Of course, Maschine itself can be used as a plugin for other DAWs as well.

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The 5GB sample library included with all Maschine packages is expansive, covering a wide variety of styles that will be sure to push the limits of any beginner's production experience.

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Every well-stocked Guitar Center in the nation seems to have a Maschine demo station, and for good reason: it's easy to hop on and bang out a quick couple of bars on the traditional 16-pad interface, assigning different sounds to different pads.

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Recent software enhancements (Maschine is now at version 1.7) also make it more of a team player than it has ever been before: the software supports VST and Audio Unit instruments natively, so your plugins and presets will feel right at home.

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But unlike broader software packages, Maschine's soul is built around percussion, and anyone who spends more than a few moments at retail with the software will come to appreciate timing, velocity, effects and looping capacities that are tailored to building the perfect beat.

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Maschine is no exception.

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The original Maschine controller allows more direct hardware access to oft-used parameters and two separate LCD screens to keep the user tied into the software without glancing at it--the 12.6 x 11.6-inch footprint has plenty of space to keep the buttons and knobs intuitive without much fuss.

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Routing MIDI and audio to and from Maschine is close to seamless: one magical-feeling enhancement in this version is the ability to render the audio or MIDI tracks produced in Maschine immediately: if you hammer out a bar or two and want to drop it instantly as either an audio track or a set of MIDI note commands, you're just a drag and drop away.

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