The Maschine & Ableton Love Thread ;) [upon user request]

[delicioso]

It is bad enough lusting for a Maschine, now you want me to get an iPad aswell???

You can do whatever you want. Maschine + iPad (LiveOSC) will be my dream setup. Just letting you know what I think are the best options.

[supamonsta]

too bad that live doesn't receive all 16 midi channels of the maschine as a plugin... it limits the power of the duo

[STRATEGY_510]

Anyone know if Maschine can get by on a high-end ($400+) netbook?

That would be a tight little setup for a grand (more or less), if so.

STRATEGY

[SubFunk]

Anyone know if Maschine can get by on a high-end ($400+) netbook?

That would be a tight little setup for a grand (more or less), if so.

STRATEGY

good question, would have to check the minimum requirements (that would be real neat for maschine as a jam/live instrument on it's own ),

all i know is that the maschine CPU meter itself is tiny and in my case on a 2.16ghz MBP 4gb ram the first bar hardly ever starts to flicker, no matter what i did so far... maybe i should use the activity monitor to check properly, but it feels super light on the CPU.

[SubFunk]

The supplied Mackie Control template does this

and you can toggle between these modes on the fly, while Machine-Soft is running and playing your beats, of course?

yes, and yes and otherwise it is simply possible to label any knob / button page via the screens, so you flick through the pages and you don't need to remember anything or use tape labels, because you can name all the 8 knobs and buttons (the section that has sublayers) plus the pages can have names to, like fx or tempo or volume, rec or whatever you assigned to it

and the 8 sublayers for the pads are also easy to remember i found, because the are all instantly accessible via the 8 blue illuminated buttons, so it's a 'direct' and ultra fast access to layers, i use mainly for things like scales for playing drum racks and instruments and once you flick through them they can have names as well in the right screen, like drum rack or scale A or clip trigger page or whatever you want to name them, so you always know and an instance what is triggering / assigned to what, even after month of non use... you don't need to remember anything.

those 8 blue buttons can be also if you don't use many or any sublayer on the pages (like in my traktor template case, only one used layer) be used as midi buttons sending anything a pad can send, CC, notes, MCU, etc... in my traktor template case those 8 buttons are for the 3rd deck...

for ableton however i use sub pages, different note scales (for instruments), clip trigger pages and a drum rack trigger...

logic is similar, i altered the MCU template and added note scales and an ultrabeat trigger page. (and there the MCU mode gives automatic feedback to whatever i have named in logic)

gawd damn i love this thing.

and i think except you need a lot, lot of clip triggers on one page without sublayers and strong visual feedback in ableton (the red frame) it makes a great controller for ableton as well, in my case it suits perfect, i need less clip launch buttons (usually two layers of each 16 is more then enough for me), i need rather volume, send, general transport and note scales, drum rack triggers, stuff like that and for this maschine makes a perfect ableton controller.

but that depends on each individual need and workflow.

one thing is for sure, any other controller be it NanoKontrol, a pad, apc20/40, launchpad or whatever else is by far not so flexible and can do so much at once for so many different applications and plugs... not even a lemur as it does not have velocity pads.

the others however are more specialised and might be stronger for a certain single need.

that everyone has to figure out himself.

[delicioso]

I had an MPC and sold it as I never used it. I never 'chop' up drum loops and just usually do single hits. If I need to do envelopes etc I'll just use Live. Is maschine only good if you play in your own drum hits on the fly? I'm yet to see a compelling video on it that didn't involve hip hop and just slicing up other peoples music with it.

It's not just about chopping up samples or playing drum hits. If that was it, we'd all be happy using Drum Racks with pad controllers instead. The best thing about Maschine is that it essentially works like standalone hardware in terms of workflow with the dedicated controller. That does make all the difference. Matching a generic midi controller to software will not even come close, period. Maschine feels like an instrument and you can work with it really fast. There's a good reason NI used "Get lost in the flow" slogan with Maschine and it's definitely not just all talk.

Aside from its main advantage of workflow, these are some good things about it:
- a powerful integrated hardware step sequencer w/ visual feedback through backlit pads
- Maschine is a non-linear pattern sequencer just like Live's session view but you can actually record real-time automation in it which Live still can't do without cumbersome workarounds or hacks
- makes for a superb midi controller for other software with two LCD displays and an excellent template editor
- flexible and tight integration with hosts. It can run as a plugin and quickly drag and drop patterns as audio or midi into DAWs
- you can do pretty much everything from the controller without having to use a mouse or look at the computer screen, but if you prefer, you can also you use the mouse for everything and stare at the screen the whole time. It's nice to have the option.
- performance friendly immediately accessible mute/solo of each sample as well as groups of sounds like a combination of features of both Electribe and RM1X
- ability to do things like sampling/resampling that stops automatically at a desired number of bars in sync with tempo, all without ever stopping the sequencer, and have the new sample kick in at the start of next bar (This is one of my favorite features. It kicks Live's ass in this department.)
- kore-style browser with customizable tags to quickly find sounds; comes with a very useful library
- step parameter lock feature similar to Elektron MachineDrum
- it can work as a hardware multi-fx step sequencer like Sugar Bytes Effectrix for both internal and external sounds
- you can also use it as a matrix clip launcher for Live. In fact, Maschine did this long before APC40 even shipped.

[logic_user99]

I don't know what sucks more; not having the money to buy one, or actually having the cash available and not being able to get it for fear of the wrath of wife!

[davepermen]

I don't know what sucks more; not having the money to buy one, or actually having the cash available and not being able to get it for fear of the wrath of wife!

gladly i solved the second part. my money, my choices.
the first one is the problem right now, though..

[Cryptic UK]

How much is John Gordon selling his for?
If it hasn't gone already.

[esteban2010]

Hello,
Your posts about Maschine contains lots of information ..(thanks..) but..
How about using Maschine as looper (with external audio input)?
Is very easy in live...

[logic_user99]

I don't know what sucks more; not having the money to buy one, or actually having the cash available and not being able to get it for fear of the wrath of wife!

gladly i solved the second part. my money, my choices.
the first one is the problem right now, though..

See, that's what I think; it really is my money. However, I've bought ALOT of software (a fair bit of it ill-advisedly... T-Racks plugs, anyone?!?!?!) in the last year and I think that this might tip the balance. That, and we're looking at buying a house and have a baby to look after!

I decided on keeping the Block for now. I guess if I sold that then I could get away with buying Maschine.

[Tarekith]

Best advice I ever got when I got married:

"It's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission".

[SubFunk]

the public beta is over, 1.5.0 for download now...

http://www.native-instruments.com/#/en/ ... r/maschine

[davepermen]

Best advice I ever got when I got married:

"It's easier to ask for forgiveness than for permission".

+1

no.. +1000



works at work, too. not ask to do something. say, it's done that way, is it okay?

[Nick the Zombie]

I'm intrigued! I must admit I wasn't hugely interested in it when it first came out, but I'll give it a second look based on the feedback here.