Maschine Studio buyers... did you want a Audio Interface on the controller?

Combined things always cut into quality when engineers are forced to make compromises. A truly good quality audio interface would add weight and cost, and possibly significant development time. Why would I want some crap interface just to have it? I have no problem with my M Audio USB Ultra 8 as a portable interface - its about the size of a large paperback - oh the agony of dragging that around for 8 analog inputs and 8 analog outputs. Anyone can get a decent USB interface with a few channels that is ultra portable and has reliable drivers for 100 bucks or less. I for one, do not want all of the Maschine USB traffic between the software and hardware sharing my audio interface USB, even if it was USB 3.0. Thats just inviting audio problems and complicating driver programming for both audio and data.

I will never understand why so many people will fixate on limitations or assume they are being screwed because they must know better how much things cost (seriously, comparing iphone components to Maschine and thinking all screens are equal?! How unobjective and biased can you be about a comparison)? You can have Maschine Studio and an audio interface for less money and weight without waiting for NI to add one in the future. Don't limit yourself by constantly thinking gear is not good enough - visualize what it can do for you today - thats the way I see it anyway.

 

NI Built this new hardware because of us doing the same thing were are doing right now. We are not complaining, we are brainstorming. Gear has never been good enough because there are always financial limitations put on the companies. As for me, I will always visualize the future. I am a dreamer and that's the way it goes and I'm not going to change.

No one seems to realize how small the actual audio interface is. It's literally "a couple of chips". It's weight is nominal and the 3 quarter inch TRS jacks hardly weigh anything either. Like I've stated before the whole assembly is probably the size of a credit card. As for dragging around a NI Audio 8 or some other interface...why? NI could use literally the same chip as the Audio 8 and easily fit it in the M Studio. You're also making speculations that, unless you went to MIT or have extensive modern electronic training, you shouldn't. If that was an issue, the audio interface and the midi usb connection could be discreet.

An Audio 8 box is almost a pound. It's almost 3 inches thick and needs cabling. If you squeeze it in your laptop bang is adds 3 inches to the width of the bag and it's the last thing you want on top of your controller or in this case the M Studio. It would be agony is something happens where your Audio 8 gets pushed into your M Audio and damages it. That's Agony.

Do you remember Kore & Kore 2(which is 1/4th the size of the M Studio)? One had an audio interface and the other didn't. There were no issues with either one. The audio sounded just fine and there was absolutely no size difference between the two and the weight was almost undetectable. We're talking about a 10 year old piece of gear. You know the way technology is. Things get smaller and usually better so with just that example, you should realize a sound card in the M Studio is not an issue.

Sound Card benefits:

1. Will sound just as good as any NI audio interface (literally the same chip)
2. Mobility (no other interface needed and makes the MStudio even more portable)
3. Headphone Jack - Laptop volume is not enough for me
4. Back up - Let's say your primary interface "trips out" at least you can finish your beats with this.
5. If NI wants, it could be a viable DJ controller, adding value to a consumer's purchase
6. You're not forced to buy another audio interface when all you want to do is make beats and take it to someone else's studio
7. As mentioned before if you waned to multi-task in your studio, you have the option to do this. You could be on your laptop making beats in another room while your recording artist is laying down vocal/audio tracks and this is just one scenario.

My point :

NI does not provide super "high end" studio gear. They are not Apogee, Avid, Lynx, etc. However, their audio chips are plenty good enough for DJs and making beats with. If these chips were not good enough, their hardware division wouldn't exist.

So, all speculation about sound quality needs to be dropped.
The speculation about additional weight needs to be dropped.
The speculation about additional size needs to be dropped.
The speculation about dependability needs to be dropped

If you don't want a sound card that's fine. But, please use valid arguments when you're making your point. 645576 you're assuming too much. No one is going to wait for NI to add a sound card. The OP asked a simple question and we are stating our opinion.

 

This^. I don't care how small or inexpensive an integrated audio interface would be. I don't want it, and I don't to be forced to buy it. It seems unlikely anyone who is interested in the Studio is lacking a decent audio interface. I guess it's a nice perk if you're on the go (with the not-as-portable Studio?) but I don't want to pay extra for a perk I won't really use.

 

No one said you did. A very wise man stated there could be two versions of this. You are assuming there would be an extra price connected to this. Many times many companies have added features without increasing the price. They make it back in increased sales. IF NI did increase the price, it would have to be something attractive.

I assumed this at first. But, then realized some creative people "just wanna make beats". The NI audio interfaces are more than decent. You don't need an Apogee Symphony to do that.

It's about the size of an S4. I don't see anyone complaining about the size of that anywhere. It would be a great perk for me, because I do most of my creative work away from the studio.

This may sound ironic, but I would be more apt to "go mobile" the M Studio than my MKII. At home I have two large screens to compensate for what the MKII screen is lacking. I have extra controllers, keyboards and gadgets. On the road, you don't have this luxury and limited to at best a 17" laptop screen. Personally, I have a 13 inch laptop.

**Let me clarify something***

My intention would not be to use this interface for AUDIO recording on the go. It only needs to get sound OUT to be monitored, either through headphones or external powered systems.

 

You're already always tied to another box... a computer.

So can soundcards that are built-in, and it would be more of a hassle to fix/replace than external soundcards.

Right, only the first Kore had one but NI left it out for Kore 2 because they learned from that experiment what most people have said here, that it doesn't make sense to compromise with a one size fits all approach. Most people will want the option to choose their own interface due to different needs.

 

That just sounds incredibly naive to me. I don't really know what else to say to that.

Then why not use the smallest pro audio interface on the planet? It's made by NI.

I know precisely how big each of these is.

