Ableton Forum

I've recently purchased a Maschine mk2, having just completed a track in machine I was hoping to be able to carry that track over into ableton in MIDI form in order to further mix and master and edit automations. Having difficulty finding any info or tutorials on this sort of thing. Seen a lot on exporting from maschine to ableton in audio clips. I've tried using the export midi option and routing everything correctly with ableton and machine but the only luck I've had is routing each sound to an individual ableton MIDI track, with the track still actually playing in machine.

I'd like to be able to transfer each sound from maschine into ableton live, giving each sound it's own midi track, and the track playing through ableton rather than maschine so that i can edit any arrangement in arrangement view and edit automation etc and then further mix the track. Is this possible?

Any help would be massively appreciated here.

Possibly poor wording, but the sound is always going to come out of Maschine. I assume you are using it as a plugin and not standalone and want individual pads going to their own Live track? I’m by no means a Maschine routing expert, but I believe first you have to go into Maschine and for each pad assign an output. Otherwise it’s all going to go out of the main stereo out.

Somebody else on here can hopefully help you with how you would assign those outs to individual Live tracks. A lot of people just drag and drop the audio instead because you need a mechanical engineering degree to successfully route it while trying to keep it open to changes.

And congrats on finishing a track in Maschine because I’m not convinced it’s possible.

beats me wrote:Possibly poor wording, but the sound is always going to come out of Maschine. I assume you are using it as a plugin and not standalone and want individual pads going to their own Live track? I’m by no means a Maschine routing expert, but I believe first you have to go into Maschine and for each pad assign an output. Otherwise it’s all going to go out of the main stereo out.

Somebody else on here can hopefully help you with how you would assign those outs to individual Live tracks. A lot of people just drag and drop the audio instead because you need a mechanical engineering degree to successfully route it while trying to keep it open to changes.

And congrats on finishing a track in Maschine because I’m not convinced it’s possible.

Ye struggled with the wording myself Ye I am using it as a plug in. Ye that's pretty much what I want to do, the only reason I was avoiding the audio drag and drop was because I was hoping to be able to edit the automation in arrangement view on (for example) effects for a massive instrument. Finding the drawing tool for automation in maschine an absolute nightmare. If it's not possible think I'll give the audio drag an drop a go at try and arrange and mix it that way.

I used the word finished very vaguely

Cal505 wrote:I've recently purchased a Maschine mk2, having just completed a track in machine I was hoping to be able to carry that track over into ableton in MIDI form in order to further mix and master and edit automations. Having difficulty finding any info or tutorials on this sort of thing. Seen a lot on exporting from maschine to ableton in audio clips. I've tried using the export midi option and routing everything correctly with ableton and machine but the only luck I've had is routing each sound to an individual ableton MIDI track, with the track still actually playing in machine.

I'd like to be able to transfer each sound from maschine into ableton live, giving each sound it's own midi track, and the track playing through ableton rather than maschine so that i can edit any arrangement in arrangement view and edit automation etc and then further mix the track. Is this possible?

Any help would be massively appreciated here.

Definitely possible. I did it before however it was somewhat convoluted setting this up. I found a YouTube video on this at one point.


I think it basically involves setting each drum pad in Machine to a different midi channel and using External Instrument for each pad in the drum Rack. Setting Root Note triggers was also involved in Maschine.


You would definitely only want to do this once and save it as a template as it is time consuming to set up.


I'm guessing there are multiple ways to do this as well.

If I understand you correctly (that wording thing again) you are trying to export MIDI to Ableton. Here is how I do it for a group:

. In the Pattern Editor make sure you have Group selected (check the left hand side of the area where you add fX.
. Pick the same Group in the Arrange area and <right-click> the Group.
. In the context menu make sure that the way you want to export is correct by looking into the "Group MIDI batch Setup"
. One setting is to have a track for each channel
. One setting is to have all MIDI notes in one track
. At that point you should be good to go for export.

