruments’ new Maschine.
My Maschine just arrived in the mail, but one look in my inbox and I find that the folks at AudioMIDI have beat me to shooting a hands-on. What you see immediately is that you have immediate, hands-on hardware control of everything. With software behind that, that could lead to a lovely melding of hardware-style manipulation but software-style flexibility.
Conclusions of the AudioMIDI vid:
- Feels great; feels not cheap
- Roland-style step mode
- On-the-fly sampling
- Performance-style controls
Since AudioMIDI did shoot their video first, here’s your chance to say what you’d like in the CDM video. What do you want to see? What questions do you have?
And MPC fans, let me put it a different way: what would you have to see to be impressed by this?
Update/Clarification: Since this seems to be a point of confusion for some readers, both NI and AudioMIDI have confirmed that this isn’t an official review or special NI-sponsored promotion. This is a retailer excited about a box they got in the mail grabbing a camera and showing some initial impressions as they started using it. I am glad we put this up, though, because we’re getting some great feedback from all of you as far as what details you care about. So keep that coming, as I think I’ll be able to answer all those questions.