NI Maschine?

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
perplex
Posts: 357
Joined: Wed Feb 02, 2011 4:47 pm

NI Maschine?

Post by perplex » Tue Jun 07, 2011 12:06 pm

Im really thinking about purchasing this piece of equipment/software.

To those who have it, how well is integration with Live? How does it feel? Is it built sturdy (like an APC40 - for those who have that) I dont have a guitar center or anything like that around me for miles, so I would like to ask here.
Thanks.

Also, please share some cool things you have discovered with it if you would like.

Carl Lofgren
Posts: 143
Joined: Sun May 04, 2008 5:18 pm

Re: NI Maschine?

Post by Carl Lofgren » Tue Jun 07, 2011 2:23 pm

I got it. It's well built, the support and development is Native Instruments on their best.

Personally - I'm not that fond of it. Can't really put my finger on it, but I never use it. Every time I try there is some problem or issue that just make me grab Geist and get it done. There are loads of people who think it's the best thing since the MPC so I guess my personal feelings gets sorted under 'Personal Compatibility'.

Just got me one of those Octatracks - which works perfectly with my way of thinking/working/and so on.
PLUGHUGGER - deep music tech review blog - www.plughugger.com

delicioso
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Re: NI Maschine?

Post by delicioso » Tue Jun 07, 2011 5:27 pm


martin808
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Re: NI Maschine?

Post by martin808 » Tue Jun 07, 2011 8:13 pm

I like it but hate the fact you can't record what you are doing as midi in ableton. Until this is implemented I can't get proper use out it. frustrates me to the point I can't be bothered using it. I like it for my live gigs but it has tons of flaws for production use.

starving student
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Re: NI Maschine?

Post by starving student » Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:04 pm

Carl Lofgren wrote:I got it. It's well built, the support and development is Native Instruments on their best.

Personally - I'm not that fond of it. Can't really put my finger on it, but I never use it. Every time I try there is some problem or issue that just make me grab Geist and get it done. There are loads of people who think it's the best thing since the MPC so I guess my personal feelings gets sorted under 'Personal Compatibility'.

Just got me one of those Octatracks - which works perfectly with my way of thinking/working/and so on.
I'd like to see you 'grab' geist, that would be a treat of a feat :wink:

starving student
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Re: NI Maschine?

Post by starving student » Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:08 pm

martin808 wrote:I like it but hate the fact you can't record what you are doing as midi in ableton. Until this is implemented I can't get proper use out it. frustrates me to the point I can't be bothered using it. I like it for my live gigs but it has tons of flaws for production use.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjhN8a77mvo

Carl Lofgren
Posts: 143
Joined: Sun May 04, 2008 5:18 pm

Re: NI Maschine?

Post by Carl Lofgren » Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:22 pm

starving student wrote:
Carl Lofgren wrote:I got it. It's well built, the support and development is Native Instruments on their best.

Personally - I'm not that fond of it. Can't really put my finger on it, but I never use it. Every time I try there is some problem or issue that just make me grab Geist and get it done. There are loads of people who think it's the best thing since the MPC so I guess my personal feelings gets sorted under 'Personal Compatibility'.

Just got me one of those Octatracks - which works perfectly with my way of thinking/working/and so on.
I'd like to see you 'grab' geist, that would be a treat of a feat :wink:
Aah. You think I'm real? I'm not. A total virtual & fictional character that lives in the cache of Abletons Apache server :mrgreen:
PLUGHUGGER - deep music tech review blog - www.plughugger.com

starving student
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Re: NI Maschine?

Post by starving student » Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:45 pm

Carl Lofgren wrote:
starving student wrote:
Carl Lofgren wrote:I got it. It's well built, the support and development is Native Instruments on their best.

Personally - I'm not that fond of it. Can't really put my finger on it, but I never use it. Every time I try there is some problem or issue that just make me grab Geist and get it done. There are loads of people who think it's the best thing since the MPC so I guess my personal feelings gets sorted under 'Personal Compatibility'.

