- with its construction: quite solid, the pads are just the right size for both drumming and playing, the encoders are absolutely top-notch in quality (and I'm sure the touch-sensitivity will be leveraged in ingenious new ways over time), the RGB lighting is gorgeous (I really don't care about slight variances in "white," it's not a functional problem), the subtly-lit black and amber control pads are quite pleasing aesthetically (btw there's a dumb Youtube video online suggesting the look Ableton chose for these is indicative of the pad surface wearing off... completely wrong, the lighting is subtle, I'm sure in part to manage power draw via the USB connection on a laptop, as well as a design choice), the weight is excellent for keeping the unit in place while engaged actively with it. The USB port is solid and it's nice to have the additional power connection if desired. I only wish both MIDI and power to the unit could be conveyed wirelessly, somehow!
The pad sensitivity range is quite nice, I prefer to avoid getting carpal tunnel and have turned it down to about -9 to get the feel I want for rapid instrumental performance.- with its interface design: it's not as quick to grok as Maschine's interface is in relation to the software, but it's completely logical once you get the hang of it, and easy to remember what the different sections do once you understand the overall design logic. Maschine strikes me as easier to understand if you've spent any time with traditional drum machines, but Push is, like Live itself, an innovation in what such an interface could be, and so requires mastering its metaphors. Once you do, it all makes perfect sense. There's a lot of Shift-key functionality to play around with as well, which is worth just exploring.
- with its enablement of Live as an instrument. I've used Live for years with various kinds of MIDI interfaces, and both Push and Maschine are nothing more/less than "just" MIDI controllers, too, but the value is in the customization of the design so that it is tightly-coupled with the conceptual framework of the software itself. Live is so extensive in functionality and feature set now that I think it would be near-impossible to capture all the options in the software itself into a dedicated, reasonably modal controller interface, and so choices must be made. The choices here are decisive (as they are also for Maschine in its relationship with Native Instruments' software design architecture).
I don't want to get into any Live vs. Maschine discussions or comparisons; I'm new to both, and see them as having separate and individual purpose. The continuity between them is that they are a step towards turning two of the best software instrument suites in the world into dedicated performance instruments, unhooked from the constraints of being "in the box" in a software environment. They also both provide fresh metaphors for what a musical instrument performance interface should be (I'm a fan of things like Reactable, and TC-11 on iPad, btw), and they're most enjoyed as that, not as instruments you're looking to force into existing concepts you're used to. If there's any single thing I'd point to as an advantage in Maschine's case, it's that the transition from other things to Maschine is a little smoother, as it adopts existing concepts a little more closely. Push is more of a departure, and thus takes understanding of how it represents Live to really hook into as a performance instrument. But once you do so, it makes entire sense of Live as the foundation for that instrument.
So, just a few quick thoughts; I know there are more experts here with deeper, more experienced, fussier or more specialist needs that have had their say about improvements and changes, and I'm sure Ableton will do what they can over time. The evolution of Maschine since its release has been pretty substantial, I can only assume the same will be true for newborn Push.
Update: gee, I'm an idiot, I just realized -- and this is a massive advantage in the future over Maschine, if it were ever implemented: since Push has a _separate power input_ and since Wireless MIDI is a proven thing on, for instance, iPad..... think about it.... wouldn't be too hard in the future to have some sort of Wireless MIDI xmit/rcv options to hook into Push on one side (and laptop on the other? or heck, just use the laptop/PC's built-in wireless!).... and done! Push freed from its umbilical cord to the computer! Well, just a thought. But.
Next lifetime.