OK, so one thing i cant seem to figure out from the demos and reviews I have read, is this: when you are using Maschine, are your drums sequenced in the Maschine Software Instrument? What I'd essentially like is Maschine allow me to record each pad to a different MIDI track in Logic, so that my drums show up in Logic as they do now by using EXS24. I'd hate to have to do all my drum editing in a window other than the Logic Arrange window.

Yes, you can do that now with the 1.1 update, which is currently in public beta and will go final next week. One of the features they added in the 1.1 update was the ability to send signals to Maschine's pads as MIDI notes, which will let you trigger/sequence the sounds from your DAW and/or from another controller. Well, I should specify that I can work that way in Sonar, Live, and Cubase, but I've never used Logic, although I don't see any reason why it wouldn't work the same. The thing is, working that way kinda defeats the purpose of having the hardware and built-in sequencer so you'd probably be better off with Battery 3.

Maschine is incredibly flexible with its routings and internal sequencing, automation, effects, etc. It syncs perfectly with my DAWs and you have different options for triggering the various scenes in Maschine's sequencer from your host. Its biggest flaw IMO is the fact that you can't drag/drop MIDI patterns and automation from Maschine into your host and arrange it there. A lot of people are asking for this on the NI forums and, apparently, it is going to be included in a future release, but I find it kinda bewildering that it wasn't included in the initial release.

Anyway, if you like hand-on control, Maschine is a very cool piece of kit and definitely one of my best purchases in the last year.

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OK thats what I figured. The problem I have with the whole "scene" concept is that I think it might constrain me to doing things in a very linear way. For example, if I have a 16 bar pattern, and I want to make a small variation on bar 16 maybe only once ot twice in the track, Id have to copy the whole scene and make that small variation. Then I have the scene play through regularly from 33-64, then on bar 65, I have to switch to the new "small variation" scene for bar 65, then back to the original pattern from then on.

At that point, what happens if I want to make a change that would affect all scenes? Then I have to make the changes to each scene in turn as well as each "variation scene" and...well you can see how this might become unmanageable very quickly. it seems like adding those little "highlights" becomes more of a pain in the ass, where as in the arrange window, I just add my "highlight" part on a separate track, and then drag it to wherever I want it.

Does that make sense? Has this been your experience?

Yeah, I see what you're saying. That would actually not be very difficult to do. The easiest way would just be to add another pattern (with the variation) to another slot in the scene (each scene can have 16 different patterns). And, it's dead simple to copy/paste/edit patterns in Maschine (even right from the hardware!). So, it wouldn't really be a difficult or time-consuming task, but it definitely requires a change in workflow/mindset, which always seems to be more difficult than it actually is!

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Agreed. I think where it might benefit me most is being able to compose my initial pattern in Maschine, then drag it to the arrange window and make edits there. I work mostly in a "loop mode" way, where I come up with a 4 or 8 bar loop, add a bunch of parts, then when I feel i have enough, I start to lay out an arrangement. At that point is where I'd want to take the pattern out of Machine and put it on the arrange window.

Its definitely something I'll have to think about. I think it would help in the sense of coming up with stuff quickly and serving as a bit of a change from my usual workflow, but on the other hand, I'm not sure I'm ready to make thqat change just yet. I have a lot of stuff on my plate production-wise right now. I'm fixing to pick up a toy thats going to take me a while to get my head around, so I hesitate to change anything right now because i know I'll probably be fairly unproductive while i learn the new gear.

Anyway, thanks for the explanation.

No problem, Eric!

quote:

Originally posted by Eric J I'm fixing to pick up a toy thats going to take me a while to get my head around, so I hesitate to change anything right now because i know I'll probably be fairly unproductive while i learn the new gear.

You can't just leave me wondering, dude!

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Sonar Platinum | Ableton Live 9 | Logic Pro X | Access Virus TI2 Keyboard | Kurzweil PC3X | Nord Lead 4R | NI Maschine

Hehe, well I wasn't going to say anything, but I just cant contain my excitement.

I did it, I finally found one, brand new, from Alesis, and just in time:



Its ordered, its paid for, and (hopefully), being built now. So, yeah, I'm going to be kind of unproductive come late October.

Oh great. Just what we need - another Andromeda snob on TA.


Nice. Very nice.

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Sonar Platinum | Ableton Live 9 | Logic Pro X | Access Virus TI2 Keyboard | Kurzweil PC3X | Nord Lead 4R | NI Maschine