BUT, I have one thing on my mind. Personally, I hate laptops. The convenience of the laptop is complete lackluster to me so long as it acts like any other desktop but with lower standards of Hard-disk storage space. And I hate the built-in mouse aswell. If I'm going to have this as a standalone for anytime I'm travelling from location to location, can the Maschine hardware stand on it's two feet like the MPC 1000? You know, without needing a laptop?
~Ak-Nolij
...have Maschine, suggest using your school ID (If you have one, it'll mean a slight delay in shipping [did when first @ market in US anyway], but it'll save you appx $150...)
...never owned an MPC, only played with a little @ Sam Ash (lo...l...)
LOVE IT - BUT...
...doesn't stand alone sans software...all sounds are actually stored in its software 'sequencer'...<--that's in " " because the seqeuncer control in the point-and-click-with-mouse dept. needs serious work...that being said, the software-hardware integration is tight! It's esentially a MIDI controller [and can operate
only as such w/out the Maschine software] but with dedicated software interface, one in which *every* button on the controller has a function. These functions change contextually, depending on which part of the interface you're working with...I usually work mainly in FL, sometimes bouncing out to Cubase & working, but...
==>Pros:
-->pretty much can lay down a finished product w/out *looking* @ CPU
-->sequencer is a little odd sometimes, but improvements will come w/ updates (which are tailored towards this-bigtime)
-->FX are excellent as a whole, especially suitable/work flawlessly w/ real-time manipulation...very easy to automate
-->can be applied to master (song), groups o' instruments, and individual sounds/samples/instruments
-->sampling and sample editing are a snap
==>Cons:
-->integration (at least w/ FL) is a little buggy sometimes, especially once you start 'arrowing' thru timeline of song, messing with tempo/time song parameters...this is 'sposed to be a 'miscellaneous' thing that will be improved w/ updates
-->only 8 outputs (a few more would be nice)
-->while sampling is nice, and *I* have got it set where I can easily rip/sample digitally from internet radio/video, (whatever comes out o' soundcard), or internally from within Maschine itself...this can be a pain in the ass to set-up, and would've been simpler with SOME kind of inputs besides USB-->soundcard
--> since CPU has to run for maschine to, the CPU soundcard thing is irellevant tho...
-->layering of instruments is (supposedly possible from software interface, but...) nowhere to be found for *this* user...
OVERALL...
...I enjoy the hell out of it though. Glad I bought it. I was always using GURU for drums (also reputed to be MPC 'killer'), but this (to me) blows GURU out o' water as far as flow, certainly in standalone anyway. GURU does have easy layering of sounds though
...tactile feel inferior to MPC (of course) as far as quality of pads, but is superior to padKontrol I was using (which many say is finest amongst MIDI controllers)
...very well suited piece of kit for doing sample-based music, period! It's awesome!