Native Instruments Maschine Mk3 production and performance system

This and the S series keyboards are the centre of my studio now it’s very very steep learning curve and the manual might as well be written in a foreign language. It doesn’t make sense. However after spending days and days watching YouTube tutorials. The learning curve is after 20 years of using a linear DAW it is rather different. I thought it wouldn’t be for me at all as I am a professional pianist. I’m not interested in hitting pads but it is a really refreshing change.

I produce most of my music in Cubase, but wanted the facility to enter the percussion parts by 'drumming' rather than with the mouse. Maschine is a bit overkill for simple pads, but I figured it was worth it for the high quality build and additional features. The only trouble is that I've become a bit addicted to laying down drum tracks and haven't picked up Cubase for a few weeks :-)

This thing is a beast, it is a bit of a learning curve to get used to it but so is learning any other instrument really, I do really like this I wish the native host control was a bit better with Ableton (I was using 9 at time of writing review so don't know if 10 host control is better) it can be a bit of a faff to set up the control. But all in all this is pretty amazing and the software you get with this, including Reaktor Blocks and Massive are incredible. Would recommend 100%

Every release I've put out since buying this has used the Maschine in one way or another. Initially I had no need for one but had some money burning a hole in my pocket and I wanted to be John Bellion. The layering on this thing is amazing, especially with the Komete bundle... You can wazz the browser button to a pre determined preset bank, layer it on top of another one and again and again to get these rich tapestries of drum beats in 2 minutes. It's WAY more user intuitive than programming by hand although my only annoyance is the neccesity of Maschine2 software which frankly needs a blummin good upgrade

I am sure that i will come back and change this review once i have had time to fall in love with this device. But i just had to say i found this on my doorstep late at night, on a day OTHER than i was told it would arrive. I live in a high crime area and i am constantly telling Amazon NOT to leave packages anywhere if they can't get hold of me. This is not a new or one off problem. But this is by far the most expensive thing that they have done this with so far..Also, first impressions... This is a beautiful piece of hardware, BUT while i presume that it can take power from it's included USB, at this price i just assumed there should be an included and dedicated P.S.U. to go in the 15v / 1.2A socket. There isn't, and buying one separately is another £10 to £25 There is also no manual (i know there will be one online, i'm just saying), AND this was very poorly packaged for something of this value..Some of these might be factors outside of the control of the maker and original seller, but that's of little consolation to the end customer..15 hours later...So now i have had a chance to register this, check the firmware is up to date, download the relevant software etc, and i'm pretty sure i will be returning this ASAP and buying the Akai MPC like i should have all along. This seems to be bricked on what is barely even an opening screen, all of the online help (Reddit, etc) has that sneering attitude that makes me wish the internet had never been invented, and Native Instruments themselves are no help (one of the top community questions is ''Why is support so incredibly difficult to contact?'')..A couple days later...Got this ''working'' at last, and this is honestly the worst designed piece of trash i have ever touched. People here talk about the build quality (as i did at first), but after just two hours jamming on this it feels like most of the controls are showing signs of wear, and the on/off button even feels ready to fully fall off. Two hours use, and this already feels older than some of my studio kit that i've had for decades! But it's not only the physical hardware that's junk. The software for this has just 3 transport controls. Play, play from the begining, and record. No dedicated stop, or go back to the start but stop. And every time you audition a new sound, you wipe all of the work that you just did on the previous sound (yes, there is an ''undo'' in the menu, but you should not have to be using that every single second). There is also no zoom on long samples to fine trim them and to stop every single hit from playing a long sample all of the way through (8 times at least, because the default polyfony is set to 8). This thing seems to have no built in understanding that not all samples are short hits, and the screen to fix this is incredibly poorly designed and annoying..Things like this are utter basics on free software, nevermind software for a device that was £600 a month ago, £400 a week ago, and £375 today. And the reason that price is plummeting is because the MPC that i was originally shopping for can now (in the last few days) run everything that this can. So without saying it out loud, Native Instruments look to me like they are selling off dead stock and getting ready to sell up and drop support for everything like this. What's even worse is i am not sure if i will get a full refund or if i will lose over £90 i spent on the import fees..

Great product. I would recommend you check before buying though. As this comes with a later version of komplete that is currently out. However the limited select version of both 11 and 12 are very limited compared to komolete bundle and standard bundle. So any one buy this would probably be upgrading to to the twelve standard any way. Great piece of kit. And TBH I'm in shock. It's been a while since I've had this type of music groove and determination back. Would highly recommend this purchase

This was much better then expected. Easy to install and set up and the features are amazing. TOP BUY!

This is my first venture with Maschine and it is so far really fun. Quite a lot to learn but I can see how beneficial this will be for my creative process. Huge thanks to the fantastic 'MusicMatter' shop who sent this so quickly and in time for Christmas. They are also an official authorised dealer of Native Instrument products so I highly recommend them if you need any NK stuff! Looking forward to spending the Xmas break getting to know my new friend.