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The Maschine hardware can pretty much replace your mouse.

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Although Native Instruments has produced hybrid hardware/software products in the past (notably Kore and Guitar Rig), Maschine represents an ambitious step forward.

With every feature of the software built into the impressive MPC-like desktop controller, it's easy to forget that the real power of Maschine lies at the other end of the USB cable within your computer. So, is Maschine hardware and software in perfect harmony?

Overview

First, it's important to get your head around what exactly Maschine is. It's billed as a groove production studio for your computer and to this end, it comes with a huge library of drum kits, loops and instrument presets, plus an environment to process, sample and sequence them into patterns and songs.

The hardware element is a USB-powered controller (not an audio interface), which is used for anything tactile while all the 'sounds stuff' is done by the software. The software interface is great, but the screens and controls on the hardware make it impressively redundant.

NI provides separate DVD installer disks for Mac and PC users and you can choose to install the software, plug-in (VST, AU, RTAS) and library, which will take around 10-20 minutes depending on your drive speed.

The library is meticulously organised and tagged (as you would expect from the inventors of Kore) and you can browse for complete kits or individual sounds. These include all kinds of instruments as well as drums and sound effects, elevating the Maschine beyond a mere 'beatbox'. Everything can be saved: kits, effects, songs, the works.

The controller

The hybrid metal/plastic enclosure of the Maschine hardware is slim and light, perfect for partnering with a laptop and slotting into a backpack for gigs. The jet-black paintwork has a minimal amount of labelling and graphics, giving it an uncluttered, stealth-like appearance we love.

All the buttons are made from the same rubbery plastic and benefit from under lighting. The pads are similar to those on Korg's padKontrol, but chunkier. They are a tiny bit smaller than an MPC's and have a higher profile too, but feel similarly 'stern' and serious.

The two-level lighting is a nice touch. The faint glow means you can always aim for the pads, while the bright glow shows you which beats are being triggered by the sequencer.

The dual LCD displays, meanwhile, are flanked by a set of eight buttons and endless encoders. These feel nice and solid and are used for most of the editing jobs as well as live performance.

Round the back there's a pair of MIDI sockets for hooking up other gear. When the Maschine hardware is connected to a computer, the ports show up as a regular MIDI interface in audio applications.

However, it's important to note that, currently, the Maschine software can't send its internal sequences as MIDI messages so it can't trigger your external gear over MIDI (though we have heard a rumour that this functionality could be added in the next significant update).

It's up to you to decide how much of a problem this is. It can output MIDI clock, operating as either master or slave, and you can attach a keyboard for playing the Maschine's instruments (there's also a special keyboard mode on the controller for note-based play).