maschine

i've had this thing for quite a while now, but had just dabbled with it as a drum plugin, more or less, and minimally as a beatmaker in standalone mode.

i recently filmed a few maschine-specific artist interviews & performances for NI, however, and seeing these guys get so excited about it made me decide to give it another go. i'm stuck in minnesota for a week, and all i brought was maschine, in an effort to learn it inside and out.

i have to say i'm pretty impressed.

i never really messed around with the MPC. i bought a 2000XL back in the day, and it was fun to mess around with here and there, but i never dug into it... so maschine's functionality may just echo that to some degree, but all the same...

constructing entire tracks inside of maschine is a competely viable possibility, all without ever touching your computer (except to save or do other ancillary functions.)

you can sit down with the hardware and just work. it's a fairly alien way to sequence for me, having cut my teeth on linear sequencers ever since cakewalk 3.0, but it definitely has its merits (particularly for beat-oriented music, of course - it excels at hip hop, techno, dubstep, and the like.)

i was discussing it with my good friend mickey las palmas (who contributed to p168 this last time) and he's apparently working on an entire album of tracks done entirely in maschine, using only the factory library. he tells me there's a lot that can be done with existing effects, sample tweaking, resampling, and the like to get some pretty fun results.

the library has some really "banging" sounds, for lack of a better word... that's what had initially impressed me the most about it. the upcoming 1.5 update is going to offer some great MIDI features (which really should have always been there), as well as some new effects and other nifty treats.

anyways, those of you who are MPC fans or like that way of working, or even those of you who just want a different way of approaching stuff might want to check it out.

it is very cool for sampling, i'm still waiting for the day when it can be used with battery or Reaktor or even Kontakt style algorithms. My friend makes pretty awesome stuff on it and i'll probably end up getting one once it these features become available.

i would love to see/hear some stuff by artists that are using exclusively maschine, do you have any links?

  On 2/3/2010 at 4:29 AM, Awepittance said:

i would love to see/hear some stuff by artists that are using exclusively maschine, do you have any links?

nothing as yet. when mickey's done i'll ask if i can post the finished product over here, i'm sure he won't mind.

outside of that, a LOT of atlanta-based hip-hop guys are using this. granted, most of them are using their own sounds, and using maschine's workflow within logic or whatever sequencer they prefer, but many of the are abandoning the MPC in favour of this.

Good post maus, need to check out one of these things sometime.

What has it mostly helped you improved upon (besides the factory library)?

I have one. It's great. But there are gaps. It's a work in progress. If you want to hear some Maschine only stuff try the Maschine forum at the NI website. There's also some decent youtube vids from users showing the workflow aspects. I still haven't tried it as a sequencer for my external gear yet (midi out was added in 1.1), even though that was one of the main reasons I bought it. The other being to get away from the pc screen, although I've found I quite like working with them together.

They're adding MPC60 and Sp1200 'vintage sound' modes in the upcoming update. Hopefully this will be more than just a bit crusher/EQ effect, but we'll see.

It's really sexy. Can't wait to get one. It comes with some Amon Tobin sounds too!

  On 2/3/2010 at 9:21 AM, acid1 said:

Good post maus, need to check out one of these things sometime.

 

What has it mostly helped you improved upon (besides the factory library)?

i wouldn't say it's helped me improve upon anything per se... more that it offers a more simplified way of constructing music that's less prone to overanalysis or overthinking things. in fact, it's more a case of a well-thought-out set of limitations, if that makes any sense.

it's completely pattern-based. to be honest, it's not all that different from how i work in logic, just less visually linear... more abstract in a sense. if you've ever worked with an MPC, i'd wager it's probably a similar affair.

mickey passed on to me a work-in-progress from his all-maschine album - it's probably the most fleshed-out track i've heard from the program. he assures me it's still being tweaked, but it's interesting to hear something that was ENTIRELY constructed, mixed and output from maschine. it uses only the included factory sounds. mickey plans to give away the sequence files with the album when it's "released" so that they can be completely deconstructed / remixed / reworked. kinda cool.

  On 2/5/2010 at 11:11 PM, maus said:

 

mickey passed on to me a work-in-progress from his all-maschine album - it's probably the most fleshed-out track i've heard from the program. he assures me it's still being tweaked, but it's interesting to hear something that was ENTIRELY constructed, mixed and output from maschine. it uses only the included factory sounds. mickey plans to give away the sequence files with the album when it's "released" so that they can be completely deconstructed / remixed / reworked. kinda cool.

 

http://www.mickeylaspalmas.com/rollonthecandycones.mp3

Not really my thing style wise, but I'd definitely be interested in hearing the rest of it when available, please post.

yeah, not really my bag either. mickey sticks to a lot of remixes / traditional techno-housey stuff, which is probably why he gravitated to the maschine in particular.

i should point out that as a writing / overall sequencing tool, it most definitely lends itself to more simple arrangements / beat structures. that's not to say it can't be used as a means to an end in other genres, but as a stand-alone production tool, 4/4 basic stuff tends to be the order of the day.

I have had mine since release day... it was a rough start, software wise. I use it mostly as a controller for Ableton but the software is slowly evolving into something nice. I don't think I could ever use it as a standalone but for a plugin it works pretty nicely, though Ableton can do just about everything the Maschine VST can do and do it better. I love the hardware though, no doubt about it. I made one track when I first got it, using strictly the standalone... just farting around.

I just bought one five minutes ago, gonna have some fun!

Ok, been jamming around with this for a while now. It's quite nice and intuitive. Quick to learn. I enjoy using it standalone but I really really miss an internal synth or two. Just adding a basic waveform synth with a couple of oscs, envelopes, lfo's etc would really make this thing a lot better.

