This morning, Native Instruments announced the brand new generation of the Maschine and Maschine Mikro -and it looks like the Kontrol F1 won’t be the only RGB backlit piece of kit in Native Instruments’ lineup for much longer. Read more about the new Mk2 Maschine units inside!
The new Mk2 editions of the units come in both black and white, with all 16 of the pads backlit in colors that correspond to the colors in the new Maschine 1.8 software, which has been updated to provide color support and a few new effects. Additionally, the software now comes bundled with a free version of the ubiquitous (sometimes too much so) Massive soft-synth.
One final major item to note with this new generation of Maschine products – NI is now offering customizable kits for Maschine users to change the color of the faceplate and knobs on the device, with colors offered in gold, red, blue, pink, and grey.
Naturally, it wouldn’t be a Maschine launch if we didn’t have a video of finger-drumming legend Jeremy Ellis using the new products and showing off each of the features throughly – have a look below!
The Mashine Mk2 and Maschine Mikro Mk2 are set to be in stores on October 1st.
More Info:
- Maschine Mk2 Photo Gallery | DJTT Facebook
- Maschine Product Page | Native Instruments
Does anyone know….will the MK2 software work with the Mk1?
Does anyone know if us original Maschine Owners will get a free copy of Massive as well? (They gave us the update when they released 1.5 with Komplete Elements). I wonder if they will do the same when they release 1.8!!!
are they dropping the first maschine models? because i bought the mikro last month
for some reason I wonder a bit about how NI does their product research – Ellis is tweaking a micrscopic little knob repeatedly so they can´t possibly have asked him anyway. also what is he doing on the laptop? Surely a gadget with that many inputs could let him work without latop interaction (just saying and no maschine user)
Yeah, I am glad that we have colors for pads, it will make the GUI more viewable instead of the ol’ “all orange and gray” interface. But I wonder if you guys know whether users of the old hardware will be entitled to an 1.8 version upgrade, as well as if major issues will be solved, like lack of Sidechaining or the Instruments Note Repeat freeze problem.
Can you use the new software with the old hardware? Because only differance I see between the New hardware and the old hardware are the colors?
Yes, you can use the new software with the old hardware (it’s a free upgrade). Obviously the parts that deal with colors will be more difficult to integrate, but the software “Massive” comes with the new Maschine software in addition to some new effects. If you use Maschine as a plug-in within a DAW you can drag-n-drop patterns and sounds into the workspace and control VSTs (in addition to the virtual Maschine controls) inside the DAW, also you can save groups with samples now (as per Traktor) either inside a DAW or on it’s own.
There are hints all over the place, but as far as I can tell nothing explicitly states that the Maschine pad will control the Remix Decks in Traktor, however it is very clear that Synchronization with Traktor has been improved. My hope is that it won’t be via MIDI because I’ve tried that before and the synchronization doesn’t stay synced.
These new Maschines are making me seriously think about buying one……
I like silver better.
Sigh. Before I decided to recently buy a Maschine I was posting what a great idea it would be for them to release a new version that doubled as an F1. They haven’t announced that functionality… yet, but I will of course be a little gutted when they do having bought a Mk1.
I’m SO happy I didn’t buy an F1 too.
I just wish they’d tell the truth when selling off end of line stock rather than pretending it’s a sale every time. That way we can decide if we want to take advantage of the price and manage without the new features rather than just feeling bitter towards them.
To clarify, I ordered my Maschine a couple of days before they announced the price drop as it popped up on google shopping results for a single retailer. I rang them to check it wasn’t the student edition and they just confirmed it was a great price. I thought I’d got a bargain, but it turned out soon after that everyone was dropping to that price. I then kept it in the box for a week in the vain hope that I might find out if a new model was coming soon so I could return it unopened. The general opinion on the NI forums was that it was too soon for new hardware. Oh well.
I am very grateful that they are giving existing owners the software update though and timestretch as others have said gets a big thumbs up.
