Native Instruments has introduced Maschine Mikro mkIII – the latest version of its compact beatmaking device.
Here’s what they have to say about it:
All-new bigger pads, based on those of the popular MASCHINE Mk3, make tapping out beats, playing melodies, and building up tracks a more fun and hands-on experience. The addition of a Smart Strip provides new ways of playing with MIKRO – by sliding fingers across the strip it’s possible to strum and bend sounds, and get creative with effects in real-time.
MASCHINE MIKRO comes bundled with MASCHINE Factory Selection – 1.6 GB of sounds, kits, samples, effects, and instruments, designed to give musicians and producers everything they need to start making music. Also included are full versions of the popular NI synths MASSIVE, MONARK, and REAKTOR PRISM. The MASCHINE software can be used standalone, or with any DAW, meaning that MIKRO fits easily into any music-making workflow – all while costing significantly less than previous generations.
The release of MIKRO also brings an all-new experience for getting started with MASCHINE. Whether making their first beat, or brushing up on the basics, NI’s comprehensive guides for getting started mean it has never been easier for musicians and producers to take the first steps on their MASCHINE journey.
Pricing and availability
Maschine Mikro mkIII will be available September 18, 2018, with the following pricing: 249 USD, 249 EUR, 31800 JPY, 199 GBP, 379 AUD, 329 CAD, 1999 CYN.
Bring a version to iOS?
Yup! Just what I was waiting for. I’m planing on selling my Maschine MK3 to get this and my Push 2 for the TouchAble Pro. Overkill is an understatement, I know ~_~
Perfect for portable jamming. Glad I waited for an update and decent price.
Massive, Monark and Prism included? I’m much-impressed. I love playing Prism; its somewhat like a sideways version of Razor, with some additive-type sounds, but also plenty of its own goodness. I’m not a grid-player very often, but this is the new go-to buy in this arena. The amount of power and flex you get for the price is stoopid-huge. Newbies, here’s your best-of-show starter piece.
nah. this is just cynical bundling of software to make the package bit more appealing to a beginner. where in fact, after all these years they have not delivered on most of the promised features. i visit the forums every now and then and its like a huge groundhog day. some bugs logged there are older then most peoples musical careers.
its unbelivable how incompetent that company has shown itself to be.
just soundpacks and hardware tweaks, no progress.
I entirely agree. They purposefully attempt to confuse the “product” with the “process” and take painfully obvious overpriced ways to assert that you can only make music within the Native Instruments ecosystem, then, you suffer all the bugs and irritating requirement to use a “player” to run their plugins within your own process. Nah. I’m done with them. Only purpose for using Native Instruments is if you are an “independent televisual audio producer” with your feet on the “street”. Of course, good musicians/producers will use whatever is at their disposal, so its possible to forgive that, but, not not so easy for me to forgive the “Native Instruments attitude”. Bleurgh.
If there is one midi controller who is really overpriced and not bundled with any software you should call PUSH 2. Hate as much as you want if you dont own these synths its a huge deal and you got the maschine mikro for free…
Maschine is the DAW I use to make dark ambient/drone music with modular synths. That seems like a mismatch, but it’s not what I was making when I first got it (when 2.0 was new and super buggy). I keep thinking about changing to another DAW just to clear some desk space for another synth — but none of them suit me as well. I’m about to release my 4th album of 2018 with that setup.
The only flaws in Maschine I can think of are with MIDI routing:
— effects can’t receive MIDI, only instruments can. There are a few effects like u-he Colour Copy and Sonic Charge Permut8 that have MIDI tracking features that just won’t work in Maschine.
— Maschine ignores MIDI generated by plugins that it hosts (for instance, Cableguys MIDIShaper).
Both of these are minor annoyances I can live with.
Maschine development is noticeably slow, but it does move forward. I’m not sure what features they “promised” and haven’t delivered.
Before people scream “fanboy” — I’m kind of disenchanted with NI’s other stuff. The last couple of times I upgraded Komplete versions I felt like it was mostly a waste for me. I think I used Form once. Reaktor is a mess to use and saving patches in Reaktor-based synths still makes no sense to me. The tiny audio interface in Maschine MK3 is useless to me, adding cost with no benefit (I have an 8-input interface where all 8 are regularly in use) and they didn’t offer any upgrade discount to owners of older Maschine hardware. I don’t care about NKS, their controller keyboards or Traktor — and you can’t follow announcements about Maschine updates in email without getting flooded with DJ crap. All I really want from them is a fresh version of Absynth with a modern UI and some new effects, and they’re not giving it.
But I think people whine too much about Maschine.
I feel the same way.
I’ve been making music for over twenty years and started on a Roland SP808EX, so the groovebox type workflow that Maschine provides is what I prefer to use more than working with a standard DAW. Most of the features missing in Maschine I’ve been able to find a workaround for, so I’m not too bothered by what’s missing to be quite honest. I do agree that the development for Maschine is comparatively slower than other DAWS but that has never stopped me from making music with it and getting the most out of what’s already there.
Apart from the MIDI routing enhancements you mentioned, I personally would love to see better automation tools. I’m not a fan of drawing automation by recording it and would rather just create an envelope curve quickly with a few points instead of having to draw everything in. I’d also love to see some sort of float track that allows you to place patterns not locked to the length of a scene. Those two would be HUGE for me.
The rest of NI’s stuff I could care less about. I own Komplete 11 but rarely use 90% of what’s in it. I use their Maschine expansions and that’s about it.
I don’t entirely disagree with you. There are 2 or 3 good reasons that I don’t own Kontakt. NI in general is too limiting in odd places and often fussy to deal with as a customer. I still stand by this particular release being a positive thing, as it *doesn’t* tie you to NI so closely, yet it has a lot to recommend it as a module of sorts. When NI gets it right, the result is something really potent like Razor. I like to give points where they’re due. No company can satisfy everyone 100%.
Synths are dime a dozen these days, and subjectivelly speaking i find reaktor user ensembles far more interesting than NI synths. anyway, most of the bundled synths has been included with the lackluster updates for the same reason – mitigate the fact the updates are shite.
i paid for the 2.0 of the maschine software believing they will improve on the 1.x in many ways. its the closest i have ever come to being scammed in the software world. i am kind of disgusted by this company, which i know is not entirely rational but seriously, they can go suck it.
@Technomancer, not to ape you…
“its the closest i have ever come to being scammed in the software world”
… but I think we may have had similar experiences. My experience of NI has irreparably poisoned my opinion of them and I considered bringing legal action to them. I bought Maschine years ago, but because of a few days (3-4?) difference of purchase date, was apparently not entitled to version 2.0 when it eventually was released. Trusting and foolish I eventually conceded as I had no other means to make music at the time, and bought Maschine V2. Gut pain still. Bad move. I will never forget the disgust I had when talking directly with a particular gentleman in their corporate german office by telephone after being forwarded endlessly though departments. Lets just say, he bore the hallmarks of a recently energised powder head. Of course that may not have been the case, but it was an indistinguishable experience. Disgusting. Hands up, it severely poisoned my experience of them, and still does. Of course, in a better world, people make use of what they have and never encounter that low grade behaviour, in which case, good for you – you can focus on using the tools you have to make the music you can. I would still recommend new users to stay away and not be bothered. You do not need maschine to have a workflow (but if it works for you, good, just remember its *your* workflow and ignore their noise. Same goes for the other manufacturers).
sorry to have read that. the only voice you have is your wallet.
dont buy from NI period.
given the price and the fact that it’s the best pads currently available on the market… this seems to be a very attractive thing to buy for anyone who is still in the market for a pad controller