Maschine Studio

Does look an interesting development, as long as Maschine 2.0 SW is available to and supports existing owners, I'll be happy sticking with my MkII.

Let me be the first to say, I am that asshole who will upgrade his gear for no rhyme or reason. Especially when it comes to Maschine. However aside from 2 additional screens and a VU meter and a few additional buttons I don't see what the big deal is about it. As a MK II (used to own the original as well) owner, i'm completely satisfied with my MK II. And for those of you who own the Mk I, the MK II's pads are a huge upgrade. I absolutely love how playable and finger friendly it is now. So given everything i've said, I doubt unless there is some other significant upgrade to the hardware that i'm unaware of I doubt i'll be upgrading.

http://www.amazona.de/wp-content/upl...io-580x374.jpg

http://www.amazona.de/wp-content/upl...02-580x435.jpg

http://www.amazona.de/wp-content/upl...04-580x435.jpg

http://www.amazona.de/wp-content/upl...ck-580x159.jpg

http://www.amazona.de/wp-content/upl...te-580x323.jpg

Larger pics showing up-close detail:

http://www.amazona.de/wp-content/upl...lack_White.jpg

http://www.amazona.de/wp-content/upl...ine_Studio.jpg

I can't tell by the pictures, but even with the displays on the Maschine Studio, it's still not stand-alone right? You still have to have it hooked up to your laptop yeah?

Yeah, still just a controller, no built in soundcard either apparently.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXJ7e...&feature=share

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2013/1...udio-hardware/

They've got a great write up. Man those displays are gorgeous, i'm still a little choked about no time stretching or audio tracks but it sounds like NI may just ignore the audio tracks altogether. If they were going to do audio tracks the 2.0 update would have been the logical time to do it.

Maschine has offline time stretching like most DAWs

I gotta say I was pretty surprised at this announcement. I was expecting 2.0 but not more hardware. This is interesting because it shows that NI isn't afraid to step into the court of competitors. I didn't think they'd make a full size beast to compete with the Renaissance because it would go against their emphasis on portability or that they wouldn't want to diversify the lineup too much.

I think this also means we could still see a Kontrol Z4 (even though people think they wouldn't try to compete with club standards like Pioneer or A&H). And as mentioned in the DJTT Maschine article it's possible NI could start to place those gorgeous displays onto other products (Kontrol S4 MK3 or Kontrol Z2 MK2). Many being able to browse tracks, browse effects, and see which samples are loaded directly on the unit, i'd cry.

You're basically paying double for the color screen, VU meter and a bigger wheel? Meh. If its anything like previous NI VU meters, it's worthless.