Native Instruments' gear is a must-have for those in the beat making world. We put the cheaper, dinkier Maschine Mikro through its paces and found that while we loved the portability, we weren't so hot on the lack of MIDI ports and absence of knobs for twiddlin'. That said, we weren't able to hate on the compromises that were made to bring it in under $600 and small enough to stow in a backpack, but how about you guys out there? When you've used this gear day in, day out, can you forgive its flaws in exchange for that extra cash in your hand, or do you wish you'd saved up a little more? If you were in NI's position, what would you have done differently?

How would you change Native Instruments' Maschine Mikro? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 20 May 2012 22:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.