MASCHINE MIKRO!!!!!!

[starving student]

I already bought one. The music doesn't stop now. edit: the magic doesn't stop

im trying to be next

[23kon]

I might beat you to the shop

[projoosa]

Anyone new maschine mikro users fancy sharing their initial thoughts on it ?

[23kon]

Anyone new maschine mikro users fancy sharing their initial thoughts on it ?

This video is worth a watch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYp2p4MYNP4
from a Maschine user who got a Mikro

Also check out the end of the to Maschine or Not to Maschine thread so some folks input.

The more I think about the Mikro the more genius it is.
As well as being an advanced and good tool for music making, it's priced at entry level - a controller PLUS software for £300. No one can sniff at that?!

[djadonis206]

Anyone new maschine mikro users fancy sharing their initial thoughts on it ?

It's fast and fun. You can get ideas up and running in a heartbeat. And, even though it only has "one" knob, it's a lot of fun to tweak.

With that said, I can imagine a steeper learning curve for first time Maschine users. There is only one knob so you have to dig a little to get to various parameters. I can see this slowing some people down, it slowed me down at first. But once you understand the lay-out - I believe it actually gets quicker to do things on the Mikro than the M1. M1 meaning the bigger Maschine.

I can also see Mikro being the only Maschine you need. With the Mikro there's more mouse touching, but I learned fairly quickly that touching the mouse, or trackpad, makes your life easier when dealing with Maschine.

Admittedly, I'm a 64 bar song kind of person. I'm in my last year of graduate school, I work, and I have a wife and kid. So my "songs" don't go to far past 64 bars unless I dedicate some serious time to the track, which as you can guess I don't have.

Having said all that, I get way further in a track with Maschine, in stand alone, than I ever did with Live. Granted several years ago I produced several tracks in Live that were released, some people around here may remember that.

So I say get one. It's fast, fun, and a gear junkies dream. Take some time to learn the software and controller before you "integrate" it into your DAW.

I use the M1 with Live because it's in my studio (see photo below). I use Live like a mixer, running the 16 individual channels out of Maschine into Live. I use my APC20 to control Live, for starts, stops, and track fades.

Here's my studio set up with the M1:



and here's my studio set up with the Mikro:



Funny huh

[Destro]

djadonis206: What can the M1 do that the Mikro can't? And do you miss those particular features?

[djadonis206]

djadonis206: What can the M1 do that the Mikro can't? And do you miss those particular features?

So far I've noticed,

The Mikro can't launch VST GUI's from the controller
You can't record automation from the controller

I still have my M1 so I don't miss those things. Those limitations aren't deal breakers for me

[23kon]

djadonis206: What can the M1 do that the Mikro can't? And do you miss those particular features?

So far I've noticed,

The Mikro can't launch VST GUI's from the controller
You can't record automation from the controller

I still have my M1 so I don't miss those things. Those limitations aren't deal breakers for me

But you can record automation from another controller.
A novation Nocturn is a good shout as it has 8 knobs/SpeedDial/Xfader/8Buttons and Automap software allowing you as many pages (in user mode) of 8 pages as you like. Plus it's about the same size as mikro.

[Destro]

djadonis206: Thanks!

Two more questions:

1) You mentioned that you could do some things quicker on the Mikro than on the M1. Could you give us an example or two?

2) Based on the NI tutorial videos, browsing samples on the Mikro seems a lot more cumbersome. Any comments on this?

Really appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions.

[sexface]

djadonis206: Thanks!

Two more questions:

1) You mentioned that you could do some things quicker on the Mikro than on the M1. Could you give us an example or two?

2) Based on the NI tutorial videos, browsing samples on the Mikro seems a lot more cumbersome. Any comments on this?

Really appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions.

Beat me to it! I'd really like to see these questions answered, too.

[djadonis206]

djadonis206: Thanks!

Two more questions:

1) You mentioned that you could do some things quicker on the Mikro than on the M1. Could you give us an example or two?

