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AxeD wrote:

nowaysj wrote:Well I start things in there. In any strict pad environment, magic tends to happen. I just then take that magic into the daw, and see if I can birth it without killing it in the antiseptic daw enviornment.

Exactly. It's really easy to just bang out some mangled drum loop for example. I would never create my pads or melodies in it though. I need my weird Reason effect patches for that stuff.
I remember using Geist as well. Might have a look at that again.

Maschine + MIDI keys = Melody Machine (Maschine?) : )

See I really like writing lines on a 4x4.

But I'm just now, after like 20 years, getting over the two tiered black/white topology of the keyboard. So obviously racist - black keys are smaller, set back, and there are fewer of them. Ebony and ivory perfect harmony my ass Stevie!

nowaysj wrote:See I really like writing lines on a 4x4.

But I'm just now, after like 20 years, getting over the two tiered black/white topology of the keyboard. So obviously racist - black keys are smaller, set back, and there are fewer of them. Ebony and ivory perfect harmony my ass Stevie!

Honestly, writing melodies on Maschine isn't terrible, at all. I just feel like I have to look at the computer screen to do it ;p

nowaysj wrote:See I really like writing lines on a 4x4.

But I'm just now, after like 20 years, getting over the two tiered black/white topology of the keyboard. So obviously racist - black keys are smaller, set back, and there are fewer of them. Ebony and ivory perfect harmony my ass Stevie!

Yeah but the black keys make Eb pentatonic and the white keys make C major. I'd rather be on some blues shit than that vanilla mary had a little lamb business.

I was looking at Mikros on ebay the other day. I'm not into that workflow, just want a nice set of pads. A Mikro would beat out an MPD in a lot of ways except for sliders... We'll see what's up with the second gen MPKs in a couple weeks. I gotta sell mine before they drop so I get good money for it but not too early that I'm out of a keyboard for ages. If that shit ends up being weak I'll probably split things up and get a barebones keybed, a Mikro or padKontrol, and some shit with sliders and knobs.

Pad Kontrol, best midi pads, the simple truth remains.

No shit huh. I haven't heard from anyone on maschine vs padKontrol. Would be nice to have multi color pads though so I can do visual feedback. But padKontrols are so damn cheap, even compared to the Mikro. I'm really hoping the MPK 261 doesn't blow and I can have everything in one unit. If not, I'll have to select the best from each domain. For pad response I guess that's the Korg.

Who the fuck even sells slider boxes though? A ZeRo SL would be decent I guess, for the LCD screen and encoder LED rings. Plus touch faders which is nice, but why not motorized? DAW controllers always have these different faders too. They're like made for you to put an index finger into it's armpit and nudge it up a millimeter. For actual parameter modulation I want something more like a crossfader, more vertical. Something I can grab and jerk around rhythmically with my eyes closed.

[+]

SunkLo wrote:I haven't heard from anyone on maschine vs padKontrol.

For me, no comparison, Pad Kontrol pads are just on another level than maschine. I've got both on my desk right now. Maschine is a really incredible controller for its configurability. Live 8 was really bitchy, it wanted controller information in a certain way, other controllers didn't want to output the information in that way, only maschine was configurable enough to structure the information to satisfy live. On that front, maschine, is next level. On pads, no. They are hard, stiff, will jack your joints if you play for a while, you will feel it. It goes Pad Kontrol > Maschine > Akai.

Maschine pads are playable, they are responsive enough to get good performances out of them, but they don't feel good, and they don't have, like, the feel of an instrument, the expressiveness of an instrument, the nuance of an instrument maybe.

Whatever, I play that shit with my erect dick now, just rapidly thrusting away at the pads.

How do they compare regarding lightness of touch? I want something that picks up feather touches reliably and also performs well with quick repeated hits like finger rolls.

Fuck man I'm really hoping that Akai blows me out of the water with these new pads. They're the same pads as the MPC Renn which gives me some hope although I don't even know how good the Renn is in comparison to other controllers. I've had a hard time finding someone comparing the Renn and Maschine on pad sensitivity instead of workflow.

Yes, the pad kontrol is the one for fast tippy tappy touches. Only pads I felt better were on an mpk 4k, they were just amazing, just without a doubt so far beyond anything I've ever felt... but they were double triggering.

The pad kontrol is not juicy, spongy, but it is softer than maschine, but what it is... it is variable, and responsive. It doesn't require hammering blows like the mpk.

I never understood why people care that much about the pads themselves.
Maybe I'm not hip hop enough

I have an mpd24 collecting dust and smoke at a friend's place. No idea what I would need that for when I have Maschine.

AxeD wrote:I never understood why people care that much about the pads themselves.
Maybe I'm not hip hop enough

I have an mpd24 collecting dust and smoke at a friend's place. No idea what I would need that for when I have Maschine.

I have never given any fucks about the feel of pads either. That is so far from being a deal breaker for me on Maschine.

buy it

then buy imaschine for on the move ideas

I don't really care all that much about the feel of the pads but the sensitivity is definitely a deal breaker.

AxeD wrote:I never understood why people care that much about the pads themselves.

Your chick's nipples are pierced, don't lie.

SunkLo wrote:I don't really care all that much about the feel of the pads but the sensitivity is definitely a deal breaker.

Cant you adjust the sensitivity of the pads in Maschine? I am like 75% sure you can. But I guess if the pads are very stiff it almost doesnt matter.

Personally I havent ever really had an issue with Maschine's pads. I just learned to work with them. And Ive never got bruised finger tips...

Yeah you can adjust them, but it doesn't seem to make much of a difference on a mk1. The pads on mk2 are much more responsive but still not something I are about that much. I hit the damn thing like a hammer so it doesn't matter.

Crimsonghost wrote: I hit the damn thing like a hammer so it doesn't matter.

play the piano drunk like a percussion instrument until the fingers begin to bleed a bit

See I'm the opposite, I tickle the pads like the arch of a girl's back. I want to be able to trigger them with finger action instead of using my whole arm. Then I can be hitting multiple pads with different fingers and doing finger rolls n shit. Having to put your whole arm into it wrecks quick nuanced playing for me. Sure I can hammer in a simple kick and snare, but any articulation beyond that demands a lighter touch. I don't care so much about the feel of the pads themselves; I'd actually prefer a stiffer pad assuming it was sensitive enough to pick up feather touches. The stiffness wouldn't be an issue if I could tap them lightly. Really my only concern is how lightly I can touch them to get a trigger without bullshit like stuck pads or double triggering.

Seems like the padKontrol is the alpha dog in that department from what I've read. With any luck the MPK second gen will be good as well. Although I saw an installation video for an MPCStuff MPC Renn sensitivity kit the other day, leading me to believe there's still room for improvement. Maybe Akai have improved the pads since the first run of MPC Renns? Sounds like a longshot given their history. I had a guy from Akai assure me that the 261 was much better than the 61. No shit dude, you could have pads made of bologna and kotex and it would be better than the first generation. I don't want competent, I want dope.

snick01 wrote:So, its on sale again, Maschine MK2 with 2.0 software. and yet again im tempted.

So, do people who have had Maschine for a while still use it regularly? or was it just a bit gimmicky and was fun while it was still its honeymoon period?

I think nowaysj was a big fan, are you still using it (if you read this?)

Read loads of reviews and stuff, and at 400 squid im mighty tempted.

Cheers.

I wasn't that into it when I first got it, but it's growing on me now.