Here’s what I wrote on the NI forums back in July… http://www.native-instruments.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1056572&postcount=113
The reply from someone about an upgrade offer makes me chuckle.
Software perhaps, but zero chance of a hardware upgrade offer.
TIME STRETCH… WOOOOOOO!!!! I’m sticking with the original controller. This software upgrade is huge. Thanks NI!
To all of the haters and people saying… “ya whatever, they should have done blah blah blah instead…” How about you create better software and sell it? If you do, I’ll buy it. Oh… but you’re not going to so stop posting useless comments and don’t use it.
get them updates and make that 1st house beat.
watch out paul oakenfold…….techno here I come!!!
When i blow my money on hardware / software and it does not have the capabilities of the top 3 DAW’s on the market i should be glad that I have to wait 8 months for NI to make an update to get any other DAW’s standard tools. your happy about something that should have been in there to begin with. I can see this being a woot for bedroom DJ’s but anyone who has used ableton / FL studio / logic can tell you that the workflow is shit…..and if the workflow is shit how are u supposed to use the built in tools correctly…..you cant.
I disagree, respectfully. I was a maschine user first and granted it does have its limitations it is still a useful studio tool for ALL producers, not just bed room DJ’s. You made an ignorant statement in regards to that but I’ll forgive you. After using machine for about 8 months i also got ableton live and let me tell you that these two pieces of software paired together are pretty amazing. I still use machine as my sampler and for ALL my drums, not to mention massive and other plugins. While you most likely wont make a song from start to finish ONLY using maschine, to say its an irrelevant piece of kit and software is pure debauchery.
I disagree… I use Reason 5 and Logic… I’m starting to learn how to use Ableton (via Dub Spot)… Maschine has its place – amateur or pro.
I’m just saying its annoying when people bash other companies, when they (complainers) really don’t have any value to offer to the situation. As if these companies owe us something.
There are artists around the world that create amazing music with no DAWs… muisc is the result of one’s imagination whether you are an artist, bedroom dj, musician, librarian, janitor, window washer… WHOEVER…
It’s the mind, not the technology.
P.S. not arguing or attacking – just sharing my opinion.
ur right, but if there are these amount of complains and keep coming more, u also have to admit this part that there are actually a problem/ unconvenient way of workflow and something isn’t going well. I was and am using Ableton/FL/Logic/PT/and Nuendo. Every daw has it’s downside but not noticeable or can be easily ignored BUT maschine? its software ? u curse out for me. it’s NOT very user friendly, I mean everything is pretty much in there but don’t feel like to do it in maschine other thing else than drum or sampling due to lack of workflow such as for ex. u set the start point of sample and zoom in. and when u move or come back to another pad, u gotta zoom in and find that point in the screen again. why do I need to waste my concentration and time on this ridicuouls thing? imagine do this for every pad. These type of shit is plenty in machine. why do we have to feel so special when NI update the software that is going to be barely have some standard tools of other daws already?
Why not use Maschine inside of Ableton for the pre-recorded parts and use it one it’s own for the live parts? I think the selling point here are that it has the 3 color LEDs… which is a nice enough improvement for non-owners to consider and existing owners to fret about. If the new (Mikro) Maschine Mk2 can be used as an interface (for the Sample Decks) in Traktor, it would be a HUGE deal. I think this is the biggest question on a lot of peoples minds and would certainly be enough of a reason for me to buy one.
hopefully there will be a maaajjjor update to the editor……what a painful workflow.
Looks like NI is trying to come at DJ TT market with the ability to offer their own custom color knobs… must’ve seen a bigger market for it. Bet DJ TT was part of the reason they opened their to it. “No good deed, goes unpunished” or something like that lol
So they make a NEW one instead of just upgrading the old one? Hope the software will be an upgrade for the old one too. No reason to go buy a new one just because it “looks cool”.
old one is 100% supported, so all good.
Old maschine has been out for years and received many updates.
Making hardware changes (changing the LEDs inside and adding a new knob) justifies calling it a new version (or Mark).