2) Based on the NI tutorial videos, browsing samples on the Mikro seems a lot more cumbersome. Any comments on this?

Really appreciate you taking the time to answer these questions.

I can give a quick answer now.

Viewing the Maschine GUI. The way Mikro's nav button and pads work is by pressing [nav] and then the pads become your destinations. So, If I want to only see the sample editor, I hit Nav and then switch off the different parts of the GUI I don't want to see. The M1 does this as well, but the pads on the Mikro make it easier for me because they're big.

Browsing. I know what video you're talking about. At first browsing samples and instruments can seem daunting. But once you realize how it works browsing becomes a little quicker. You only 'live' in one bank with one sample. This simplifies the browsing process for me. Before I was looking at (read seeing) the Bank, Type, Subtype - now I just see the bank or type or subtype. Again, the M1 does this but for me I prefer to 'live' in one place when browsing for samples.

[lethal_pizzle]

But you can record automation from another controller.
A novation Nocturn is a good shout as it has 8 knobs/SpeedDial/Xfader/8Buttons and Automap software allowing you as many pages (in user mode) of 8 pages as you like. Plus it's about the same size as mikro.

Maschine only allows 8 macro knobs per group. You cannot fully replicate the functionality of Maschine with a Mikro + 8 knob controller.

[23kon]

But you can record automation from another controller.
A novation Nocturn is a good shout as it has 8 knobs/SpeedDial/Xfader/8Buttons and Automap software allowing you as many pages (in user mode) of 8 pages as you like. Plus it's about the same size as mikro.

Maschine only allows 8 macro knobs per group. You cannot fully replicate the functionality of Maschine with a Mikro + 8 knob controller.

I wasn't meaning using a Nocturn or other controller to replicate the functionality of the knobs in Maschine.
I was meaning using the controller for tweaking vst parameters/effects etc that can be midi assigned to the knobs on-show in the software. NOT for browsing through menus etc.

I see what DJAdonis is saying about liking just working from one window. I can see that some users with the M1 though might find it frustrating just having the one small window. However, anyone that has experience or has come from using MPCs, Octatrack or any Hardware Grooveboxes wouldn't have a problem with just the one small screen.

I'd recommend (as it's what I might do) to someone who's considering buying one of the Maschine units and thinks they might be frustrated by the Mikro but would like to try it is to buy one from an actual store (rather than mail order). If a decent store, they will normally let you return the product within a certain time. Usually they won't give you cash back when you return it but give you a voucher for the value then you just put it against buying an M1.
Worth a go I reckon.

[lethal_pizzle]

I'm with you. To my mind, mapping the automation to MIDI macros etc would take away the immediacy of the workflow.

In any case, Mikro lacks an 'autowrite' button, I can't see any way of recording information from your controller into a pattern in Maschine (you have to click on the outer ring of a GUI encoder to record automation at the moment), so you'd be restricted to recording the automation into a DAW instead.

[23kon]

I'm with you. To my mind, mapping the automation to MIDI macros etc would take away the immediacy of the workflow.

In any case, Mikro lacks an 'autowrite' button, I can't see any way of recording information from your controller into a pattern in Maschine (you have to click on the outer ring of a GUI encoder to record automation at the moment), so you'd be restricted to recording the automation into a DAW instead.

You cannot even currently record automation from an external controller using Big Maschine, you can only record automation from the 'origin encoder'.

I don't mind clicking the mouse as part of my 'workflow' so it's no problem.

Can you confirm the second part of the answer above?
I'm puzzled!
So are you saying that parameters within VSTs/Effects cant be assigned to external controllers to be tweaked on the fly for playing live? or can be assigned but can't be recorded (in Maschine software)?

And to be able to record automation i'd have to take the 16 channels into Ableton Live and record the automation in these channels by assigning an external controller and tweaking?

I'd have to think about if this would be a deal-breaker or not. Hrm.
It would be nice to be able to record automation while jamming in maschine alone.
But i guess it wouldnt be hard to draw in (i assume you can do that) the automation in maschine software.