There is in fact. You can maintain a pad and play with pressure in the arp/note repeat since velocity is only on the first hit ? Or I am mistaking ?
@monk_1
[EDIT] After testing, in midi mode, so not limited by maschine software, I can confirm that maschine pads actually send poly aftertouch ! So, the hardware is not the limitation here.
Velocity is fixed by first hit and then pressure triggers continuous polyphonic aftertouch messages.
[/EDIT]
I’m a little surprised it’s just Replika, and not Replika XT….but maybe that would have been too much processing power
Oooh, now this is an interesting statement!
I’m trying to imagine what future features could be reliant upon the framework of the new modulation system….performance recording, perhaps?
Can you give a hint? 
You had me a excited for a minute but these new automation features are not on M+ correct?
Not yet, but as hinted at above hopefully coming soon(ish).
Absolutely loving this new update.
Realised I had a Komplete Select download code thanks to buying a Novation Launchkey keyboard a while back, but sat on it as I already owned a previous recent version of Komplete. Downloaded the Electronic version as it came with Feel It.
Using just the Feel It instrument and a few variations of a drum pattern, I was able to create one of the best tracks i’ve perhaps ever made in around a hour. I bounced patterns to audio and with just a little bit of mixing and some light tweaking of some of the sounds, the whole track sounds very high quality and the instruments sit nicely together and I haven’t auditioned more than 40 of it’s 150 customizable preset.
I don’t think you need full Kontakt as the free player still allows 6 pages of tweakable parameters.
This is a killer update in my opinion as bouncing midi to audio isn’t always ideal, but if I can create such highly polished tracks so easily when I haven’t used the M+ more that a day or 2 in the last 8 months, then i’m more than happy.
Just hoping now they add more of the Play series to the M+ and i’ll pick them up in the sales.
With the pace of updates in the Push 3 world seemingly getting faster. It seems to me that Push [if you are already an Ableton Live user] is the more pragmatic way forward.
It is after all seemless to go from jam/idea to finished track when you switch into the DAW.
the push 3 daw integration is second to none, they did a very good job.
however, push 3 itself, feels clunky to use. if you want that quick groovebox/sampler feeling, maschine+ and mpc are still the tools to use imo…
There are some workarounds for that on Push 3, but I do take your point, it feels like MPC and Maschine are built for sampling.
There are a few interesting hacks that really help the Push sampling workflow. Catch by Novel music is fun, and using the hack where you just record all your clips into live and then grab what you need from the current project in Places is definitely better. But ultimately until Push gets the record into a Pad workflow like you can in Ableton Move, then I agree the workflow is definitely slightly more convoluted than Maschine.
I never use Maschine for sampling, more as a synth and preset based groovebox.
You can also use Maschine as a plugin in ableton live?
Yes. Maschine works as a VST plug-in within a DAW and offers features such as multi-output routing for adding additional effects, parameter automation, scene/section triggering, and snapshot triggering.
However, it’s biggest limitation and what keeps me from working more with it as a VST rather in standalone is its transport, tempo, and timeline position are locked to the host DAW, which limits its flexibility for arranging tracks independently of the DAW’s timeline. While Maschine offers more than just basic functionality as a VST, this integration limitation can make it less ideal for non-linear workflows, especially for folks who prefer a more independent, clips-like arrangement process.
So i do most of my idea building outside of my host, and bring in a more or less baked arrangement/track into the host for final touches either as stems or VST w/ Multi-outs.
In the comment from jm2c above? I think he is referring to Maschine 3 for desktop. @jm2c , care to chime in?
Maybe Ableton link is a better solution than using Maschine inside the DAW.
Is Maschine stepping up with new hardware soon or are they going the way of SEGA (Maschine) to Nintendo (Akai) ?
Good luck getting that info.
M+ is still a beast though. Yes, the new Play Series instruments can hit the cpu hard, but working with one instance of the new instruments at a time and bouncing in place is actually little hassle in practice and produces great results, in my experience anyway. The M+ is still probably the fastest way to make a quality track on any groovebox and as Bolo said, has the best time stretching, so it’s ridiculously quick and easy to make loops and sounds sit together.
But i’ve had my head turned by MPC L3 too and expect to buy once I can get my hands on one, but i’ve worked with MPC’s before and I know the things that pee me off and I know it’s not going to become my main music making machine until they streamline the workflow, perhaps years into the future.
Isn’t the “Play” series a watered down sampled based curated pack because M+ couldn’t handle the real thing…and you are saying it can hardly even handle that?
If so, sad trombone noises 
6 pages (x8) of adjustable parameters, including effects on the M+, so not sure what you mean.
They are watered down for the MPC though, hence the price difference. On balance, i’d take the watered down MPC versions because in the UK the price is £44 for M+ and for MPC it’s £25.
Yes and No. Yes, both Play Series for standalone software (MPC and M+) is a lite version of the more robust Desktop VST version that is only available when you buy at $49 from NI.
The difference is MPC users pay $29, the instruments run exponentially better on MPC live 3 (cpu/ram), true Aftertouch and you can stack 32 of em. The plus side for Maschine users is you get a fuller desktop VST with that ($49) purchase.
I might be wrong here, but was told on the Maschine forum that the MPC version is a lighter version than the M+'s. I can’t back up that claim and i’ve never used Play series on the computer to know the differences, but just what I heard from a long standing member there, or at least my interpretation of what he told me. But yes, he did say the difference really is that they’re designed to work in Maschine software on the computer, so not sure how that differs from the download that we also get on the M+. Maybe someone who uses the M+ in both controller and standalone can attest to the difference.
It’s almost a moot point though as I think only Duets is available on both the MPC and M+, so I guess that will reveal the truth. It seems they’re releasing different Play Series instruments on each device anyway. Maybe it’s to stop comparisons, but I am disappointed by the price difference. I’d take the cheaper price any day and be more likely to buy them. Well, I wouldn’t pay full price for one anyway, despite the quality.