Dragging in a MacBook vs. coffee machine comparison only shows how clueless you are, thanks for proving my point. The reason my “rambling” goes over your head is because you don’t actually understand the tech you’re trying to argue about. Stick to pressing buttons on a moka pot, champ.

And yes, reading spec sheets on products that literally are computers is essential if you want to make smart purchases instead of throwing money away on planned obsolescence. But sure, keep telling yourself you’re the authority on musicianship while confusing basic hardware with kitchen appliances.

For 600 it is a great price.

I’d just get a MK3. This whole “portability” argument got old pretty quick and it’s not that much more of a footprint to just bring your laptop. Given NIs status I wouldn’t count on any new Maschine software, btw. Their updates to existing hardware is slow AF and lackluster with an uncertain future. The bean counters have gutted this company down to the bone and now it’s sample backs and a few MIDI keyboards only. Sad.

Bouncing is not of the hardware restrictions but a common use in any sampler. There are artists who even use it as a tool to “move on” so they stop doctoring around with their sounds forever, never finishing anything, like all these Eurorack crackpots.

So you find the price to steep and the rest of your comment is about a totally different product, rambling something about chips and components. Believe it or not, my 2500,- Macbook Pro still does not replace my coffee machine with a way less powerful chip or the other way around. Reading spec sheets instead of features tells me a lot about, if someone is an actual musician or not, to be honest.

The Maschine+ was long available for 600€ as checked B-stock from the NI warehouse on Reverb

That’s why I went with the Ableton Push 3 — because of the promise of upgradeable internals, which honestly should be the standard for every synth and controller manufacturer. The problem is that Ableton’s implementation has been… underwhelming. It borders on false advertising. I picked up the MIDI controller version for $999, under the impression that I could make it standalone later, either by buying the official kit or sourcing the parts myself. Ableton kept things super vague, but I let the hype get to me — just like with the whole Apple Intelligence marketing wave.

The reality is you can’t DIY the standalone upgrade. You’re locked into paying $850 for their official kit, which ships with an Intel Compute Element (i3-1115G4) from 2020, a 256GB SSD, and a battery. On paper, those parts don’t add up anywhere near $850, and honestly, I don’t see the point of bundling a battery. The Push 3 is a huge, heavy controller — not exactly something you toss in a backpack like the Ableton Move. For less than that $850, you could buy a brand-new MacBook Air with Apple’s latest M4 chip.

What makes it unfortunate is how aggressively locked down Ableton got the kit. The SSD is encrypted, the compute unit BIOS either custom or password-protected, and has restrictions that ensure you can’t upgrade it yourself, even if you’re willing to void the warranty. It’s a deliberate effort to prevent DIY expansion, which goes against the very idea of “upgradeability.”

Ableton really needs to rethink how it handles the “upgradeable” aspect of its flagship controller. Instead of locking everything down, they should treat upgradeability as a competitive advantage over NI, Akai, and the rest. Imagine selling the OS image for $49 (like Maschine 3.0) and letting users swap in their own Compute Elements, SSDs, and storage sizes. I’d happily drop in an i7 and a 2TB SSD — and no thanks, I don’t need the battery.