How does Maschine Studio compare to the OT in terms of sequencing?

Hello

How does Maschine Studio compare to the OT in terms of sequencing?

It’s suppose to parameter lock like the OT. But what exactly can you p-lock? And how does it work?
And how does nudging work? Let’s say I tap in a drumbeat, can I then switch to step sequencer, select the pad with the kick drum, hold the second 8th note, press NUDGE, and turn the jog wheel? Release the pad/step. And in what kind of resolution does it nudge? 1/16th notes or can you nudge in smaller increments like on the Octatrack?
Also, and I’ve looked into the manual which is written by stoners with a very specific audience in mind, how does looping work? Does it have the ability to insert loop points independent from the start/end point of a sample? What about crossfade looping and alternate looping? I also have the impression that you can only enable looping if the sample is set to ADSR playback. So having it set to one shot disables the looping. I’m not sure, because again, the manual is written in a way that you don’t really know what is actually possible and not possible with this machine. It is both written in a dumb and very smart way.
I’ve used Machine mk1 in 2010 or something but it was very limited back then, and the hardware felt like a complete and utter toy.

I can prob try to ask these questions on the machine forum, but most of the machine users have no idea what parameter lock means as you guys do.

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Also, can you disable the lights underneath the gummy buttons and pads? I remember it being really annoying and the new ones even do multiple colours. I don’t need a disco ball illuminating the room

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Get on Octatrack MkI :slight_smile:
The reason I got a MkI over a MkII was because of aesthetic, actually. I just like the look of the black and the red more. It’s cheaper, too…About 500 bucks cheaper unless you only want to buy new.

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No no :slight_smile: I had it but sold it. I’m missing the p-locks. I know Push does a similar thing: it just draws automation per step which would take ages

I think machine locks a value and holds it until it reaches another “lock”. Which is worse than Electron but better than Push. Although I’m not sure. As I said, the manual is terrible

I have both. Apples and oranges to me. The maschine workflow lacks bigtime imo compared to elektron sequencers. Alone nudging is a big difference.

I sequence with elektrons and use maschine for other purposes. For one to add percussions if later needed and the latency with outboard is too big. Also really like the drum synths (mainly shakers). But mainly I use it to add effects to a track. I’ll load up 16-48 pads with effects and then play the song and start pushing buttons.

At the moment, I would not buy it again. But then again I would really miss the huge and good sample library.

Maschine software is a joke and there is no audio delay compensation for hardware.
As much as I did like NI library I switched to ableton plus push 2, never looked back.

You can sequence on maschine and then move the midi to ableton clips if you want but having to work with a “Daw” inside another DAW seemed to me like a nightmare come true.

If you already were working with maschine for a few years or you own a big NI library it would make sense to adapt your workflow to it because of all the hours invested but I would advise against jumping to Maschine software otherwise, as its future is quite uncertain at best.

A controller is only as good as the software it is controlling and Maschine software is full of bugs and difficult to understand omissions.

Maschine 3 software has been rumoured for years, it is supposed to come the end of this year. Unless you are happy with maschine 2.x limitations (check NI forums) I would wait to see what maschine 3 offers and see if they fixed what need to be fixed, which is quite a lot.

There are things I miss from maschine though (I had mk3); the browser, the two beautiful displays, the pads are a joy to use, the chord mode…

I had the MK1 for about two years and released a few interesting beats I did on only Maschine which was running version 1.x. But then eventually started to really hate the hardware. The rotary knobs were leading a life of their own and the sampler unit back then was quite limited. I had the MPC60 too and was eventually using that 90% of the time. With floppies. And not many features as it was released in 1988. This was about then years ago.
Reading the Maschine manual 10 years later, not much has changed with the sampler unit. But the MPC workflow -kind of- combined with p-locking is quite appealing. On top of that it has sort of a lock mode with which you can quickly switch between set of parameters, similar to the Octatrack.
I don’t really like NI as a company, though for some unexplainable reason. And yesterday, for the first time, I raged quit a manual. I don’t even rage quit strategy games :smile: The manual is written so poorly. And the product is presented in a very vague way. Like it is taylored for people that know nothing about the technical side of things. I don’t like that. I need facts and transparent information. No pun towards people that are using Maschine intended.

Parameter locks are possible in Maschine software, and in most if not all DAWs

The advantage of the Elektron sequencers is the ease and speed of applying parameter locks.

The advantage of software sequencers is the sheer number of parameters to which parameter locks can be applied and different types of locks can be applied (e.g. you can have a lock which is not cancelled by the next event).

I don’t find Maschine software to be at all buggy, maybe I need to look harder :grinning:

Get a mk3, it is in no way limited compared to an octatrack, in a lot of ways it’s deeper and simpler. Just has to be plugged into your computer. Problems I have with maschine are mostly cause I’m set in my ways but if you’re going from a starting point I’d definitely recommend maschine.

