I been looking to buy a new hardware to change up my workflow. Currently, I am recording samples with my phone; field recordings, piano and guitar samples and using my loop pedal and Mircogranny to sketch out ideas, which I then expand on in Ableton Live 10 trial.
It’s gratifying to create these short tracks but I’m not enjoying the workflow. I’m not that keen on using software and I don’t find it intuitive; which is why Digitakt appeals to me, however I want something expressive, I’m not interested in programming beats; something that won’t get in the way of trying to get down ideas, with the ability to instantly sample which is why Maschine Mk3 appeals to me.
I have been doing some research; people are saying to buy a midi keyboard to start off, but I already play piano and guitar and I don’t want hardware that is going to replace the playability of the instruments I already have, I want something will expand my setup.
I could get Digitakt and a pad controller but then aren’t I better off with Maschine?
Does someone have experience with both. What would you suggest I get, and who is the Digitakt and Machine best suited for?
Digitakt is great. Maschine is great - though seems odd to me if you are not interested in beats. Though obviously it is only limited by the software, which when run in a daw is not very limited. A certain not beat spesific, crazy hardware sampler comes to mind, but im sure you have concidered it. If long samples are an absolute, then maschine i guess.
I have a Digitakt and a Maschine Studio (and also a OP1). Couple of points to note:
(1) Maschine absolutely needs a computer to work and is heavily dependant on the software (which appears as a vst).
(2) I had problems with NI encoder and ended up returning the first unit after a month (?!). A quick google for “Maschine encoder problem” shows that this is a common problem, and one that doesn’t seemed to have been fixed in the new revisions.
I love my Digitakt and OP1 and will be looking to get an Digitone soon. Maschine to me is not really in the same class - perhaps more comparable to Ableton Push as an advanced daw controller.
My replacement Maschine studio is now sitting unused. I do all my stuff in studio one 4, and I’m not a big fan of the “daw in a daw” workflow Maschine forces me in to. Personally overbridge (once released) sounds like a better approach - where each track appears as an audio input.
Good luck!
T
Edit: forgot to mention Digitakt samples are limited to 33 seconds and there are limitations on how many samples (total sample pool size ~100mb) can be present in a project. This may or may not be an issue.
Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind!
I’ve also been interested in OP1 and Digitone but my main focus is expressiveness (seaboard looks quite interesting for this), have you used a keyboard or pad controller with the Digitakt?
No - I have a weird workflow at the moment: op-1 into digitakt, into audio interface. I use op-1 to sketch out ideas and then sequence in digitak / daw. (Coming from a classical background and new to sequencing)
Worth noting also that op-1 is not touch sensitive or after-touch enabled. It’s tape based and you don’t “sequence” as such.
I’m thinking about getting an Arturia keystep when I get a Digitone.
(I also have a Yamaha C1x transacoustic which can provide midi input for longer stuff, but that’s no where near as convenient a keystep would be!)
You do know you can stream each individual sound from maschine vst into your DAW as audio as well? With maschine you get 16 individual outputs.
Maschine also works Standalone.
I loved the idea of the seaboard and had one for a few months but eventually sold it. It’s a fun instrument, but ultimately a little too gimmicky for the $800 I paid for it, which I reinvested into the absolutely wonderful Digitone. If you have a midi keyboard with aftertouch and a mod wheel (basically all of them) the Digitone is crazy expressive.
If you plan on playing your drums then you need tactile pads like Maschine or an MPC. Since you play piano and guitar the main thing you are missing are drums and if you dont need to sequence them then I dont think the DT will be what you want. I love my DT but I also have a maschine mikro when I want to play my drums, the DT buttons are playable but wont be expressive like a pad controller.
Id say that you check out the MPC live but its more expensive than Maschine.
You could also go very cheap and get a MPD to use with Ableton.
My bad - I ment that Maschine very much depends on a host PC / laptop (be it as a VST, or using the Maschine software as the host), where as Digitakt has the open to operate either as a standard alone, or overbridge (once released ).
I personally have a mpd24 and mpd26 both of which I have used with the digitakt. They are pretty much the same controller but I do prefer the 24 cause of the 2 extra knobs.
Just looking for a clearer answer, but are you basically asking what device to get for sequencing expressive sounds?
The Digitakt, while rad for jamming and making beats, doesn’t have to be used as a beat machine. Often what I do with mine is arrange a set of sounds into a sample with Ableton (which doesn’t take long at all), load however many samples into the Digitakt, and make a cascade of expressive sounds, with maybe some skeletal beats sprinkled throughout the patterns. Even if you did a little bit of setting up the samples in your DAW, the parameter tools on the Digitakt are powerful enough to shape sounds further for the planned and unpredictable.
Plus, if you want to make beats some day, the Digitakt is damn good at it.
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