NI Maschine - Anyone use?

[soosh21]

Until you have one you dont know what your missing. Software can do everything nowadays its true but the hands on vibe is amazing. Its just more enjoyable to make music and ive got ideas out so much quicker. Def worth checking out....


Soundcloud

[Pedro Sánchez]

[quote="soosh21"]Until you have one you dont know what your missing. Software can do everything nowadays its true but the hands on vibe is amazing. Its just more enjoyable to make music and ive got ideas out so much quicker. Def worth checking out....
I've messed with one and personally, it's like a step back to an mpc, I can get sampling things done quicker with groove agent one/kontakt and an MPD24..autoslice drag'n'drop play'n'record. But it's still a cool controller and all in is worth the price.

[soosh21]

yeah but the mpd you still have to look up at the screen while with maschine you can ignore it for much of the time. I can sample anything straight off the internet, wherever......using soundflower on a mac, the audio records directly into maschine via laptop, i then i have the waveform on the maschine screen ready to edit and manipulate....cut that up, truncate and then be able to play it chromatically with my my midi keyboard! That quite a sweet feature.. mostly done without clicking the mouse or looking at monitor.

Thats just one thing.....its a mpc on steroids if you ask me. Only thing it lacks is a decent arranger but i like to use it as plug in live for sequencing, and laying all my recorded synths n vox is much easier with a daw.

[time nice]

My hardware/software setup is:

Maschine, Trigger Finger, Novation XStation, Ableton Live & Pro-Tools... Plus an array of Headphones & two different sets of monitors...

Personally, I think the sounds & effects on the Maschine are dope... I used to have an MPC1000 & it just didn't have enough punch for me compared to the Maschine... Another major difference is the MPC1000 has limited memory for samples & I always found myself running out of room & SD cards are really annoying to deal with.

Now all of that aside, I use all of the gear I listed on a regular basis... I like to use Ableton with Maschine with my own recorded material to get a more unique sound. However, my bottom line is workflow... If it takes you 20 min to figure out how to do, what you need to do, then it's not worth it in my opinion. I work as a professional engineer & have worked with 1/4in tape, 2in tape, Fruity Loops, Reason, Logic, Audacity... pretty much everything. I think you can get good sounds & good music from any platform... hardware or software... but if the workflow isn't smooth, then you are just going to get aggravated & when I get frustrated, I end up walking away before I should.... just my two cents... workflow, workflow, workflow...

[_TraX_]

Do very many dub artists use it? I've wanted one forever, I use FL studio, it's hard having to just pick samples out and click in the patterns on the sequencer, I feel I could make some truly hypnotizing drum lines if I had something like a Maschine..

A keyboard would be a cheaper, more versatile option really.

How so? I think hardware like this blows software + keyboard out of the water

[nowaysj]

I'm a visual person, I can get into monitor lock and just start writing stale shit. But when I'm really just hearing what I'm doing, I'm way more groovy, everything just flows. My personal liability, but it is the way I am. I think I'll give maschine a try, after all. If I don't like it, I'll sell it off to the next dood.

[TheBassTest]

I'm a visual person, I can get into monitor lock and just start writing stale shit. But when I'm really just hearing what I'm doing, I'm way more groovy, everything just flows. My personal liability, but it is the way I am. I think I'll give maschine a try, after all. If I don't like it, I'll sell it off to the next dood.

im hopefully getting one this weekend if i do ill post a video of it and some features or what not

[Dr_Driller]

i'm absolute fan !

since 1.6 i even use it as a full daw.

i lost many audio ability by switching from cubase to maschine, but i won a comfortable and quick workflow

i find it sound good, i used to work with cubase, working with same plugins on both configuration i find the maschine render really better :

a tracks when i worked on cubase (tekno) : Soundcloud

another now i'm on maschine (tekno) : Soundcloud

i can also link dubstep made with maschine but i'm newbie on that style : Soundcloud

[Manic Harmonic]

Man, I can't say enough good things about maschine. it's the coolest piece of equipment I've ever bought. The samples it comes with are awesome too, i can get pretty much any sound I want just buy layering, eq-ing, and resampling. It's also super easy to load your own samples. The only issue I've had is that there's some latency in logic when using a lot of tracks, but I just put it in low-latency mode and it's fine. VST support is great too, especially because you can even use vst's when using it as a plugin. The greatest part about maschine though, is how easy it is to throw any idea together quickly. very inspiring piece of equipment.

[spectrum1]

Yeah, I really just can't figure this one out! I go back and forth. Now with vst support, I'm so close... just that pdc... I really want to know when ni is going to figure that one out. I've been in fl w/o pdc for a long time, and I'm just done with that business.

i feel your pain dude...i was a huge NI fan prior to Razor matter of fact. im getting annoyed about all this "you need reaktor" business....if i paid $70 for your plug in i expect to use it without having to spend more money to power it

you can use Razor with the reaktor player that is free.

[nowaysj]

it's the coolest piece of equipment I've ever bought.

Just bought this two days ago, one installation session with some tutorials, and one session last night with tutorials and some beat making. I think there is a good chance that this is the coolest piece of equipment I've ever bought. I've already hit some limitations, but there is just so much versatility in this thing it more than makes up for it.

