A USELESS NERD DEBATE TO WASTE YOUR TIME

twitchwirez

oh wow, ok…

You CAN work with samples only and have decent results nothing wrong with that.

But having drum machines is another territory. I ve been in electronic music for a long time, and since 90s had countless both great and ****** drum machines went through my studio. Each one is tactile, specific instrument, no matter how ****** it might be. Currently I mostly use AR, Tempest, Tanzbar, Jomox Alpha, Perkons, and a lot of stuff in my modular rack, mostly Tubbutec 606. I have old boxes like R8, Yamaha, Boss and Korg Electribe, it is absolute pleasure to get sounds out of these and mangle them, saturate, reverse, what have you in a good sampler (I still use Akai s3200 but also Oktatrack and some modules). The combination of both is absolutely moving you to new territories sonically. I used Maschine a LOT but since I moved away from DAW now I mostly use Octatrack for fast record, sampling and slicing.
It all depends on your workflow and what you want to achieve.

donmaddonald

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/192191#Comment_192191

Wow! I’m curious to see your studio set up, it seems that you have a lot of fun tools in there!
When I work in a DAW I am (most of the time) able to create exactly what’s in my mind, when you are working whit in a DAWless environment are you able to create for example “That snare or that sound”? As I said before in the discussion what scares me to move to a DAWless workflow is the focus… like when I see people doing it I LOVE it.. it inspires me, but when I try to do it I get lost in rooting and over playing around with settings. But was like that also at the DAW at beginning. I might answered myself! haha

Only1MADMaN

I started making stop start beat tapes in the 9dees. Not as good as but, similar to what Qtip was achieving with “One Love” of NAS album illmatc.

Moved onto a copy of Cool Edit Pro and started sampling vynils and drum loops.
from there I got a copy of Reason 2 and soon after a midi keyboard then followed by a M-Audio Trigger Finger.

For years that’s how I created. Skilled enough to call myself a producer, stubborn enough to know people were making better music on less features hardware.

Fast forward to 2013 and I finally gave into the voices in my head and picked up the Maschine MK2.

Moving from software to a hybrid hardware set up seen a steepish learning curve and many years of trying to force the software to do things it just wasn’t made to do.
after I let it just do what it wanted I things got very simple.
jump forward to 2022 and I moved the MK2 into my mobile recording kit and replaced it with a MK3.
Night and day change on workflow. Full LCD displays and much more hardware focused.

My workflow is now very cut paste.
I use the Maschine as a “jump off tool”. Very say to get sampling and start recording. Once I have something I can loop with varying patterns, I stem out to Reason and start arranging.
Adding vocals, cuts and any other additional sounds.

Almost all vintage hardware sounds are readily available in some sort of sample pack and or some sort of software emulation. It’s also not necessary to mention that all vintage hardware is stupid expensive and maintaining these beautiful beasts are getting hard.

Although I love my MPC2000XL, it has its place in my collection and any new tech will eventually follow.

donmaddonald

nice! yes, I reckon that those vintage tools now a days are more of a decision and taste (and finance), I feel they are very inspiring when you can work with them, and I wish I could have a little set-up with an analog keyboard and a stand-alone sampler, but you are right, now a days you can emulate a lot of them with 0101010111000s, so when I am about to spend money I just remember that, (and that I have to eat and pay the bills aahah)

I myself love my hybrid workflow, I use my mk3 in the same way you do, or as a VST, to be able to do some task in there and some tasks in my DAW.

if I make a sampled beat (like classic boom bap) I always do it with my Mk3, because there is some soul in sampling records an manipolate them using knobs, looking for that zero crossing spot of the wave, figuring out what division has the song without seeing the bars of the DAW etc.. for me is like doing it old school, no time stretching, just pitching, whatever speed and pitch lands on, is the track tempo and key. and to me that was the coolest part of the legends of the past! simple yet complex, it was just heart, feel and soul, no gimmicks.

in another hand when I produce modern hip hop, pop music or rock music, I am very happy with the DAW and MSW as VST, I want edit stuff quickly, click and drag stuff, fix a note, edit a guitar audio etc..

however, one day I will able to have time and money to buy use and maintain those beautiful pieces of gear, but I will definitely will not sacrifice the convenience of the hybrid work-flow. I think for my way of doing music M+ would be the perfect standalone device to begin with, because is like an MK3 that I can use by itself when I want too. (if you guys see any contest on the internet where you can try to win one of those let me know)

Milkman

I spent years making boom/bap and glitch and breaks on the mk3, using NI expansions and Komplete content, and yeah — often my projects started out with 'sketches' made on the mk3 control surface and then built up more in my DAWs.

This romantic 1990s style copy/paste sample workflow was the edge and the hotness in the actual 90s and throughout the 2000s, and it still hits today, but today when I consider workflows, new projects, styles, or anything to do with my future musical ambitions, I always think about long term viability 50/50 along with musical options and styles. The companies we make music with today are not the same as the companies we made music with in the 90s.

I cant consider my next musical steps without also considering the musical missteps some of my favorite brands have taken, so Im forced to consider the gross side of the business when I would love to just think about my next track. : /

I still love the sample workflows and have a lot of tools and devices to work with them tho!

donmaddonald

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/196553#Comment_196553

fair enough, I may don't look at the business side of it, however I do agree with you about being informed.

for me the "business side" is mainly a balance of learning curve/quality and price for me.

unfortunately my music budget is drained at the moment, so I don't see me buying a new toy soon, (unless I get a big client). But when or if that happens I think I will buy a stand alone sampler.

and when that happens for me will be between the "big 2" ether I go M+ or some sort of MPC, but I have also to consider that I already know the maschine workflow as I can make a beat on the MK3 without ever touching the computer, while for the MPC I have the leaning curve to deal with (aka mid beats for a while)… however in other hands the MPC could unlock new ways of thinking and producing for me.

regardless I can't afford nether of them at the moment ahaha

anyway 90's beats go hard still! :D