It has dropped the dedicated knobs for Volume, Tempo and Swing, and in their place is a single fat, pushable encoder, plus extra buttons as compensation. The new model is the same size as its forerunner and a little heavier, at 2.1kg. This review concentrates on the full-sized Maschine controller but there's also a MkII version of the smaller, cheaper Mikro. This should come as some relief to existing owners who might be feeling slightly miffed. However, apart from the coloured pads, the two are functionally almost identical. In comparison, even the stylish earlier model looks a bit cautious. The Maschine MkII hardware is undeniably a thing of beauty. If you were ever tempted by Maschine in the past, the theory is that you'll now be massively tempted. As a further sweetener, Massive - Native Instruments' bass and lead synth - joins the package.

Sadly, there's no way to physically transform the older controllers into multi-hued marvels, but existing users can at least enjoy the new effects and other enhancements this update brings. Colour now shines at the heart of the Maschine's universe and, thanks to upgrades in the host software, it can be applied as extravagantly or as sparsely as your taste dictates. Hot on the heels of last year's trimmed-down Maschine Mikro are two eye-catching new hardware controllers for Native Instruments' Maschine. And save hours of tedious editing with new drag-and-drop hot zones.Maschine's MkII hardware gets a Technicolour make-over, while its software increments to v1.8. Use the zone waveform editor to make precise edits to sample start/end and loop ranges with an option to snap to transients or zero crossings.

And the reimagined mapping editor adds powerful, time-saving features that speed the creation of complex instruments - including editing commands for automatic mapping, automatic loop finding, and analyzing and splitting samples into zones. An extendable modulation section allows you to add more sources and destinations as needed. An expanded synthesis section with sound-shaping controls brings more depth and dynamics to your instruments - it features twin filters with parallel and serial routings, and five filters modeled after both analog and modern synths. The new single-window design makes it easier to create and edit sampler instruments while remaining backward compatible with all EXS24 files. We redesigned and improved our most popular plug-in - the EXS24 Sampler - and renamed it Sampler.

Massive native instruments packs