A plea to NI on Kore's development

At $450, it has been severely marked down from 12 to 18 months ago. It's already marked down a lot, I doubt it will be marked down even more unless they want to burn off excess inventory in advance of a new version.

And I just want to clarify: I'm not against Maschine. I have one. But it is precisely because I have both Kore2 and Maschine that I feel I have a grip on them. Combining features would make Maschine harder to use unless a new version incorporated additional controls.

 

Not if NI continues to kick ass with Maschine, implementing groundbreaking features yet not compromising on Maschine's philosophy and keepng it fun and simple to use, based around total integration with the dedicated hardware that pretty much eliminates the mouse from the workflow.

 

Again, somebody not quite understanding Kore. Lots of people use Kore with little or no mousing.

I have both Maschine and Kore. I still have to look at the screen A LOT with Maschine because the device alone just doesn't tell me everything I need to know.

Conversely, once I've set up my sound in Kore, I don't have to look at a screen; I just turn knobs and play by ear.

For me, Maschine is great for building the structure of a song. Kore is great for playing instruments, making my own sounds, and adding MOTION and MOVEMENT to a track. Maschine is too big to place in an ergonomic position near a music keyboard. Kore is small enough to place just above, behind, in front of, or on the side of a MIDI keyboard, and is easy to see and easy to access.

If Kore functionality is ever added to Maschine, I'll take advantage of it when my Kore hardware or software can no longer be maintained, used, or upgraded to a new OS.

But until then, they are not the same. Maschine is the square peg, in size, shape, and software functionality. Kore is a curvey and shapely lady in comparison.

 

Colour Co-ordination is the Key to Success

I agree with BIF..The Kore controller tucks in neatly in so many places..It's also built to a high standard and doesn't have too many bells and whistles - just enough to perform the functions that are most necessary...

Most professionals don't want lots of clutter in their workspace - it just gets in the way...Simple & functional !

Yes - and that shapely Kore controller lady has a more classic style - both in terms of colour and design which is the most important consideration for those of us with colour co-ordinated studios ..That's the key to success..Just ask Stevie Wonder....He's a musical genius

The main problem with Maschine is that all those flashing lights give me vertigo...

We all know that the manufacturers make products that seduce us with their style -but as music is all about "sound" then shouldn't we just close our eyes and listen ?

That's what I was trained to do...

So much of the time in the music business,people buy products based on their appearance and then try to justify the shitty sound by telling us how many features the product has or how much it cost them...They vote with their eyes and their pocketbook rather than with their ears...

Many of the GUI's for the plugins are a fine example of this sweet seduction...They look great and sound like crap...But the people fall for it even though many of them wouldn't even know how to dial a sound out of the most basic compressor or EQ....

It happens all of the time and I find it really amusing...

If only they would close their eyes and listen

But that brings us to another point...What exactly are the people "listening" to when they hear a piece of music ? What is going on inside their brain as the sound comes through their ears and is processed inside their head ?

What level of IQ is processing that information and just exactly what level of understanding do they have that qualifies their response to this musical input ?

Ohh my God...The complexities of it all...We'll just have to leave all that for another day ajw

 

I don't. I only look at the Mashine controller most of the time.

LOL Kore pales in comparison to Maschine when it comes to hands-on control without looking at the computer screen. And you can do so much more in Maschine without having to touch the mouse compared to Kore.

So is Maschine.

 

Jeez will you guys stop the Kore and Maschine bashing - they are both good but there is also plenty each can do that the other can't and they both seem to have their own niches. Looks like Maschine is replacing Kore by becoming more like Kore so even though I'm sad about Kore going let's hope Maschine becomes even more like Kore and eventually be able to do all that Kore can.

 

Does Maschine have the integrated NI engines ?

Kymeia...You seem like a really nice polite bloke...That's nice...

But if you haven't been able to read between the lines yet - or even the lines themselves - Maschine will have a few of the features of Kore incorporated into it somewhere down the line - BUT IT WILL NEVER EVER BE WHAT KORE IS !

I don't think that we're bashing Maschine here...Taking the piss sometimes maybe - but that's all in jest...

You will see that some of the more intelligent comments are made by people who own BOTH Kore and Maschine...

BTW - Does Maschine have all of the integrated NI engines in it ? That's a good place to start ajw

 

I give a damn on the integrated engines and the development effort to maintain these with Kore. WTF.

Keeping the Kore framework alive cannot be so much of an effort. I could integrate any plugin, even GR3, GR4 and all other NI and 3rd party plugins and build MY OWN sounds with it.

 

TabSel...Maybe you could pop down to the NI office in Berlin and explain to them in German just exactly how you are feeling ? They might just listen to you ajw

 

They know how we feel. And give a damn on that.

 

I think it could be in the most important features with more development - particularly for me what is important is the morphing. It doesn't look like they want to do everything the same but I wouldn't expect them to - in fact I hope they don't - they should learn from Kore's weaknesses as well as its strengths. The main problem for me is the form factor, far too bulky, and at the moment there's not much that attracts me to want to buy it, it can't do anything that Kore can't do yet apart from things that don't interest me, even if I could afford it (and the crossgrade price is still too high)

 

Kymeia...I agree with you 100 % There are many of us that are feeling a little disappointed that NI have cut the KORE line completely,apart from some updates that will be rolling out in their own sweet time..

I think that they have made a very bad business decision - because there are many disgruntled - previously very loyal customers - but time will tell...

You have tried to be very polite and civil to them,but NI always had their corporate game plan and I don't believe that they really listened to even one word that we said...They have their "corporate line" when they reply to us and that is that..Take it or leave it !

So some of us are strongly considering that it is time to say "adios amigos"

Watch the other thread that Thomas started today...That is going to get hot !

Best wishes to you and all that stuff...ajw

PS : The crossgrade offer to Maschine is a little offensive really...That's one of the main things that pissed us off when it was first announced...That's why we kept saying that "Maschine IS NOT KORE "

 

and my slogan for this bad day:
DON'T BE NAIVE WITH NATIVE !

 

Wow. That is truly a gem to remember.

And yes, Mr. Noiserot; you haven't addressed the issue of the Kore engines inside of Maschine.

NI's statement specifically notes that the engines and support they require are to be dropped. And that is one of the key features of Kore. So once again, Maschine is not Kore and in the future will not be Kore.

That is the crux of all this.

I hope they keep their promise on 64 bit.

 

Maschine will be the new central hub that integrates all of NI's instruments, which has been Kore's role so far (no one said it would be an exact replica of Kore as Kore will continue to work as is). "Maschine will grow into integrating the products of Komplete, like Kore did, yet in a different and sustainable way."

 

+1

 

I'm sad to read that today. As an owner of both Maschine and Kore, and knowing what can presently be achieved in Maschines current version, 2 days ago I felt NI's direction might be for Maschine to achieve 100% of the functions Kore presently does.

I kept saying if Maschine can eventually achieve 100% of Kore's functions, then there should be little argument.

But with this announcement combined with no plans of .ksd import, it's apparent NI will only take what they feel are the "best" or perhaps "easiest" Kore features, and integrate them into Maschine....all the while hoping not to piss off the original hard core Maschine beetz making crowd...by it becoming too bloated or difficult for them to use.

The things I like most about Kore is the sound design features. Morphing. Stacking. Effects. Being able to batch import patches not only from NI, but 3rd party VST's too. And the good integration/automation with the DAW.

The good news is, that if NI can't accomplish this in Maschine, I'm sure someone else will come along and see the this small market of users that have been abandoned by NI.