Soft Machine are an English rock band from Canterbury, Kent. The band were formed in 1966 by Mike Ratledge, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Daevid Allen and Larry Nowlin. Soft Machine were central in the Canterbury scene; they became one of the first British psychedelic acts, and later moved into progressive and jazz rock. In 1971, Soft Machine became a purely instrumental band. Soft Machine's lineup has undergone many changes, and has included Andy Summers, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington and Allan Holdsworth. As of 2024, the current line-up consists of John Etheridge, Theo Travis, Fred Thelonious Baker and Asaf Sirkis.
Though they achieved little commercial success, critics consider Soft Machine to have been influential in rock music. Dave Lynch at AllMusic called them "one of the most influential underground bands of their era". The band's name originates from William S. Burroughs's novel The Soft Machine.