Nils Frahm—known for blending traditional and electronic instruments to reach ethereal dimensions—will tell you that no two pianos, even of the same model, sound the same. “Even the best manufacturers struggle to make instruments of the same quality,” he says. “It is a very, very complex physical system and you need a little bit of luck to make an instrument that goes beyond, in terms …
“Hey, there’s these two freaks in Berlin. They started this thing. They call it Native Instruments.”
Native Instruments’ Maschine Mikro is a compact, travel-friendly beat-making station. You can use it to create melodies, “jot down” ideas, or build beats from the base up—all for an incredibly reasonable price. The Mikro can stand on its own as a production tool but it’s also compatible as a plug-in for a number of other audio production programs (like Ableton Live, Logic Pro or FL Studio).
