Converting clips to patterns

ElEorstro
ElEorstro Member Posts: 13 Member
edited July 2022 in Maschine

Hi - I’m new to mashine.


I’m using the MK3 with the software on a Mac.

Ive accidentally made a bunch of clips when I wanted to make patterns - is there any way to convert them to patterns ? I did look and can see a lot of tutorials on going from patterns to clips but I can’t find anything on going the other way?

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Best Answer

  • Blindeddie
    Blindeddie Member Posts: 1,559 Expert
    Answer ✓

    No clip to pattern conversion...it was discussed in the dev plan, but have heard no mention of it in quite some time...

Answers

  • Blindeddie
    Blindeddie Member Posts: 1,559 Expert
    Answer ✓

    No clip to pattern conversion...it was discussed in the dev plan, but have heard no mention of it in quite some time...

  • ElEorstro
    ElEorstro Member Posts: 13 Member

    Ok so the best option is to just do it all over again :(

  • ElEorstro
    ElEorstro Member Posts: 13 Member

    It’s still not fully clear to me the use cases around patterns vs clips and pros and cons of each.

    I actually thought I was making patterns and realised after I had been working in clip mode when I tried to start creating scenes.


    i will do some more research and try and get a better understanding of when to use each one.

  • Blindeddie
    Blindeddie Member Posts: 1,559 Expert

    you can copy the events from the clips and past into a new pattern...

  • tempsperdu
    tempsperdu Member Posts: 291 Pro

    Unfortunately the implementation of clips has made the workflow arguably more difficult than is 'ideal'

    If you do not have a section highlighted when you start a new pattern, then by default, it creates a clip. If it is highlighted it creates a pattern.

    Patterns have to conform to legacy behaviour and are immovable and levels have to conform to each other.

    Presumably because of legacy restrictions, clips were created to work as a level on top of patterns and are freely movable and do not have to conform lengthwise.

    I haven't had time to fully think this through, and someone can probably point out unthought of problems with my thinking, but I'm beginning to think that some of the current clunkiness could have been avoided if, on creation, it only ever created a pattern (thus avoiding having to have the section selected) and a right click 'convert to clip' became the clip creation method. If clips could be converted to patterns then it wouldn't matter so much, but there's been no indication that that was properly on the agenda.

  • heinrichz
    heinrichz Member Posts: 24 Member

    This would really be an important workflow improvement, otherwise clips end up being a DEAD END.

  • heinrichz
    heinrichz Member Posts: 24 Member

    Another thing that is almost mandatory to have in any midi programming situations, is to be able to switch btw half time and double time. Exporting midi files to DAW and the reimporting is really awkward and frankly a bit ...shameful;)

  • Kubrak
    Kubrak Member Posts: 2,772 Expert

    I agree with @tempsperdu that if there is not conversion from clip to pattern (I cannot imagine, why it would not be it possible to program... It should not be more than few hours of work.), the default should be creation of pattern, not clip. If one makes mistake and creates pattern instead of clip, there is easy way to fix it by conversion....

    It has happened to me so many times, that I created clip instead of pattern.... And had to copy everything to pattern to fix it later on... :-((((

  • Olihop
    Olihop Member Posts: 152 Advisor

    This addition of the clips has multiplied the manipulations and clicks with the mouse, it's a pain. When I use maschine I spend more time clicking on the mouse than composing. Same thing when I load a loop and I have to go back to the sampler module to make slices. It's the fair of clicks... since the last version everything has become anti ergonomic.

    At this point, the best thing is to redo everything, I don't see how to make the current maschine evolve in this sinuous path where it is.

  • tempsperdu
    tempsperdu Member Posts: 291 Pro

    Indeed, unfortunately the user experience has nosedived so that what many valued in Maschine, speed, ease of use are no longer there and what has replaced them is arguably not worth any sacrifice, let alone the ones that have been made.

    One would like to hope that this will be recognised though why it doesn't appear to have been is a bit baffling.

  • Peter Harris
    Peter Harris Member Posts: 470 Pro

    Just because you find a couple of people here who are as dissatisfied as you are should not lead you to conclude that the way it works now is not well suited for many and maybe most people. I for one love the flexibility that patterns, scenes and clips provide in its current form.

  • Olihop
    Olihop Member Posts: 152 Advisor

    I agree, of course the clips allow us to bypass the limitations of the patterns but it is the implementation that I find shaky. For someone who is used to working with patterns, I am for example constantly obliged when I want to insert a pattern on the timeline to select the scene because otherwise it creates a clip...

    What I would like is that clips should not interfere when working with patterns and their use should remain a deliberate choice.

    For example if I choose to insert a clip to make a break at bar 2.4, then after positioning the playhead on this bar, it would be nice to have a "insert a clip" option by right clicking on the mouse.

  • tempsperdu
    tempsperdu Member Posts: 291 Pro
    edited February 2023

    Just as because you find the implementation fine, it doesn't mean there are many that agree with you.

    As can be seen, although clips create greater flexibility, the implementation is incredibly clumsy and (needlessly?) at the expense of ease of use for people who do not work in a fashion similar to yourself.

    It might be an idea if a thread was created whereby people were encouraged to voice what they liked and disliked about the current state of Maschine and how it affects their workflow both positively and negatively because that really does not appear to have been properly considered.

    People use Maschine very differently in some cases to each other and none of us can assume that what works for us is going to work (or not) for everyone else.

    At the moment it has broken a workflow established for years for some users. I fail to see any advantage for anyone in that.

  • D-One
    D-One Moderator Posts: 2,811 mod
    edited February 2023

    @ElEorstro said:

    It’s still not fully clear to me the use cases around patterns vs clips and pros and cons of each.

    As a concise and oversimplified explanation, you can look at it like this:

    • Clips are unique and Patterns/Sections/Scenes are reusable - in the context of a song arrangement reusabe means that if you edit a Pattern/Scene/Section used for a Bridge for example then the change will apply to all Bridges that happen throughout the song, which is quite handy. A Clip on the other hand cannot happen more than 1 single time in an arrangement.
    • Clips are a layer above the Patterns/Sections/Scenes - This means when a Clip happens whatever is underneath won't matter, useful for adding unique things to the arrangement, like a unique fill/transition for example.
    • Clips aren't bound to fit inside Sections/Scenes while Patterns do have to fit inside those containers. This means Clips can span across multiple Sections/Scenes freely. Because of this Clips are often used as "Track" replacement, when for example you want to record a solo across a few Sections.

    Not necessarily, altho not being able to convert is super duper annoying you can copy the Clip content and paste it in a Pattern, probably much faster than remaking everything depending on the complexity of what you did.

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