However, outside of Maschine or the Komplete Kontrol plug-in you lose the Arp and Scale powers. I connected the A49 test unit to a Teenage Engineering OP-Z (which has built-in USB MIDI hosting) and it worked sans computer. The keyboards have no built in MIDI ports, but are capable of stand-alone operation over USB. You can create new Groups and Patterns, but disappointingly you can't duplicate.
The keyboards even have a dedicated Ideas mode button, which lets you navigate between Scenes and Patterns. Cleverly, the Arpeggiator becomes a Note Repeat in this mode. The A-Series has a Key Mode toggle which flips the keyboard from playing chromatically on a single sound slot to triggering one sound per key across a kit. Regular MIDI keyboards can be used with Maschine, but they can't easily play kits as each sound lives in a separate slot across a Group. The keyboards also play nicely with Maschine software, either on their own or alongside a Maschine controller.
However, the encoders are touch sensitive and flash up their current function on the display when you touch them. While the maps and encoders are the same as on the luxury models, there are no displays to indicate what the assignments are. There's a pair of dedicated buttons for flipping through multiple pages. Once a sound is loaded, parameters will populate the eight encoders using logical, pre-made maps.
The experience is significantly diminished compared to the S-Series or the Maschine MkIII/Studio, but the tiny display does its best to indicate where you are. Nudging the encoder left or right steps you through categories, and turning it scrolls through the focused list. You can browse sounds directly from the keyboard using the four-way encoder and the display.
NI MASCHINE MK3 PATCH
The A-Series keyboards control your sounds and plug-ins through Komplete Kontrol, which can also now map to third-party controllers.Komplete Kontrol is both a patch library and plug-in host. As I've said in previous reviews, this is the killer integration feature that other similar products are yet to crack. If you focus a track that contains the Komplete Kontrol plug-in, the keyboard will automatically switch to native KK mode. In Maschine you can step between Groups and Sounds with the encoder. In Live you can also move up and down through scenes, and launch clips. The four-way encoder is used for navigation: pushing it left or right moves your DAW's focus between tracks. You get transport control and other commands such as Undo and Quantise. The advanced DAW control features are available in Logic, Garage Band and Live, with Cubase still promised for the future.
The buttons are different, though, formed from hard plastic instead of rubber, and producing a rather jarring click. The wheels, rotary encoders and main four-way encoder feel like they're the same components as on the S. I can't think of a comparable alternative at this price. While the S-Series Fatar keyboard is absent and there's no aftertouch, the feel of the keys is not all that different. Available in 25-, 49- and 61-note versions, the keyboards closely resemble the S-Series, but the removal of the screens makes for a significantly narrower footprint. Like the top-of-the-range S49/61/88, the A-Series (and M32) keyboards are MIDI master keyboards that offer some generic MIDI functionality, 'smart' DAW control, and deep virtual instrument management via the companion Komplete Kontrol and Maschine plug-ins.
NI MASCHINE MK3 UPGRADE
Both the Mikro and A-Series come with Maschine software, and reduced Maschine and Komplete libraries that you can upgrade later.
NI MASCHINE MK3 SOFTWARE
The A-Series has the only 25-key keyboard in the new NI line-up, although if portability is paramount there's also the even newer M32 mini-keyboard.Īs well as building new hardware, NI have been busy integrating their software and services (Maschine, Komplete and ) into a unified production and content platform. Meanwhile, the A-Series keyboards bring the slick Komplete Kontrol workflow to a significantly lower price by trimming some of the luxuries like the key lights and big colour displays. The third‑generation Maschine Mikro hardware takes the sleek new Maschine design and chops it off above the pads, resulting in the most travel-friendly and cute Maschine yet.
NI MASCHINE MK3 PORTABLE
These new controller instruments make NI's tight hardware/software integration more portable and affordable than ever before.