The sound of the unit is very good. Unit responds precisely. The sound of the unit is as expressive as you can play. This product does help me choose and design a certain sound quickly. Product is very compatible with my style of music. Of course some sounds are better than others! Product sounds great by itself, and can be used as a stand alone unit. It sounds great in conjunction with my other equipment. I do not use this product for live use yet. Other equipment used: MPC2500, midi controller keyboard, DAW, soft synths, audio interface. I would suggest to incorporate a true stand alone mode for this machine for use without the computer as an alternative.

Product did include accessories. The most useful features are the access of sounds. Least useful features: None found yet. I wish the sequencer would be modified with more options, similar to the MPC.

Very very intuitive interface. Somewhat easy to modify sound to taste. Very easy to use with my other equipment. Learning curve seemed daunting at first, but after a few days it was very easy. Manual is clear, but I wish it would have been a physical copy instead of a pdf.

Product is made very well. Finish is great, no loose parts. Very reliable product. Very dependable. On the road use not so much.

For the price, this unit can NOT be beat.

Never dealt with company as of yet.

Very sexy indeed. small, stylish, well built, with no screwy buttons. It's a unit where I look at it and don't think about modifying it to make it look better like I did with the MPC.

Recording Engineer

pattern based beats

Honestly I had high hopes for it after a friend of mine showed me a few of the youtube videos... and I was blown away by the quality of the preloaded sounds. They are rich and they even provide you with example compositions that are impressive themselves. They actually made me revamp a few beats I made on it before I heard them.

The FX's EQ's and long list of other plug-ins make mixing no problem at all and the hands on control make it even easier to tweak and touch up anything you compose.

The only negative thing I have to say on this aspect is that the manual just gives you the basics (maybe because they spent so much time filling it with 3 or 4 other translations who knows) but if you are not familiar with composition structure you may have a little difficulty starting out but once you get the concept down its a breeze! It allows you to make a song with no problem... and its hands on as well as software based so its the best of both worlds! when i explained it to a friend we considered the maschine fruity loops on steroids!

This thing will let you bang and bang and bang again with NO signs of wear and tear. I actually think my hands will wear out before this thing does... I dont use it live so I cant comment on that aspect but as far as making beats its on point! I use it in conjunction with my Korg M50 and its outstanding!

Great Price and anytime you can get a true asset to add to your studio production without breaking the bank its always a plus!

Initally it did have a setback and i was worried its midi control features syncing up with my Korg M50 but when i hooked everything up through my Pro Tools interface to my mac I was immediately sent to the service center that had the upgrade ready to download and !BAM! midi away!

As soon as I saw the Youtube demo videos I ordered it right away at 4 in the morning and being at an APO/AFO address it arrived in a week with no problems...

Musician, Producer, Recording, Engineer

Hip Hop, Rap, R &B, Rock and Anything that sparks my creativity

The sounds are really good. it has a massive library of sounds(14k!) from synth leads to jazz instruments to bongos and every kind of sounds you could think of or want. And of course if you want to tweak a sound you can do this right from the maschine hardwear in seconds.

The maschine came with NI's Komplete elements witch came with more sounds then i would probably ever need, but its nice im not complaining :D The maschine has alot of useful features from easy sampling, built in effects, auto slicing samples,keyboard mode, just little things that make it that much more useful and apealing.

at first I played around with it and learned some things pretty fast. Read the manual and learned the shortcuts of using everything. from there i just watched some tutorial videos from the NI website and it helped alot. I think if anyone sat down with this for a hour they would be able to use it, i just like to know alot about my toys :]

I think i could throw this down the steps and plug it back up to finish up my work. cant say that about my AKAI midi lol

YES! copared to similar akai products this is worth it

did not need to call yet

it looks good with the lights off. after the beat is made of course lol

Music Producer-active

hip hop. techno, pop

sound quality is excellent. I also own MPC 2000xl and asr series samplers and this stacks up very well. Live I have found that it's best to crank it loud more from the mixer as opposed to in the box as if you get to loud it will start to squash a bit. in recordings it's perfect. the FX section is sick and the newley included vintage MPC60 and SP1200 emulations are spot on. (just remember an sp1200 wasn't able to change pitch nearly as far as maschine can so if you go really crazy with the pitch it will get really broken sound digitally) i have A/B's sampling and sample playback with my mpc and it's actually extremely difficult to hear a difference. there are some that say BPM sounds warmer... I can only say that i have not had any issues getting maschine to fit the mix perfectly.

comparing this to something like a hardware groove box it wipes the floor in categories such as integration with your DAW and with ability to chop and tweak from the controller and not use a mouse it's amazing. there are a few draw backs though. currently (it's coming in future updates) no timestretch. and no ability to use a clip board (not a deal breaker just would save time) those lil issues kinda irritate. but really with drag and drop of audio and midi it's very easy to drag the audio out to something like recycle or LIVE and timestretch then drop it back in. the Pads feel so damn good. when i bought maschine I expected to need my mpc at least as a midi controller. but i have found i actually prefer maschines pads. they are just a tad more firm but i have found them more playable in a live situation.