Just got me one of those Octatracks - which works perfectly with my way of thinking/working/and so on.
I'd like to see you 'grab' geist, that would be a treat of a feat :wink:
Aah. You think I'm real? I'm not. A total virtual & fictional character that lives in the cache of Abletons Apache server :mrgreen:
:) I contributed some sound libraries on the original guru, it's one of those apps that if you delve into it you can't help but appreciate it because it very much has it's own character so I'll always keep it close by for when it's just what I need but I have never had the pleasure of using geist first hand. I think Ni have really done the whole music dev community a huge service by showing them the way to almost certain success, if you create an app and make a controller that meshes with it like maschine does, I'm talking better than auto map, integrated so tightly with function and culture, it will succeed no matter what.

arturia are on their way but not quite their just yet. This concept paired with any application produces euphoria in music makers.

pre55ure
Posts: 46
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Re: NI Maschine?

Post by pre55ure » Wed Jun 08, 2011 12:02 am

perplex wrote:Im really thinking about purchasing this piece of equipment/software.

To those who have it, how well is integration with Live? How does it feel? Is it built sturdy (like an APC40 - for those who have that) I dont have a guitar center or anything like that around me for miles, so I would like to ask here.
Thanks.

Also, please share some cool things you have discovered with it if you would like.

Maschine is pretty well built, I've had mine for about 6 months and haven't had any issues. NI's customer support seems to be pretty crap however. I haven't needed any support, but those that have seem to have had an unpleasant experience.

As far as integrating with Live...
Well, it does integrate with live, but I don't know if I would say it does this particularly well. There's lots of videos about doing this, but i havent found one that really makes the two feel integrated. Most people seem to do most of their work in maschine (standalone) and then drag and drop parts into ableton. To me at least it feels kind of messy to really try to combine the two.

Imho - maschine is phenomenal if you want to write music that consists mainly of elements that you can play using the pads or a keyboard -like chopping and rearranging drums or adding traditional bass and lead lines etc... It's awesome and intuitive and really really fast for getting ideas down. I would guess this is why it is so popular amongst hip hop musicians. On the other hand If you are writing more intricate stuff that involves alot of micro editing (like squarepusher or skrillex etc...) your going to end up doing a lot of mousing around and It's not going to be the ideal tool.

If you are not totally enamored by the need to have "maschine" I would check out getting something like an apc or launchpad and a nativekontrol script. Live plus my launchpad running the launchpad script integrates better into live and probably fulfills about 80% of what maschine can do, and can actually do a few things maschine can't.

mholloway
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Re: NI Maschine?

Post by mholloway » Wed Jun 08, 2011 12:47 am

Carl Lofgren wrote:I got it. It's well built, the support and development is Native Instruments on their best.

Personally - I'm not that fond of it. Can't really put my finger on it, but I never use it. Every time I try there is some problem or issue that just make me grab Geist and get it done. There are loads of people who think it's the best thing since the MPC so I guess my personal feelings gets sorted under 'Personal Compatibility'.

Just got me one of those Octatracks - which works perfectly with my way of thinking/working/and so on.

Same here. I've had Maschine for a year now. I've played with it. I've never once used it in a track of mine. Hard to say why, exactly. The hardware feels great and is fun. The software....I think is what bothers me. I don't like the browser, I don't like how it 'feels' to organize my own drum kits, and my workflow tastes are very much against "sequencing inside another sequencer" e.g. I like to do everything directly into ableton, anything else feels counter-intuitive/productive to me.

So I never use it. I use drum racks. Oh, and I tried the whole routing deal wherein I could play maschine's pads, triggering maschine's kits, and have it record as midi notes in a live midi clip. It worked, yes....but the setup was a bit obnoxious and it just didn't seem worth it.

I would sell it -- but it's an educational version, so I can't. Funny. I'm stuck with it. Maybe someday I'll find a way to make it do something other than eat space.


