Native Instruments Maschine Mk3
point, and hopefully a Mikro Mk3, but that’s
entirely speculation on our part.
In this review, we’re only going to be looking
at what’s new in Maschine Mk3. If you’re
unfamiliar with Maschine in general, check out
our previous reviews.
Colouring in
Maschine Mk2 made minimal changes to the
layout and construction of Mk1, but Maschine
Mk3 is a total redesign. We never had any issue
with Mk2’s build quality, but Mk3 takes the
device’s physicality to new heights, its all-metal
construction, sturdy knobs and irm, clicky
buttons putting it right up there with Ableton’s
Push 2 – the current controller construction
benchmark. It’s 0.25" longer than Mk2, an inch
shallower at its deepest, and weighs 0.4kg more.
The LED backlit buttons have been
overhauled: all but the Group and top-row
function buttons are now solid black with cutout
lettering allowing the light through. This gives
the whole unit a much classier appearance,
making the buttons on all other Maschines look
comparatively chunky and toy-like.
Like Mk2, Maschine Mk3 is USB bus-powered
– an impressive achievement, given that it not
only incorporates two full-colour screens but
also an audio interface (see Wired for sound). A
power supply is included, for ramping up the
brightness of the LEDs, should their bus-
powered maximum not be enough. Oh, and
there’s a power button now, so you can turn it of
without unplugging it. About time, too. Sadly,
however, Maschine Mk3 still doesn’t have fold-
out legs for angling it to suit seated desktop use
– only Maschine Studio gets that embellishment.
Native Instruments
Maschine Mk3 £479
The German music technology giant’s deinitive software-connected
pad controller brings together almost a decade’s worth of ideas
“We never had any
issue with Mk2’s build
quality, but Mk3 takes
the device’s physicality
to new heights”
In the eight years since Native Instruments
irst introduced their MPC-inspired hybrid
hardware/software beat production studio,
Maschine, the platform has become kind of…
complicated. The software – which is the same
no matter which hardware is connected to it
– stands at version 2, but for about a year now,
the controller line-up has consisted of four
models: Maschine Mk2 (10/10,
185),
Maschine Mikro Mk2 (9/10,
172), Maschine
Studio (10/10,
198) and the conceptually
distinct Maschine Jam (9/10,
236). Each of
the last three has its own particular ‘angle’
– Studio’s luxurious control surface and
high-res colour screens, Mikro’s portability, and
Jam’s 64-step sequencing – with the
regular Maschine Mk2 sitting amongst them
as the most ‘universal’ model, with its compact
yet comprehensive design.
Maschine Mk3 wants to change all that,
bringing Maschine Studio’s lagship feature – its
fabulous screens – to the mainstream model,
taking a couple of cues from Maschine Jam, and
updating the hardware in general terms. We’d
guess there’ll be a Maschine Studio Mk2 at some
86 / COMPUTER MUSIC November 2017
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CMU249.rev_maschinemk3.indd 86 18/09/2017 17:45