Maschine + advise before purchase
Comments
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Some time ago? What firmware? 0.1.9 fixed a lot of USB/MIDI issues.
Why did you not test M+ -> USB -> Roland Fantom 7?
That would have been the most efficient route.
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I was really keen on the plus, not expecting to be a daw in a box .....but it sounds like there are a lot of issues..........and maybe not worth it
Public forum rule: Mostly users with problems post. Some professional musicians use the M+ in their setups without problems It’s really a matter of expectations and needs.
You really have to try it with your own setup to find out whether it works for YOU. Maybe get a used one, buy a high quality full size SD card and find out what it can do for you. If standalone does not satisfy your requirements, you still can use it as a very nicely build controller and take it with you on trips to do some jams, or sell it with little to no loss.
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I tested with prior to 0.1.9 and after this update - same results. And as i remember i tried M+ -> USB -> Roland Fantom 7 connection too, and it was as bad as other M+ results.
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And speaking of computation power - M+ CPU itself is powerful enough to process much-much more than 32 kilobytes per second in timely manner to saturate MIDI DIN connection. But DIN connection is not an issue in my case
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DIN MIDI is totally fine, if it weren't, all music from the 80s and 90s would have terrible timing issues. Just use a separate port for each instrument if possible, and failing that, use a dedicated MIDI THRU box for splitting up the MIDI right after the source device. Avoid any device which uses "soft MIDI THRU" like the plague, those are software/firmware based solutions, which are not as reliable as a true MIDI THRU port
So Andy here has bad experiences.. anyone else? I can do some testing on my end when I get the chance.. How many MIDI devices should we realistically speaking be testing at once? 3? 4? 5? more? Cuz I know just using 2 is working fine..
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i think you are right there - when i used the akai force , i didn't hyper analyse it . I did have a MPC one prior and loved it. Id be shocked if the Maschine + was so bad , it sounds like it has had some issues for sure.
Why i posted on here - because i saw a video saying it was a poor performing unit , and i was tying to work out if it had improved + but comparing the force or MPC One - which have similar type specs , it would be shocking if the Maschine + was so bad at the basic things? .
Obvs Akai have been developing standalone units for a long time , they probably have the upper hand there
I really like the maschine work flow more than MPC / Force - i love my MK3 - and i have lots of other native add on / packs already + maschine 2 software i have grown to love as well
- i also like to have a standalone from when i switch off the computer - and hook it up to module - via midi to cv converter - not excessive - some drum loop playing - drum kit and rest midi patterns
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Ok. Did you try with the Maschine software running on a computer? If it is a Maschine software issue, it should also occur with the desktop software.
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No, i purchased M+ to use exclusevely in standalone mode. But perhaps abundance of desktop CPU computational power is able to mitigate software imperfections, which become obvious when executed on less performant CPU of M+
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MIDI timing was already an issue in the 80. I remember interviews with composers/producers talking about how they try to achieve „groove“ with MIDI gear despite the technical limitations and how each sequencer produces different groove due to variations in micro timing and priority of events sent out to MIDI.
Regarding your question: MIDI has 16 channels, therefore target 16 instruments. Send quantized 5 note chords each 16th, with continuous pitch bend and modulation data, together with MIDI clock. Start at tempo 120 and slowly increase the tempo up to 240 or beyond. If you never experience any timing issues, lags, missing notes, or complete breakdowns, you are a magician.
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Ok, I understand. Unfortunately then we don’t know whether it’s an issue of the M+ or the Maschine software in general. If the latter, it could be reported as bug, tracked down, being looked into by developers, get fixed, tested and released.
If users don’t report bugs, developers have zero chance to fix them.
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I totally agree with you on the computing power aspect. I am pretty sure that measly Intel Atom x5-E3940 @ 1.6GHz runs circles around the Motorola 68000 @ 8MHz of the Atari ST. And on the M+ there’s not a lot of graphics to do. Should be sufficient to blow out a bunch of MIDI events with proper timing.
However, it could actually be an issue of Linux task priorities. The MPC Live/X also had MIDI timing issues for quite a long time.
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I've reported so many bugs that i've lost count already :-) Part of them they cant reproduce, despite other users are affected too. Another part is judged to be too minor. And other (my impression) are just hanging in ever-growing backlog. But this midi timing one i actually didnt report. I suppose its useless, such things are impossible to fix just by tweaking couple places in code. It could be an archetectural flaw, inherited through porting from desktop SW, where it was supposedly invisible due to enough CPU power available.
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Yes, M+ CPU is able to routinely process multiple magabytes of audio data per second, applying routing, FX, computing envelopes, filters, etc - and absoutely without ANY timing issues. It flawlessly generates/processes huge amount of audio data, but fails to generate properly not even very small in comparison 31.7 kbps full MIDI stream, but even much more miserable amount of data for only lets say 30 notes per second, without any controller, sysex, (n)rpn, clock data. And this is less than 200 BYTES per second! Its the same time freakingly amazing what its doing with audio inside M+ and even more freakingly disappointing with external MIDI.
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Despite of those interviews, a lot of records were made, and sound absolutely fine to their listeners. Your test case example of 5note chords every 16th note is not reflective of a real-world musical context for most of the users of Maschine+. I not saying there are no issues there, just saying that they do not seem something that gets a lot of complaints around this forum
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