I want to make things to enhance my djing with Traktor - is Maschine right for me?

KidMerlyn

So yeah - I have an S4 Mk3 and I run Traktor with it, but I want to make some parts of a song - mostly drum breaks and UK Hardcore Basslines and such like that. Would Maschine be sufficient for what I want to do? To take the question a step further I don't understand what a DAW is and how it would relate to maschine If I got one

Also can I make a mapping for maschine so that I can use it as a controller for traktor along with my s4 mk3? Can I run Maschine syncd to Traktor's midi clock and "play" the Maschine like an instrument, do I need a special cable (MiDi cable?) to hook them together? Would I be able to still have some custom mappings for traktor while I'm running maschine with traktor?

What are the pros and cons of the different major DAWs and do I need (or want) a keyboard for writing songs - I can't play piano so I would just be plinking and trying to find something that sounds good

Also what are all the instrument things that NI sells I thought that Maschine would come with plenty of sounds - If I want to make Hardcore Basslines and some synth patterns along with drum breaks will I want some of the other stuff NI sells.

Anyway thanks for looking at my post and if you answered anything thankyou in advance

tetsuneko

If you just want to sprinkle some breakbeats and basslines into your DJ sets, I'd say the best method would be to use the remix decks for that. But you certainly could use Maschine for creating content for the remix decks.

Maschine can sync to Traktor via Ableton Link, so getting them to sync flawlessly is easy. However, as you cannot load Maschine as a track in Traktor, mixing the two together might require some planning.

Maschine is not a DAW, its a beatmaking system similar to an MPC or a Roland groovebox. Main emphasis is on lightning fast creation of new ideas. Unlike a DAW however, many advanced features expected from a "professional" DAW are not present in Maschine (including but not limited to: Plugin Delay Compensation, Autofind missing samples, video support, LTC support, support for MIDI processing plugins, etc..)

You do not need a keyboard for playing melodic notes with Maschine. The Maschine controllers can play most sounds chromatically (like on a traditional keyboard) in keyboard mode.

Maschine also comes bundled with a big library of sounds, including drums, loops, virtual instruments and effects. For UK hardcore basslines, I would imagine FM8 and Massive as being very useful, as well as Monark (all are included with Maschine).

If you want to start cheap, I recommend buying a Maschine MK3 second hand. Just make sure you buy it with a Maschine software licence, ask the seller for a software licence transfer before making a deal. A Maschine Mikro also exists, but I would not recommend it unless you are really cramped for space (as it's user interface layout isn't as intuitive IMHO).