Native Instruments Maschine Mikro MKI

The Native Instruments Maschine Mikro can be purchased in black or in white. I have the black one and have been using it since right after Thanksgiving. It has a hardware controller that opens up the possibilities for live performances. The response from the pads is very good; I was shocked with how good they felt too. The lighting that comes with this Mikro is perfect for performing. It is like having a full light show at your fingertips and everyone watching will be drawn to your Mikro.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

The Mikro Machine has 28 backlit high sensitive color coded pads, all of the pads are velocity and after touch sensitive. There is one knob that is considered to be the master knob that should just about work with all software DAW functions.

OVERALL OPINION

The Mikro Machine has a built in sequencer, and works great with NI massive software synth. This system comes with Massive which I was really interested in at the time, so it was a huge bonus that I got the Machine and Massive together. I was also a fan of the original Mashine, and the reason I like this much better is because it is smaller. The manual is easy to understand and setting it up was very easy for me because it was just like setting up my original Native Instruments Machine.
The sound quality and performance quality of the Maschine is well worth the money that it cost. It provides great value for the price and knowing what I know now, I am glad that I purchased it just like I am happy that I purchased the original Maschine when it came out. I do think they white MKI looks better than the black one does though.

When i got this product it came with two instillation disk one being komplete elements, and the other being the maschine software. i installed both of them with extreme ease. After the installation i took the maschine mikro and connected it to my computer via usb and opened the maschine software. Right off the bat i loaded up a drum kit and began tapping away at the maschine. Most of the functions were very easy to find, just a matter of a click or two. the manual that came with the product was fairly straight forward.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

The software is pretty solid and runs fairly smooth, although on some occasions when working with around 20 seconds or higher of a sample the program does stop responding for a moment. It is not that big of a deal though, runs better than pro tools if you ask me. Overall the software and gear work very well and i am very pleased with it. I have been using the maschine for about 5 months now, and i will never use any other drum machine.

OVERALL OPINION

The thing i like the most about the maschine is how easy it is. the maschine stepped up my production by far. It allowed me to stop focusing so hard on technical expects of my music and just have fun. every time i use this product i find my self nodding my head back in forth with a grin on my face. The sounds provided with the software are superb. I think that the maschine far exceeds the price that i set on it. There is no doubt in my mind that if i were to somehow lose my maschine i would purchase another one as soon as possible. I have not used any other drum machines besides the maschine and i do not plan on ever doing so.

The Native Instruments Maschine Mikro 2 is a complete system that comes with 6 GB of samples. It is very affordable and can be a great addition to your studio setup. The Maschine Mikro 2 is built well, I don’t see this unit having any issues with something breaking or not working properly. Even though this is rather newer unit from Native Instruments, I think they have worked out all of the kinks and bugs because I have not had a single issue with it. The drivers are stable, and the software and hardware integration are perfect. All of the general functions of the Maschine Mikro 2 are easy to understand and use. The manual is pretty thick for this product, but it is in depth and will answer any questions or issues that you might be having.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

The Maschine Mikro 2 works great and is very stable. I have only been using it for a little more than 5 months now but I have had zero issues with it. I use it almost every single day and even take it with me to different places. I needed a reliable system like the Maschine Mikro 2. I was looking for something that I could take with me everywhere and it would work hassle free.

OVERALL OPINION

Overall, this is a great investment to make in your music career. I am very happy that I chose to purchase the Maschine Mikro 2. It only cost 350 dollars, and it comes with the full version of Massive synth (which I already owned) but that is still a plus for a new user who doesn’t own Massive. With the Maschine Mikro 2 you will have everything you need, some people say it is for beginners because it is the “Mikro” version of the Maschine but I say it is more for portable people who are not always in one studio or place.

This is a great unit (smaller brother of the maschine). It installs just as easy as the original maschine production center. Very easy to setup and configure. I was a bit worried about the functions crossing over considering the Mikro Maschine doesn't have as much space or buttons as the bigger unit. Native Instruments compensated well those fitting everything in secondary screen options. The manual is easy to understand if you happen to purchase this unit second hand or simply don't enjoy reading the manual you can open youtube and find a lot tutorials there not to mention there are a lot of people online offering free tutorials for mschine so you should be able to catch on pretty fast to the workflow.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

The software is very stable, I mean come on when does Native Instruments slack on stability?... Now I've haven't been using this unit very long I'm use to using the main Maschine unit but the Mikro performs just as well, it's just as stable and just as fun to use as the original maschine. One thing I did notice is the pads feel a little bit better which is good. I hope they offer pad upgrades for both units in the future as I like the feel of the akai pads but I love the response of maschines pads... I'd like a mix of both if you get my drift

OVERALL OPINION

The only thing I don't like about this unit is that it came out after the original maschine unit.. I feel if they released this at the same time I would have gotten this unit because of the cheaper price but i do understand the business aspect of the release later rather than sooner... This is literally a carbon copy of MASCHINE just smaller. It comes over around 6 gigs of quality sounds (which is great). Another thing I like about this unit is it use the same exact software which means project files are cross compatible no matter what size maschine you are using...