It is rather telling that the usual NI staff are not here doing their usual BS forum control tactics, nobody can ever complain this as a shock, if you believed the staff BS over what the rest of us have been saying for the last couple of years, more fool you.

That all said, i'm personally not convinced this is a bad thing, sack everybody, including all the "freelancers" and build a small quality core team of developers to slimdown and modernise the line, thats what happened at Izotope when this happened there, and they have been innovating left and right in recent years, they are hugely expensive with regular paid updates, but that goes hand in hand.

Yep same here. I’ve already made an effort to move away from NI. The last version of Komplete I upgraded to was 11 and that’s where I’m going to stay. I use NI plugins heavily but it’s time to move on.

If you use them heavily, why is it time to move on?

Umm. Because I like to vote with my wallet? if I don't like a company and their practices I make a concerted effort to not give them my money rather than bitch about it like some here do.

Besides I've found that the alternatives are either overall just plain better overall or at least better supported.

It is sad some of the directions NI is taking, they can still make high quality stuff as Replika XT, Raum, but I miss more innovative instruments as Razor and Prism.

Massive X was a big disappointment for me, the UI goes against many things NI had established for years, way behind Massive 1 and current competition as Serum. I also thought they might develop a synth-hardware hybrid similar to maschine: a software synth developed to be controlled by its own controller which would be full of knobs. Instead the same boring controllers with 8 knobs and a screen.

I really hope that with this change they will continue with their development processes and just focus on their core products. I've been using NI for a very long time and have a certain sentimental bond with the company.

There isn't yet anything that replaces Reaktor in particular--VCV rack is impressive and is easy to work with, but with some noteworthy exceptions (Mutable Instruments VCV plugs come to mind), Reaktor generally sounds better and is more seamless in integration with a hardware modular.

Just from my own limited understanding of successful M&A activities, the biggest factor is whether the expertise in management coming from the acquiring company is sufficient to enhance the value of the acquired company. Unfortunately, that often does mean improving profitability through cost cutting (as opposed to the much trickier feat of improving revenue).

However, I also think it's clear that NI could use some management reform just in terms of evaluating market needs, treating all employees well, and overall operational efficiency.

It’s starting to seem every few months there is another story about NI that attracts the same “I told you so”s and a bunch of peeps saying they will move away from NI but in the end nothing huge changes except the product line improves with a bunch a stuff I usually don’t care about and then once every few years something I really want like M+.

I was bummed to see the Maschine team changing leadership again as it seemed they were making allot of progress with + and software. Then weeks latter the buy out happened and it is hard not to connect the two. However, like every other scary NI story, I suspect/hope nothing much will change except incremental improvements. I’d love for a leap but I am not counting it. I’d hate for something devastating to happen but I wouldn’t count on that either.

That said, I’ll join in and say, F subscription models!!!

Kai is still overseeing Maschine development but from one position higher - he didn't quit, he got a promotion. His replacement comes from the actual Maschine team, so it's basically business as usual.

Business as usual 100%
Every few months team changes.

The roadmap didn't change tho, and that's what's more important. The rest of the team didn't change, either.

That said... I'm honestly curious (since I'm not that much into Maschine) - what do you like so much about it, that you yourself say you're fanboying it? I remember you even made a Reaper skin that looks like Maschine - that's some serious dedication!

Speed, its fast and had lots of potential with a few updates, sadly they never happened, and the ones that did concentrated on shifting content rather than user requests, so now its just fast to do some quick stuff before moving to a DAW.

I really like the new updates, I haven’t bought any of the sample.com stuff or expansions for years and haven’t upgraded KU for years either. I’ll never use samples.com, and the expansions are mostly not for me. Sampling my own instruments has never been easier than recently.

I was referring to Mariana...had to look up her name. I don’t remember all the reasons over the last year but she got me excited about where Maschine and M+ were heading. Perhaps it was her community engagement. Then she got moved and the Jan updste she spoke of has not happened yet....tik tok.

Dude, you haven’t used Maschine much? Its a ton of fun and the M+ feels fantastic at your finger tips. Maybe wait till development builds more confidence after all these changes but I think it is worth a try from any music maker.

Despite continuing NI disappointment, which in the 90s was a bit like Behringer Bashing, today again I'm tempted with NI.

For BF it was u-He.

Today it's Heavocity.

NI seems to be on a particular trend here. I wonder what this leads to?

As for Behringer, my new purchase of this line mixer at $109:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/det...unt-line-mixer

I'm quite impressed by it's build quality, features and sound.

Kai finally posted on the Maschine forum and let us know that the update for the Maschine+ has been delayed 2 weeks. Hopefully it solves the stability issues because otherwise I love the Maschine+. I would also love to see an easy way to send program and bank changes over MIDI and a better way to edit automation, but I can live fine with just the stability improved.

Just hope they get astable version out before the updates dry up to a near halt (check their history in this area)