It combines the joy of Maschine Studio’s luxurious displays, a built-in audio interface, an overhaul of its function button layout and a build quality superior to its predecessors. It’s the first significant departure from the original function button layout, so-much-so that for the first few minutes of use I had to re-train my muscle memory before my Maschine dexterity returned. Having spent lengthy periods with every Maschine incarnation to date, Maschine MkIII is completely stunning, not just in terms of cosmetics but also functionality. Notably, all Maschine hardware dating back to 2009 is still 100% supported by the latest builds of the software, a real achievement on NI’s part. Although covered in modifier buttons the Maschine software began to outgrow its software shell and having a layout consistent with the original hardware no longer made sense. Over a nine-year period, NI evolved the software back-end of Maschine, incrementally adding new features and substantial improvements. In 2016 a ‘sidecar’ iteration appeared - Maschine Jam - lacking any kind of displays, but with a user interface focused on on-the-fly step sequencing and touch strips that provide easy mixing, lock states and playing notes via strumming. Although it provided the bling experience (with a price to match), its release predated key features, later introduced in the Maschine software, creating a clear application for one-to-one function buttons. The full-colour, high-resolution displays provided a graphic-rich means of navigating the browser, a proper mixer and Mix window, and a DAW-like piano roll presentation of the step sequencer. The substantially larger chassis allowed for more relaxed button spacing and additional shortcut buttons. Maschine Studio appeared in 2013 delivering the roomier ‘Business Class’ Maschine experience. NI released Maschine MkII a few years later with a better build quality, the monochrome displays were backlit, and the buttons/pads received coloured backlighting with a more reassuring ‘click’ to the function buttons. Because its software was written to exploit the control surface, it truly excelled at getting musicians away from their computers and focusing on the music. Instead of dealing with proprietary, cantankerous disk formats, file management was no different to everyday file storage. Instead of MB of RAM for sample storage you had GB of RAM in your computer. When Maschine (MkI) hit the scene back in 2009, it was a revolution - it delivered a hardware MPC-style experience powered by any BYO computer technology of the day you partnered with it.
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