My Blog: Native Instruments Maschine review and 1.6 beta first look

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Native Instruments Maschine review and 1.6 beta first look

Since it first caught the world's attention at NAMM '09, Native Instruments' Maschine has made quite a stir in the world of electronic music production and performance. A modern re-imagining of Akai's legendary sampling sequencers, it takes the MPC's raison d'être -- recording and editing samples, sequencing samples to create tracks -- and uses it as the basis of a MIDI interface / software package that is both very familiar and quite unique. Maschine can run as a stand-alone application or integrate with your DAW (digital audio workstation) as a plug-in, and the company promises quite a bit as far as sound quality and improved workflow over the Akai's legendary instruments. But does it stack up? We've recently taken a good, hard look at the latest version of the software, 1.6 beta -- and we can't wait to share our thoughts with you. Check it out after the break.

Gallery: Native Instruments Maschine 1.6 beta