By far the easiest piece of pro audio kit i have ever learned. I love how easy it is to chop and arrange. and how easy it is to organize my vast sample library being a big vinyl head. If your can't figure maschine out.... give up. or just youtube a how to video....

Pads feel great, knobs are better than my novation remote sl! software is stable. i have heard rumors of the metal plate on top of the controler coming off but all complaints on the NI forums have been quickly dealt with. so no complaints from me. screens are very clear and the whole unit feels nice and solid.

blows the doors off my mpc (and i love my mpc) for less than half what my mpc cost! you gotta be kidding me.

can't believe how great NI have been with answering questions on the forums and implementing user suggestions! they are constantly coming out with FREE updates and Free sound packs! while products like BPM charge $79 bucks for basic upgrades? (charging to be able to midi map is wrong!)

It's just so well made and sleek. it's like a MAC it just works the way you want it to! makes my mpc sit dusty... never thought i would see that day come.

active musician

Hip hop

|Guitar: 5 years | Singing: 5 years | Rapping: 2 years | Ukelele: 3 years | Producing: 2 months|

Hip hop, alternative, rock, screamo, blah blah. I honestly love all genres of music. If the song is good, it's good. My main foc

the maschine is truly in a class of its own. the sounds are great or as great as you want to make them cause ithas unlimited potential

it has a bus load of features and more are being added as we speak. this product made me give up my mpc and i am not looking back

this is the easiest groovebox slash sampler slash drummachine available today

it is perfect

less then any other drum machine/sampler out there and twice as good shoot you better stop reading this and buy one

native instruments really care for their customers and help in any way they can

its pretty plain and straight foward but you can go to styleflip and put whatever you want on it

recording engineer

all good music

Started making music in 2002. Trying to keep up

Hip hop

I represent the ordinary Joe's producing beats as a hobby.... a bunch of years now. Had many drum machines over the years. Was looking for something to get ALL the ideas out of my head and onto disc. After a couple months of researching units on official websites and watching all the homemade tutorials on youtube, Maschine seemed like the wisest choice. Now that I have it, I think I did a pretty good job with my selection. As an ordinary Joe, I just want to make bangin beats fast. I dont have to make them perfect... just fast. I'll pewrfect them later if I feel like it since Maschine has all the tools to do so. Now that I've been working with it about a week and getting past the learning curve, thats exactly what I do. Making beats within an hour... Im talking sample, chop, filter, eq, etc... Done deal. Still learning the features, so the time is bound to speed up. I will say this though... if you dont anything about samplers, Maschine probably shouldn't be your first choice UNLESS you have the patience to go through the trial and error. YOU WILL mess up a couple projects if you're a rookie at this. The manuals good for nothing. You'll learn more watching homemade videos. Other than that, its a must have. And much cheaper than any COMPARABLE hardware. And considering its the only hardware/software setup out there making any noise, cop it. Plus as the updates come, its like equal to trading in an old drum machine and being handed a new one for free. Trust... its a solid purchase.

It comes with the hardware, the plug, and the software. You may as well not even count the Owners manual, because it speaks to you as if you've already owned and MPC. Saying things like "If you're familiar with the MPC..."

Its got a ton of sounds. Easy to find and manipulate. But again, if you've never had a drum machine before, dont let this be your first. The manual wont teach you how to use it.

One thing I dont care for much is its kinda lightweight. So dont let it slip off a workbench. But the buttons and knobs do seem sturdy, so... thats what matters most. Keep kids away from it.

Definitely worth the money. If it was sold for what it was worth, it would be well out of my price range.

When I first got it in the mail and downloaded the software, I couldnt get sound from it. Couldnt figure out why. Went to the site to ask questions just to find a service page that asks me more questions than Im asking. All sorts of crap about my computer I had no clue about. After I got the info for them and gave it, had to wait for a response via email which took 5 days to come. And when it did, it just told my my computer wasnt compatible and not much else. So I didnt know what I had to upgrade. Took the comp and the Maschine to the Geek Squad and asked them what I needed to add. Turns out I had to buy another laptop altogether. Thats fine. But I didnt appreciate waiting a week before i even knew what path i had to take. Bottom line

Looks cool. Kinda small. eh, i dont need sexy hardware. its cool.

