Sequencer/Pattern Editor improvements

Metzger Beats

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/116369#Comment_116369

Could you save the pattern as midi and achieve the same result?

Serge8

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/116463#Comment_116463

I'd add something: when you move large pattern with mouse - piano roll may jump huge steps top/down, so you have to be VERY careful. It is pixel hunting that wastes your time and destroys the wish to use maschine.

Yes, users who play maschine only as groovebox (most here) usually do not edit complex midi in piano roll, but for others it is a pain.

hi-d-ho-man

ability to double time & half time patterns & scenes

ozon

In addition to transpose there should be a couple of mathematical/geometric functions available:

• time stretch by factor (2x, 0.5x as presets)
• pitch stretch by factor
• reverse (classical use, think J. S. Bach)
• inverse (classical use, think J. S. Bach)
• quantize to scale

It would also be nice to be able to crop a pattern to the currently selected region.

christian_rabin

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/116463#Comment_116463

Probably my biggest request so I second this wholeheartedly. I understand the constant refrain of Maschine is not a DAW etc. but it is, and always has been, a midi sequencer (like the MPC), so I would love to see some of the more sophisticated implementations that Ableton and FL has. FL has the best piano roll for editing (its pretty amazing really), and I have toyed with the idea of using it simply for that purpose, so any of those features or things like them in terms of midi editing would be amazing.

dmori

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/116463#Comment_116463

Resizing the piano roll is an important update for me (and I guess many others too!) . It's way too small and hard to edit. We should be able to make it much larger and set this as our personal default size. And we should be able to change the piano roll height and size (zoom) directly from the MK3 rather than having to use mouse.

Also it would be really useful to show the note triggered/played written on the note in the piano roll (with option to show on MK3 screen), so we can easily see this, as it's really hard (and slow) trying to work out which note is playing as everything is so small. Look at the other DAWs that do the piano roll really well and use this for inspiration for improvements.

D-One

I'm also of the opinion that the Piano Roll needs a major overhaul, it's really a pain to work with for folks who rely on editing and/or aren't performers who tend to record and move on.

Piano Roll:

• Way more vertical zoom.
• Note names inside the notes after a certain amount of vertical zoom. *[1]
• Toggable option to hear the notes when selecting them.
• Scale highlight. *[1]
• Scale lock / Only display in-Scale notes.
• Fold: Only display note lanes that have notes (helps when editing complex or wide octave range Patterns/MIDI)
• Make horizontal scrolling (mouse) work properly, it’s been broken for years.
• Remember the horizontal zoom amount per Pattern or add a “Fit to Screen” function.
• Keyboard shortcuts for common basic operations like changing octaves, (some of us dont carry the HW everywhere), some more basic right-click functions would be nice aswell.
• Strum - Increasingly offset notes (from a chord) from bottom to top or vice versa.
• A visual difference between normal notes and notes that trigger NKS instrument Key Switch articulations (Or better yet follow the whole NKS keyboard color Scheme even if only on the SW and not on the controller due to the Group/Sound color-focus system)
• Revisit copy-paste - It very strangely takes mouse position into consideration, if we copy-paste a chord it ends up being the wrong chord, this also affects controllers/M+, fully explaining the issues would require a wall of text *[2]

Velocity:

• Deviation % - Randomness to velocity during playback.
• Probably % - How likely a note is to be played.
• Velocity ramps - Because doing it manually is a major PITA.

Patterns:

• Half/Double Time the MIDI - Without this Group/Kit Patterns are often useless in many genres, including the ones you guys make the most expansions for.
• Legato Notes - Increase the length of selected notes until another of the same note is detected (or reaches the end of the Pattern).
• Truncate Pattern - To crop the selected area (Start and Length) when the Pattern is larger than the selected area - (mostly to record long patterns and crop the best part).
• Merge/Split - (especially for Clips)
• Import only Pattern/MIDI data - To try new patterns easily.
• Quantize to Scale.
• Realtime (and visible on the Piano Roll) quantize and swing amount editing. *[3]
• MIDI/Pattern Stretch would be a nice bonus if possible.

This is all just off the top of my head and me trying to keep it short... Some mockups:

*[1] Note names, Scale highlight, Scale only, and Fold in the Piano Roll (for Keyboard Mode):

https://imgur.com/a/bfJKg2x

*[2] The super annoying copy-paste:

https://imgur.com/a/0LIGKlh

*[3] Amount-based quantize:

https://imgur.com/a/d8wnXSb

AdelV

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/116556#Comment_116556

+1 :D Amazing.

naturaldichotomy

easy to use different pitches in step mode for melodies...

by the way @Kai_NI that's the right way to communicate with Maschine User and Lovers! I hope you will focus on user wishes and try your best to implement that in the future with current products! We all desperately need some improvements and deserve it. Keep in touch with us! Thank you in advance

Olihop

I'm adding to the list the ability to MUTE AN EVENT

Murat Kayi

Probability for any event in the patterns

darkwaves

I'm not sure if this falls under "sequencer".

You know how the midi options under settings allows you to pick a port and then select if it's enabled or disabled? I'd like for the midi output of every pad to have that function. Imagine I have 3 pads with synth patches. I want pad 1 to hold my midi and send it to pad 2 and 3. I don't want pad 1 to send to pad 2 and pad 2 to send to 3.

Optionally; let me do the same with input AND include other pads in the the input section. In this scenario, pad 2 gets midi from pad 1, but could also get midi from "focus". I'd personally rather see the concept handled from the "send" side; but the point is to give the all encompassing option in the same way it's handled in settings.

There must be a reason we don't get to send midi between groups; but it would be great if that were addressed too.

I'm not sure how often people here play with the idea of stacking pads beyond "bro, layer your kicks"; but I find it a very useful sound design workflow in maschine that's only limited by routing. A group can be a 16 part synth patch where each part has whatever kind of effects you want. It's quite fun and powerful.

Using the pad link function would work; but it doesn't seem to pass midi parameters like sustain.

dmori

1) Add negative track delay to an instrument.

When using strings/orchestral VSTs, they need a negative track delay (ms) to play properly. It's so hard to get it feeling right in Maschine (BTW Can be done in DAWs but I'm focused on doing everything in Maschine - I don't use a DAW)

Here's a spreadsheet showing a selection of VIs and their negative track delay values that need to be applied.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WP9sobba7OkldNkTiSzXP7r3Pb64IzWQWrLkqdiyRcA/preview#gid=

Approach: Perhaps you can create an internal plugin. (in increments of 5ms) that can be added to a sound slot when needed.

2) Be able to double press the STOP button to get the playhead to go to beginning of song/track. (I guess you aready know this is very important and a key missing functionality)

tommikvnze

• The whole piano roll needs an overhaul. And also editing them on the maschine feels a little bit clunky. Basically all daws and most of the modern groovebooxes have better editing of clips (push, elektron devices, deluge, mpc). There are things which I really like about the pattern and playing aspect, but the editing, I don't know.

Murat Kayi

As you asked about what we like and would want to see kept intact (a very sensible thing to point out, imo);

I love ideas view! It is for me the heart of Maschine's UX paradigm! The immediacy, the loose structure, fluidity, not being fixed in any structural way as concerns classical song structure, the playfulness, the colours (yes, the colours! They are immensely helpful! I hardly name anything, I just go by colours).

The immediacy explicitly refers to having patterns stop or start by pressing once.

Assigning stuff to scenes, once I save ten or so lock states, I sometimes do full remix recordings by performing several takes, handling an arrangement by just juggling scenes and lock states simultaneously. Which means, I don't have to enter song mode at all, if I dont feel like it.

This is the core of Maschine to me. As the claim says. Performance Production. Please don't change that 😘