BATTLE OF THE CLONES

With the announcement or leak of the new Maschine Standalone, the question arises... Are we witnessing a paradigm shift? To tether or not to tether that is the question. Has NI lost its stronghold on the beatmakers market now that Akai has set a new standard of strong stand-alone machines like MPC X, One, Live (II) etc? How much does it matter that NI has traditionally offered very strong plug-ins and VSTs vs. AKAI having flipped things on its head with plugin in their standalone boxes? How does the hardware compare? Do we need a CV on these stand-alone boxes? What CV alternatives and eurorack integration options exist for both brands?