For playback you will need to set the Input parameter to the Group to Active

. In the Pattern Editor make sure you have Group selected.
. Make sure the Icon for Channel Mode is on and Input is selected
. Turn the Active to On

Sorry if I misunderstood what you are trying to do. And bear in mind this is how I do it...YMMV

yes it's possible to import MIDI from Maschine into Ableton, but, and this is a huge ass butt!
Why would you want to?

The easier and IMO far superior solution is to trigger Scenes in Maschine from Ableton.
Maschine will change Scenes when you set it up to with MIDI notes fired from Ableton in either Session or Arrangement View.
This allows you to use the Maschine controller and software to mix that drum track without having to mouse around etc.

Personally the only reason to export MIDI for me would be to use it in Drum Racks in Live.
It should be noted that unlike what NI shows in the video below you can play the notes into Live instead of drawing them, and you can use clips to fire notes that change Scenes in Maschine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSgR4tzaOjA

Machinesworking wrote:...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSgR4tzaOjA ...

Interesting technique. I love learning new things, new approaches. I could see where this technique would be applicable to other areas as well.

Machinesworking wrote:yes it's possible to import MIDI from Maschine into Ableton, but, and this is a huge ass butt!
Why would you want to?

The easier and IMO far superior solution is to trigger Scenes in Maschine from Ableton.
Maschine will change Scenes when you set it up to with MIDI notes fired from Ableton in either Session or Arrangement View.
This allows you to use the Maschine controller and software to mix that drum track without having to mouse around etc.

Personally the only reason to export MIDI for me would be to use it in Drum Racks in Live.
It should be noted that unlike what NI shows in the video below you can play the notes into Live instead of drawing them, and you can use clips to fire notes that change Scenes in Maschine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSgR4tzaOjA

I have always struggled with integrating Maschine with Live. I absolutely LOVE Maschine for its sound and workflow. I've gotten really good at quickly creating with the hardware but as everyone knows the sequencer is shite and its difficult if not impossible to finish a track in MAschine alone. I would LOVE for Maschine to be up-dated in the seq. dept.

Anyway, this is a technique I have not yet tried. It looks pretty awesome but my question is : Using this technique, is the audio from Maschine also carried over into Live? If I made an entire track using Maschine as a VST for all the drums and using this MIDI-trigger technique, can I export when I'm finished and all the drums will be there?

Sorry if this is a dumb question. Thanx

I was attempting to use Maschine in Logic yesterday but I’m sure the same frustration would apply in Live. I wanted a simple and common need, use it as a one group drum machine on a single track. So I drop it in, build my kit and go to make a pattern using Logic as the note sequencer, but no. Logic sees each pad on Maschine as more of a sound preset. Whatever pad you have selected the sequencer is going to play that one sound chromatically. So instead of a kick - snare pattern you are going to get a kick C1 – kick C1# pattern, or snare C1 – snare C1# if that is the pad you have in focus.

You need a separate MIDI track for every pad on Maschine. Again, I don’t know the routing setup in Live but in Logic for every pad you need 1 MIDI track and 1 audio track for the most DAW control and isolation. If you are using 1 group of 16 pads then you need to create a total of 32 tracks. That’s absurd. Who can work like that? Internally Maschine has a great workflow. In a DAW it’s a full stop workflow killer.

@BeatsME- I totally agree. I have been trying for years now to use Maschine in my workflow. It's just always seemed like I was forcing it. I don't understand why NI can't make it easier to use Maschine inside a DAW, or sync w/ Traktor, or just function as a drum kit on 1 track in a DAW.
I want to LOVE Maschine!!!! I mean, I do LOVE Maschine but something has got to give. Either make it easier to integrate or make its sequencer better.

" just function as a drum kit on 1 track in a DAW"

...do you really have problems setting it up like this?...

...for those who'd like to use ableton's sequencer instead of maschine's there's this tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EkBhRx5Zkuc

best
b

Theo Void wrote:@BeatsME- I totally agree. I have been trying for years now to use Maschine in my workflow. It's just always seemed like I was forcing it. I don't understand why NI can't make it easier to use Maschine inside a DAW, or sync w/ Traktor, or just function as a drum kit on 1 track in a DAW.
I want to LOVE Maschine!!!! I mean, I do LOVE Maschine but something has got to give. Either make it easier to integrate or make its sequencer better.

