Just tried Maschine again after a few years

[Tarekith]

I just set all my patterns to default to 64 measures long, that way I can still treat it like linear recording for grabbing my ideas. Easy enough in Maschine to hit Undo and then Restart to jump back to the beginning for a new pass.

[yur2die4]

Wow, it is interesting to see how we each have some very specific techniques for our ways of working. I might try that one out. I get frustrated in some times when I'm not sure how long I want a pattern to be, and having to double the length a few times in hopes that it'll be a suitable length for the part that I don't know the length of yet.

If I start with 64, I can always reduce the length after. Thanks for the tip!

Yeah, I don't know if I described my tip well enough. In a simplified explanation it is as such:
Pattern 1 drum beat a
Pattern 2 drum beat b
Pattern 3 snare roll fill
Pattern 4 minimal/not busy maybe bd on downbeat

And as I play, I might ride the pattern buttons to add fills anytime I want or variations within a bar. It is kind of a hyperactive approach but when I start with almost nothing, I can quickly make variations and then record different combinations of those variations switching around. Also works for melodies haha.

[Airyck]

I just set all my patterns to default to 64 measures long, that way I can still treat it like linear recording for grabbing my ideas. Easy enough in Maschine to hit Undo and then Restart to jump back to the beginning for a new pass.

That makes sense for the most part. Do you always stop and start your sequence before recording (count in etc..)? I tend to just play and grab the best pieces; if I stop I lose the moment sometimes so maybe it's just a failure on my part in my live playing/memory abilities. I actually modified the controller and added a foot switch input to hit record because I didn't want to move my hands to the record button while playing.




The main problem I saw with having a longer set of measures was that if I didn't record right at the beginning then I found myself hitting nudge an excessive amount of times and trying to adjust the loop to work at the beginning.

For that the workflow just really slows me down. I like to be able to make stuff as quick as possible because if I come back to it later then I've lost the feeling of that moment and I can really ruin a very good track.

[jlgrimes]

Wow! It really sucks




Okay so not Kompletely. I have an original MK1 Maschine that I pre-ordered back in 2009 or something like that. I upgraded to the V2.0 software when it came out because my fiancé was using it still and I thought she'd like the 2.0 software.
She's been busy with other things and hasn't used it in a while so I decided to mess around and see how I might be able to include it in my Ableton Live/Push workflow.
I like drums synths so the first thing I did was try the new drum synths, they sound very musical and seem very useful in the context of making music; wide sweet spots in other words.

So far so good. I also own Komplete 9 Ultimate so the access to all of those instruments and FX is also awesome, so many good presets there to start from and the browsing is really nice.

Next I start to work on something; I record a pattern... too short and it loops on it's self. I forget you have to specify the pattern length before you record (thank you Ableton for understanding music making). So I make a long pattern and just jam away. I had a few cool sections in the middle so I start to move the "start point" of the pattern.... where is that control? I decide to look for it in the software.... OMG you can't adjust the loop start point? You can't move the loop pattern? Oh you can just nudge into infinity until things move into place and shorten the loop? This will take forever just to experiment with parts of what I recorded...... I unplugged it and put it back where it came from... wow just wow, horrible sequencer workflow compared to Live and Push.

I can't imagine going back to that workflow again *shudders*

Damn it though if Native instruments doesn't make some nice "sounding" stuff.
I think I'll be getting to a point soon....

Those drum synths sound great IMO but I don't know if they are worth dealing with Maschine to use them... Any ideas there?

The only M4L drum synths I don't have are the Time and Timbre ones (I plan to get them soon). Can anyone say if they sound "musical" and have wide sweet spots, or just give an opinion on them?

I think I didn't realize how great Push and Live are until I tried something else again.

Anyway, if you're thinking about Maschine, make sure to try it first if at all possible. You may be horrified otherwise when you find out what the workflow is like.

I wish they would come out with just a little preset browser box with the screens of Maschine Studio but no keys, just a browser box for Komplete Kontrol or that Komplete Kontrol Plugin could be controlled by Push... seems like there's always something.

If you are more invested in the Ableton workflow then Push is the better option as it integrates into Live a lot better.


