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NI Maschine - anybody here have it?

I've been toying with the idea of replacing MOTU BPM and Guru with Maschine. But, I haven't had a chance to get my hands on one yet, so I'm wondering if anyone here has it and could give a review before I get myself too excited. A few things I'd like to know:

- how is the build quality of the hardware? Solid?

- how is the action on the pads? Any idea how it compares to real MPC pads? I had an Akai MPD24 for a while and the action was decent, but not close to the real MPC pads.

- how is its factory library for EDM? It's not the same as the Battery 3 library, is it? I already have Battery 3 and never even touch the factory samples/kits. I'll primarily be using my Penton, Vengeance, etc. samples anyway, but just curious.

- any major bugs, issues, etc. that I should be aware of? I'd be using it with Sonar, Cubase, Live, and Project5.

- any other general thoughts? Is it worth the money?

It looks coooool is all I can tell you, i'm wondering if Guitar Center has it on demo, might make a stop next to check it out next time in the valley.

The Guitar Center in Fountain Valley has one in the demo studio.

If you're not using Live and don't already have drumpads, then go for the maschine.

BUT

If you're using Live, go for the APC40. My reasons:

- fully integrated with live (duh)
- fully customizable with max patches (just like any hardware but max for live is going to make it easier I presume)
- 100 bucks less expensive than the maschine
- the apc40 can act as a drumpad too
- many many more reasons... just watch the videos

Thanks for the response ponsshin, but I'm definitely not interested in the APC40. A friend of mine has one and it looks very ggod for what it does, but I want something that is more of a drum controller/groove box/production station and has sampling abilities. Plus, I really hate the APC's pads. I'll be using this mostly in Sonar. That said, looking at the Maschine videos, I see that it comes with a template that will allow you to do much of what the APC will do in terms of integrating with Live. So, Maschine is definitely a no-brainer in those regard. But, thanks anyway - do you have Maschine?

The Guitar Center here has Maschine on display and they're holding one for me. I'm going there after work to check it out and, if it's as cool as it seems, I'm going to have a very fun weekend.

Really interested in what the sound library is like too. Should be good considering it a few GBs.

My guitar center only had the software portion of it on display (lame, eh?) and even then it was only in VST/AU mode.

I've read many reviews/watched many videos of Maschine and it seems to be overwhelmingly common consensus that the thing is well put together. The sample library seems to be usable, with some high caliber EDM samples (though a lot wouldn't probably meet your standards ((nor mine)). Right now, on its current status, it's poorly integrated with DAWs, with no MIDI control (meaning no automation of any of its parameters via your DAW).

BUT, it's being patched in the relatively new future, which is something I've been monitoring for the past few months. The list of updates includes:

MIDI Out Mode for sounds
MIDI In for sounds and groups
Drag-and-Drop audio export for scenes and patterns in host
Record and trigger scenes switches via MIDI notes in host
Scene retrigger option in plugin mode
Loading groups without patterns
Additional slicing sizes (1/8th etc.)
REX file import
Scene naming
Adjustable metronome volume
Record Count-In option
Quick adjustment of group and sound volumes on controller

I'm going to see how the new patch goes down. There was quite a few unhappy posts wihtin the first month or so of Maschine's release, with the main issue being people dissatisfied with its integration in their DAW.

On the positive, it seems to be incredibly fun and many seem to find themselves ' get[ting]lost in the flow' (its cheesy but apparently true tagline)

EDIT:

The update is now in the beta-testing stage...it had been in development for a significant period of time, so I imagine it's relatively close to being released.

I feel like its about 200$ over the price of what i'd be willing to pay for it. But I generally feel that way about most native instruments products.

def looks interesting though!

Good info psymon.d - thanks for that! I actually went ahead and picked it up this evening and spent the last few hours installing it (along with a dozen other updates for other plugs). From what I've seen so far, this thing is totally cool and very intelligently laid-out. It's so nice to have dedicated controls for everything and have the ability to do virtually everything from the hardware, including browsing my samples! And, it's so easy to try out different drum samples right from the hardware. I should've never wasted my time Guru and BPM.

quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik Good info psymon.d - thanks for that! I actually went ahead and picked it up this evening and spent the last few hours installing it (along with a dozen other updates for other plugs). From what I've seen so far, this thing is totally cool and very intelligently laid-out. It's so nice to have dedicated controls for everything and have the ability to do virtually everything from the hardware, including browsing my samples! And, it's so easy to try out different drum samples right from the hardware. I should've never wasted my time Guru and BPM.

No worries--happy someone on TA bought it to give it a go

I'm still thinking about getting it...I currently use Guru for my beat programming, but the integration with the hardware just looks so much more natural. I'm going to wait until the patch though.


But you should post some samples eventually

EDIT:

Dammit. Whilst installing Komplete 5, I've started watching videos of some people jamming on Maschine. Looks too fun.

Cryo let me know how it works with sonar. I'm thinking of getting one next month.

Cryo, could you do a mini review when you get a moment?

