Maschine + standalone + usb audio

Hello there… this might have been covered/answered over the years but I could not find an explicit response.

At the moment, USB audio appears only available when in controller mode.
Is there any plan to support USB audio in standalone mode? I can see applications for powerful live & studio setups where M+ feeds audio to either a class-compliant host device or to a computer setup the power of M+’S processor and its architecture can be leveraged. Is there a fundamental technical limitation that would prevent this?

Find more posts tagged with

Maschine Plus

Accepted answers

All comments

Nyla

There shouldn't be any limitations as far as I know. It's like a lot of things about the plus, the architecture is there, it just hasn't been implemented yet. I can hear my maschine through my USB interface (Roland go mixer pro x) but if you plug it into a computer in standalone mode you get nothing. Makes no sense to me.

D-One

I can see applications for powerful live & studio setups where M+ feeds audio to either a class-compliant host device or to a computer setup the power of M+’S processor and its architecture can be leveraged.

How so? I'm curious about the exact use case.

Architecture is just x86, like normal PCs. You gotta have a pretty terrible computer for it to not be way more powerfull than M+ processor. If your setup already includes a computer anyway why not use that since it's way more powerful and doesn't have any plugin/instrument/fx limitations?

I guess Audio over USB would be cool to avoid needing another Audio Interface with more IO and a bunch of cables for those who like oldschool trackouts or something. This certainly has been requested a lot.

jayellem

Hi there…

I am always trying to find ways to leverage the $ and time investment I made in M+. We all have budget constraints. As an embedded music computer, I trust it is optimized for that purpose.

The simplification of setups is not to be underestimated. Cables, components, etc.. are kind of critical in a live environment. Perhaps debatable, but sound quality is improved by reducing the number of conversions in the audio chain.

With a computer, then yes, the case may be weaker, but you still need to mind your CPU with the latest hungry plugins and heavy software like Live. That eventually forces you to upgrade your kit. M+ as a “co-processor”, despite its limitations, facilitates better resource management, and delays further investment. I would use it as an FX unit (e.g. granular processor), and/or as an instrument (e.g., drum machine) taking advantage of its great UI and workflow.
At the moment, as soon as you operate it as a USB audio client, you are basically stuck. Great as a M3 controller, but otherwise it is just a very expensive audio interface. And its USB host ports are disabled.

My multi-instrument studio setup is based on Coconut for Windows. The matrix architecture allows to route USB audio signals, all synced. With M+ USB standalone audio, I could truly use it as an instrument/FX with a DAW like Live or Bitwig.

In another live - even studio - setup, I am using a Tasty Chips GR-1 synth. This may be a rare idiosyncracy, but it requires class compliant USB audio input for live FX. It would be super handy to enable M+ as suggested so one can send audio to GR-1, get line audio back and add FX to it, while operating M+ as an instrument connected to a mixer.

jayellem

Hey Nyla, what do you mean by « hear my Maschine through my USB interface »?

D-One

Hi. I think I understand your usecase now, thanks for explaining.
Look, 3 years ago:

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/13299/maschine-plus-audio-via-usb

I hate being a downer but given the amount of requests the chances of yours happening soon is like winning the lottery, so personally I'd start looking for other solutions, there's some on that thread. Note that It took the M+ a long time to just support normal external class-complaint interfaces even tho it was announced as a feature at launch… if something this simple took ages imagine audio-over-USB, if it's even technically possible, which I doubt.

@jayellem said:
I am always trying to find ways to leverage the $ and time investment I made in M+. We all have budget constraints. As an embedded music computer, I trust it is optimized for that purpose.

Optimized to be cost-effective? It depends on the use case, as a production all-in-one box I'd say yes, it can be very cost-effective; for an FX unit I'd say no, there's other stuff way more capable, a Behringer X32 is around the same price as an M+ for example… But as a multipurpose device, sure the M+ can be great as long as you don't depend on a missing feature to happen to make it so, you have to take it as-is.

With a computer, then yes, the case may be weaker, but you still need to mind your CPU with the latest hungry plugins and heavy software like Live. That eventually forces you to upgrade your kit. M+ as a “co-processor”, despite its limitations, facilitates better resource management, and delays further investment.

I think you're overestimating M+'s Atom x5-E3940 VS anything remotely midrange and modern.

You also have to mind CPU on a M+ the exact same way, actually you have to mind it a whole lot more so that's not really much of an argument.

Even tho Live is not very CPU optimized it's definitively not "heavy", for example: With Live and an old M1 MacBook Air I can run 50 instances of NI's Massive VST while the M+ I can run only 5, that's 10x the performance, it's an absurd difference. Having an Atom x5-E3940 as a "co-processor' for my old laptop is like a cat trying to help a horse pull a carriage, imagine a new laptop… Now if you already have a bunch of stuff running on the computer then offloading some to the M+ can still be good and safer but it's still a Ferrari vs Nissan.

Mind you, I am not trying to convince anyone to use a laptop over an M+, just explaining things and I don't mean to be confrontational or rude.

Nyla

https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/248104#Comment_248104

I mean just what I said. My roland go mixer pro x is plugged into my plus via usb, and you can hear the maschine plus audio loop back into the interface. My headphones/speakers are plugged into headphones out on the interface.

Quick links

Unanswered questions