How do I set up Machine Micro MkIII to control Pro Tools Transport?

Hi everyone,

I really can't believe this can be so complicated but I've spent the best part of a day trying to figure out how I can get the Play, and Stop buttons working on Machine Mikro MK3 when using it with pro tools (machinepluign version 3 too).

My S-88 MK2 was easy to set up, it has not problems playing from the hardware. Set up a peripheral, assign ins and outs and we're good to go.

How on earth do I set up machine to do this? It seems really silly that I can't quickly press play on it when I'm sitting in front of the pads…. It's exactly whats needed to hash out ideas quickly.

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Accepted answers

Jeremy_NI

@ralphonz As I've mentioned in the beginning, there is no Maschine Mikro MK3 host integration for Pro Tools, it's only for the Kontrol keyboards, mk2 and mk3.

It's very unlikely this will ever be implemented for Maschine MK3 or Maschine Mikro MK3.

Sorry to bring the bad news but I thought it would be better that you know where to stand on that topic.

And since it's not supported, it's not something where my colleagues from support can help with. I hope you find a way to make it work, sorry it can only be workarounds for this.

All comments

Jeremy_NI

Hey there, there is no Maschine Mikro MK3 host integration for Pro Tools, it's only for the Kontrol keyboards, mk2 and mk3.

ralphonz

Thanks for getting back to me.

You're saying you can't press play or stop from the controller if in Pro Tools? At all? If so that really really sucks…

D-One

Technically you can, enable Host Transport Control, this will disable 5 buttons from the transport area from controlling Maschine and will control the DAW, then map your DAW to use those buttons MIDI Messages to whatever you want, or use the Mackie template in both Controller editor and your DAW.

ralphonz

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/241174#Comment_241174

So I tried this, exactly like in your screen shot (CC numbers and Host Transport Control) but there's two issues:

1. Pro Tools doesn't support MCU, and there's no HUI mode available for Maschine. No problem, I've assigned CC numbers that (according to multiple online sources) should control PT transport. However…

2. I watched videos where people used the M-Audio driver to set up a peripheral as they're called in PT, except Avid removed the M-Audio driver in Pro Tools 2024.3 and later versions. As a result, it doesn't seem possible to set up machine as a control surface for the transport at all… Is this correct? If not a step by step on the Pro tools side of the set up would be great!

This is not an issue with my S-88 MK2. This has its own driver available in Pro Tools → Setup → Peripherals and works like a charm and is easy to set up. This begs the question, Why doesn't the Maschine MK3 just use that same functionality? It's newer hardware after all.

The other thing is, those buttons don't seem to control the maschine AAX plugin in PT, the only button that works is record. All the others do nothing. I say this because you say " this will disable 5 buttons from the transport area from controlling Maschine" but they don't control machine anyway - at least not when using the pro tools plugins. The play button is greyed out anyway when you load machine as a plugin in PT. As a result I have no issues re-purposing them, but there's no protocol to use to set it up as a control surface in Pro Tools → Setup → Peripherals.

Ultimately, I just want to hit Play/Stop and record and be able to turn the metronome off from Machine, so when inspiration strikes I can record it in without having to reach for my keyboard and mouse so I don't loose the flow… This wouldn't be a problem if the buttons still controlled the Machine plugin, at least I could get my drum ideas in quickly, but as I mentioned, the only one that seems to work on the maschine PT plugin is the record button which arms the record button in the plugin (when Host transport control is unchecked int he controller app).

D-One

1. Pro Tools doesn't support MCU, and there's no HUI mode available for Maschine. No problem, I've assigned CC numbers that (according to multiple online sources) should control PT transport. However…

Select HUI in PT, same thing different name (in this context), it uses the same CC's as Mackie afaik. Controller Editor will tell you what each CC does when scrolling. Mackie developed HUI in collab with Avid, it has to work.

I have no idea how M-Audio drivers relate to any of this, this is just basic MIDI Mapping thru templates.

The other thing is, those buttons don't seem to control the maschine AAX plugin in PT, the only button that works is record.

They are for the standalone app. When using Maschine Plugin the Host/DAW is in charge of everything related to playback, plugins cant control DAW's, so buttons like PLAY will do nothing, thats why Host Transport Control exists. Record is not part of it in case users still want to record directly to the MAS-Plug.

I don't own PT to test but this is all generic MIDI and should work in any DAW.

ralphonz

I'll give it another go with HUI tonight, but I could have sworn it wasn't working.

I used to use an SSLF UF8 controller, and in order for it to work in PT it had to be put in HUI mode, standard MCU didn't work…

ralphonz

Using MCU and HUI does nothing at all. Nada. Doesn't work. Just as I thought.

Tried a couple of templates in controller editor, including the factory MCU one just to be sure. Nothing.

The reason I mention the M-Audio Keyboard driver is because if you search the web and watch the videos by people who have got this working in the past, thats how they do it. Unfortunately, all those videos are years old now.

Also, in all the working setup's I've sen in those videos use a different input from maschine - In midi input devices in pro tools they can see MashineMikrMK2, like mine, and Maschine Mikro MK3 Virtual Input, which I do not see at all. I will also mention that in all the videos I've watched with this working, it's a MK2.

I just tried Logic Pro (latest version to). Transport control doesn't work there either. It didn't auto-detect my Maschine Mikro, so I had to add it manually as a surface. However, unlike all the documentation (which is all for MK2 is seems - come on NI!) this "virtual input" doesn't seem to exist.

