Recently I purchased Native Instruments Maschine MK3 with my Steem money.

It's a hardware-controller for the software that I've already been using for years. Unfortunately, until now I was able to use only the cracked version of those softwares and now things have changed.
It's kinda unusual for me to buy a controller with pads, until now I was more a MIDI keyboard guy. But this baby is something that changed my mind. I didn't want to buy any pad controller, I only wanted Maschine MK3. In further reading, you will understand why.

This is not a simple instrument, I'm still trying to catch up with all, so I will make three posts about this. Next posts should contain some videos and finished beats.

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So what is Maschine MK3?

It looks like a sampler or a rhythm machine but it is much much more. I always wanted to buy such a MIDI controller to improve my music production, but Maschine is not just a MIDI controller. It's a multi-functional software controller that makes possible to create music, beats and arrangements without looking at the computer or touching the keyboard. It comes with many libraries full of different sounds, instruments and effects. If you don't have a hardware, you have to pay a lot to use all that software legally.

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Unboxing

I was waiting two weeks for my Maschine MK3 after the order. The online price is 599$, so with delivery and all I had to pay about 660$. These are my "unboxing photos", you can click on each of them to see them in better resolution.

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Maschine MK3 has a high-quality aluminum case and when you touch it, you can feel the solid structure but easy buttons and pads. Differently from older versions, MK3 has built-in audio interface, so active studio monitors can be connected directly to the Maschine.

Now, let's connect it to a computer to see what I have to download from Native Instruments to make it work.

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Downloads

In last few years, you don't get software with components on some DVD or something, you get the key and you have to download the content from the internet. So with Maschine MK3 I got KOMPLETE 11 SELECT with is poorer version of KOMPLETE 11 and much poorer version of KOMPLETE 11 ULTIMATE, which I already have installed cracked version on my computer. However, KOMPLETE 11 SELECT contains 35 GB of synthesizers, sound banks, projects, effects... It also contains of of the best Native Instruments products, Kontakt Player, but after downloading of 35 GB I realized that those authorized software just won't work with tons of cracked sound banks, drum libraries and instruments that I have on my computer. So I decided to stick with cracked version of KOMPLETE 11 ULTIMATE rather than legal version of KONTAKT 11 SELECT.

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First use

It's about this amazing light effect that you get each time when you turn on the Maschine MK3.

And through the whole work, these lights just make music production more fun. Maschine has two high resolution displays and they are much more practical to use than my computer's two monitors.

When I turned it on for the first time, I loaded some sounds on pads and I was surprised how easy was to play with them. These pads are not only for sounds, they can also be piano keys, chords, patterns, steps...
Of course that my first project here is not the best, but I was really surprised how fast are things going on Maschine. Much faster than with mouse and keyboard. So actually, I invested in time! :) Everything is much easier with this component, playing instruments, drums, slicing waves, sampling, I think that I will write much more about this these days.

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So, that's it for today, in Part 2 I will upload a little video with me making some music on the Maschine. Meanwhile, this guy can show you what Maschine MK3 can!

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Thank you!!!