Maschine again

[Karoshi]

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.

[AxeD]

I'm very content with it, but I use it a lot less nowadays. Making something more than 8 bars is a pain in the ass, I don't know whether the changed that in newer versions.
I usually make a small drum loop in it, which it is perfect for and then go into Reason environment.

It also gets some use to control some stuff in Traktor.

[Karoshi]

Cheers. Suppose to be quite a few changes in 2.0, and you get a free copy of massive which is a bonus.
Dont suppose them drum beats you make are ever around the 174bpm range? haha, cant imagine tapping away at that speed with any accuracy

[fragments]

To get the most out of Maschine you are going to have to put in some hours and I highly recommend trying to finish some projects just in Maschine stand alone or you will never appriciate 75% of what it can do. I dont think it is worth it, even on sale, JUST to do drums in your DAW with.

I still think building full arrangements and songs is somewhat clunky in Maschine, but it isnt terrible. It is really good for arranging simple things then making them complex by performing on Maschine and recording live takes.

If I am working in my DAW and doing a mostly ITB song I always use the software for drums. But sometimes I dont use the controller. I use the controller + Maschine standalone as a sequencer for my hardware. If you dont mind being quasi-tethered to a computer I think its one of the best deals going for a hybrid hardware sequencer. I can control all my hardware synths and FX from one MIDI workstation that also handles my all audio I/O. Um...yes please.

Personally even if I stop using Maschine for my in the box projects, I cant see selling it as it would cost at least a couple thousand to get a MIDI sequencer to replace it. Or I could buy 16 Arturia BeatSteps and still not come close. : )

tldr: if you want to play around playing in some drum patterns get something cheaper. Much cheaper. At least at first. If you know you want to "perform" music either all in the box or a hardware setup, run dont walk to buy Maschine. One reason for this is when using the Maschine software the controler isnt linked to the software via MIDI. It uses some protocol that NI developed that has way better resolution and responsiveness than MIDI. Its the same that their DJ controllers use to work with Traktor. Its smooth as silk and Maschine 2.0 runs very well on my not that impressive 5 year old studio PC.

[Crimsonghost]

Fragments nailed it.

It's defiantly much better with 2.0, but as he said still a bit clunky to make a whole song with unless you really put the time in to learn how everything works. Once you get it, it can be really fast.

And fwiw I've made plenty of dnb on it. The step sequencer is very powerful.

Also; massive, solid bus comp, Prisim, and scarbe included? Add the 6gigs of (quality) samples and that's well worth the price of admission alone.

[Crimsonghost]

Also, check out Bass Kleph and maschine tutorials on YouTube. Both those guys are masters with this thing and will give you a better idea of what it can do.

[nowaysj]

Yeah, I use it on my laptop, my main production pc is still xp, so no maschine. It is very flexible, it can play many rolls. I really hate HATE HATE how it handles audio, it locks it up, hides it, so extensibility of work in maschine is hugely hindered. If they had to do it for legit reasons, it would be one thing, but just for copy protection, fuck them for burdening a paying customer with their copy protection overhead.

Geist, for example, is very very similar, when you resample, you resample audio files, you choose where to save the samples, what to name them. Not so in Maschine, the files are hidden, you cannot access them, you cannot put them in your library. This is dooky.

[Karoshi]

Cheers for the replies, sorry I never got chance to check this thread over the weekend.

No its not just to make drum loops on haha, I want a fresh work flow and I was considering getting an EMX-1 but the ability not to use your own samples in it kinda put me off, I dont wanna be stuck with the same drum hits. I know they are different beasts but Im still torn between them.

I think maschine would suit my work flow better than the EMX-1 tbh..
I just want something that integrates with soft synths easily and can be used like a hardware synth to tweak away live jamming etc. also something thats gonna let me produce as i go, sort of a live jamming session, thats available to edit afterwards.

I do think Maschine sounds the right tool for me! and as above, all them sysnths and samples that come with it is an awesome bonus.

but your point on piracy protection nowaysj, So all of your resampled noises etc are locked away and hidden, only to be used in maschine?

