I purchased the Maschine around the time it came out. I was looking at MPCs and the maschine and ended up going with this for the sake of the computer interface and software which totally kicks ass. The hardware itself is very sturdy, I have taken it to many shows, I have also put in several hundred hours of just tooling around on this thing. I was using this controller 3-4 hours a day at one point for the better part of a year, along side several hours in other studio programs such as reason and ableton making loops and 1 shots and drum kits etc. My favorite part of this is how the buttons feel when you play with the Maschine. It is very responsive and feels very natural to play almost like you're playing an analog instrument. I would reccomend a fairly decent computer to use this as the software can get a little lagged if you don't have a lot of ram or a very fast processor. Also the major downside (infact the only real downside) is the maschine comes with a fairly limited set of "instruments" and "effects". If you are a long time collector of VSTs and effect programs you'll be happy to know your collection will work with the maschine, but unfortunately if you've never really made music before you are going to quickly realize your options are limited with the standard Maschine sounds and you will want to purchase or download virtual instruments to load into the Maschine software's database. Also if you are purchasing the new maschine you will be happy to find a more color coded set up, the hardware is very vibrant when turned on, as compared to the original Maschine which does look cool with all orange lights, but not AS cool. I give this a 4/5 because it claims to be an all in one studio, but it is simply a very well made starting point. If you want to take this to a professional level you will want to go online and spend real money on a variety of virtual instruments and sample packs and effects, this will greatly increase your ability to make music on this glorious piece hardware.

jonschelling

Undisclosed