Using it as a one instance, one group drum machine should be a simple selection in the options. But no, it’s like they put the Reaktor team in charge of DAW integration with overly elaborate options as your only options.

In a way I partially blame the resurgence of groove boxes for NI’s gaping shortcomings in DAW integration and I’m sure it’s a lot easier for them to code it as a groove box. But as they were primarily a DAW plugin developer before I almost find it inexcusable that they haven’t addressed these walls people are hitting 2 minutes after they try to use it as a plugin, especially as long as it’s been out.

I haven’t checked any of the vids in this thread yet but I’ll try to check them out this weekend.

Is there something unique to Maschine MK2 (That's the correct spelling, you know), compared to say Battery, that makes it not possible to use the common technique with a Pad/Chain with External Instrument on it sending MIDI from the Clip to a specific sound engine inside Maschine and getting its sound back from a dedicated output?

Is there a limitation in Maschine on the number of outputs? Battery has 16 I believe.

If you set this up can't the Maschine hardware still act as a controller when directed to that Live track? I have access to Maschine MK2 hardware, but really asking for a friend that has Maschine Studio.

Not really sure about the answer to that, but the big difference between Maschine and Battery is you have to contend with a limited function DAW in Maschine. Battery you just slap on a track and it works as you would expect it to. If you want to get all fancy with the routing you can. You have no other choice with Maschine other than to get fancy with the routing, if you can wrap your head around it.

As far as limitations, the limit is the 16 pads in a group. I have no idea how you would access the other groups and pads within Maschine. If you can, I’m sure it’s nauseatingly cumbersome. And good luck looking at the single instance of Maschine while trying to remember pad 4 in group 3 is routed to track 67 in Live.

Theo Void wrote: Anyway, this is a technique I have not yet tried. It looks pretty awesome but my question is : Using this technique, is the audio from Maschine also carried over into Live? If I made an entire track using Maschine as a VST for all the drums and using this MIDI-trigger technique, can I export when I'm finished and all the drums will be there?

Sorry if this is a dumb question. Thanx

Short answer, Maschine is instantiated as a VSTplug in in Live, so a stereo track is of course printable right away. You can of course send pads to separate audio tracks, but IMO why would you want to? One big advantage of Maschine is the integrated mixer and plug in host capabilities, you can and IMO should, treat Maschine as a single drum stem.

beats me wrote:I was attempting to use Maschine in Logic yesterday but I’m sure the same frustration would apply in Live. I wanted a simple and common need, use it as a one group drum machine on a single track. So I drop it in, build my kit and go to make a pattern using Logic as the note sequencer, but no. Logic sees each pad on Maschine as more of a sound preset. Whatever pad you have selected the sequencer is going to play that one sound chromatically. So instead of a kick - snare pattern you are going to get a kick C1 – kick C1# pattern, or snare C1 – snare C1# if that is the pad you have in focus.

You need a separate MIDI track for every pad on Maschine. Again, I don’t know the routing setup in Live but in Logic for every pad you need 1 MIDI track and 1 audio track for the most DAW control and isolation. If you are using 1 group of 16 pads then you need to create a total of 32 tracks. That’s absurd. Who can work like that? Internally Maschine has a great workflow. In a DAW it’s a full stop workflow killer.

Logic has the serious caveat of being only able to host AU, and IMO it's internal limitations are the reason AU never has had MIDI instrument out. With Logic you have to use program change messages to change Scenes which of course screws up the ability to 'jam' live and record unless you have a seriously advanced controller that allows the firing of program change messages from switches, or in my case a seriously old M-Audio 88 key with shitty built in sounds that send program change messages. Though if you want to get creative I think Logic can convert a note into a PC message, it's just bloodsuckingly annoying Environment stuff.