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I found maschine a nice system until I wanted to make it a hybrid systems (Hardware/software), lack of audio delay compensation is a big omission for example.
There are lots of features missing and quite a few bugs too, you can read about all that on NI maschine forum. I work with a windows 10 system, what made me sell all my NI stuff was a there is a midi out bug acknowledged by NI that makes the software freeze if there is more than 1 midi out, no matter if it is DIN or USB .

People tend to use maschine as vst inside ableton; I just got rid of NI stuff I had (mk3, JAM, Komplete 12 and M32) and bought Push 2/live 10 suite (600€ August special deal) and an Arturia Keystep, I even ended up making money.

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Missing features apply to plenty of equipment, but a specific feature is only missing to those that need that feature. I am doubtful that the lack of audio delay compensation is a major issue to most users of Maschine, don’t see it mentioned much in the forum.

I am on a WIN10 system and use Maschine inside Live with no problems, but as they say YMMV.

The MIDI bug can prevent you using Maschine to sequence numerous external MIDI devices. I can get it to reliably drive two devices (both multi-timbral) but beyond that it can be sporadic.

It did work, but once I started using ableton I saw everything maschine was lacking. I did not want to have to support two full software systems/DAWs and live 10 suite already gives me way more than I need.

Yes I am starting from a blank state again. I have nothing to really integrate it to. I use Logic Pro X on a laptop and that’s it. I have been on a long break from making beats, apart from playing around with the OT + MFB Dominion a couple of years ago. I’ve always done stuff on an MPC and then I’ve used Ableton live 6 for a couple of years, but I got so tired of Ableton. I also gave these Ableton Live workshops every year and used it with students at work. Ableton is pretty cool but I can’t look at it anymore. The new Logic suits me better in many ways. So ideally I would keep using Logic hooked up to a controller.

I have this workflow all worked out in my head, but there’s nothing on the market that is able to do it. Basically I want sort of the ASR10 workflow in Logic. It’s sort of like using an MPC but with keys instead of pads. I much prefer regular keys. never really liked pads all that much. All of the keys would have their own little sampler. Hit a key and change its parameters. Quick and efficient. And lot’s of fun. But as far as I know there is no software sampler which behaves like this. Except for Geist I think and Ableton Simpler/Sampler with drum racks and device focus and a proper remote script. If Maschine software would be 100% controllable with the Komplete control S-series than I would be right at home. But that stinky NI made it so that you could do everything from the Komplete except for sample editing in the Maschine software. So you’d need to buy the Maschine controller for this separately. Imagin chopping samples on those keyboards. You can mix and match samples with the keys, fine-tune every parameter of every sample with rotaries without looking at the screen and then record. It would be heaven

I’m reading all kinds of manuals and I’m inspecting lot’s of possibilities and then you see Maschine hardware does p-locking and you’re excited and see it working, but in the end it is not what I’m really looking for. So I’d end up buying something that I actually don’t want. But anything is better than using a mouse/trackpad of course. That stuff doesn’t inspire me anymore. And no way I’m setting up a 5000+ euro studio again. A s6000 + logic + Komplete kontrol would work also but that’s already too much stuff and cabling. It is 2020, there must be a simple solution. And again, ideally, I prefer to continue with Logic

(Excuse me, long post and also not related to my original post. I guess I’m hijacking my own thread)

You can p-lock in Maschine but it is quite pointless as the p-lock lasts for the current step length only, even if the notes are much longer. It’s very strange as there is no breakpoint envelope for parameters, but you can kind of record one in with autowrite. After this, any kind of editing is basic though.

Octatracks LFO’ s and cc locks can take you much further in modulating midi parameters.

On the other hand, chopping and resequenceing a loosely timed break or phrase accurately takes a while longer in Octatrack.

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yes this was one of the reasons why I sold the OT. It took quite a while to get a break right

I have a love/hate relationship with Maschine, I’ve used it since 2012 but it’s development has been super slow. Still the fastest way to knock out some ideas using vst’s though.

They just introduced offsets for patterns which is kind of interesting.

Offsets for patterns? Do you mean the “pattern grow” or however they call it?

On a side note, does it do sample offset minus/positive? To shift things off grid quickly

Before moving to ableton I also thought of bitwig studio, but I chose ableton because I think is the best integrated software/hardware combo. I know there are scripts to use push and/or maschine jam with it.

I know you said you do not want to see ableton again, but do you have any experience with max for live? you can create anything with it, at least people do.
Maybe you could build a device or devices to fit your desired workflow…very powerful piece of software

You can use the auto grow in conjunction with the offset so for example you could record the same section 4 times in a row in the same pattern, then pick which ‘take’ or area you want using offset and length.

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