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Jan1 · Platinum Member Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 765

I always wondered why they didn’t, but now they have: Maschine+, a hardware standalone version of Maschine (it also has Kontakt onboard).
The way I see it the ‘+’ could very well find its way into the Komplete Kontrol key controllers.

Koekepan · Platinum Member Joined: 27 Sep 2016 Posts: 617

The advertising copy is a little nebulous, but from what I can tell (and glean from videos) it mostly offers facilities comparable with an MC707, but with an additional screen and Maschine's rather nice sound options.

I don't see the kind of linear options that say "workstation" to me, and they do bill it as a groovebox. It supposedly has a song mode, but what that entails is left to the imagination. It also doesn't appear to do anything with CV/Gate, and so I'm left wondering what it does that an MPC One doesn't, for half the price.

Jan1 · Platinum Member Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 765

Koekepan · Platinum Member Joined: 27 Sep 2016 Posts: 617

I'm perfectly happy to be wrong - it's still preorder teaser time, and I haven't yet seen any detailed, in-depth demonstrations. It's quite possible that the scope of their clips along with an open-ended, grid-breaking arranger view gives us a great linear experience. And if so, that would be the killer feature over the MPC family, to me. However, if it's just the equivalent of the new Fantom (which is a groovebox with delusions of grandeur, not a workstation) then they can keep it.

But I have to agree with you; compared to the MPCs, the connectivity is thoroughly underwhelming. This thing does not say "studio master" to me in its current form.

megamarkd · Posted: Thu Sep 10, 2020 10:40 am Post subject:

Yes, I am dubious of it being a real standalone workstation. Its I/O is not 'workstation' level. And DDR3? Is that even still sold new? For the price it is a bit low on pizzazz.
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Stuff I'm using: Umm right now, well there's a Volca Drum, a Micro Freak, an ADX-1, a Pulse, a Blofeld, a UNO Drum, KeyStep/Beatstep Pro/Keystep Pro (one of each), a Circuit, a LiveTrak L-12 and this nonsense: The Brief-case as it was about a bit over a year ago (the the complete ridiculous GAS monster collection here)and here

Jan1 · Platinum Member Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 765

Here’s a link to the NI forum and in the first post the new clip feature is discussed.
As I understand it it gives you the ability to record in a linear way on a linear timeline, and that’s a big plus for me.

BUT, elsewhere the clips are described as ‘different kind of pattern which can be moved freely along the timeline’, and based on how I work I want to know if it is possible to insert measures somewhere in a clip with a different time signature, can you delete measures at a specified point in a clip?

Odd that after all this time everything I need in a sequencer was there in my very first workstation 30 years ago and that nowadays developers love to compete with reinventing the wheel only to come full circle with the realization ‘hey, there are people who love to work in a linear way, let’s make our sequencer feature the possibility to work like a traditional DAW’.
If Korg brings a new workstation to the market I sure hope they will NOT limit it to some groovebox pattern based thingy which doesn’t allow you to do basic things their M1/T1-2-3 could do. Like Roland.

Koekepan · Platinum Member Joined: 27 Sep 2016 Posts: 617

OK, that link turns it all on its head.

This is a lot closer to what sunvox and Caustic will do in terms of arrangement. There's a timeline, but you can put clips anywhere along it, including in parallel with each other - and Caustic also has a general linear entry capability that Maschine seems to be offering.

Mind you, that wasn't my only objection but it does at least promise to elevate the Maschine+ to something that I would call a real workstation. Kudos where it's due! (And sincerely hoping that other manufacturers get a clue.)

fomalhaut · Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2020 2:11 pm Post subject:

Or Korg Gadget, right?

Koekepan · Platinum Member Joined: 27 Sep 2016 Posts: 617

Maybe there's a new version of Gadget that will let clips overlap boundaries, and allow for linear entry on the main track - but if so, I haven't seen it.

Granted, I'm using the Switch version of Gadget, and it does seem to be castrated in some other ways, but Gadget seems to be about as sophisticated, from what I've seen, as the arranger options in the new Fantom - which is to say, miserable.