Ableton Forum

timothyallan wrote:Maschine is really good if you sample other peoples music. I've been playing with Nerve at a mates house, and that thing is fantastic for making grooves from scratch out of anything.

yep nerve is fresh, but maschine is just a sampler what's the diff?

timothyallan wrote:Maschine is really good if you sample other peoples music. I've been playing with Nerve at a mates house, and that thing is fantastic for making grooves from scratch out of anything.

Don't need to sample other people's music. Don't forget any pad can load any plug-in, so you can create any drum hits or one shot you want, leave it as a plug-in to record modulation, or bounce as you like. Or use the built library of samples or your own sample library. I only use it for making things from scratch.

Slightlydelic wrote:

i dont see what's so hard about doing the same in ableton live, make a clip set the lenght loop it and drop in and out of midi overdub to build the layers.

There's nothing hard about it. However for me, Maschine is more fun, organized, and inspiring.

It's not rocket science. Do what works and have fun.

Speaking of workflow. Some people say weed improves their workflow. And for many, it's completely integrated. Yet, such things are seldom debated.

Get over it, keep it simple, and have fun.

Mines now for sale on ebay along with Kore 2 software and some soundpacks

djadonis206 wrote:

Slightlydelic wrote:i dont see what's so hard about doing the same in ableton live, make a clip set the lenght loop it and drop in and out of midi overdub to build the layers.

There's nothing hard about it. However for me, Maschine is more fun, organized, and inspiring.

It's not rocket science. Do what works and have fun.

Speaking of workflow. Some people say weed improves their workflow. And for many, it's completely integrated. Yet, such things are seldom debated.

Get over it, keep it simple, and have fun.

Well said. Maschine brings the fun back into music making as many users will attest to if you're not satisfied with the mouse-click driven process of using software (which is still the case with Live + APC40/Launchpad) and would much rather prefer the feel of a tactile, hardware instrument that you can learn to play and become very efficient at playing.

i dont see what's so hard about doing the same in ableton live

Do an experiment. Go to a friend's house, or a DJ store and play around with Maschine for 30 mins making beats. Then do the same in Ableton. I can't explain why, it's just faster, easier and sounds better in Maschine. It's a great groovebox. That's it. Don't believe any hype about it being anything more than a great groovebox though.

PS: And, I'm an extreme skeptic. People will know this if they have read any of my other threads.

Kruddler wrote:

i dont see what's so hard about doing the same in ableton live

Do an experiment. Go to a friend's house, or a DJ store and play around with Maschine for 30 mins making beats. Then do the same in Ableton. I can't explain why, it's just faster, easier and sounds better in Maschine. It's a great groovebox. That's it. Don't believe any hype about it being anything more than a great groovebox though.

It's far more than just a "groovebox" though. It's a full-on sampler/workstation/sequencer that's known to have replaced MPCs and Live in many people's setups due to being so much faster and more fun and hands-on to use. It's a viable alternative to Live's session view with the ability to record realtime modulation into clips and total integration between the hardware/software so that you don't have to touch the mouse or look at the computer screen and just do everything from the controller. The hardware controller also happens to be one of the flexible and powerful tactile MIDI controllers around. Calling it "just a groovebox" is selling it far far too short.

Maschine as MIDI controller:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy6Njb9SgmU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K097Nw9XsZ0

It's a viable alternative to Live's session view

I wouldn't go as far as saying "viable". Perhaps smelly little brother alternative, but not "viable".

Kruddler wrote:

It's a viable alternative to Live's session view

I wouldn't go as far as saying "viable". Perhaps smelly little brother alternative, but not "viable".

Nah. It's more than "viable". It far surpasses Live's session view on the ability to record realtime modulation into clips alone, not to mention the level of hardware and software integration that makes it a much more intuitive, fun and tactile experience.

Crap timeline/sequencer though compared to Ableton Live and other DAWs.
I've heard this from a few folk, including someone who is in videos to promote their gear

Having said that, It is still a temptation to buy it to see what it's all about.
People that have it and use it seem to love it and the opinion seems to be 'don't knock it till you've tried it'

The Mikro has been introduced as an entry level unit. It's quote annoying that the group buttons are pads - that's not going to be much fun when playing live drumming and needing to quickly switch groups.

23kon wrote:Crap timeline/sequencer though compared to Ableton Live and other DAWs.
I've heard this from a few folk, including someone who is in videos to promote their gear

It doesn't have an arrangement view type linear timeline sequencer found on most traditional DAWs, at least not yet. It really is very much like Live's session view with scenes and clips. And I much prefer its seamless integration with DAWs that are far better at the linear timeline thing than Live like Logic.

Maschine's sequencer itself is just a joy to use and there simply isn't anything like it out there, period. And yes, don't knock it 'til you've tried it although when I first started really looking into Maschine, I knew right away that it was something very special even before I played with it in person.

Maschine will be outclassed by Live 9 when Live gets everything Maschine can do (record automation, clip switch and record), and do it better. Akai will probably come out with an MPD Maschine clone that costs about $349 that'll be comparable to Maschine.

And I'm saying that as an owner of Maschine.

to Maschine Mikro or not. might ditch the MPC for one. hmmmm...

This has been an interesting thread as I've been considering a Mikro (just 'cause the desk space i have is limited). And I did catch an artist at a recent master class (who shall remain nameless) mention that AKAI has something up their sleeves for Live so I'm guessing a fully integrated drum machine is close and just might be better for the workflow.