Hobbyist

Hip Hop

I AM A 27 YR. VET IN MUSIC PRODUCTION TURNTABLES ,KEYBOARD OWNER OF MTS MUSIC GROUP

R&B ,HIP-HOP ,POP ,TURNTABLIST ,RAP ,CHRISTAN & COUNTRY

After owning this for about 6 months, my opinion has greatly appreciated. Once you get to know the Maschine and work around it, it is an extremely powerful piece of equipment

once they fix/upgrade the MIDI capabilities with an update this thing will be PERFECT

very daunting at first, but like any software/hardware it takes time

so far so good

great value, pretty cheap IMO

Producer

HipHop/Dance/House

DJ since 1983

Chicago House, Disco, R&B, Hip-Hop

The sequencer program that's included has many sounds and samples that sound phenomenal.

This controller has everything you need to create beats or control play live. The leds are very useful for as a sequencer and the pad response is on point!

It's easy to use if you already know a little about music production or djing. Just plug it in via usb and that's it. There are useful tutorials on youtube to help you get started.

Its made very well, it's plastic but most controllers are plastic. The knobs are solid and are rubberized. The led screen is clear the buttons feel great.

This kit was a bit expensive, but with all of the features and capabilities it had, I caved in and got one using the pay as you play option.

They have a tendency to not have the quickest response but they will solve your problem eventually.

I've wanted one of these for a long time!

10

trance, house, progressive, hip hop

been producing music for 10+

Techno House

26 years. Guitar, keyboards, drums, DJ, harmonica, play professionally

All around

Maschine is quickly becoming the standard in groove sequencers in the music industry. Just referring to Maschine as a groove sequencer tends to limit its potential as production tool in the studio. The producer is only limited to his or her own imagination when using Maschine. In my opinion, you get more than you pay for with Maschine. It is ready to go right out of the box with a vast number of sounds. I am using Maschine with the M-Audio Axiom 25 MIDI controller.

There is a learning curve, however there are plenty of tutorials on YouTube and elsewhere.

I did have to contact Native Instruments regarding a software issue. They responded quickly and emailed me new software which solved the problem.

Hobbyist

Hip Hop/Jazz/House/Techo

I played with this joint at NAMM and its off the chain! I have been looking for something that brings the Computer and an MPC like MIDI Controller together nicely and this is it! I got an MPC 5000 and I am still copping this joint! Ordered it yesterday from zzounds.com!

For the money ($599) this joint is serious!

Its put together and engineered very well!

for $599!!!!

NI support is not the best, but not the worst either!

its coming!

Active Producer, DJ.

Hip Hop, Trip Hop, Breakbeats, Hick Hop, some Electronic

Producer for 2yrs of hip hop and r&b

Hip hop and R&B

15 YEARS i PLAY BASS DRUMS KEYBORDS AND GUTAR

HIP HOP, R&B SOUL ROCK

the sound of course depends on the samples you load into it. to be fair i think that the library is very well chosen with a lot of useful sounds (unlike most of the sample cd's out there). the sound of the filters is very basic and nothing special. dont expect great sound design with it

no sequencing through the midi out. this means you can't sequence other synths with it. no recycle support in my eyes very unuseful concept of sounds and patterns (i expected to be able to choose from a big sequence library and switch them for every sound on the fly - not possible.. for every variation you have to copy ALL sequences (pattern) and program your variations. you can copy quite a lot but it gets cluttered very quick and it keeps you from building up a nice pattern library.

once you know how it works it works very well and you can play around without the need to use the keyboard or the mouse which in my eyes is the best thing about the product. nevertheless in terms of live or jamming the concept is a bit too hmm clumsy, cluttered and not as smooth and flexible as you know it from ableton live (imagine live not being able to copy clips for variations but just complete scenes)

the product seems very solid, knobs run smooth and feel good, no plastic feel at all, buttons and knobs nice aligned and no edges. looks quite solid. however i am pretty sure a dropped beer would kill it.

the product is quite expensive but the controller is very well made, the software works (be careful with snow leopard) and it comes with 5 gig samples

ni is promising an update since quite a while. there is a beta version but nor for the normal user.

great concept. if they get the problems sorted this is a really cool rpoduct which got me into producing again.

hobby, some releases, several live performances

breakbeat, drum & bass, nujazz downbeat, some minimal

The sound quality is amazing. It is very user friendly and I love th feel of the pads. I haven't opened the book up yet and still figuring things out just playing around with it. The lights are cool on it and you are able to just work from the controler itself, you don't have to look at the computer screen. I am a huge Mpc fan and I said ill never stop using it but that may change. The Maschine is great, the work flow just moves so much faster. I can go on and on about this thing. Its a must have period.

producer

RnB and hip hop, pop

This thing sounds great! and if you want crappy sounds you find an effect to add some crappiness to it!

