PDA

View Full Version : Native Instruments Maschine 1.7



Monkus
January 24th, 2012, 10:35 AM
I pulled the trigger on an NI Maschine that arrived on Friday last. Its a midi controller that controls all aspects of the Maschine software on your computer and works as stand alone, or as a plugin in your DAW. Comes with the Maschine controller, USB cable, Maschine software and Komplete Elements.

I bought it because i really am tired of squinting at the screen, fixing midi notes on a drum track. Really, its used by the urban, hip hop, dubstep crowd to manipulate sounds in real time while printing to track. I just wanted an easier way to create, modify and sequence drum tracks, but this baby does so much more.

Intro video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QYVQR-YdVJI

If any of you has ever mic'ed a drum kit for recording, you might understand why I never want to do that again, don't even talk about motivating a drummer... :D

Friday: Cleaned up my imac, backed up, re-routed hardware properly, vacuumed and sorted the unsorted, nice, all ready. Damn... its 2:30 am.

Saturday: Unpacked the Maschine, installed the software, adapted my [audio and midi settings] on OSX, connected the Maschine to the iiMac via usb. Registered with NI online. Ran updates.Started it up stand alone. Spent the next 6 hours, going through the projects that came with the software. Didn't make a beat, didn't play a pad, didn't tweak a knob, didn't have lunch... nutten. Mind blown with the possibilities. Went for a drive. After reminding myself of the reason for buying it, got home to load up Komplete Elements. the DVD kept ejecting itself. Shot an email to NI, subject... 'defective DVD'. went back listening to the Maschine projects. Damn, its 4:47 am.

Sunday: Woke up, stumbled into the studio to find an email from NI with a download link for Komplete Elements and a 30 euro voucher off my next NI purchase. Cool. Shot NI an email apologizing for my doofusness, and let them know I got the download link...thanks. Downloaded Komplete Elements, (30-45 mins, its 4.3 Gb), registered it and installed the updates. Had no idea how to use it. Messed with some of the settings on the projects that came with Maschine but didn't save anything. Overloaded, watched tv for a while. Got back in it around 7pm and decided to make a rhythm track or 'beat' as the in-crowd calls it. 15 seconds flat, I had an acoustic drum loop going. Fired up my midi keyboard and added some chords. Added bass. Lordy, a new song. Wow. Awesome....Damn, its 2:45 am.

I have no previous experience with other grooveboxes like MPC's or Akai's, so this is uber new to me. I usually tap out samples on a midi keyboard and mouse poke it into submission. Now the only thing I use the mouse for, is to initially open the Maschine software. Everything else is done on the hardware.

The Maschine is intuitive, deep, and nicely integrated into Logic. The pads feel good, some of the Abbey Road drums have been sampled to 30 velocity layers, so you can really get expressive sounds. The knobs are infinite, and the screens are easily readable. The awesome factor is high with all the blinky lights. I was up and running in two days with no previous experience, those who have, will be creating stuff in considerably less time. A fellow musician told me, "Dude, thats a deep dark hole you're entering, you might not come out sane...". That is so true. There are so many possibilities with this thing, and I'm only scratching the surface so far. Seriously considering getting Komplete 8 to pair with this thing...hmmm... where's my e-voucher?