The Final Answer! How can i connect Fl studio 21 to maschine mk3?

DanielJM

How can i connect Fl studio 21 to maschine mk3?

What features can be used and what features cannot be used?

No definitive answer online just a lot of shaky resources ?

Can we only trigger sounds using the maschine vst in Fl Studio 21?

I see where people have resorted to exporting stems but wouldn't it be better if we could work directly in Fl studio with maschine mk3?

Direct knowledge pertaining to these questions would be appreciated!😀

LostInFoundation

This article talks about both cases (Maschine software inside FL or Maschine Hardware as a controller)

https://flstudiofans.com/use-maschine-as-midi-controller-fl-studio/

LostInFoundation

So…what you want to do is not using the Machine software inside of FL but to use the hardware as a controller for FL?

DanielJM

Yes @lostinfoundation precisely and please tell me what are the drawbacks of this method! What could I do in maschine software that I couldn't do in fl studio?

LostInFoundation

This article talks about both cases (Maschine software inside FL or Maschine Hardware as a controller)

https://flstudiofans.com/use-maschine-as-midi-controller-fl-studio/

LostInFoundation

In any case, the procedure is to make a template in Controller Editor that tells what you want every MK3 buttons/knobs to do inside of FL.

Online you can find some premade templates. I’ll link you to one cause it is free. There are many more, but they are paid ones (and I don’t want to advertise one or the other) or they require you to be subscribed to the site (like the one on Operculum Audio). In any case you can find them all easily by searching for “maschine mk3 fl studio 21 template” (some also with YT videos to demonstrate them)

Link to a free one (you can test it and see if it does what you want). Read the page for instructions on how to install it:

https://github.com/Aftalyfe/MaschineMK3FLStudioScript

LostInFoundation

About your question on drawbacks:

Well…what you’ll lose in using MK3 just as a midi controller is…all the world of Maschine software functionalities. And also…MK3 hardware is very tightly integrated with his software. You won’t be able to use it as deeply only using it as a controller. Things that it can do controlling Maschine software will never be achievable as a “simple” controller (Some of them: do you really want to lose the ability to edit a wave form on its beautiful screens ☺️? Or chop a sample in many different ways? Or use scales/chords functionalities by the push of a button? Arpeggios? Lock states (a monstrous functionality often ignored/underrated)? And the list could go on FOREVER 😂)

LostInFoundation

Maschine Hardwares main point (specially MK3 with all the functionalities accessible from its screens) is that it makes you forget you are using a software (and the mouse). Once you get used to it, you won’t look at the computer screen anymore and you’ll feel like you are using an instrument, not a software.

LostInFoundation

Hope this helps you with your needs to use it with FL and to understand better what you have in your hands with a MK3: not only a controller like many others, but an instrument to have fun with 😉

Jeremy_NI

There are also a couple of articles on our Knowledge Base, hopefully not too shaky:

Recording MIDI Notes in FL Studio from MASCHINE

How to Trigger MASCHINE from the FL Studio Step Sequencer

How to Route MASCHINE Sounds to Separate Tracks in FL Studio

The P.O.T.Y

You got to commit. Use Maschine as plugin or controller. As a plugin make a loop or drum pattern, then bounce to DAW. Or use Maschine as "instrument" keep going....but they gave us KK. I use Maschine standalone and run DAW beside. Making my Maschine output an input into DAW tracked group by group sound by sound is too strenuous.

DanielJM

Taking all of this into consideration!Thanks! If anybody else would like to contribute feel free

abnegative

@DanielJM FL Studio provides an API that allows 3rd party developers to integrate hardware controllers via python scripting. This video is a good demonstration of what's possible:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck2Vnq-Cv-8

Full disclosure: I am the author of the script in the video. As mentioned, there are free alternatives.

ShelLuser

So... late response because while I frequent these forums I don't do so too often. But yah, talking about 2 personal favorites of mine? I'm in!

How can i connect Fl studio 21 to maschine mk3?

What features can be used and what features cannot be used?

