#NATIVE INSTRUMENT MASCHINE PRO#
#NATIVE INSTRUMENT MASCHINE SOFTWARE#

#NATIVE INSTRUMENT MASCHINE SOFTWARE#

Though the software rapidly matured after its version 1.0 release, the Maschine MK1 hardware immediately offered the essential layout required by hip-hop makers of the time. Much like a classic APC60 with the hardware you’d dream of buying, once you had won the lottery! Launched in 2009, the first Maschine sough to merge classic beatmaker design with computer-based workflows Like the approach earlier versions of Propellerhead’s Reason took, Maschine virtualised a MIDI-based hardware studio offering a classic MIDI Sampler workflow, audio processing and virtual instruments.

Though the Launchpad and the Akai APC 40 were released during this year, what set Maschine apart was the inclusion of its own sequencing software, making it feel more like the purchase of a ready-packaged music-making environment.

#NATIVE INSTRUMENT MASCHINE PRO#

Ableton Live, Pro Tools and Sonar were 8, and, FL Studio and Logic were 9. Native Instruments, which had been at the forefront of virtual instrument advancement through the noughties, decided that the time was nigh to offer a fully integrated hardware control experience, but with a software heart.Īt this moment in time, Reason was at release version 4, Cubase at 5 and Digital Performer 6. Though Ableton Live had long been supporting Control Surface scripts for a variety of controllers, it was devices like Akai’s APC40 and Novation’s first Launchpad released in 2009 that helped move us further towards a hardware and software hybrid paradigm. Highlights include Novation’s Automap system in 2005 which used adaptive mapping so as the user moved around the software, the Novation SL Controller would display relevant text and re-map its controls, making the user less reliant on the main computer display. Better bridging the gap between our in-the-box mechanics and a more tactile, hardware-oriented navigation and interaction. Over the years, as we collectively found comfort in our ‘all bells and whistles’ DAW environment, many developments took place between DAW design and MIDI controller software to create a more fluid, and musical, experience. For a while, if a musical inputting device was used, it was often a simple and affordable piano keyboard controller – far from the complexity of control and ease of workflow we’re used to today. The role of the programmer also became more prominent with many new generations of creatives crafting their music using just a mouse and computer keyboard. Alongside the evolution of more powerful and affordable home computers, the pain of a hardware recall soon became forgotten, replaced by the convenience of ‘saving all’. The start of this new era was when the accessibility of music-making started to broaden through virtualised studio environments. The sonic limitations which then became characteristics of classic sample based drum machines have been approximated in Maschine’s sampler to borrow some of that classic vibe VST plug-ins had already arrived in 1996, but coupled with VST Instruments (VSTi) in 1999, this represented a sea change in the standardised software-based studio and a move away from the costs of what were becoming perceived as dusty old hardware studio tools. Around this time, a turning point occurred, as PCs (and pricey Macintoshes) were becoming powerful enough to run modest audio/MIDI sequencing and audio recording. This would require all sound sources to be external ie, hardware drum machines, sound modules, synthesisers and samplers.

Towards the late 1990s, unless you were running a Commodore Amiga as your affordable 8-bit, domestic priced sequencer and sampler, the main accessible choice for bedroom producers was an Atari ST running Cubase for MIDI sequencing. To set the scene for Maschine’s first arrival, it’s important to understand the major shifts through the 2000s. Akai’s MPC60 set the early standard for workstation design, it was later expanded and relaunched in 1994 as the MPC3000 Computer love These later hardware-based incarnations all have their own stories of success, but there was soon a major shift in music-making which happened towards the end of the 1990s that would alter the course the entire music production landscape forever. Some catered towards MIDI sequencing and sampling, others focussed purely on standalone sampling units with the user needing their own form of MIDI sequencer. Alongside Akai, other major companies created sampling machines with higher quality capabilities, larger memory capacities and higher polyphony.

Native instrument maschine