Is there a good workaround for the midi sensitivity issue of Maschine MK3 yet?

[Alpha]-0mega-

Hiya. I bought a Maschine MK3 a while ago, and although I love everything about it when it comes to integration with Maschine, I would love to sometimes just use it as a midi controller for Battery4 or other tools too. However, I'm still suffering from the problem that midi mode reduces the sensitivity enormously (even with sensitivity set to max and 'soft' velocity curve set)

In one thread (1st one in the list) they talked about logging the issue as ticket 'HWM-823', but haven't heard or seen anything about it ever since.

Is this issue still being worked on? Is there a solution yet? Again, I really love Maschine in combination with the NI software, but this specific thing is a really annoying quirk that's kind of hurting my enjoyment of the device.

Here's some references from the old forums talking about the issue:

https://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/very-bad-pad-sensitivity-in-midi-mode-mk3-hwm-823.458671/

https://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/pad-sensitivity-in-midi-mode.323419/

https://www.native-instruments.com/forum/threads/pad-sensitivity-in-maschine-vs-midi-mode.87633/

Jeremy_NI

Hey [Alpha]-0mega- Unfortunately this is by design, Pad data is always transferred in a proprietary hi-res format to the host, in Maschine mode it is interpreted by Maschine software, in MIDI mode pad data is converted to MIDI data by a different software. Maschine mode uses a better protocol which also leads to a higher sensitivity. The ticket you mention was logged in but it got closed by development with the above explanation. Sorry to bring the bad news here, it's probably not what you'd like to hear. Since the old forum is now defunct, we weren't able to update these old posts. Thanks to your post we can answer it here.

abnegative

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-nOQDF-HaE

Hey @[Alpha]-0mega-

You may be interested in this video at 10:23 which resolves the issue, at least when used with FL Studio.

I wrote the code for it so I know this issue can be resolved through midi scripting. Other DAWs supporting midi scripting will be able to resolve the issue, but I've only done this for FL Studio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-nOQDF-HaE

Jeremy_NI

Hey [Alpha]-0mega- Unfortunately this is by design, Pad data is always transferred in a proprietary hi-res format to the host, in Maschine mode it is interpreted by Maschine software, in MIDI mode pad data is converted to MIDI data by a different software. Maschine mode uses a better protocol which also leads to a higher sensitivity. The ticket you mention was logged in but it got closed by development with the above explanation. Sorry to bring the bad news here, it's probably not what you'd like to hear. Since the old forum is now defunct, we weren't able to update these old posts. Thanks to your post we can answer it here.

[Alpha]-0mega-

Thanks for your answer! It's bad news, but at least it gives some closure (and makes it definitive that this will not be fixed)

That said there are some slight workarounds available: Opening Maschine 2 and outputting the midi to either midi channels or notes, and routing those to your DAW or software of choice by using the 'Maschine 2 Output' midi device.

This does require Maschine 2 to stay open, but on the other hand lets you retain not only the sensitivity, but also other features such as note repeat / arp / etc. for use in other drum software.

There were still quite a few bugs with this mode (settings that wouldn't stay stuck) but at least it felt a lot more comfortable than the MIDI mode, so it's something at least.

Thanks for the answer again!

D-One

That explanation by the team is a bit hard to swallow because nothing stops them from tweaking the software background service that handles the raw data to behave the same way as Maschine does; it's the same hardware just interpreting/converting the data differently.

Maybe it's related to the fact that the virtual MIDI driver for Maschine controllers is outsourced to BOME instead of being built in-house, which means paying them for an update? 🤷‍♂️

Regardless I don't think this will ever get fixed so you might as well just get used to that workaround.

abnegative

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-nOQDF-HaE

Hey @[Alpha]-0mega-

You may be interested in this video at 10:23 which resolves the issue, at least when used with FL Studio.

I wrote the code for it so I know this issue can be resolved through midi scripting. Other DAWs supporting midi scripting will be able to resolve the issue, but I've only done this for FL Studio.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-nOQDF-HaE

D-One

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/31918#Comment_31918

Interesting... So, you changed the minimum actuation force required by using after-touch data which is more sensitive and converted that to MIDI-Notes?

That's some MacGyver stuff right there, smart! 👍

abnegative

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/31972#Comment_31972

You hit the nail on the head. Thanks!

mason drielling

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/19118#Comment_19118

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/19340#Comment_19340

If what you're saying is accurate thats frustrating. It makes it difficult to leave Maschine software and start working in a DAW, unless you're not lazy enough to learn the piano ;)

Cause then you don't need keyboard mode for ****