Richie Hawtin using Abelton Push

Didn't his mate say recently that he mapped his gear so that he can do the same thing different ways, which obviously looks like he's doing additional stuff, rather than reaching for the same pots & pads.

Dj'ing is so much about showmanship and marketing more than ever these days, and having an array of nice coloured flashing pads is all part of that

I'm not actually convinced all the latest DJ trickery adds a whole lot more than what was going on when it was just vinyl. I thought, and still do, there was something so exciting about having the limitations of 2 decks. If you've looked at the grooves of a record under a microscope at a cut you will see the squiggly, higgeldy-piggeldy grooves going all over the place, so it seems so improbable to play that on some turntables and get them in sync.

Listening back to some really great vinyl only mixes. What Hawtin is doing is clever, etc, but it's not a lot more aurally exciting than some of the great vinyl mixes, with great tracks, mixing, and cuts I've heard. It's probably better to watch.

Hawtin seems to love integrating new technology just for the sake of it whether or not it actually adds much of anything to make it look like he is doing a lot more than just mixing a couple tracks, which is usually what he's doing.

Don't get me wrong he's a great DJ but he seems to have a lot of people fooled who drool over photos of him DJing with lots of gear and somehow everyone believes he's always microlooping 3-4 decks and always coming up with original patterns on the fly. If you actually watch/listen to his sets he does very little of that. It's all part of his brand image of being at the forefront of technology and cutting edge. I mean the dude is worth 8.5 million and has a clothing line, he knows how to market himself.

I'm ditching buttons altogether. Gonna be the first Leap Motion DJ

Weird, because I agree with you, and disagree with the oblivious business model experts over here.

Maschine was out before F1, the maschine CAN replicate everything the F1 can do. NI, CHOSE not to offer the integration with maschine. Now Im sure the f1 was in the works, but any designer with half a brain would see the correlation between the two, BEFORE you even made the F1, a designer looking for simplicity and logic that is.

Its called splitting products to create more revenue. Youd have to be completely blind, if you believe creating a separate controller with less buttons and knobs wasnt an attempt to boost sales. You have your maschine for production, never really thought about using it with Traktor at this point, They juice up remix decks... But alas, you cant control them.. TADA F1 comes out with its "special HID" interface (Give me a break).

As a company in it to make a profit. Would you simply have people who have already bought maschine be able to use these snazy new features, or you could develop a "proprietary" controller for these decks.. BINGO!

Choose to believe what you want, but good luck running your own business in the future. Thankfully I am down to my last 2 pieces of NI Gear. A Traktor Audio 10 (Which will soon be replaced by a second RME interface) and the Maschine.. I love it as a controller, I have no need for its work flow anymore now, and it doesnt control remix decks, so Instead I use ableton as a my remix deck and push.

So far so gravy, a NI free lifestyle makes my life trouble free!

Hawtin seems to love integrating new technology just for the sake of it whether or not it actually adds much of anything to make it look like he is doing a lot more than just mixing a couple tracks, which is usually what he's doing.

Don't get me wrong he's a great DJ but he seems to have a lot of people fooled who drool over photos of him DJing with lots of gear and somehow everyone believes he's always microlooping 3-4 decks and always coming up with original patterns on the fly. If you actually watch/listen to his sets he does very little of that. It's all part of his brand image of being at the forefront of technology and cutting edge. I mean the dude is worth 8.5 million and has a clothing line, he knows how to market himself.

Hawtin seems to love integrating new technology just for the sake of it whether or not it actually adds much of anything to make it look like he is doing a lot more than just mixing a couple tracks, which is usually what he's doing.

Don't get me wrong he's a great DJ but he seems to have a lot of people fooled who drool over photos of him DJing with lots of gear and somehow everyone believes he's always microlooping 3-4 decks and always coming up with original patterns on the fly. If you actually watch/listen to his sets he does very little of that. It's all part of his brand image of being at the forefront of technology and cutting edge. I mean the dude is worth 8.5 million and has a clothing line, he knows how to market himself.

Maschine was out before F1, the maschine CAN replicate everything the F1 can do. NI, CHOSE not to offer the integration with maschine. Now Im sure the f1 was in the works, but any designer with half a brain would see the correlation between the two, BEFORE you even made the F1, a designer looking for simplicity and logic that is.

touche i suppose i was looking at it with a pretty narrow view haha

I completely disagree. Maschine and F1 do different things. Having Maschine integrated into Traktor doesn't mean it will control remix decks. I have both Maschine and F1, and I want my F1 to control remix decks and Maschine to play live beats/loops/etc. right into Traktor, all synced up and ready for Traktor's effects. How in the world is the F1 a "dumbed down version of Maschine"? It's designed for cueing loops in Traktor (which it does excellently), not for finger drumming, production, step sequencing, etc. People didn't buy the F1 because they couldn't get "Traktor and Maschine integration". They serve completely different purposes, and there is benefit to owning both depending on your performance needs.

I completely disagree. Maschine and F1 do different things. Having Maschine integrated into Traktor doesn't mean it will control remix decks. I have both Maschine and F1, and I want my F1 to control remix decks and Maschine to play live beats/loops/etc. right into Traktor, all synced up and ready for Traktor's effects. How in the world is the F1 a "dumbed down version of Maschine"? It's designed for cueing loops in Traktor (which it does excellently), not for finger drumming, production, step sequencing, etc. People didn't buy the F1 because they couldn't get "Traktor and Maschine integration". They serve completely different purposes, and there is benefit to owning both depending on your performance needs.

heres the way I see it, not trying to make ni look like some monster, but this does seem to be their business model. the demand for the f1 arose because everyone and their mom wanted traktor and maschine integration. maschine had already sold very well and they wouldn't have very many new sales if they just created a traktor/maschine bridge because many traktor users already owned a maschine. Instead of giving people the integration that they wanted, they made a new dummed down version of maschine (the remix decks and f1), forcing people to spend an extra 250 to get a watered down version of what they've been asking for years.

i like the f1 a lot, I have two of them. But they are definitely lacking a lot of important features that are in maschine. In essence, instead of making the f1 they could have made a much better product by making a solid platform for maschine integration

I hope so. Although I believe they are avoiding integrating maschine with traktor because it will cause f1 sales to crash