NATIVE INSTRUMENTS MASCHINE MKIII Hardware Controller

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. Instead of MB of RAM for sample storage you had GB of RAM in your computer. Instead of dealing with proprietary, cantankerous disk formats, file management was no different to everyday file storage. 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.

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. Maschine Studio appeared in 2013 delivering the roomier ‘Business Class’ Maschine experience. The substantially larger chassis allowed for more relaxed button spacing and additional shortcut 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. Although it provided the bling experience (with a price to match), its release predated key features, later introduced in the Maschine