Maschine 3.4: Q&A with Product Designer Marcel Kussel

For one of the most anticipated releases for the Maschine crew, our Product Designer Marcel Kussel is dropping by our Discord server for a live Q&A. If you have questions about the new automation editor or the arranger modulation preview, this is your chance to get answers straight from the person who designed these highly requested features.

You can drop your questions here and get a chance to have them answered live on Discord. We'll do a recap and publish his answers here afterwards for those who can't attend.

Here's the Discord event invite:

https://discord.gg/7XpARS8Ghv?event=1433443009588101191

And here's the link to our Discord:

https://discord.gg/S8qkquFqnr

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Comments

Alberto303

Very cool… bookmarked

jakubpatok

I have already dropped my question in the NI Discord server, but I'm putting it here too just in case:

While I appreciate the development of the automation system in the software, and I am grateful for the recent huge update, I have always wondered whether it will be possible for the automation to be available in arrangement mode in future updates, in a more linear way that affects a few patterns at once (i.e. the automation is kind of outside the patterns). Thank you for finally implementing the new automation system - however, I think automation in arrangement/song mode would be even better and more comfortable for many users.

Inchange

can we expect some improvements in chords on Maschine, may be new features (strum, velocity etc), or maybe chord sets (like in Kontakt) from NI?

MLARS

Product releases should still have a Q&A thread on the Forum too. I would also suggest that not everyone prefer Discord as a product forum. Only having Q&A live could be seen as avoiding negative feedback on the NI website forum.

This thread could be used but there is no assurance anyone would answer here.

Jeremy_NI

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/246184#Comment_246184

As mentioned in the post:

You can drop your questions here and get a chance to have them answered live on Discord. We'll do a recap and publish his answers here afterwards for those who can't attend.

There's never an assurance to get every question answered. We do understand there is a lot of expectations and questions you have but we can't always answer every question, for various reasons.

Tom Collins

Can you talk a little bit about what your plans are for new Maschine hardware in the future?

Percivale

Tell us the long term plan for Maschine hardware please. Surely the M+ needs a new iteration.

denchk

Is there any chance you could improve the new graphical interface? Don't you think the new interface is significantly worse than the previous one, and has many problems in comparison? The most obvious ones are: the dark graphical theme, which is simply painful to the eyes; the fonts are hard to read; the browser, in which tags take up too much space, making the sample list very small.

D-One

I think the point here it to ask questions about the modulation update, it's not a free4all feature request thread…

Questions:

What made you guys work on Modulation now? Why not later or sooner? I guess this question aimed at what is the thought process like when deciding what to work on.
Similarly, can you also share the thought process for when a new big feature such as this Modulation one is actually ready / good enough for release?
What is "arranger modulation/automation preview" ? I don't notice anything different, we already had a preview of our modulation in the Arranger view.
Why fancy modulation for parameters but not for MIDI? Is this coming later?
Can we expect refinement or iteration to modulation UX on the next update, or will the focus immediately shift elsewhere, as it usually does?
Why when moving selected points they all collapse like a crushed soda can into the non-selected ones? Never seen that before in modulation/automation.
Why does Pencil drawn modulation leaves a corner without a modulation node point? This feels like something in between the old and new engine.

solsta

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/246737#Comment_246737

Curious how the dark theme is worse for you? I have found that it is much easier on the eyes for me now especially with OLED screens and my external monitors. The font scaling up to larger size would definitely help but the dark theme has solved a lot of visual issues for me as it was harder for me to read stuff previously, now there is a nice contrast between the font and other parts of the software.

Cretin Dilettante

I have one (multi-part) question:

Why can't Maschine execute Time Signature changes & why has it taken so long for basic rhythmic articulation features such as "Tempo per scene" to be implemented? (Is there a technical explanation like with Modulation vs. Automation?) Will we ever get the ability to assign a time signature to individual patterns within a scene? Will we be able to automate time signature from within the standalone software or Maschine+? It's incredibly important & convenient to be able to hear the appropriate metronome & to see a matching grid when you're working on a piece of music that utilizes such changes.

OhulahanBass

will the new system update enable you to add Aftertouch soon?

naturaldichotomy

Thank you for the update, I think we appreciate it!

But can you take care about scale issues in different VSTs, please. This is a Problem since day one in Maschine 3. Especially in my case the Arturia Products, which i am using a lot. They don't show up properly. To small and not able to change any parameter with the mouse.

Overall I am thankful to keep updating Maschine Software and Hardware!

Rilkecat

Heya!

1. When you rebuilt the modulation system from the ground up, did you come across any new possibilities that could be expanded on with this new setup?

2. Why modulation cannot be nudged along with the notes? Or copy/pasted?

3. Do you think it will soon come a time when we can have a feedback of the modulations in the Hardware screens?

Silentology

Hey there,

I already posted this on a different thread. But in fact, it really does belong here. These aren't really questions, but thoughts you might seem worthy to consider.

Because they're fun as f*ck and that's why I purchased Maschine in the first place.

Dear Community, Dear developers,

For me, Maschine was always about that flawless Hard/Software Symbiosis.

So it's incredibly sad to see, that though new features are added, you'll lose the total Hardware Integration.

Or am I missing something? Is it possible to draw (not record) Modulation curves from the HW?

Just for your inspiration:

Look at how step Modulation works.

Hold a step, tweak parameter, done.
Incredibly fun and the results sound very musical.

One way to implement that into the improved ,curved/smoothed' Modulation system, would be the following:

While in Step Mode

Hold first step (where you want the modulation to start), tweak parameter to define start value.

2. Hold first step and second step (where you want the modulation to end) simultaneously, then tweak same parameter to define the end value.

So you can generate Ramps on the fly.

4D Encoder could be set to define the slope/curvature.

If no second step is selected, the Step Modulation editing behaves the old school 'parameter lock' way.

I think that would be the cool kid's way to modulate 😉

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