Back in January, Native Instruments announced that it would be bringing Play Series instruments and Expansions sound packs to the Akai MPC platform and teaming up with Akai and a number of other leading controller brands to integrate their products with the NKS control standard.
That news understandably ticked off a number of users of Maschine+, Native Instruments' standalone groovebox and rival to the MPC, that are currently unable to use those very same Play Series instruments on their own devices.
More broadly, the decision was interpreted as a sign that the company may be shifting its focus away from Maschine altogether, a platform that hasn't seen a hardware update in five years, and only recently received a long-awaited software update that many of us found somewhat disappointing.
Native Instruments has responded to those frustrations with a post shared to its own community forum on January 31 that reinforces the company's "strong commitment" to Maschine and provides some clarity on when Maschine users can expect the updates they've been hoping for.
Native Instruments has confirmed that Maschine 3 - the recent update to its DAW-like companion software for the Maschine controller range - will be coming to Maschine+ standalone in 2025. First, the company says, it's catching up by releasing Maschine 2 for Maschine+, which enters beta this week and will bring a number of Native's desktop effects to the standalone groovebox, while allowing users to change sampling rate and buffer size to expand compatibility with USB class-compliant audio interfaces.
Further down the line in Q2, Maschine 3 for Maschine+ will bring support for Kontakt 8, the latest version of Native's sampler plugin, to Maschine+ users, along with a "selection of full Kontakt instruments" that includes Play Series titles. Also on the way is a "highly requested" bounce-to-audio feature that will allow Maschine+ to run CPU-heavy instruments like Kontakt efficiently.
Maschine 3 introduced stem separation to the Maschine platform for the first time. Native Instruments says it is exploring the possibility of bringing stem separation to Maschine+'s standalone mode, but notes that the "technical complexity" involved means that it may not be available in the upcoming releases. However, Maschine+ users will be able to separate stems on desktop and import these projects to their hardware following the forthcoming updates.
The post also touched on the controversy surrounding Native Instruments bringing Play Series instruments to the MPC platform before its own hardware. "Some of you may have seen our recent Play Series and Expansion content releases on the MPC platform, in partnership with our friends at Akai Professional," the post reads. "This collaboration allows us to bring high-quality sounds to more creators, but we want to reinforce our strong commitment to Maschine.
"It’s also important to note that the Play Series MPC Editions are not direct ports of the original Play Series instruments. Instead, they are custom-built for the MPC platform, utilizing its sample engine and featuring MPC-specific presets. This makes them a unique experience tailored to the MPC workflow, rather than a replication of the Play Series desktop version."
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