I know this is apples and oranges, but does anyone here own both the Syntakt and Maschine Plus? If so, if you had to choose just one unit, which would you choose?
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Lol! Yeah I really do want both at some point 
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It’s not a bad question but answering it is impossible without more context. I’d say the answer depends entirely on what your goals are and what your preferred workflow is. Hybrid (daw + instruments)? Or dawless? Are you looking to finish tracks or just jam? What type of music do you make?
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i have both and the machine + is a massive let down for me and doesnt get used very much. The CPU sucks, automation sucks, no labeling for lock states sucks, the ui for instrument parametrs suck, file structure sucks, audio quality sucks, no official support for a sound card that can actually use all the available inputs and outputs sucks. The best thing about it for me personally is it is a very good controller for bitwig. lolz. F NI.
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well aren’t they completely different?
Maschine is a sampler / miniature DAW. You can do lots of things with samples, and you can use NI soft synth plugins for any kind of synthesis, but you have to pay for those plugins. Its got big screens for editing waveforms, and velocity sensitive pads, and silly RGB rainbow lights.
Syntakt is not a sampler and is entirely synthesis based. But it has analogue synthesis, which machine doesn’t. It doesn’t have velocity sensitive pads, so you can’t quickly make a live recording of some drums with lots of quiet and loud parts, but the elektron sequencer has plenty of ways of adding velocity and variation in programming.
I prefer the focus of the syntakt because i want some walls around me so I can easily rule out the things I can’t do, and i personally like the sounds it can make. It’s nice to sculpt simple synth engines vs hunting for samples. But I also have a digitakt for samples which have a whole other set of advantages.
I used to own the first gen of Maschine. I liked it, but i wasn’t doing much live recording or sample editing, and i wanted better synthesis. So I sold it and tried other things. I’m really happy with the Syntakt (plus some other gear)
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Yeah, so I’m kind of asking from a portability standpoint and overall Swiss army knife standpoint. One of the things that I love about my syntakt is I can take it to the couch or anywhere if I just feel like being creative but don’t want to be in my studio. I have a machine mikro mk3, but if I want to sample with it, I have to take my computer and audio interface with me if I want to jam somewhere outside of my studio. I make all sorts of music and love the plugins that I use with logic, but it does feel great to move to another place and make music outside the studio. I’m happy with the syntakt, but just wondered what people’s thoughts were on maschine plus if that was maybe a better standalone unit. I’ve also heard there have been tons of problems with that unit as well, so just curious on others input who have both
If you want a swiss army knife, the Maschine+ is a better option
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Thank you for this insight. I’ve heard about people having issues with it, so this is helpful. I definitely don’t want to spend a ton of money on it if it’s buggy and will give me grief so thanks for this!
I don’t have experience with the Maschine+, but I have an MPC Live 2 so the comparison is going to be similar. You mentioned Swiss army knife and the Maschine+ is definitely that. Like the MPC, it’s a production environment where you can really finalize a song down to the mixing of it.
This is how I used my MPC, jamming on the couch, and going from idea to a fully mixed song. The problem for me was that I eventually ran into its limitations and was forced to plug in the computer/studio anyway to finish the job, and at that point, I missed using my real DAW instead. It became a bit of a waste of time trying to mix a song in standalone, only to then export stems and having to redo a lot of the mixing once again in the DAW.
The Syntakt isn’t trying to be a production center at all. It’s more of an instrument, albeit a very refined and capable instrument. It’s a multitimbral synth and drum computer with an advanced sequencer. You’re going to make music on it thinking “I can fix that in the mixing phase later” and the process becomes more deliberately hybrid as a result - making the track in standalone, mixing in the DAW. That’s my experience at least. It makes the music making process more relaxed, fun and less tedious because you can use the Syntakt as a casual instrument, and the best tool for mixing, your DAW of choice, when in the studio.
It goes back to my first question about what your goal is. If your goal is to truly minimize the time in your studio, then the Maschine is going to be a good choice. But if you want the best tools for each phase or the music making process and you’re comfortable with the hybrid approach (and you prefer synth-based rather than samples-based music), then the Sybtact is an excellent choice.
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Syntakt.
Machine+ runs generic OS (Linux), so is much less reliable in live situation — because it uses resource allocation from generic desktop OS, and it’s hardly possible to predict at what point it’s overloaded and unwanted sound artifacts appear.
if it’s not a single machine in a setup, add floating latency here, which is very hard to deal with.
that’s why I never considered Machine+ — I have enough desktop audio quirks on a desktop and don’t want to handle them in hardware as well.
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I have a Maschine MK3 (not plus, but basically the same) and a Syntakt so perhaps I have something to offer.
Maschine can do an awful lot in terms of synthesis stuff, FX, using samples (one-shots or loops) slicing etc. It’s probably the most “full” groovebox you can buy in terms of functionality. If you like finger drumming and playing pads then the NI pads are widely regarded to be among the best. They feel very nice. Unfortunately, my experience has been that the step-sequencing workflow isn’t very good. Yes, you can use the 4x4 pads to step-sequence notes and drums but I found anything to do with editing afterwards very awkward and annoying. Trying to work with chords or edit multiple notes is awful, frankly.