[AxeD]

I'd say go with Maschine. For the audio, I usually just bounce the individual sounds to a folder
in my samples.

Think I paid €230 for the whole package with Massive (which I never use). Well worth it.

[fragments]

but your point on piracy protection nowaysj, So all of your resampled noises etc are locked away and hidden, only to be used in maschine?

No. It is quite easy to resample and save the audio file.

RE: EMX...if you are honestly interested check out its brother...the ESX...it is a sampler, which can do some basic synthesis using samples. Resampling inside the ESX is also quite easy.

But personally I think you are better off with Maschine. While you can compose entire songs in either of those Electribes, it would take a lot of effort and recording seperate tracks to get anything near a modern recording out of them. Those two units are particularly noisy. At least my ESX was.

[Karoshi]

yep looked into the esx too, wasnt into that. an all in production box that didnt really have a synth part. not for me.

Yeah im gonna have a think but I think i am gonna go for the Maschine.

Cheers for the replies.

[outbound]

Tbh I think I'd get more use out of this as a live performance tool than in the studio, has anyone taken these to the stage yet and made good use of it?

[fragments]

Tbh I think I'd get more use out of this as a live performance tool than in the studio, has anyone taken these to the stage yet and made good use of it?

Check out DJ Endo (works for dubspot?) he has done lots of custom mapping to Traktor for really big names and has tons of info about using Maschine live on his website. Might be more Maschine + Traktor oriented. Dont remember.

I find myself using it more to do various kinds of live takes of my own work and as a sequencer for my hardware (also live usage there). Havent actually gone on stage with this setup, but my production PC is kinda old and wasnt a super computer when I built it. Handles Maschine 2.0 really well. I will have multiple MIDI sequences running, audio coming in and out of the software via my interface. Never had anything glitch out...but I am not using a lot of heavy processing inside Maschine or running VSTs much. Im sure if I were sequencing 4 instances of Massive w/ FX it might be a different story : )

I have been working (slowly) on a custom mapping for Traktor as well. Not sure I am sold on Maschine being an all in one controller for Traktor. Thinking I need to add which ever NI controller is the one with transport controls and gain faders/cross faders. Then setup up Maschine to do FX and the remix pads.

Feel like people mostly bitch about Maschine instead of realizing it is probably one of the coolest pieces of gear to come out in a while. I mean FFS they basically beat Akai at their own game!

[nowaysj]

but I am not using a lot of heavy processing inside Maschine or running VSTs much. Im sure if I were sequencing 4 instances of Massive w/ FX it might be a different story : )

Maschine runs really heavy. I don't know how many more times of stuff I can run in fl vs maschine stand alone, like 4times as much in fl, 8times. Something like that. I spike cpu in maschine really easily and really often, but never really do in fl, only if I'm using very heavy vst's in 8x oversampling type scenarios.

[Crimsonghost]

but I am not using a lot of heavy processing inside Maschine or running VSTs much. Im sure if I were sequencing 4 instances of Massive w/ FX it might be a different story : )

Maschine runs really heavy. I don't know how many more times of stuff I can run in fl vs maschine stand alone, like 4times as much in fl, 8times. Something like that. I spike cpu in maschine really easily and really often, but never really do in fl, only if I'm using very heavy vst's in 8x oversampling type scenarios.

Mashine runs fine stand alone for me, but im having this weird thing latley where it just shuts down everything if i open it in my daw with any other plugin.

[nowaysj]

It runs fine for me, but it is really really heavy. There is no way absent extensive resampling or stark minimalism that I could compose a full track in maschine on a medium powered i5 laptop.

[Karoshi]

It runs fine for me, but it is really really heavy. There is no way absent extensive resampling or stark minimalism that I could compose a full track in maschine on a medium powered i5 laptop.

thats me fucked then haha

[nowaysj]

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.

[AxeD]

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.

[nowaysj]

Just nabbed Geist for 50 bucks. It is like a cross between maschine and live.... Sort of. The Ui is leaps and bounds better than maschine IMO. So much faster. Feel like m2.0 was a step back in terms of the software interface.