Same thing here, none of the transport controls do anything at all. An Instance of Maschine all works fine though. Although the record button still arms the Maschine plugins record - surely if I have Host Transport Control enabled this shouldn't be the case. It makes me think my templates aren't saving to the Mikro? But again, there's no docs covering this so I'm unsure if there's something I'm supposed to be doing other than connecting my Mikro MK3 and making changes in the controller editor.

I'm going to message NI support. It seems really silly not to be able to stop and start playback from the device. Set up for my S-88 was so easy and straightforward, and that is a MK2. None of this makes any sense…

D-One

The port that matters is the Virtual one, its not enabled in PT by default but regardless, I stand corrected, I was wrong! PT sure is strange in some things man…

(1) PT gets fancy and expects the full handshake with the HUI device, Maschine/Controller editor MCU emulation is not that fancy, I dont think it responds to PT's ping for a handshake, thus it wont work (?)
(2) PT does not support the use of generic MIDI Mapping for transport… (?? thats crazy)

Anywhoo, I installed a PT Trial to check it out and found a potential workaround for owners of S-Series Keyboards:

First you go to Setup > MIDI > MIDI Input devices and enable all Maschine's Virtual Ports.
Select a 2nd Komplete Kontrol in PT's Peripherals and use the Maschine Virtual Ports for I/O.
Make a Controller Editor template that sends the exact same MIDI Messages as the KK keyboard does, (you will need an app like MIDI View to inspect what the keyboard sends); PLAY for example is CC 16, Number 16, Mode: Trigger, Value: 1

Basically Maschine pretends to be KK Keyboard… lol. This worked for me, but it breaks if you unplug the Keyboard before you unplug the Maschine Controller, better than nothing I guess? You might have to always turn the keyboard ON before the Mikro (?) and might have to disable a nagging message that keeps popping up.

Give it a try, I got a Maschine Plus, but it should be the same for you with a Mikro, its just slightly different MIDI Port names.

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ralphonz

No the strange thing is the Virtual port doesn't show up in ANY software on my computer except Maschine Standalone 3, so I can't enable it in Pro Tools (and yes, PT is strange in many ways!)

It's doesn't show in Logic or Ableton (10) either.

I reinstalled Maschine 3 from native access, still no virtual port.

The Mikro MK3 also never shows up in the MIDI studio in the macs Audio MIDI app.

I've messaged NI support. I'm very used to troubleshooting audio gear, been doing this for decades, but this one has me baffled!

ralphonz

Further info!

If I open the Maschine 3 Stand alone app then the virtual port becomes available in all DAW's. However the minute I close the standalone app, the virtual port disappears from all DAW's.

With the standalone app open, the transport on the Mikro always controls the app, never the DAW, despite which app is in the "front".

I have checked macs system preferences - both the NIHardwareAgent and the NIHostIntegrationAgent have full disk access and open at login.

Both NIHostIntegrationAgent and NIHardwareAgent are running at all times if I check activity monitor.

So why do the virtual ports only appear when the stand alone app is open?

ralphonz

If I uncheck the virtual port in Maschine Stand alone then it disappears form DAW's.

So, Maschine 3 standalone is able to control the virtual port for the whole system, but unless the standalone app is running, macOS or any other app can't see the virtual port.

I've reinstalled Maschine 3 times now. It doesn't help. I can only assume that macOS is blocking some sort of command or app from running but I don't know what it could be…

D-One

Ohh… You're on the right track. That is ussually a sign of an issue with NIHardwareAgent and/or NIHostIntegrationAgent, if I manually quit the latter the virtual port disappears.

What's the name of the MIDI Port that shows up when Maschine app is launched? There's 2: 'Maschine Plus Virtual" and "Maschine 3 Virtual", the latter only shows up when the app is open for me too, i guess it's a direct port, i never noticed that before tbh… So if yours has a "3" in the name it means the normal one for MIDI Mode is broken there.

With the standalone app open, the transport on the Mikro always controls the app, never the DAW, despite which app is in the "front".

You should be able to pick wich one the controller is focused by pressing the controller icon next to the CPU meter in the top right on the Plugin, or press the 3 dots on the top left > Controller > Mikro; but this wont fix the issue of the virtual port not showing up.

Check if by any chance you have old MIDI Drivers installed that might be causing a conflict, in Finder press CMD+Shift+G then type ~/Library/Audio/MIDI Drivers and inspect the MIDI Driver folder.

Check if the Mikro firmware is up to date and also try manually reinstalling Controller Editor, both are in this link:

https://www.native-instruments.com/en/support/downloads/drivers-other-files/

Besides those two are the other services also launching at login?

If all the above fails I think only tech support can help you.

ralphonz

Yeah, both are running at login and I can see the processes in Activity monitor.

I will remove other midi drivers, there's bound to be a whole load of stuff in there. I just hope it not stuff I still use that's causing the issue!

Thanks for the help by the way, I really appreciate the time anyone takes to respond to a forum post 😎

D-One

No problem, dont delete, move it to a temporary folder to test.

I edited my previous comment with some extra info regarding 2 ports now, might be usefull for the tech support.

ralphonz

Yes, I always move to a temporary folder 😉

However, upon closer inspection, I don't have, or can't find, anything called NIHardwareConnectionService on my mac. Any idea where this app should be?

I can't find it in Applications, or System/Library/Application Support

Nor can I find a link to download it online…

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