The organising of samples, loops and soft synth presets is very good but it never got me past the issue (my issue, not Maschine’s) of just endlessly browsing presets and samples and not making music. Putting my neurosis to one side, if you have a large one-shot and loop library you want to organise and browse easily, it’s great. If you want to work with sliced loops then it’ll time stretch and slice etc, but the workflow is an acquired taste. You have to load a sample, then slice, then load the slices to pads, maybe in a group or maybe in one sound in a group, then that affects how you sequence the slices etc. It’s not exactly fluid.
I like my Syntakt a lot. If you value the sequencing workflow with the Elektron gear then there is an awful lot that you’ll miss. In theory, Maschine has parameter lock type behaviour but it’s not nearly as easy or useful in practise. It doesn’t have any conditional stuff at all. It has better pattern/scene behaviour for organising stuff or jamming with the “pieces” of a track but even that I found to be a bit clunky in reality. Organising a song from patterns/scenes on the hardware is horrible.
It really does depend on what you want. Personally I’m at the stage where immediacy with a more functionally limited groovebox like Syntakt (I also have Digitakt) is more value to me than having many more tools behind a more complex and obtuse interface. My basic opinion is that the Maschine looks great on paper (list of features) but is actually a bit clunky in practise, but I know many people will disagree.
To be honest, second-hand Maschine MK3 are quite cheap, you may want to try that first. Mine is for sale here although I keep wondering whether to keep it! It was cheap and it’s fun to mess around with but I have little space to swap around setups or have all my stuff working together, so it sits to one side mostly.
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I really appreciate this response and totally agree. I do love the syntakt. I hope that one day, someone somewhere creates the ultimate music making device. Something that is mobile, has a keyboard for keyboard playing, pads for finger drumming, a simple daw with plug-in incorporation (logic, abelton, etc.) an electron like sequencer, an amazing sampler, and incredible effects. I so wish I had this. I feel like there are so many products that do specialize in one certain thing, and they don’t often easily work together well. I wish there were a singular product that did all of these things extremely well and efficiently. But, the syntakt is a great piece of gear. I really do enjoy it.
One other thing…
There have been a few interesting discussions around here lately about using different setups and how different tools produce different outcomes etc. It seems I’m not the only one who struggles to manage setups with multiple pieces of gear etc. It can be overwhelming, even assuming that you have the time, space or money to do it.
In short, if you can afford to have both then you may enjoy having different tools and workflows. You don’t necessarily need to integrate them. One day you could use Maschine, another day you could use Syntakt. They are both machines that could be used away from a “studio” just on a kitchen table or on your lap, with a pair of headphones.
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I have Maschine Mk3 and Syntakt. I love them both. I wouldn’t mess with the M+ though. Standalone is cool, but it’s limitations just don’t make it justifiable. Programming synths on it is no fun, and with only 4GB of ram, it’s too easy to overload. Although, the tactile feel of the hardware is so good and once you learn Maschine, it is so fast. Syntakt is cool too, but in different ways.
I couldn’t imagine really using just Syntakt without a DAW though.
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I was intending to use the m+ as the mixer for 5 external intruments and also run a couple of intances of massive. I found that the midi clock was unreliable with other gear (tried master and slave mode), so it was only practical to use either solely as a mixer or soley as an intrument. Running it with the machine software in controller mode was way worse for midi sync. The fx are a mixed bag imo, whilst the raum reverb is ntb and the delays are ntb, the compressor (particularly in side chain mode) i feel sounds awful, not helped by the fact that there isnt a master level meter anywhere to be found in the ui!!!
For sampling, in standalone mode, its 16 bit for recording, so the noise floor aint great if your ever thinking of finishing a track in a daw. When in controller mode its 24 bit.
As a stand alone unit, the syntakt is fun, but for me its only possible to get a really great sound out of it using overbridge. Not keen on the elektron reverbs and delays tbh, i think they sound lacklustre. I’m able to run all tracks out of syntakt, digitakt, digitone korg minilouge xd, korg monolouge, and run analog heat as an insert all on overbridge with workable / playable latency, with plenty of software reverbs, delays, compressors, a couple of vst synth intruments, and theres still a bit of head room for more. This is on a win 10 machine using an overclocked i5 sampling at rates suitable for mastering.
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yup, can confirm the presence of these artifacts, even with the latest update which did improve it from being heard very frequently to not as often.
Fred Again disagrees 
You’ve described an MPC Live 2 with a USB keyboard connected directly to it.
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…if u have to decide which one to start with, cause that’s all u’ll have for now…
machine + is the more versatile tool to get stuff done…
st can get u anywhere within synthesis, but sampling meets fingerdrumming meets synth simulations meets various fx remains meets various sequencing styles is the better first step for overall results and flexiibilty…