The timing is very convenient. NI just finished a series of sales on almost their entire lineup: Maschine + Komplete bundle, X1 with free Traktor Pro license, Kontrol Z2, Kontrol S2+S4 sale, and just recently the entire Maschine lineup.
This likely means some sort of deeper integration with Traktor and Maschine is coming, hence the emphasis on the “Future of DJing” and being able to make tracks live. The sales of Maschine would make it easier for people to acquire the tools before the launch of this new software/hardware release. The Future of DJing is a bold statement so i’m really curious to see what they come up with.
Inevitable. Like the direction they are taking this. Traktor is slowly turning into everything Ableton + The Bridge was supposed to be. The likes of Larry Levan and Frankie Knuckles would have an 808/909 next to their turntable set up. Proper Maschine Traktor integration would bring that back without having to drag such gear out to the club environment (if one is lucky enough to have one )