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The first Maschine Mikro, released in 2011, reduced the controller to a more portable size by making a few compromises – the dual screens became a single LCD and all the knobs were jettisoned in favor of just one. The new Mikro, which is a smaller version of last year’s Maschine MK3, takes a similar approach: it’s only got one knob but keeps the useful buttons for toggling between pad, keyboard and chord modes, as well as variation and duplication. The Mikro MK3 doesn’t inherit its older sibling’s color screen though. In fact, it’s so small that it can only display two lines of text.Īs a design choice, it makes sense. The Mikro MK3 is much less cluttered and the extra space gained has allowed NI to fit in a touch strip for tweaking effects and performing. On the other hand, some users may find themselves squinting to see it properly and it can only be used for a few simple tasks. One of my favorite aspects of the full-size MK3 is being able to slice samples and effects from the hardware itself – tasks that are impossible on the Mikro hardware. So what does the new Mikro offer besides portability? The answer, is a more focused experience.įor some users (me included) the full-size Maschine MK3’s color screens can be just as distracting as a laptop it’s all too easy to get lost in them tweaking drum synths and effects, slicing up samples or editing notes. On the Mikro MK3 there’s none of that, so by necessity you tend to be more focused on what’s often the most difficult part of the process – sketching out a beat. So, while the Mikro is first and foremost a more portable version of the Maschine for making music on the move, the more streamlined experience may well be more attractive to certain studio users. In use, the Mikro MK3 is just as great a tool for sketching out rhythms as its full size equivalent. Its pads, which are inspired by the Maschine MK3, are nice and large, so there’s plenty of room for finger drumming. The Note Repeat button (used primarily for playing flams and rolls on the fly) is actually in a slightly better place than on the full size-version it’s below the touch strip so you can hold it down with your index finger and tweak effects with the middle finger of your left hand while you tap out beats with your right. It’s a small improvement, but it makes it much easier to add flair to your beats. Unfortunately, preset browsing with the smaller OLED display isn’t as slick as it is with dual screens. It actually requires more use of the Maschine software than I’d anticipated though you can scroll through sounds and kits by pressing the browser button and turning the knob, you can only scroll within the category highlighted in the software.
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