Well, you have options. If you don't want to use the VST itself then, as hinted at above, just switch it to MIDI mode and use that. But honestly? You'd be severely limiting yourself and for no valid reason what so ever.

Don't go on first impressions (or ill informed users) which may make it seem as if the VST is a black box of some sort, because it's not. Far from it. I mean, who in their right mind would want to rely on MIDI mappings to make a E 600+ controller behave like something you'd buy for E 60,- ? 🙄

Oh, I know where it's coming from, we'll get to that in a moment 😏

So yah, use the VST! This allows you to use all the features provided by Maschine, and a whole lot more too.

Of course, there are caveats. What if you want to use the Maschine to play another instrument? While it may look like FL Studio has no issues with this... well:

So here I have Maschine loaded in FLS '21 and I even set its output port to channel 2. So far so good, only problem: if you look at any of the internal generators you'll notice that they lack this "VST tab". In other words: if I load in another external VST instrument (say... U-HE's Diva?) then I can use this same tab as shown above to tell it to use input port 2. This will then somewhat automatically result in Maschine controlling Diva. "Somewhat" because there are a few more needed steps which I'll address in a moment.

However, I won't be able to do this when using something internal. Like, say, Harmless or Sakura or such:

See what I mean? This is because FL Studio doesn't provide any internal routing when it comes to MIDI data. I can't tell it to "grab MIDI from xx", only when I'm working with tracks: I can change the so called track mode to force a track to use something specific. The only problem with that is that this won't be useful to us: it's not as if we can control one (or more) generators while playing Mashcine this way.

But we have an opion. How?

Easy! => we use Patcher! But first things first:

Start by telling Maschine that it needs to sent its MIDI output to the host, and of course make sure to use the same channel as we specified in the FLS "VST tab". When using the software the quickest way is shown above.

So now we have Maschine sent out MIDI to its host using pad 1 of group B. Next step: Patcher:

Pull in an empty Patcher and then right click on the "From FL Studio" node, shown above. Make sure to click on "MIDI Port 2". This will result in an extra output node which, well, gives you access to MIDI channel (or "Port") 2.

Next, add the generator which you want to play. In my example I'll be using Sakura, which is one of my favorites:

Just to make sure that I highlight my point I used Maschine's sequencer to generate the MIDI data and well, you can clearly see that we're getting audio output, generated by Sakura.

The reason why I prefer to use a separate Maschine group for this is because this makes it a lot easier to switch between Maschine's native set up (as you can see I loaded the 808 kit on group A) and controlling "externals", in this case using group B. No need for mapping or any of that: just play.

Of course... this becomes different when you want to use the FPC plugin. Still... FPC is different by design anyway:

Here I selected the kick drum, and as you can see it triggers on C3. So what do you think would trigger the SideStick to the left of the Kick drum? C2? C#2? Of course not: that's C#3. The closed hat then, on the right side? That is F#3. The open hihat? Why A#3 of course. 😶

There is no logic with regards to FPC mapping so... your only option is to make sure the notes match those of Maschine.

By default a Maschine group uses all 16 MIDI channels: A1 is 1, A2 is 2 and so on. The main difference is that MIDI doesn't get sent to the host by default. But as I demonstrated above we can easily change that. But what about the notes? Because of these different MIDI channels all of Maschines pads (or sounds) use the same root note: C3. But we can change this of course.

However... while setting up this test case.. well, just see for yourself:

I set up my Maschine pad ("sound") so that it doesn't output any audio, but does sent out MIDI to the host. Root note C#1 in this case. Because I'm using pad 2 this will also be sent out on MIDI channel 2, which I had already mapped in FL Studio earlier. But now look at FPC and the Maschine root notes.

Which is why I think it's pointless to bother with Maschine's MIDI mode and the controller editor, for the simple reason that you'd be needing a kazillion schemes to make that work. Schemes which you can easily set up yourself from within the Maschine VST.

And while I'm demonstrating the software here do keep in mind that I can do all of the above steps from the controller itself as well.

Maschine + FL Studio + Patcher is all you need to make all of this work together.

Hope this can help!

DanielJM

What are the best/most popular maschine mk3 fl studio templates?