Of course I can just slave it inside another daw, but I would much rather work with it standalone.

If they could add full vst/i support to the maschine software it would REALLY REALLY rock.

It's a software DAW with its own hardware interface for a more hands-on experience

  On 2/8/2010 at 11:54 PM, goffer said:

I have had mine since release day... it was a rough start, software wise. I use it mostly as a controller for Ableton but the software is slowly evolving into something nice. I don't think I could ever use it as a standalone but for a plugin it works pretty nicely, though Ableton can do just about everything the Maschine VST can do and do it better. I love the hardware though, no doubt about it. I made one track when I first got it, using strictly the standalone... just farting around.

 

http://soapskumm.bleedblops.com/mp3/unfinished/boom_with_doom.mp3

nice work. i think you should dirty up that rhodes sample more.

  On 3/1/2010 at 10:46 AM, impakt said:

I enjoy using it standalone but I really really miss an internal synth or two. Just adding a basic waveform synth with a couple of oscs, envelopes, lfo's etc would really make this thing a lot better.

this is the main thing i am missing from it as well. if i could create my own sounds w/o only being able to sample...

If I could somehow have the synths from Reason in Maschine, that would be hot.

most of the tracks i've done recently are all done purely in Maschine, but not with many library sounds. mostly external samples. i'll post some later when i'm at home.

  On 3/1/2010 at 12:55 PM, impakt said:

It's a software DAW with its own hardware interface for a more hands-on experience

I think that's misleading. Yes, you can create a track from start to finish, but it's within the paradigm and lineage of things like the SP12 and MPCs, rather than DAWs.

  On 3/1/2010 at 7:28 PM, kakapo said:

  On 3/1/2010 at 12:55 PM, impakt said:

It's a software DAW with its own hardware interface for a more hands-on experience

 

 

I think that's misleading. Yes, you can create a track from start to finish, but it's within the paradigm and lineage of things like the SP12 and MPCs, rather than DAWs.

agreed.

you can't host VSTs and you can't multitrack audio

  On 3/1/2010 at 3:05 PM, blicero said:

  On 3/1/2010 at 10:46 AM, impakt said:

I enjoy using it standalone but I really really miss an internal synth or two. Just adding a basic waveform synth with a couple of oscs, envelopes, lfo's etc would really make this thing a lot better.

 

this is the main thing i am missing from it as well. if i could create my own sounds w/o only being able to sample...

 

If I could somehow have the synths from Reason in Maschine, that would be hot.

 

most of the tracks i've done recently are all done purely in Maschine, but not with many library sounds. mostly external samples. i'll post some later when i'm at home.

couldnt you rewire reason to another DAW with vst support and use the machine vst?

  On 3/2/2010 at 4:45 AM, 42Orange said:

  On 3/1/2010 at 3:05 PM, blicero said:

  On 3/1/2010 at 10:46 AM, impakt said:

I enjoy using it standalone but I really really miss an internal synth or two. Just adding a basic waveform synth with a couple of oscs, envelopes, lfo's etc would really make this thing a lot better.

 

this is the main thing i am missing from it as well. if i could create my own sounds w/o only being able to sample...

 

If I could somehow have the synths from Reason in Maschine, that would be hot.

 

most of the tracks i've done recently are all done purely in Maschine, but not with many library sounds. mostly external samples. i'll post some later when i'm at home.

 

couldnt you rewire reason to another DAW with vst support and use the machine vst?

a friend of mine told me the other day he's been triggering reaktor instruments with his maschine no problem, im curious how he's doing this.

  On 3/2/2010 at 4:45 AM, 42Orange said:

  On 3/1/2010 at 3:05 PM, blicero said:

  On 3/1/2010 at 10:46 AM, impakt said:

I enjoy using it standalone but I really really miss an internal synth or two. Just adding a basic waveform synth with a couple of oscs, envelopes, lfo's etc would really make this thing a lot better.

 

this is the main thing i am missing from it as well. if i could create my own sounds w/o only being able to sample...

 

If I could somehow have the synths from Reason in Maschine, that would be hot.

 

most of the tracks i've done recently are all done purely in Maschine, but not with many library sounds. mostly external samples. i'll post some later when i'm at home.

 

couldnt you rewire reason to another DAW with vst support and use the machine vst?

absolutely.

but that is why i consider that a weakness of Maschine as a DAW. if you have to load an app in a VST host that is rewired to Reason, just to create a full song... then that app is clearly lacking full DAW features.

The whole concept behind Maschine is that you are supposed to "get lost in the flow". Like it's supposed to completely revolutionize your workflow, and it does... in that I used to be able to create songs in one application, but now i need 2-3. :(

I wish i could just do everything in stand-alone mode, but it's not there yet. the software updates since launch have helped a lot, though.

I was mostly excited about Maschine because I was considering an MPC but didn't like the restrictions of a hardware-only sampler (on-board mem, etc). So, in that regard, it has delivered. It does need better slicing though. I believe that is coming soon.

ooo, speak of the devil.

1.5 public beta is live!

  On 3/2/2010 at 8:55 AM, Awepittance said:

 

a friend of mine told me the other day he's been triggering reaktor instruments with his maschine no problem, im curious how he's doing this.

He could simply be using the Maschine hardware as a midi controller or the sequencer now has midi out, albeit quite limited. Or he could be doing both, its easy enough to switch between Maschine and midi control mode.

Tim Exile using Maschine as a controller and Reaktor:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy6Njb9SgmU

Also just noticed the public beta of 1.5 is out today.

oh so the maschine does have an actual midi out port? i thought it didnt

It has midi out and in.