Back to start / Move Playhead

O'Neal

I hate that I even have to ask this...

How do I simply rewind on the Maschine+? I just bought this thing and I feel like some things shouldnt have to be figured out. I have used all the encoders yet I have a pattern stuck halfway in a measure. I've watched the tutorials and read the manual. And whyyyyy is there not a "back to start" button on this Maschine.

D-One

Shift+Main 4D Knob moves the playhead. (I am assuming that's what you mean by "rewind")

It does so by the current Grid Value you have selected, you can change it with Shift+Follow/Grid.

No one knows why there is no "back to start", or why we can't just press stop 2 times to achieve such behavior like in most DAW's, this as been asked for many many times over the years and discussed a lot in the older forum.

Especially when it's something so easy to implement that even I was able to do it myself, discussed here, and later added to NIPatcher. Unfortunately, there's no known way to modify the M+ script files.

D-One

Shift+Main 4D Knob moves the playhead. (I am assuming that's what you mean by "rewind")

It does so by the current Grid Value you have selected, you can change it with Shift+Follow/Grid.

No one knows why there is no "back to start", or why we can't just press stop 2 times to achieve such behavior like in most DAW's, this as been asked for many many times over the years and discussed a lot in the older forum.

Especially when it's something so easy to implement that even I was able to do it myself, discussed here, and later added to NIPatcher. Unfortunately, there's no known way to modify the M+ script files.

LostInFoundation

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/71907#Comment_71907

Sometimes why NI don’t implement such trivial things is quite obscure. Specially cause they never make statements about why they don’t. They just don’t answer customers…is kind of a company policy.

In their defense, I could say that press stop 2 times and then having to press play when we will need to play again from start is one more press than pressing stop and using RESTART to play from start. It’s just a matter to get used to use RESTART button. But having playhead at start can be useful if you want to move it from there (for any reason it could be useful to someone)

D-One

@LostInFoundation said:

In their defense, I could say that press stop 2 times and then having to press play when we will need to play again from start is one more press than pressing stop and using RESTART to play from start. It’s just a matter to get used to use RESTART button.

Lol... in that case why would the user even use Stop 2x to begin with? No one ever asked to remove the Restart button...

If an NI rep or dev told me that I'd probably reply that they need to find another job as I expect them to know enough about music to understand that a user might want to return to start to you know... Paste something at the start, copy (since copy takes playhead location into account), insert a Clip, or any number of other things, especially with big patterns/scenes.

All DAWs I've tried have this function for a reason.

TheLoudest

it's not even a question of pressing STOP twice or doing shift+stop etc.etc.

actually the problem is that there is NO REAL stop button on this device...

It is actually a "PAUSE" button.

And this is a real problem when you want to work in sync with other MIDI devices.

(at least if you intend to use M+ as master... OK. Silly me..)

When you press STOP, the other devices receive a midi 'PAUSE' message.

so when you restart, the devices are desynchronized.

This is the ABC of MIDI

and yet it is still missing in Maschine+ in 2023

it's completely crazy.

(ditto for aftertouch that NI developers seem to ignore while synths are released today with the MPE standard...)

ZapoaCat

This is an absolutely absurd problem. I've been trying to use this thing for over a year now and the biggest problem I was having is the inability to return the playhead to zero. I was thinking I was stupid because I couldn't figure it out. It not only inhibits the obvious convenience but what good does the count in metronome do ? It almost completely eliminates it's usefulness when setting up ideas at the beginning of a song. For God 🙏 sake there be a footswitch Jack on the unit so u can send to 0 and start metronome count in !!!!

The guy was right above. People should be fired over this. I'm even more pissed of now that I know it can't be done.

Vocalpoint

I have been "exploring" and "training" myself to understand the Maschine 2 software WITH my S61MKII.

Some of this learning is natural and easy. But this playhead thing is bizarre. How do you guys actually record anything properly on this software if the cursor is hanging out at Bar 2.3 all day long?

In Studio One - I "place" the cursor (say at Bar 2) where I want the recording to start, hit Record (with my standard Metronome in + 2 bar count-in) and then recording starts. Hit Stop when done and playhead goes back to initial record start - so I can listen back to what I just did.

But in Maschine - it seems like a free for all - record, playhead is wherever it wants to be and then how to I listen (from the beginning)? And then get ready for my next pattern/track?

I really need to take some time to understand this as it is very erratic compared to my DAW.

VP

ozon

Maschine is a groovebox not a DAW. You record Patterns, which loop endlessly. Just start playing when ready.

That said, I find it ridiculous as well that it’s not possible to get the playhead back to start by hitting double Stop or Shift-Stop.

Vocalpoint

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/102822#Comment_102822

Thanks! Great way to put it.

I did take another run at it and once I got past the fact that it "just" records - with no reset - actually made it a bit easier. Tended to keep me in my flow a bit better.

That said - is there something I am missing on recording "over" an already recorded part? The easiest example is Take One of a drum track that I manually enter via Key Mode. Never gonna get it right in the first pass - so I am hoping it would just loop over and "erase" over the botched notes until one has something usable.

Any tips there would be helpful.

VP

D-One

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/102895#Comment_102895

Theres different ways to go about it.

If you're in Ideas Mode and recording to a new Pattern with "Grow Pattern While Recording" active in Prefs>Default then you can just keep recording endlessly until you get it right, then change the Pattern Start/Length to only keep what you need. Unfortunately theres no "Crop MIDI" to consolidate the best part but this is not a major problem, just a bit annoying.

Or you can just play along for a few bars to warm up and without stopping transport enable Rec right before the Section/Scene turns around - Personally this helps me get into the groove/zone a lot better than just hearing a lifeless metronome pre count in silence if what I am trying to record is more difficult.

Another option is to just keep Rec on while the Section/Scene loops and try many times, each time I get it wrong I just hit SHIFT+PAD1 to Undo and try again, usually for Song Mode, I use this as a form of practicing if it's something particularly difficult at a specific place, say a drum fill at last Bar of a Section; I can also just set the song loop braces for the last 2 Bars and just keep trying and using Undo.

dmori

I bought a PC 3 key USB Foot Pedal. Set pedals to Restart - Record - Start/Stop. I play along and when I'm ready to record press the middle pedal. I used to find that I'd start playing something really cool, then when I moved my hand to press rec. on the MK3 controller, I'd slightly lose the vibe. This way I stay in the flow.

But if you're using M+ standalone, this won't work.