Audio interface vs sound card question

Ok, so I've got a Maschine MK1 running on a fairly standard windows 7 pc 2GHz with 4GB of ram. Using cheap sound card it came with.

I want to be able to play fast drum beats and patterns in real time with my hands.

Often when playing like this Maschine will start missing hits, ie not triggering a hit after being tapped. Not even lighting up. The CPU meter on Maschine barley registers, and the CPU monitor in Task Manager for the Maschine process never gets above 50%. This thing does not play like Jeremy Ellis's in the videos for sure!

I understand I may need to upgrade the sound card, or get an audio interface, or both.

I'm a little confused as to which will address the problem and why. I don't see why audio interface solves the problem if it is mainly a digital to audio converter for playing or recording sound. I guess the backup occurs playing the samples quickly, but it seems like there is enough computational overhead onboard that it should be able to play the stuff from ram just fine. I'm a little old school, but it just feels like opening up the computer and plugging in a better soundcard would be better than an interface which has to pump everything back and forth over USB 2.0. But it seems like everyone is doing audio interfaces now.

Anybodies feedback appreciated.

 

I'm not a pro but I have a few ideas you can toy with.

1. Jeremy Ellis does not use the native Maschine software to trigger his sounds. You can see that in the youtube videos that show his laptop's displays while he's going bananas. Someone in the comments asked what software it was but noone clarified. You can use pretty much anything you like if you use it in MIDI mode (keys shift+control)

2. Your audio interface cannot be responsible if neither Maschine registers the hit (the pad not lighting up), nor your CPU meter shows any activity. If your soundcard was to blame, cheap or not, then you would hear something ... possibly delayed, possibly glitched, but you could hear it. It won't just go mute.

3. I have my third Maschine Mk2 now, the reason being my first 2 were damaged when I received them. One had a defect pad which could barely be pressed, then stuck for no reason, and it was reproducible by support. I wonder if your missed hits only happen on certain pads? Since the Mk1 is only being sold in small leftover quantities over 3rd party vendors, I'm guessing you bought a used Mk1 on ebay or sorts, please correct me if I'm wrong - but is it possible some of the pads are not as responsive as others because they've been heavily used before for a longer period of time, possibly on stage?

If any of this helps and at some later point you decide that the sound you get over your current soundcard does not meet your expectations, then you should seriously not consider buying an internal soundcard - external USB2.0+ soundcards is where the magic is at today. I'm currently in the process of buying a 2nd external soundcard myself and have spent the days doing nothing else besides reading reviews and forum posts regarding various interfaces, from Focusrite over Babyface to Komplete Audio 6.

If you want the cheapest possible upgrade that has proven to work flawlessly and has great sound too, has both ASIO and <10ms latency, I recommend the NI Audio 2 (Mk2) for about 80€. This is my current and 1st external soundcard and it has given me great sound ever since I started toying with my Maschine Mk2 over a year ago.

 

Yes, thank you! An excellent answer that makes sense.

You are correct I did get an MK1 from a 3rd party, I think maybe Sweetwater for $299. It might have been a refurb, it was sealed in the box and appears to be in new condition. I'm going to have to investigate if it is a specific pad problem, but IIRC it happens all over the place. The pads are all very nicely sensitive played one at a time for sure.

Thanks for the sound card recommendations too!

 

First free and easyest thing to do install asio4all and try

Uwe

 

Don't know why it is the case but I will confirm that Maschine is glitchy when I am just using my internal sound card. It may be a latency issue, but everything clears up when I use my sound cards.