In this case Less is More just the MASCHINE and the program and the usb cable!

Much easier to learn than the MPC2k, Manual is on point in 4 different languages!

The MASCHINE isn't that complicated if you are a dumba** and you drop your gear or spill something on it then its your loss treat it like a newborn and you will be fine!

It would be nice if the MSRP was 450.00 but its worth 600.00 since there isn't any products like this on the market!

Haven't needed to use support yet.

Very sexy! Rosa Acosta Sexy if you don't know what Rosa Acosta Sexy is Google her!

Active Muscian

All

stock sounds are pretty good, very crispy and different........I pretty much paid $600 for some sweet sounds and a sweet looking (emphasis on ooking, its not a great MIDI device) controller because I dont use it live nor do I sequence with it.

Has good features but they are difficult to implement.......I use it as a MIDI controller to sequence in Logic and it was clearly NOT made for that.......if you want to sequence inside of Maschine software then its probably for you but if you sequence inside a DAW then you should probably reconsider if $$ is an issue.

the Maschine is very frustrating and daunting to learn......Ive unplugged it and shut down logic a few times because I couldn't figure some stuff out......Manual is a joke, watch the tutorials online......the Automap function is pretty cool but the rest of the maschine commands are counter-intuitive Sampling mode kinda sucks, still haven't figured it out.....thought it would increase my workflow (has done the opposite)

seems well built but its plastic, the pads are awful hard which I guess is a good thing after time I hope they get a little softer......we'll see Ive only had it 2 weeks Built just like a MIDI controller, yet it just barely acts as a midi controller

Im being optomistic that the new updates will fix all the problems but you have to expect all this with a brand new product There isn't any competition.....yet

didn't call support......NI forums are your best bet, although it doesnt get a TON of traffic like other forums........and there are alot of idiots on there

It looks really cool, has a lot of "potential" features......sounds are great Although its really annoying that when you load a kit, it automatically loads a premade/demo patch sequence that you have to meticulously go into and delete all the notes Needs an auto clear/remove option

Producer

HipHop/House/Dance/Pop/Trance

Dj since the 80's

Hip-hop

DJ and Hobbyist

hip-hop

For owning many pieces of music hardware, keyboards, MPCs, and drum machines, this takes the trophy. So many very good sounds.

Maschine comes with a hardware controller. Features and sounds are World Class at the moment. I am still pretty happy with this purchase despite malfunctioning HW.

So far so good. I am anticipating that the workflow will be awesome once I get the replacement controller.

Unfortunately, I have to give it a low rating here due to malfunctioning left screen. I gave this a 3 since it was not totally all loss. It does look nice though. The pads are ok, not as good as an MPC or MPD in my opinion, but Software integration with this HW is the best I have seen, when it works. I have to send the controller back to NI due to faulty left screen. It seems I got the luck of the draw to have a faulty one. I hope not too many people have the same issue. Most of all, I hope I will not have to wait too long to get the replacement.

I think it would be better if it costs about $100-$150 less. Maybe that's because I got a borked controller.

So far ok. Only thing I wish they would have done is sent me out a replacement controller while I send out the defective one. Other than that, I feel like NI Support is average.

The one of the main reasons I decided to go with Maschine is that the workflow looked good and working with samples was going to be easier. I really wanted an MPD 32 instead since I am using this with Logic 9.

Producer, Video Editing

Hip-Hop, Experimental

Very awesome product. My workflow has changed now and I am very, very happy with it.

Controller, usb cable, install media, book manual.

My best tool so far. I am very, very happy with it.

Ok, here is the skinny. Very, very disappointed in the experience as a whole. The controller was not QC'd properly as the left LCD had a problem displaying text. It did light up, but there was not any information on the screen.

A little pricey, but worth it.

Native Instruments support is going to be my rant. I am very, very disappointed at the way they handled my situation especially since I had just received the item and I was on TS with them to determine that there was a problem with the controller. I was willing to pay for the replacement, but they denied me to do so. Luckily, zzounds.com came through in the end.

It is practical for now, or until something else better comes along.

Producer, Video Editing

Hip-Hop, Experimental

I never review products...EVER. This needs a review however - because it is the coolest piece of musical equipment (aside from my guitar) that anyone could possibly own. The sound, the ease of use, the software interface...the customization...its just fantastic. Buy it...worth every penny - will pay for itself in the first few weeks of use.