Thanks

I'm going to spend most of the day tomorrow digging into it and hopefully working it into a track that I'm starting with a new singer, so I'll post my thoughts late Sunday. From what I've seen so far, this thing was definitely worth the money.

quote:

Originally posted by ponsshin If you're not using Live and don't already have drumpads, then go for the maschine. BUT If you're using Live, go for the APC40. My reasons: - fully integrated with live (duh) - fully customizable with max patches (just like any hardware but max for live is going to make it easier I presume) - 100 bucks less expensive than the maschine - the apc40 can act as a drumpad too - many many more reasons... just watch the videos

I'll be customising my APC40 with some Max patches when Max For Live comes out, but I wont be using it as a drum pad though as the pads aren't velocity sensitive.............But a step sequencer on the other hand.....

quote:

Originally posted by cryophonik I'm going to spend most of the day tomorrow digging into it and hopefully working it into a track that I'm starting with a new singer, so I'll post my thoughts late Sunday. From what I've seen so far, this thing was definitely worth the money.

Any more thoughts then?

I'm tempted to purchase one myself.

It looks very promising, but I'm just not sure if it's worth the �500. That's the price over at Dolphin Music, but I always find them quite expensive anyway. I'll have a look around

I think the cheapest I have seen it has been �468

On Thomann it's �467, but there's also an Educational version for �378. What's the difference

quote:

Originally posted by Owsey2008 On Thomann it's �467, but there's also an Educational version for �378. What's the difference

I inquired NI about this a few months ago when I was interested in purchasing it. Being a university student I was looking to spend as little money as possible

I was wondering if the software would be prohibited from updating or something of the likes, but here's their response

"The academic version can download patches. The only restriction to our
educational versions is that it cannot be resold or transferred. "

I wonder how heavy the vetting process is for getting an educational discount. I've still got my college ID and educating myself on music.

Well, I didn't have time to delve as far into it as I wanted yesterday and it's a pretty complex beast, but I spent enough time with it to know that, for me, this was definitely worth the money. I've been using Battery 3 and Stylus RMX for years, then I tried both Guru and BPM, but neither of them really did it for me. Maschine is heads above Guru, BPM, and Battery 3 in terms of functionality. It is to drum machines what my Virus TI is to synths - everything has a dedicated control on the hardware and whatever you do on the hardware is replicated on the VST/standalone version and vice-versa, although, the Maschine hardware is not actually processing the signal the way a Virus does - it's just an interface for the software in this case.

It's surprisingly easy to work entirely with the hardware because there are only a few things that can only be done with the software (e.g., renaming samples). And, unlike most drum pad MIDI controllers, there are no templates, no CC#s, no MIDI learn/forget, no trying to remember which slider or knob is assigned to which parameter, etc. Everything is there in front of you and clearly labeled and it just works every time you fire it up. That said, apparently there are templates that allow the hardware to control other drums VSTs, but I haven't even looked at that yet.

The sample library seems pretty good, but I spent much of last evening importing and tagging my Thomas Penton, Big Fish Audio, Vengeance, Wave Alchemy, Battery, Guru, etc. libraries into Maschine, so now I have all of them ready to find almost instantly from the hardware or software. The browser on this thing is killer! It's so quick and easy to find samples (especially after you've tagged them with three levels of categories) and to audition other samples in your existing patterns. And, you can do all this very quickly and easily right from the hardware using its two screens.

Creating groups, kits, and projects is very easy. It has a ton of different high quality effects. Pattern creation and editing is very easy and it has excellent editing features. I've only given the sampling capabilities a quick look, although I did spend some time using its built-in modulation capabilities to mangle some sounds. I haven't even begun to dig into its automation capabilities, which appear to be pretty deep. So, even though I feel like I've only begun to scratch the surface, I'm pretty confident that Maschine is going to have a huge impact on the way I approach composition from now on.

Don't worry - I'm sure that once I get more comfortable with it, I'll something negative to say about it. I have found a few very minor annoyances, but I'm going to reserve judgment on them until I figure out if I'm just overlooking something or if I just need to adapt to a different way of thinking/working. Like I said, it's still new to me and my head is swirling just thinking about its capabilities.

The hardware unit itself is made almost entirely of plastic, but there's nothing flimsy about it - it's solid. It's a pretty low-profile unit that is very slightly slanted up - I wish they would've made it more slanted for desktop use, but I just used the spare wedges that came with my MoPads to prop it up at about a 25-degree angle - that works well and doesn't slip. The pads feel great (much better than my MPD24 did) and you have a lot of flexibility in terms of adjusting their sensitivity. The knobs (endless rotaries) and buttons all feel pretty solid.

For those of you who are thinking about it, you may want to check out some of the videos on the NI website. There are probably a couple dozen there that really give you an idea of its capabilities, but I'll warn you that I only needed to watch about 5 or 6 of them before making the decision that I had to have it!

BTW, in case anyone's interested, I'm selling BPM for $210, which includes everything that you'd get new (box, discs, manuals, iLok), free shipping to the US (contact me for international shipping), and license transfer.

I did watch those videos in NI's site and i want one badly, but I still have to wait about 2.5 weeks to get one :C

quote:

Originally posted by psymon.d I inquired NI about this a few months ago when I was interested in purchasing it. Being a university student I was looking to spend as little money as possible I was wondering if the software would be prohibited from updating or something of the likes, but here's their response "The academic version can download patches. The only restriction to our educational versions is that it cannot be resold or transferred. "

Ah I see, thanks for clearing that up!

Thanks a lot for that review, Cryo. I may just pick one up at it's Educational value.

ahh, finally I have one. Just before I was about to order one online I found out there was someone in sweden selling month old/used one. The controller itself looks like it's not even been touched. Can't wait to use it this evening. It cost me about 480 euros including shipping.

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