Two days ago, (after two weeks of shipping time) I finally recieved my MachineDrum. The Bad It didn't take me long to discover that the buttons and knobs feel VERY cheap. The buttons/knobs on my $300 Electribe feel smoother and more solid than the ones on the $1100 MachineDrum...hmmm... Also, there are a lot of wierd interface flaws when using the menu system. The Mute section is dissapointing - you can't tweak the Master FX while anything is muted...and there's no Solo feature (is there?). Also you can't record via key input in realtime - that'd be nice. The Good: Sounds are really good. I mean, that's the main reason I bought the thing = the sounds. I'm simply writing this email so anyone who is considering the MD will think about if the 'feel' of it is important before dropping the cash. My whole stimulus for this mail is that if I'm going to pay a premium fee for something, I want it to feel like it's worth every cent. With the MachineDrum I do not feel as if they put USD$1100 into it. Or spent $1080, but then spemt $20 on the hardware. On that note - has anyone modded their MD? Replaced knobs/buttons? I assume this can be done without too much hassle and would improve the whole box (IMO) greatly. Ed :: http://www.Q5Studios.com :: 785.842..3378
Message
First Impressions
2002-05-19 by Ed