Did you just purchase the Brother machine? If it didn't sew well after 20 minutes of sewing, return it or call Brother's help line. If it is new, as in just purchased, it might have been dropped somewhere along the route to the store, so definitely return it. Or it could be a lemon...it happens.
In fact, even if it is well used, call Brother's help line anyway. You have nothing to lose.
I have had 4 Brother machines of various price ranges and love them all.
One was an $89 machine that had 70 stitches and worked like a champ for 6 years - even though I rarely did anything like cleaning it! I let my niece and nephew sew on it, too. It went on a trip with me and was dropped when either packing or unpacking the car and suffered fatal injuries! That sewing machine had 3 speeds that you could set, but was still powered from the pedal.
I bought two Brother replacement machines: a Brother PE-350; I've had it for about 2 years and use it almost daily. Haven't used the embroidery part, though, but you never know. It too, works very well, especially considering I'm not particularly gentle with my sewing machines. What I really like about this machine is the push button thread cutter. What a blessing that is!
The other replacement machine is a very low end mechanical that sews very well, but doesn't do anything fancy and is completely un-computerized. I use it when I'm traveling, for obvious reasons.
The newest is a SQ 9185, that cost me less than $200. It's got a slightly larger throat, sews well, you can use a pedal or use a button to start and end sewing, which may be what you mean by 'cruise control'. i don't use it as much as the PE-350 because it doesn't have the push button thread cutter!
Whatever you buy, good luck and happy sewing.