Maschine Vs. APC40 - Where's The Beef???
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starving student
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Re: Maschine Vs. APC40 - Where's The Beef???
^^ how long did you work for them tell us the evil details?
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glitchrock-buddha
- Posts: 4357
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Re: Maschine Vs. APC40 - Where's The Beef???
Right. They only came out with the single biggest hit in the computer music gear world of the last 5 years and have developed it an amazing speed over the past couple years. Yep, they're done for.looprication wrote:Be concerned about Native Instruments packing up shop. Very concerned about the stability of the company.
Cheers,
-ix
Professional Shark Jumper.
Re: Maschine Vs. APC40 - Where's The Beef???
starving student wrote:maschine has velocity
and very good velocity at that. I love them pads.
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starving student
- Posts: 7129
- Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 6:13 pm
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Re: Maschine Vs. APC40 - Where's The Beef???
I guess around the ni office they're all singing 'more money more problems'Re: Maschine Vs. APC40 - Where's The Beef???
The reason they get beef is as new users with limited funds get into the game...they always ask which they should get. That spawns innumerable compares n contrasts on the merits of each.
Re: Maschine Vs. APC40 - Where's The Beef???
^^^ This - but folks have to start somewhere.
I have both and use them very differently. As controller for Live - they are both lacking TBH in different ways. I personally dont find the APC40 that great as it comes in the box - add some scripts etc and it gets alot better.
I also question some of the choices NI made with their MIDI control mode on Maschine (been a while since I used it for this, so cant remember often the specifics - just remember I didnt think much of it and so I dont bether), I dont find that particularl great for controlling Live either. Better in some ways than the APC40 (decent pages, parameter feedback/labels etc), much poorer in others - number of knobs, sliders, arrangement of controls.
They are different - Maschine is a really good controller for doing what its supposed to do - control the maschine software. Just like NI's X1 is really good for controlling a pair of traktor decks in the context for which it was created.
The APC40 OTOH for me has allways been a case of its OK, but too generic as it stands. As a production tool I find it far too limited and the script is a bit unpredictable as far as grid location goes - have to look at screen to much before I touch anything. As a performance tool I cant quite make my mind up - its OK when I custom script it and design the set specifically around it. I think fundamentally what I disliked mos about the APC40 was in its scripts (but that also extends to the default choices of functionality labels on knobs and buttons) - thankfully something that can be easily changed with different scripts and sticky labels.
I'm still very tempted to try combined an APC20 with it (phsyically joining them), but then the end result will be really bulky. The APC40 is quite bulky and heavy too (reasonable construction to be fair and definately not like novation/toys'r'us type stuff).
Ive long some to the conclusion that if you want the ideal controller - then there is only one answer - fully or semi custom build or modular kits etc. spend a long time looking into the Vestax VMC-600 - but that just wasnt they way I wanted to do a set. Fine I guess for a 2 track DJ type set with a few additional loop tracks etc.
If you aint willing/able to go custom on the controlller, then you may need to think about a custom script and moe importantly, designing your sets very specifically to work well for you chosen controller - choose carefully how you want to split your performance into stems so its works best and simplest for the controller.
If you want a pure production tool, then IMHO a decent grid of buttons and a separate dedicated mixer type controller is better for abelton Live - ironically I find myself using the buttons on the APC and then using a generic mackie type iPad based control surface for actual mixing. In production how, I find the grid far too small - you typically have alot more than 8 tracks, your experimenting, need instant access across more than 8 tracks and often more than 5 rows - without scrolling, so in the end, I can find myself still launching many clips with a mouse.
Once Ive scrolled the APC, then I find myself having to carefully cross checking between the APC40 and the computer screen - abit of a workflow killer TBH. I so wish the APC at least had some LCD displays over the tracks just to give the track names. It wouldnt help live use (you probbaly only use 8 tracks, never need to scroll sidewise, or do a full 8 cell jump sideways), but it would make it a far better production controller. Perhpas my bigest annoyance with the vanilla script is that there seems to be many thing you can do in live that cause the grid position to get reset - hence why I allways have to carefully check the screen and box position etc if using the scrolling.
Its gets far beter with custom scripts - Google nativeKontrol for example, and there are plenty of others that have been posted here.
I have both and use them very differently. As controller for Live - they are both lacking TBH in different ways. I personally dont find the APC40 that great as it comes in the box - add some scripts etc and it gets alot better.
I also question some of the choices NI made with their MIDI control mode on Maschine (been a while since I used it for this, so cant remember often the specifics - just remember I didnt think much of it and so I dont bether), I dont find that particularl great for controlling Live either. Better in some ways than the APC40 (decent pages, parameter feedback/labels etc), much poorer in others - number of knobs, sliders, arrangement of controls.
They are different - Maschine is a really good controller for doing what its supposed to do - control the maschine software. Just like NI's X1 is really good for controlling a pair of traktor decks in the context for which it was created.
The APC40 OTOH for me has allways been a case of its OK, but too generic as it stands. As a production tool I find it far too limited and the script is a bit unpredictable as far as grid location goes - have to look at screen to much before I touch anything. As a performance tool I cant quite make my mind up - its OK when I custom script it and design the set specifically around it. I think fundamentally what I disliked mos about the APC40 was in its scripts (but that also extends to the default choices of functionality labels on knobs and buttons) - thankfully something that can be easily changed with different scripts and sticky labels.
I'm still very tempted to try combined an APC20 with it (phsyically joining them), but then the end result will be really bulky. The APC40 is quite bulky and heavy too (reasonable construction to be fair and definately not like novation/toys'r'us type stuff).
Ive long some to the conclusion that if you want the ideal controller - then there is only one answer - fully or semi custom build or modular kits etc. spend a long time looking into the Vestax VMC-600 - but that just wasnt they way I wanted to do a set. Fine I guess for a 2 track DJ type set with a few additional loop tracks etc.
If you aint willing/able to go custom on the controlller, then you may need to think about a custom script and moe importantly, designing your sets very specifically to work well for you chosen controller - choose carefully how you want to split your performance into stems so its works best and simplest for the controller.
If you want a pure production tool, then IMHO a decent grid of buttons and a separate dedicated mixer type controller is better for abelton Live - ironically I find myself using the buttons on the APC and then using a generic mackie type iPad based control surface for actual mixing. In production how, I find the grid far too small - you typically have alot more than 8 tracks, your experimenting, need instant access across more than 8 tracks and often more than 5 rows - without scrolling, so in the end, I can find myself still launching many clips with a mouse.
Once Ive scrolled the APC, then I find myself having to carefully cross checking between the APC40 and the computer screen - abit of a workflow killer TBH. I so wish the APC at least had some LCD displays over the tracks just to give the track names. It wouldnt help live use (you probbaly only use 8 tracks, never need to scroll sidewise, or do a full 8 cell jump sideways), but it would make it a far better production controller. Perhpas my bigest annoyance with the vanilla script is that there seems to be many thing you can do in live that cause the grid position to get reset - hence why I allways have to carefully check the screen and box position etc if using the scrolling.
Its gets far beter with custom scripts - Google nativeKontrol for example, and there are plenty of others that have been posted here.
Nothing to see here - move along!
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starving student
- Posts: 7129
- Joined: Thu Dec 09, 2004 6:13 pm
- Location: right here
Re: Maschine Vs. APC40 - Where's The Beef???
and which one maps to third party vsts better hmmmm