An English rock band from Canterbury, Kent formed in 1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin.

The Soft Machine line-up has undergone many changes over years, included Andy Summers, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington and Allan Holdsworth. As of 2025, John Etheridge, Theo Travis, Fred Thelonious Baker and Asaf Sirkis.

One of the first British psychedelic acts, and later moving into prog and jazz-rock, and in 1971 became a purely instrumental band.

Soft Machine’s music encompasses prog, experimental rock, jazz rock, jazz, proto-prog, psychedelic rock and art rock. According to Hugh Hopper: “We weren’t consciously playing jazz rock, it was more a case of not wanting to sound like other bands; we certainly didn’t want a guitarist”