Page 2: Native Instruments Maschine

Effects & Automation

The Master section, Groups and individual sounds each have two insert effect slots. Groups and Sounds also have two auxiliary outputs. Send effects can be set up internally, by using a spare sound slot as a return channel, or you can route signals out to external buses for processing in your host DAW system. There's a good selection of standard and more unusual effects on offer, with patches also available in the library.

One of my favourite features of Maschine is the automation system. All sound parameters, effects and mixer controls can be modulated within patterns, and each pattern can have its own unique automation data. All you have to do is hold down one of the function buttons while Maschine is playing back, and any control movement will be recorded and looped. This automation is relative to the position of the control, so you can still make adjustments later.

Performance

Maschine does an exemplary job of capturing patterns and sequences, and manipulating sounds and effects. So how about creating a performance or arrangement with these building blocks? Pattern changes can be triggered easily from the pads with various quantisation settings. The eight Groups buttons allow you to move quickly between your layered sounds, and you can hold the Mute or Solo buttons while pressing these, to drop out sections of your track. Individual pads can also be muted or solo'ed in the same way. Effects can be loaded from the Browser on‑the‑fly, and automated. As live performance tools go, it couldn't get much more fun or immediate than this.

To facilitate both performance and song arrangement, Maschine uses a system of Scenes. A Scene is simply a snapshot of which pattern is playing in each Group at a given time. So, for example, Scene 1 might be an introduction section, with pattern A1 playing in Group 1, pattern A4 playing in Group 2, and so on. You might then set up another Scene appropriate to Verse 1, and so on. Scenes can be recalled in real time in the same way as patterns, giving you control over the high‑level structure of an arrangement.

OK, but what if you simply want to capture an improvised performance as an arrangement? (Sound of needle scratching across record). Surprisingly, there's no mechanism for this within Maschine, and very little within a host. Pattern changes cannot be recorded on‑the‑fly, and the Maschine plug‑in has no support for MIDI modulation or automation from a DAW.

The only thing Maschine responds to from the outside world is Program Changes, which can be used to trigger Scene changes. Therefore, to create an arrangement, you need to set up Scenes, then place Program Changes in your sequencer at the appropriate transitions in the song. This isn't so horrible in Ableton Live, as you can create Clips which trigger Program Change messages. In other packages it's not brilliant. To record Scene changes in real time you need to download a MIDI control template for Maschine that lets you record Program Changes in your host. This convoluted situation feels more like a workaround than a well thought‑out workflow.

As an alternative, you can set up a string of Scenes in Maschine and have them play back in step with your song. However, the real issue is that you've fallen back to editing and thinking about arrangement on a screen. And this still doesn't allow you to capture mutes, solos, and linear control changes, or to drop in a quick fill without triggering an entire Scene change. (Ideally you should be able to trigger and record Pattern changes independently of Scenes, as you can in FXPansion's Guru, for example).

Reassuringly, NI are aware that this system is not ideal, and are already looking to improve it. The summer should bring an update to make recording Scene changes easier, and after that, hopefully, more control of other aspects of Maschine may follow.

Conclusions

Maschine is the best example of a hybrid software‑and‑controller instrument I've seen. In most cases hardware is developed to control existing software, which usually results in compromise and frustration. Here, the hardware experience has been developed from the ground up, and the result is a convincing illusion that you are using a stand‑alone device. Playing the pads, recording patterns and creating improvised performances is fast and fun, and, most importantly, allows you to stay in musician‑mode rather than technician‑mode.

Maschine has a rich feature set: a great library of electronic drum sounds, strong effects, on‑board sampling and slicing, sampled instruments... Unfortunately, it also has weak song-arrangement facilities and host integration. Although configuring and triggering Scenes works to a point, it doesn't support the fast creation of interesting rhythm tracks that a groove box like this should. Hopefully this, along with the other niggles, will be addressed soon, and with any luck NI will have learned from the Kore 2 experience and make sure early investors don't face paying an upgrade fee to get these key features.

I'm cautiously enthusiastic about Maschine — it's so close to being brilliant. What it does well, it does really well, and it would be hard to go back to a generic pad controller after working with Maschine. If, like me, you get frustrated programming in a traditional sequencer environment, you should give Maschine a try. I can't wait to see where it goes next.