Is Maschine Mk3 supposed to sound better on Mac vs. Windows?

nateschmold
nateschmold Member Posts: 18 Member
edited October 2024 in Maschine

I have been using a macbook pro with maschine for years, but recently have been having a lot of crashes with it randomly, so it stifled my productivity. I decided to just move everything over to my work laptop which is a pretty good Dell laptop running windows 10, and while its more stable (no crashes yet!) it sounds worse than when it's hooked up to the MacBook... Like there's less bass, almost a weird EQ setup and a very very barely noticeable slight bit of an echoey sound or something..

If i connect the MK3 via USB to the macbook and play spotify through the headphone jack, it sounds crisp and full and bassy and nice.

... switch the USB to the windows machine, same headphones, same headphone jack, same spotify track, same volume, it sounds worse. If it's all I had I might not even notice, but comparing them back to back it is definitely different.

Is this expected? Is there a workaround? I donno what the heck would be causing it or what to do. Any help would be MASSIVEly (hehe) appreciated.

nate

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Comments

  • Wyley
    Wyley Member Posts: 239 Pro

    I don't use Mashine but Traktor. I have windows installed on my MacBook Pro and was shocked to find out that my laptop doesn't heat up and have the fans spinning on windows as much like it does on Mac OS. lol.

    Could be an option.

  • toneyrome
    toneyrome Member Posts: 35 Helper

    I just switched from Windows 10 to Macos and everything is basically the same. This is probably a hardware issue.

  • Blindeddie
    Blindeddie Member Posts: 1,559 Expert

    When you say "Headphone Jack" are you talking about the MK3 Headphone Jack or the built-in computer headphone Jack?

  • nateschmold
    nateschmold Member Posts: 18 Member
    https://community.native-instruments.com/discussion/comment/3561#Comment_3561

    Headphone Jack on the Mk3 - using it as an audio interface via USB on both mac and windows. When connected to windows it sounds noticeably worse than when connected to the mac. Hard to notice until you compare them right after each other, then it sounds super obvious (to me)

  • Kubrak
    Kubrak Member Posts: 3,154 Expert

    Win has several ways to play sounds (different drivers for one HW), Mac probably only one...

    If you use Maschine SW you should choose ASIO driver, that should deliver the most stable performance.

    But for Spotify you probably do not have this possibility, it will use different driver for MK3.... There is also possibility, that Spotify (or generally Win) uses some general driver and not the one made for MK3. Do you have MK3 audio drivers installed?

    Generally, Apple might have less crackles, than Win (if something goes wrong), but otherwise the sound should be the same.

  • nateschmold
    nateschmold Member Posts: 18 Member

    Thanko you @Kubrak -- I tried the different options from the dropdown ASIO and WASAPI but both sounded different from what I would hear when connecting the Mk3 to the mac.

    So it sounds like it would be fair to say that it's expected that Mac & Windows could potentially make the output sound slightly different when using maschine as an audio interface? I am surprised but I suppose it makes sense.

    I guess back to trying to make it work on macos then, otherwise i feel like im producing in a cement room.

  • Kubrak
    Kubrak Member Posts: 3,154 Expert

    No, under normal conditions, it should sound the same. I do not know what HW you have and what Win 10.

    The output from Maschine SW using ASIO driver for MK3 should sound the same. If not, there is something wrong on your Win PC.

    If you compare Spotify or anything that is not Maschine, the sound goes different route and may be modified by Win.... And I do not know Mac, but is not there for example something that may change/"improve" sound?

    As I wrote, crackles/dropouts might occure on Win, if there is SW/HW problem, but the sound should not be continuously different.

    One more thing might play role. MK3 is powered from USB, not all USBs are the same. If you have more, try the different one. And there might be some kind of problem with power that goes via USB to MK3. If the PC power source is not working well or there is not enought capacitors on motherboard the ripple might go via USB power as far as audio part of MK3.

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