Here, I made something to help you visualize just how miniscule this audio interface is (and how BIG the Maschine Studio is!) in comparison with a couple other common objects. All sizes come directly from the official NI "specification" pages:

http://socialcompare.com/en/widget/...ad-vs-maschine-mk2-vs-maschine-mikro-1zd2flgh

Click object names at the bottom to hide them. You can move the objects around, have them overlap, etc., until you get a true idea of how big they are.

For those of you who don't want to click the link above and shuffle around with the objects themselves -- I took a screenshot of all of the Maschines stacked on top of each other (centered based on the pads rather than the lower-left corner). I included the Traktor Audio 2 DJ in the pic :



-Ki
Salem Beats

 

No one is complaining and I simply don't believe it would cost twice as much. I'm not sure what the size thing is about.we all know how big it is. Now if you don't mind, I'm at a club in vegas and imma get my swerv on

 

You're right -- it wouldn't necessarily need to cost twice as much (unless they went all-out with quantity and quality of I/O!).

It would, however, certainly cost more than it does now -- by an absolute minimum of $99.

Right -- it's about the same size as an S4.

For those who don't know how big that is, see my SocialCompare link:
http://socialcompare.com/en/widget/...ad-vs-maschine-mk2-vs-maschine-mikro-1zd2flgh

A producer's definition of "portable" is often quite different from a DJ's definition of "portable", though. DJs are accustomed to carting gear around and often have special cases to put things in. When producers cart things around, we generally throw them in whichever containers we have lying around -- usually the largest backpack we can find.

-Ki
Salem Beats

 

I am happy it does not have an audio interface in the new Maschine Studio. Alot of people do not need that feature. I am using RME interfaces and do not want anything inferior then that. I would even risk to say it is more professional to build Maschine around a good controller without an interface as most people already have such things when making music.

 

It would not be only a discussion of audio-interface or not, but also about how many inputs/outputs.
I am happy with 4/4 , but most would think that at least 16 outputs would be nice.
Now imagine having about 20 kabels (heavy neutrik connectors?) at the back of the device. that would make it heavy, difficult to move around on your desk/stage and less easy to set up, right.
And btw, just a few years from now and we won't be using audiocables anymore, just a usb3 cable

 

The pricing of the studio is priced to what NI believe the market will bear, at $1000 it has little to do with the hardware costs of the controller.

Once you have a system tied to the computer, you have lost true mobility and so adding an audio interface becomes simply a "nice to have" feature, . such features are a vague value proposition... this means you probably as a supplier cannot profit enough from the additions as the perceived $$ value is simply not there...

The only folks who would benefit are those who go mobile with Maschine a lot.. and I don't think that's a big enough segment to worry about.

 

I don't go mobile a lot but am very limited with the amount of USB connections on my laptop (2). If Maschine had an interface then I'd still be using only 1 usb connection. Since it doesn't, and I need to add one, there goes all my ports.

 

That's your laptop's problem, not Maschine's.

Most laptops have a bare minimum of 3 USB ports. A laptop with fewer than that is simply poor design to meet consumer needs. This is as true today as it was in 2009 when I bought my last laptop.

Luckily, you said:

... Which means that you should be fine with hooking up a nice, powered USB hub for more ports.

-Ki
Salem Beats

 

Certainly, you're likely correct that it's priced with the market in mind.

This would mean that they started with a target selling price (say, $1000) and packed in features until they weren't making sufficient profit. Each feature costs money (subtracting profit), and once you've hit the acceptable threshold, the only way to cram in more features is to increase price.

I don't understand the few of you who live in this fantasy land where things don't cost money. Lol.

-Ki
Salem Beats

 

The fact that you personally have an extremely limited knowledge of both marketing and business does not invalidate anything I wrote

The only fantasy land being operated here is yours.. where you think you have a clue. You don't. This is all basic first and second year stuff on an MBA course ..try it.

 

LOL You're not just paying for electronic components in a plastic box. You can go source your own components and plastic, but you're not going to have a Maschine. You're paying for an integrated software/hardware midi controller, you're paying for aesthetics, you're paying for design, you're paying for ergonomics, you're paying for ease of use, you're paying for reliability, etc etc etc. You can't just say "oh well the materials and labor cost X amount so it should only cost a little more than that". That is not how the world works.

Products have both fixed and variable costs. While you can speculate about the variable costs per unit but you have no idea about the fixed development costs to produce both the new software and hardware. NI's pricing strategy has both recoup development costs and the manufacturing costs to realize a profit.

You're also casually forgetting to mention the new software. Since the software isn't a tangible item, should it just be given away for free then? Give me a damn break.

 

LOL! You're getting carried away. I just want something to move sound to my headphones and maybe some powered speakers, which the headphone jack could be used for, there for saving even more space.

 

I believe it has little to do with the hardware or software. I believe it has to do with someone thinking that's what they can get for it at so many units sold compared to competitor X (Akai). If they sold it for less, we would think it wasn't as good as Akai Ren and if they sold it for more many would just buy the Akai Ren. I made a suggestion of a flagship controller a long time ago and this is their reply. People thought my suggestions were "stupid" back then too. I guess NI didn't. I also suggested:

Side Chaining (I ended up buying lfo tool)
updating arrangement to make changes not dependent on the length of the longest clip
Increased Screen size and some way to angle it

An yes, people thought I was stupid then too (I guess NI didn't). Imma look back on my threads and see what else I mentioned. It'll be fun.

So, when someone talks smack about my comments or suggestions, I just pretty much "keep it movin'" because "that's the way of the world" - EWF

 

You mean the one on your laptop?

 

No, the one built into the "Maschine Studio Plus" :lol: