Sequencer/Pattern Editor improvements

Eric Rabb

CHANGE PPQ: to different groove boxes, samplers, i.e mpc 60, mpc3000, Asr 10,korg electribe

tempsperdu

D-One

For example: You just clicked something in the Ideias View area, and you want to use the CMD+UP/DOWN (CTRL in Windows I guess) for horizontal zoom in the piano roll/pattern area, it won't work because the Ideas View is selected, so you have to click on the piano roll first. The currently selected area should be highlighted so we know if the shortcuts will work, ideally also have a shortcut to move between the possible areas of selection.

Seems like a small thing, but it really isn't. Just making the ability to switch from chord to keyboard in one click rather than it be two stage as it was In the hardware Mk2 was a huge time saver.

This area of Maschine (usability) has taken a nose dive over the last 18 months, and it is now massively slower than it was. Extending features is great, but not if it means making things clunkier and slower. One of Maschine's strengths was speed and ease of use so you can focus on your ideas / inspiration. Having to double-check what is selected, what is focused never seemed to be an issue and now it is. Time for a revision perhaps.......

R_E_D

Live performance improvements of the sequencer:

• Pattern Sync - switch when current pattern ends or on next bar (similar to scene sync);
• Pattern Return - jump to the previously played pattern (great for fills);
• Switch Patterns via Midi - including through notes from other patterns;
• Pattern Scale/Chord change through midi notes;
• Note Randomization- with controlled ranges (velocity, duration) or values (pitch)

Rilkecat

Something like a COMPARE function.

This will allow you to listen to/see "on the fly" the original (saved) Project, to compare it with the currently-edited Project.

Cretin Dilettante

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/117534#Comment_117534

Yeah, I think clips integration would only have worked if the audio module had been more cpu efficient or whatever. As it is now, it seems better to keep things "blocky" and just enable pattern chaining within scenes. I don't personally use the audio module at all, because it seems pointless when the sampler module offers more flexibility with what I do to my audio. If things aren't perfectly in time, I can slice samples & sequence the slices so that things are locked to the grid. If the audio module had been better thought out, I'd see a point to "clips", but as it stands, the average person would most likely just want to use midi clips, but then, as Blezz points out, midi clips just kind of slow you down when compared to the immediacy that the pattern/scene paradigm brings. Imo, rather than ever having implemented clips or the audio module, the team should have just added pattern chaining & a master modulation/automation track (incl. tempo), in addition to the ability to sequence/record lock state performances.

ozon

IMO the concept of Clips is often misunderstood. Clips are great in Song mode to add tiny changes to your otherwise static Patterns here and there. Like cutting out a note of the bass line in the middle of a verse or adding a snare break before the next chorus. It works extremely well for that purpose.

The only gripe I have with Clips is I don’t quite understand what happens to my clips when I change length or position of Sections. That’s kind of a mystery.

Rilkecat

Fully agree with Blezz. The wonder of Maschine is that it is more like an instrument, it lets you create and play music without touching the mouse. There are plenty of DAWs out there. The unique blend of its system with a groovebox / MPC approach is it's bigger strenght.

joez2103

I’d love to be able to fully use Reaktor in Maschine+, with proper feedback/visualization of parameter values so I can sound design/make sequences (e.g., instead of continuous numbers that I don’t know what they mean, a knob shows the note selected in a Reaktor sequencer). MIDI sequencers/effects, synths, and audio effects (or ensembles with all 3) would all be fantastic to use standalone. You could even come up with standards for updating Reaktor ensembles so they work with Maschine + (and work with Maschine mk3 without needing to look at a computer screen), and work with creators to update popular ensembles to these standards and sell them in expansion packs. This would really help Maschine+ compete with the MPC, as there’s a huge library of sequencers/synths/effects to draw from, NI just needs to tap into it.

Rhythm Droid

UI Improvement in Piano Roll Editor:

As soon as user switches to the Piano Roll view, Knobs 4-8 become usable for full navigation. Large, clear icons of the functions of Knobs 4-8 are overlaid on screen UNTIL you grab one and start using it. Then the icon disappears so you can view the Piano Roll data unobstructed.

Murat Kayi

I have seen a few requests for zooming and navigation shortcuts for the piano roll and stuff and never really understood how they differ from the pad controls under "navigation"?

dmori

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/119976#Comment_119976

From my point of view it's really clunky to use on the MK3 controller (Shift +), so hardly ever use it. If they were able to add the zoom in/out functions on controller with one button/click then that would be the perfect option.

Selecta Monty

1: Improved piano roll where you can detach the window from the main Maschine software so you can view the keyboard fully. Also the piano roll should have strum, ghost notes with the ability to preview the notes and colour coded to group system the Maschine already has so you can easily figure out what ghost notes you are watching, portamento and glide options.

2: The sampler and audio plugins are cool but it doesn't leave you with many options work within the arranger. It's either play it how you want through chops in the sampler or playing the audio as is in the audio module. If you can have the audio module like Edison in FL and then you can take that audio and put it on the arranger where you can reverse it on the arranger (FL & Logic) cut it, pitch and time stretch it, half its size and then copy and paste as many instances as one would like this will be way easier for most.

3: Euclidian sequencer

4: Easier way to transpose patterns, more quantize values options other than 50% and 100%, better swing and nudge

PK The DJ

I don't know if anyone's mentioned this in the thread yet (TL;DR) but an update to Ableton Link would be appreciated, giving us stop/start etc.

Link is on 3.1.0 now, and start/stop was added in 3.0 back in 2018 so NI is well behind.

MaikR

Please add (to the M+):

1) Sending program change including (sub)bank messages

2) List / tracker style view and editing

dmori

No-one has mentioned this and I’ve been thinking about this for a long time.

Add a built-in video player so Maschine can be synced to video - turn Maschine into a composition & creation tool for video.

[Or you could also make it work flawlessly with an existing video player like https://iina.io/ - which is free and open source - Mac only but I’m sure there’s something similar for windows.]

Why?: More people want music for video and Maschine is the perfect option for both composers (to create quickly and experiment), music creators to offer their services for video creators and more importantly anyone who wants/needs to create music for YouTube videos / social videos / podcasts shows - consistently and effectively.

There’s a massive opportunity for Maschine to be the go-to tool for music creation for video (a large untapped market) - and a great new avenue for Maschine adoption.

This will mean more expansions being sold to a new market. Plus the opportunity to create different genre based expansions etc…

Just think of all the videos that are created daily by videographers / filmmakers / designers / content creators. Many have the skills to learn and use Maschine and are sick of searching through sound libraries for music (something I know a lot about :)

This is what I think is needed:

 - Built in video player - where you can add any video (.mov / .mp4 / HEVC)

 - Select frame rate of video in settings (all frame rates, including things like 23.976fps and all other variants)

 - SMPTE timecode [mentioned by someone else earlier] (start point can be set by user)

 - Sync to Maschine

 - Scrub video with timeline scrub

 - Go to start

 - Display SMPTE overlay on screen (option)

 - Resizeable & moveable window (always in front)

Now a game changer would be the ability to play the video directly on the MK3 / + on the RHS screen.

A great way to get even more MK3 & M+ users.

Combine this with some of the other suggestions in these threads - and you'll create a tool and platform that can't be beat.

There’s more ideas I have about how this can work - so happy to discuss further if you’re interested.