The sd card that comes with it is not adequate. So many weird problems occur when using the original sd. It is most stable with a high end sd card that is over spec for the job.
Any preset kit you load will have a plethora of FX’s on it because the kits were made with the computer in mind not standalone. If you load a preset kit you have to go through and delete the FX on the pads you are not using. Or delete the entire sound and fx chains you don’t want… Or resample the pad with the FX, make a new kit, then delete original and move on with CPU.
Not to keen to remove FX from shit of course. Right now it seems to work. read somewhere that if the CPU misbehaves a restart often helps. Hadn’t had a crash yet.
Does seem odd, I’ve happily run a couple of reaktor and massive patches plus a couple of kits and never seen more than 75% on CPU… could be a one off??
What’s the UI like on the Maschine+? Is it pretty effortless and conducive in terms of editing pattern info and that micro control? I have a Push 2, and find that I spend quite a bit of time between Ableton and the Push rather than being fully ‘standalone’ with the Push.
Kind of a big question without explaining your use case. But I’d say Maschine+. Akai Force is everything I already dislike about the MPC but even more convoluted. Plus it’s stupidly large.
I have both Maschine+ (and have been a Maschine user for like a decade) and a Push 2.
I’d say Maschine is much more in the hardware. For years I didn’t even bother looking at my computer screen because once you know how to do something on the hardware it’s quicker, or at least quicker than moving to the mouse and keyboard and back. That said, Maschine doesn’t do nearly as much as what ableton can do and a lot of the functions I would transition to mouse and keyboard for on Ableton seem like they would be a nightmare in any hardware. Much of what Maschine is great at is what the Push 2 is great at. And then you can turn off the controller and start finely editing automation or routing on the computer screen with Abelton where there’s not really fine definitions within Maschine.
Honestly, I’d probably just recommend sticking with Ableton and if you’re getting the urge to get a hardware sampler look at the SP-404 MK2 instead.
Thanks, really appreciate the info, and makes total sense. Half of me likes the idea of something more stand-alone (i.e Maschine +) but deep down I know that Push has that edge with the versatility of Ableton. I also like the idea of a MPC Live/One but again the UI doesn’t look that great from a visual user interface perspective and from what I’ve seen the touch screen interaction isn’t iPad or iPhone level so I know that would really piss me off. Having said that, not having that experience of trying one out in person makes it hard to judge.
The design of the Akai Force reminds me of some half-baked house extension, an orthopaedic shoe or Homer Simpson’s car. Regardless of how it performs it looks f&*king awful
I have both Maschine Mk3 (now about 3 years) and push 2 with Live 11. The Maschine Mk3 is far superior to Maschine Plus in terms of synths and editing. However that being said if you plan to do
more traditional music arrangement in Maschine then Arrangement view is where it becomes janky and more mouse driven. However, it’s very fast and efficient when in Pattern mode (Clips). Of course Live 11 has a massive edge regarding effects and all the cool things you can do. I do find Maschine Mk3 very immediate and fun but it is not without limitations based on what you hope to accomplish or enjoy doing. I also had the M32 controller and returned it as I much prefer real keys like S49 if you want to play keys. The one feature that Maschine has over most anything is Browsing and Previews. Thats a huge time saver unless you are using only 1 or 2 synths. Thats where Push 2 and Ableton could use some serious improvement unless you are only using native Ableton instruments. You can also use Maschine MK3 hardware as a controller in Live for Scales, Arp, Chords, etc. if you know how to set that up. If you have a good computer and are used to skies the limit on vst’s them Maschine+ will most likely be very frustrating as it is under powered.