Native Instruments!!! Fucking CABLES!!! Give me the WIFI MIDI CONTROLLERS!!!
You must really love latency
if you use an ad hoc network, the latency is fine (below 10ms, sometimes even better).
you wouldn’t really rely on a wifi connection for a real gig would you?
there was one venue, for the life of me, i couldn’t make an ad hoc network for the life of me for a wifi midi controller (touchable). thankfully, i had my mpd32 with me.
Hope they bring out a hardware only version, because already got my Maschine software.
But i think that’s 2 much 2 ask from NI…
It’s a shame really, that all corporations are employing this model of profitability through product multiplicity and doing a dance with cyclical consumption while we are all womping out to the principals of designed vs perceived obsolescence.
But to back pedal a bit… NI does produce some amazing products, I just wish the worlds’ economies would collapse a bit quicker so we can remove the ever fraudulent Monetary System and rid ourselves of it’s inherent obstacle course on advances in technology. I am but a dreamer of course… In the mean, back to work to make the problem bigger 😛
I believe there is that option, but it’s overpriced when there are no new functionality features in the hardware. Just lights and a dial.
I just preordered mine. I already own Massive, so I can sell it (100€), selling Komplete Elements as well (30€), selling old Maschine (300€), 600 – 100 – 30 – 300 = 170€ for a decent update. Yay!
shut up and take my money NI !
From what I hear it’s going to be the same price as the older one’s. So hopefully they added a few more new features to this new models.
No new features except:
Lights
Dial
More sensitive pads
Diff layout on the back
Nothing that makes a difference to your capabilities as a producer
if you use maschine as a groovebox or performance device, more sensitive pads makes a huge difference.
Wow, I can’t wait to go waste all my money on a new Maschine just because it has more colors. I think I’d rather save my money and try to get one of the original Maschines while I still can, or wait for the new MPCs, which I hear are supposed to be out in September.
This is more of what I was hoping for when Traktor released the Remix Decks. Hopefully the new generation of Maschines work seamlessly with Traktor Pro and we can forget about this cursed-from-creation Kontrol F1. Velocity sensitivity (with Aftertouch) makes a big difference for control.
agreed
well i eat my words. Timestretch is now available with this update i hear! screw how the controller looks with pretty lights, its all about the software!stoked now for this update. Supposedly the 1.8 update also include massive!
Yes it does include Massive and a ton more samples.
The software is more impressive than the controller I agree, and it’s 100% compatable with mk1 and mk2 controllers so happy days.
Maybe they’ll finally let us
maschine owners control traktors remix decks with this release! That’s
only reason I can see how the new lights would add value. If all they did what add colored lights then this is a stupid update. How about you work on adding timestretchin to sample instead of this cosmetic BS. Get it together NI
1.8 will have timestretch.
No we know why there was the big half price special!
this looks pretty amazing. any modders out there that are willing to experiment to get such LEDs on the old maschine?
no chance! It’s all designed to fit in the box, do you really want to start messing around with the firmware, software, hardware and everything for some extra colours? You’re mad!
would love to know how the chroma caps will fit on it
Any ideas on what it will cost? I mean a ballpark since no one would really know for sure?
Prices are on the NI website.
The prices are listed on the website. My guess is they will list for as much, but probably $669 for the Maschine and $399 for the Maschine Mikro are list prices and will probably retail for a little less.
I just purchased a Maschine Mikro Mk2 for $300 on Musician’s Friend… with tax $324. Delivery = soon.
Right after I buy my Maschine >.<
any return policy?? probably worth looking at that but usually only applicable if you got it between 1-2 weeks
Seems like this one will do control the remix decks as well
Damnit…. acquisition disorder: on! (and I just bought my MAschine approx 4 months ago!
integrated soundcard???
(or just the same with rgb?)
There WAS hope….
If I have a wish, … audio interface + headphone output
Waiting for Mk3 hardware. 🙂
I thought native instruments will kill this video…but this was not as per my expectations 🙁
Hell and yes…