Maschine is a little clunky in some areas but it has a much better drum library than what Ableton offers and some folks like the chopping in Machine better.

It sounds like you probably could do without Maschine. You probably could find some good Drum synths in the User Library of Reaktor if you search. I think Complete or Complete Ultimate might suit you better. Machine drum synths are nice but so is Massive or probably most decent soft synths.

[Tarekith]

The main problem I saw with having a longer set of measures was that if I didn't record right at the beginning then I found myself hitting nudge an excessive amount of times and trying to adjust the loop to work at the beginning.

For that the workflow just really slows me down. I like to be able to make stuff as quick as possible because if I come back to it later then I've lost the feeling of that moment and I can really ruin a very good track.

I think this is one area where the Studio controller really helps, it's dead easy to grab all your notes and use the jog wheel to move them to the beginning of the loop.

[Airyck]

The main problem I saw with having a longer set of measures was that if I didn't record right at the beginning then I found myself hitting nudge an excessive amount of times and trying to adjust the loop to work at the beginning.

For that the workflow just really slows me down. I like to be able to make stuff as quick as possible because if I come back to it later then I've lost the feeling of that moment and I can really ruin a very good track.

I think this is one area where the Studio controller really helps, it's dead easy to grab all your notes and use the jog wheel to move them to the beginning of the loop.

See I had no idea, that seems like a much better way not so easy on my MKI controller.

[beats me]

If you really want to appreciate Maschine then switch to a DAW that doesn’t have a session view or an equivalent. I recommend Logic. Also a stellar combo if you are into tedious audio and MIDI routing setup.

Maybe a template would help with that second part. I'll have to look into it!

[mholloway]

Here's how the OP reads:

"I spent five minutes with a complex product I don't really understand. When it did one thing unexpected, unlikable and surprising to me, I turned it off and went to post in a forum about how horrible the product is. BTW I really like this other unrelated product, and I feel like the more I insult the first product, the more my love of the other product increases. I also hope other people online will pat me on the back and make me feel even better about loudly dismissing the product, and all of this will help me perform even better creatively with the other product I actually like."

your petty product jingoism is a real asset to the community.

[Airyck]

I guess you only see negative things. How you saw what I wrote is nothing like what I said, you're being a jerk now. You just picked out what would support your argument in putting me down. I like how everyone defending Maschine disregards the good things I said about it . Also I don't need a pat on the back and least I was putting down a product and not a person. How is your post any more helpful than mine? I never did anything to you, you didn't have to read my post and you certainly didn't need to be a jerk, you don't even know me.

[Airyck]

There are good things coming out of this thread so stop turning it back towards the negative.

[mholloway]

I had my coffee and I feel better now.

Needless to say, I like Maschine's workflow. I just think it's silly / useless to dismiss something and write it off as "sucks!" just because it doesn't work exactly the way you expect it to. For your 'jamming' method, I guess Maschine just isn't the right tool.

[Airyck]

I get it and I see where you're coming from. In light of that I did say more than it just sucks. In the end it's just my opinion and hopefully people will base their decision on more than that. Also like I said there are a lot of great things about it too.

[Tarekith]

I really like the Maschine Studio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7V8HvRLXfo

[beats me]

I really like the Maschine Studio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7V8HvRLXfo

Care to share some of the info on the sounds, plugins, and parameters you are using in the performance? I only scrubbed through some as I don't have time to check it out in its entirety this morning. Maybe some good Friday night viewing/listening tonight.

[TomViolenz]

Here's how the OP reads:

"I spent five minutes with a complex product I don't really understand. When it did one thing unexpected, unlikable and surprising to me, I turned it off and went to post in a forum about how horrible the product is. BTW I really like this other unrelated product, and I feel like the more I insult the first product, the more my love of the other product increases. I also hope other people online will pat me on the back and make me feel even better about loudly dismissing the product, and all of this will help me perform even better creatively with the other product I actually like."

spot on

I guess you only see negative things. How you saw what I wrote is nothing like what I said, you're being a jerk now.

Wrong
You, not him should have been the one from your second post on responding with:

I had my coffee and I feel better now.