-M
my industrial music made with Ableton Live (as DEAD WHEN I FOUND HER): https://deadwhenifoundher.bandcamp.com/
my dark jazz / noir music made with Ableton Live: https://michaelarthurholloway.bandcamp. ... guilt-noir

starving student
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Re: NI Maschine?

Post by starving student » Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:36 am

how obnoxious is this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjhN8a77mvo

I'm not really sure where you guys are coming from, not trying to be a hardhead or anything but, maschine doesn't take any complex routing , midi translators, or scripts though it could make use of those things. like what dude is doing in this video couldn't be simpler in my opinion what am I missing?

delicioso
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Re: NI Maschine?

Post by delicioso » Wed Jun 08, 2011 1:58 am

While many people use Maschine and Live together, Maschine deserves to be looked at on its own. I can say that Maschine has replaced Live as my main production tool and I use it standalone. It's very much a viable alternative to Live's session view where you can actually record realtime automation into clips and have unparalleled total integration with the dedicated hardware for a completely mouseless workflow.

mholloway
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Re: NI Maschine?

Post by mholloway » Wed Jun 08, 2011 6:07 am

starving student wrote:how obnoxious is this
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjhN8a77mvo

I'm not really sure where you guys are coming from, not trying to be a hardhead or anything but, maschine doesn't take any complex routing , midi translators, or scripts though it could make use of those things. like what dude is doing in this video couldn't be simpler in my opinion what am I missing?

It's not that it's difficult to do, it's just that it's cumbersome in various ways. If you are only using one kit and one channel, no big deal -- bit if you have three+ kits loaded, three+ channels, the routing gets fiddly for reasons that aren't even clear. I had lots of trouble getting it working, Maschine's midi-channel assignment was not intuitive and frequently I couldn't trigger anything beyond the first kit, or only one kit at a time, etc: eventually I got it working, but couldn't even figure out -how- I got it working. It was a serious pain in the ass, and just the thought of trying to set it up again makes my wonder why I'd bother in the first place. (and to only use the whole damn thing for just one loaded kit seems stupid).

I love the hardware, scene jumping and kit selection and note-repeat and all that just feels super fast and fun. I just struggle to get any of that integrated into my songwriting workflow. But hey, it's a very personal thing, it just so far hasn't worked for me and my workflow tastes (well, that and the above multi-kit midi problems).

-M
my industrial music made with Ableton Live (as DEAD WHEN I FOUND HER): https://deadwhenifoundher.bandcamp.com/
my dark jazz / noir music made with Ableton Live: https://michaelarthurholloway.bandcamp. ... guilt-noir

Carl Lofgren
Posts: 143
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Re: NI Maschine?

Post by Carl Lofgren » Wed Jun 08, 2011 6:37 am

mholloway wrote:I would sell it -- but it's an educational version, so I can't. Funny. I'm stuck with it. Maybe someday I'll find a way to make it do something other than eat space.
Yeah, I was thinking of selling mine as well. But seeing the almost hyper-active involvement from NI I'll keep mine at least until v2 is out. Although I too find Maschine cumbersome - and a bit uninspiring actually - I have great faith in what NI can do with it. I mean - VST support for a free 1.6 update? Stuff like that make me view the whole Maschine project optimistically.

/C
PLUGHUGGER - deep music tech review blog - www.plughugger.com

The Northern Contingent
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Re: NI Maschine?

Post by The Northern Contingent » Wed Jun 08, 2011 6:56 pm

I think what many people who find it hard to build Maschine into their workflow are missing is the fundamental difference that Maschine is an instrument and not just another plugin.

Although it is incredibly powerful technically, it needs to be learned and approached as an instrument with its own technique for playing and performing. Like all instruments this takes time and patience to perfect. Anyone can bang out a simple 4/4 rhythm on it of course, but to really unlock its full potential you need what good old Roy Castle said - dedication. :D

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