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February 10, 2009

../ Ghost In The Maschine

Like all major manufacturers hoping to cut through the din of new product announcements, Native Instruments did its fair share of hyping their new products for NAMM this year. The German concern had long been rumored to be working on some sort of hardware controller for electronic musicians, and most industry watchers, including FutureMusic, believed this would come in the shape of a MIDI DJ controller that would perfectly integrate with Traktor.


Native Instruments Maschine


Now NI may still be working on such an endeavor, but for NAMM '09 they trotted out the Maschine, a MPC-like hardware controller with a software component. Although Maschine is certainly a provocative initiative, it left many watchers who scrutinize NI's every move scratching their heads. In fact, NI still hasn't disseminated much specific information about the new hardware/software offering to satisfy the masses, save for a very attractive Flash microsite showcasing the basic features.


So the question remains, what made Native decide to target the MPC market at this time? Akai certainly owns this niche. And now with Numark's deep pockets behind the seminal brand, they are only upping the ante with several MPC inspired controllers and keyboards. Roland, who saw an opening when Akai was floundering prior to the Numark takeover, dropped their own MPC-inspired product, the MV8000.



The 8000, championed by Jim Norman, who, ironically, has since left Roland for Alesis, also under the Numark umbrella, never quite captured the imagination of the public due to its clunky operating system and lack of innovation. Roland is now working on the MV9000, a revamped version that reportedly will address many of the deficits. However, unless the Japanese company can really come out swinging with a host of innovative features, they're not going to make much of an impact.


So what did Native Instruments witness to inspire a dedicated "beat-making" system? Opportunity. Even though Akai has the name, the MPC5000 is a big, bloated, not to mention expensive, box that can't easily evolve, save for updates to its operating system. The other problem that the MPC lineup faces is that it cannot integrate with other products outside of MIDI control. The MPC is made to be a standalone unit, however, that concept may no longer be relevant due to the new economics-to-power ratio of laptop computers. Thanks to its software component, NI can grow the Maschine organically and infuse its other product innovations into the software, creating a potential powerhouse.



Like all new sophisticated offerings, NI's biggest challenge will come at retail. Potty training salespersons at the big retail outfits is not going to be easy. Most potential customers, who waltz through the store's doors determined to walk out with the one instrument that will make their beatmaking dreams a reality, have only one name on their mind: the Akai MPC.


Although, NI is a marketing and promotion juggernaut, this is still a daunting task due to the brand collateral that Akai commands in the marketplace. Even with Native's arsenal of comprehensive sales education initiatives, an abundance of demonstrations, and showcases at major trade shows and festivals, this is still a mountain for the company to climb.


The other component that shouldn't be overlooked is Native Instruments' part ownership of Beatport. They've already integrated the Beatport store within Traktor, their software mixing program, which has created a nice vertical and an undeniable dance music ecosystem. Blending a sample-based Beatsource, the hip-hop version of Beatport, into Maschine is obviously a push that the company has contemplated. This would seamlessly deliver a fresh stream of the latest sounds directly into Maschine, a terrific selling feature.


Closeup of the Native Instruments Maschine Drum Pads

The MPC-like pads showcase Maschine's heritage, but not necessarily its future...


The last concept to mull over is the trajectory of the Maschine Software. Obviously, it is targeting the Hip-Hop market, but will Native Instruments utilize the Maschine platform to back into Ableton Live's core territory? Considering our initial experience with the Maschine Operating system, it's not as farfetched as you may think. The undeniable public groundswell behind the Akai APC40, the result of a hardware partnership between Akai and Ableton, must have certainly raised the eyebrows of the Haver and Schmitt braintrust.


Ableton, which had previously taken a Swiss "We're neutral!" attitude towards dedicated hardware controllers for their beloved software in the past, has now drawn its borders. Partnering with Akai was an adroit move. Besides the clout of the name, and Numark's wing-span, Akai views this as a long term relationship, with the APC40 being the first of several joint products.


Expanding Maschine's software into an Ableton Live direction would open up the product to the wealth of musicians who have turned Live into the de-facto software for electronic music production and live computer-based performance. From controllerists like Moldover, to electronic jam bands like Sound Tribe Sector Nine to name-brand DJs like Sasha, and beyond, Live is enjoying a unique market dominance.


Whether or not Native decides to wade Maschine into Live's waters, remains to be seen, but Live is certainly attracting new users by the droves as evidenced by the amount of Live-specific courses being offered at electronic music education centers around the world.


What we're left with, after surveying the field, is whether Maschine will initially be adopted by the core MPC crowd, or attract an entirely different user group. One of the great attributes of the MPC series, is the studio-in-a-box approach. With a MPC, no matter what model, everything is self-contained in one unit. Even if you need a wheel barrel to cart around the MPC5000, you don't need any other gear to create music. As mentioned above, the Maschine requires not only the hardware controller, but a computer as well. And this may allow Akai to maintain their position. However, there's only one thing that Maschine needs to officially break out and present itself as a viable alternative to MPC culture:


A hit record.



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