In terms of sound quality... rendering better than cubase... I really don't know about that? I resampled a couple of things, so haven't really had a chance to get down and dirty with the sound analysis yet, but what is coming out of my monitors is pure low end digital mush. For me that isn't so much of a problem. I'm okay to use it for dirty dirty things. I haven't used vst's in there yet, so maybe it is the fx that are so hashy and dirty.

One staggering limitation that I hope is fixed in future updates is the inability to record mutes. Wtf, bros, that is beat making 101 right there. Get your act together...

I personally think the envelopes suck in maschine. I don't know wtf is up with NI and their envelopes? Massive's envelopes are one of the few complaints I have with that otherwise awesome synth. Now I've only got a few hours on this thing, so I reserve the right to change my mind, but it seems that the envelopes are just not tuned right, like they're too drastic or not strong enough. Personally think the envelopes in Battery are better. I'm sure some NI head is going to come in and say same code, but they act differently in my limited experience.

Also relative to Battery, I swear the vintage sample modes are far more pronounced in Maschine. I can barely hear them in Battery. This might be my lack of understanding of gain staging in maschine, so we'll see.

One other complaint is the pads. These pads blow away the akai controller pads for feel and responsiveness (I don't know about that second gen of mpd32's, maybe new pads on those guys?), and are pretty similar to the pad kontrols's pads. I prefer the padkontrol pads, but it is very likely I'll develop a feel for the maschine pads. But lemme just say if you play these pads for hours on end, your fingers kind of start to hurt. I'm an old fuck, so you know, there is that, but when you're an old fogie like me, you'd just about die for some legit old school akai mpc chewy rubbery pads.

Sounds like I don't like maschine right? Haha, nothing could be further from the truth, absolutely love it. I found it so easy to use some stock drum and bass sounds, and just fuck the hell out of them, really easily, and just get them to where I wanted them. The beat that came out of it was totally fucked up. It is really easy to do automation. I'm sure you could write normal beats in there. But I went off on a really glitched up smacked out trip. Loved it.

I don't know about maschine for dubstep. Dubstep is so produced now, I don't know if you can properly do it in maschine. Maybe, I'll let someone with more knowledge and experience speak to that. But for just pure beats maschine is killing it for me.

[nowaysj]

Okay, we've got to start a maschine tech thread here.

It is not hyperbole for me to say this: I FUCKING LOVE MASCHINE. Like 4 sessions now on this thing... I cannot even begin to describe how good this is. This is the biggest change to making music with a computer since vst(echnology) was developed (for me at least). And it is nothing revolutionary at all, just a simple evolution+hybridization of old technologies. But it is just so good.

It is so easy to make beats in here. So easy to create mad sounds. So easy to sample and edit and resample and reedit. It is just so easy to do shit in here, just so easy to flow with it. FLOW!!!!!!!! This paragraph is typed stuttering. I'm really at a loss for words. If you like making beats and you have the means or can achieve the means, please try maschine, it is a total total game changer.

Footnote --> there are things wrong with this box and software, I hope and expect that some of the problems will be addressed, and can easily live with any liability that remains. This is my best purchase since fruity loops in '99.

[TheBassTest]

Yeah, I really just can't figure this one out! I go back and forth. Now with vst support, I'm so close... just that pdc... I really want to know when ni is going to figure that one out. I've been in fl w/o pdc for a long time, and I'm just done with that business.

i feel your pain dude...i was a huge NI fan prior to Razor matter of fact. im getting annoyed about all this "you need reaktor" business....if i paid $70 for your plug in i expect to use it without having to spend more money to power it

you can use Razor with the reaktor player that is free.

yea but you cant save your sounds = pointless

[Karoshi]

please stop talking about maschine, i keep trying to forget about it... i want it so bad.... it just looks like it would suit my work flow so well! does anyone know anywhere i could try it in the uk? (dawsons maybe...lol)

[nowaysj]

^ honestly man, I was on the fence for so long, thought it was just like fruity so there was no point, already had a padkontroller etc,... wow, I can't even tell you how awesome it is.

Have you ever worked with anything like an mpc, sp, asrx, anything like that? It's like that, but with a daw attached, hehe.

[Karoshi]

Nahh but i have some pads on my midi keyboard that i use loads lol, i know its nothing like what maschine will be like.


aarrgghh, need a 0% finance place! i keep telling myself its just a gimmick, its just a gimmick, i dont need it.. i know its NOT a gimmick and i DO need it!

[stevemac]

i feel your pain dude...i was a huge NI fan prior to Razor matter of fact. im getting annoyed about all this "you need reaktor" business....if i paid $70 for your plug in i expect to use it without having to spend more money to power it

But to be fair, it is a Reaktor instrument.

If the marketing doesn't make this clear, then fair enough - but it is a Reaktor instrument, not a standalone VST.

[dilliot2k]

Let me know what you think. This is for those who may not know.

[nowaysj]

Awesome, but how about some more advanced tutorials though?

Just started using maschine, thanks for the heads up on compare and split. Dope!

[dilliot2k]

Awesome, but how about some more advanced tutorials though?

Just started using maschine, thanks for the heads up on compare and split. Dope!

What are you looking to find out how to do?