Best Of
A positive review of Maschine Plus
Although I had a folder-question and nobody replied yet, I continued without help, trying to find out what works best for using my own 'sounds'. Although my thumb-drive wasn't showing any folders (it simply showed all sounds in alphabetical order), my SD-card was a better way to organise my sounds (User Content).
Connecting the Maschine+ in storage mode allowed me to make a folder structure. Some folders didn't show up. The content (AIF) in these folders I dropped in Adobe Media Encoder, exporting all sounds as new AIF's. I deleted the old files, and voila, after a 'rescan' in Maschine all my sounds (and invisible folders) are now available in Maschine+.
I read so many negative comments about Maschine+, that I felt the need to write something positive . I've been working with Maschine+ now for 7 days, allowing me to dive deep into all possibilities. I think it's amazing! All my own sounds pre-listen without hick-ups, Maschine is running smooth. I also connected my Novation Bass Station 2, receiving midi from Maschine and sending it's audio back into Maschine. It all works flawless, I'm really impressed!
It's amazing to have all these options available to you without the use of a computer. I'm considering buying a powerbank, simply because I would like to take this device everywhere! The idea of making music without a computer screen is something I always wanted. I changed my setup so many times, buying and selling gear, simply to find out that it's too complicated for me, spending more time on technical problems than creating music. When I wanted to continue a project I worked on the previous day, I first needed to 'activate' all other gear and select all setting on each device. This is so annoying if you're used to produce 'in the box'.
Maschine+ has made it possible for me to leave the computer screen behind and be unlimited creative wherever I want. When I load a project/song it's exactly how I left it, no need to pick presets on other devices or route audio signals through a mixer in order to hear everything.
So, yes, I'm very happy with Maschine+ !
Gerhard
Re: Status on m1/m2 update?
Yes, NI has unique and amazing products, that’s why we are all using them.
But NI also has huge technological debt and ancient codebase and frameworks. So who should we blame for years of lack of HiDPI and VST3 for PC, also Apple?
The sad truth is that NI can’t deal with ANY technological change on ANY platform in a timely fashion.
I get that you are anti-Apple, many PC users are. But a bit of objectivity wouldn’t really hurt…
Re: Please make all UIs scalable
Why would an admin ask this, effectively invalidating the user pain? Your job is to listen to users and then acknowledge that their experience is felt.
It's now 2022. Windows added DPI scaling support with Windows XP in 2001, and MacBooks added Retina support in 2012. You've had 21 years to make it work on Windows, and 10 years on MacOS. Any normal human being today would assume that any software they buy will work fine on a 2k, 4k, and 5k display, will be of a readable text pitch, and will adapt to their preferred scaling if they have accessibility needs. The only concern a reasonable consumer would have, would be if they had a 1k display -- maybe it won't fit? But I think the last laptop with a 1366x768 display sold out from Walmart before the pandemic began, so if any resolution is optional, that one seems like it should be it.
Here's a crazy idea: NI is a European company, right? And Europe has accessibility standards for software, right? I wonder if we could all just file accessibility complaints in the European courts until they finally spend the time needed to make it good? What other option do we have?
It's not like we're not paying for support -- every couple of years, there's another Komplete upgrade fee, which should give us some ability to move with the times, no?
Re: Please make all UIs scalable
I actually SCREAM in pain when I have to scroll through hundreds of presets in the 3-line display of Komplete Kontrol. This app has the wrong name, it should be "Totally Inkomplete Kontrol" because of its lack of visibility in this user interface. All I want is to see the available presets but I cannot because the scrolling within hundreds of entries is not even possible within 3 lines. They shoot up and down and it requires micro movements with the mouse in order to find what I'm looking for - movements that aren't even possible!
Coucho
Track Linking
I wish each track had its own playlist. I imagine a button that links two playing tracks - and then each track is added to the other's playlist. These playlists would form a mix matrix of tried and true mixes that you've personally done and don't ever want to forget.
Aquarobotics
Request font size? 17-23 Please.
As another user ask the question (Who is using 8 or 46?). and requested size for 17 - 23
Just doing as instructed to get upvote for more font size in this range.
Thank you.
Demus
Re: Hardware and software need to be ported into iPadOS
As soon as NI has Maschine running on M1 natively they could bring it to iPad as an alternative for people with big laptops or underpowered Maschine Plusses.
Re: Finding time to create /make music
It really depends if it is something you do as a hobby or as a profession but often these days it can be a challenge as there is so much "going on" in life, or at least we think there is.
If it is something you do as a profession you do as you would any other job and dedicate time to it which takes discipline if you are your own boss.
If you are doing it as a hobby whenever you have the time, it comes down to actually making/finding time and again being disciplined to spend that time on it.
I've found that when I was younger back in the 90s/00s it was easier for me to dedicate loads of time to making music due to the fact there was barely any internet, no youtube, very little games to get into outside my old playstation and no kids/family/dog taking up my time. I had a simple job, simple life and could easily stay up on a Friday night till 3am noodling and composing stuff.
What I have found are some good ways to get yourself at least in the disciplined frame of mind is try and set some times where you will do something music related. I like to make lists for things so I waste less time trying to decide on things so make a list of things you want to get done that aren't actually making a song. General housekeeping things like:
- Organise samples and presets in your library (clean it up and make it easy to browse)
- Create some channel/effects racks for certain workflows
- Make some starter templates with some pre-loaded instruments to get you going when you need ideas
- Label tracks in your older projects you forgot to do and add some notes about your production
- Sort the hundreds of projects you are working on into categories like "likely finish" and "never finish". Helps to clean up your distractions when trying to finish ideas.
- Dive into a synth and learn how it works and play around with it.
- Practice playing music pieces you like the sound of.
- Learn how things in your DAW work more in-depth
- Flick through instrument preset sounds and tag them as favourites
- Create some beats or build some drum kits....
If you don't have a project you are working on or excited about and have no real ideas it often doesn't get you in the mood to create something and that's where you will probably "feel" like you want to do something but really have nothing in mind so "maybe next time". If instead you spend time doing all these kinds of things above it can sometimes spiral into a new idea or get you excited about a sound you have found or an effect you never heard before, but at the very least it will help maintain some discipline on applying some time.
Also, unless you have a dedicated thing you want to learn, try and steer clear of forums and YouTube in these times as that usually just leads to lost time watching endless tutorials often without you really learning much at all.
If you have been doing it for decades like I have, sometimes a break can help or a changeup of things. You may find that working in the same linear DAW feels boring or uninspiring so checking out another DAW or a different workflow can sometimes be interesting. I got into recording sounds, DJing and noodling round on Maschine, in Ableton Live, Reaper and even messing around with some old programs again I used back when I first started making music (Fasttracker II) just for a break from synths and plugins.
You may also have to accept the fact sometimes the reason we cannot really ever seem to get into something is we are not cut out for it. You may find some parts fun but if you never seem to have an idea, never finish anything, don't like to spend the time to learn anything in-depth or do any of the things I listed above then maybe you like the idea of making music more than actually doing it.
JesterMgee
Re: Show us your setup - What are your gear and favorite plugins?
Hers's my DAW with a huge sample library.