DIY Song Mode

Hi All,

Here's a workaround for getting one more level of control over making arrangements in Maschine. It makes it possible to sequence scene changes, record automation across scenes, record track mutes and record arrangements on the fly all from within Maschine standalone.

Here is a tutorial to explain the first step - how set up to record live jams/scene changes:

A - Preliminary Setup You need to route MIDI out of and back into Maschine:

I work on a Mac and so have set up an IAC driver and enabled it as both an input and an output within Maschine. This means midi sent out of Maschine will also be sent back into Maschine. See how to set up the IAC driver here: http://sites.google.com/site/mfalab/mac-stuff/how-to-use-the-iac-driver

I don't have Windows but I believe you can do the same thing with:
LoobBe1 - http://nerds.de/en/loopbe1.html
Maple Virtual Midi Cable - http://www.maplemidi.com
Midi Yoke - http://www.midiox.com/

Once you have your midi loop set up you need to make sure your looped input and output are enabled. In Maschine go to File/Audio and MIDI Settings/MIDI to do this.

You can also probably do this midi routing by using a real midi cable to connect your Maschine hardware midi out to it's midi in - this has always freaked my system out for some reason but other people on the forum seem to have no worries.

1 - How set up Maschine and record a simple arrangement.

1. Without using Group H, create a track with at least two separate Scenes ready for arrangement.
2. Using the software set Scene SYNC to 1/1 and turn RETRIG off.

Why?: The SYNC setting means that when you trigger a scene change the change will occur in the next bar. If you are new to this put Maschine in Scene mode and play around to see how this works. The following techniques will all work (though in different ways) with Sync set to anything other than "Scene" so play around and see what you prefer. The RETRIG setting means the Scene will not start again from the beginning which is essential for this stuff to work.

3. Enable "Scene MIDI Settings" and set the MIDI channel to 16. Set the root note to C3

Why?: This means that incoming notes on MIDI channel 16 will trigger scene changes just the same as hitting the pads does when Maschine is in Scene Mode. Because C3 is the root note C3 will trigger pattern one, C#3 will trigger pattern two, D3 will trigger patter 3 et cetera. Setting the root note to C3 is a semi-arbitrary choice - I did it just to make the next step easier to explain.

I choose Channel 16 because I don't use it for anything else.

3. Set up Group H, Pad 16

(i) In Group H select Pad 16 and label it "Arrangement".
(ii) Set Group H, Pad 16 to send MIDI out to Channel 16
(iii) In Group H create a pattern and set its length to 256 bars, label it "Arrangement"

Why?: this causes notes played and recorded on this Sound to be sent out of Maschine via MIDI. These notes will then be routed back into Maschine via our MIDI loop we set up and will trigger scene changes.

The labelling is not necessary for this to work, only to make these explanations easier to follow.

4. Add the newly created "Arrangement" pattern to every scene in your project so that every scene now contains the same 256 bar pattern in group H

5. Select Group H, Pad 16 and set the Pad Mode to "Keyboard". Set the Base Key to C3 (which it should be by default)

6. Set your song playing. The Maschine Pads should now trigger scene changes, just as if you are in Scene mode. Observe what happens when each scene changes. The Patterns in Groups A to G change according to how you have arranged your scenes but the Group H pattern does not change, it plays continuously for 256 bars.

7. Record an arrangement - select the first scene in your song, enable record and press Restart. You can jam out an arrangement of your song and provided your arrangement is less than 256 bars the entire arrangement will be recorded and sequenced by Maschine. Once you are done if you press play again your recorded arrangement will play back.

And that's the end of the first step. Sorry for the long post. I'm sure I've got a few things wrong here somewhere so ask if you've got any questions. I've kind of run out of time so later I'll do a write-up on how to automate FX across the scenes and track mutes and songs longer than 256 bars for anyone who is interested.

 

Wow, that's a very creative solution to get a lineair workflow!

 

thanks for sharing your knowledge 2soldiers!
if you complete this post with images of the process, this thread can be sticky.

paz
couc

 

Amazing, how did you figure this out?

 

Amazing.... Thanks

 

Thanks people - glad you like it. Not sure what brought the idea on though . Great idea about including images bcoco85, I'll see if I can add some in or maybe a video.

Cheers

 

Very nice. This is what I've needed. Thanks

 

pretty cool little trick worked for me routing the midi out to midi in on the back of controller, but is that ok to do? Theres no harm in doing that I mean? I don't know why there would be considering its just midi messages not audio or power so to speak.

 

Just as you say, definitely no need to worry about damage to anything.

 

^ thanks man and thanks for such a great tip and taking the time to share

 

HI 2 Soldiers,

at first: Thanks a lot for sharing your ideas!
I'm not sure if i got everything right but i will try it as quick as possible (i am at work now :-()

And please don't forget to share your secrets about autmate fx across scenes. This is one of the most annoying parts while sequenzing with maschine.

Looking forward to your next post!

Greets DJJule

 

How does this work for recording pattern changes within a scene or muting/unmuting certain sounds within the same scene? A lot of the time I leave a part muted until I want it to drop but it's still "playing" silently the entire time.

 

It doesn't record pattern changes within a scene as such - what it does is record scene changes in a linear fashion. Have you been able to get Maschine recording scene changes using the method I described in the first post? I'm not sure I'm answering your question here so let me know if I've misunderstood.

What I've been doing for the track mutes is routing all my audio from Groups A-G onto pads 1-15 in Group H (my master/arrangement group). Then I've been using Xfer's LFO Tool plugin on the master group to mute tracks or drop them back in.

LFO tool responds to midi notes and notes C0 to B0 select different volume envelopes so in my setup I've got envelope 1 set to 100% volume, Envelope 2 set to 0 volume (mute) and envelope 3 set to a sidechain envelope, which I use quite a bit. So now when have any of pads 1-15(Group H)selected I can use a midi keyboard or controller to mute or unmute tracks -

Note C0 unmutes
Note C#0 mutes
Note D0 plays with a sidechain effect

And if record is enabled these mutes/unmutes are all recorded on the 256 bar master pattern and will play back when the song is played from the beginning.

This works perfectly though selecting pads and then hitting keyboard keys is a little fiddly and messes a bit with the Maschine workflow so I've set up a midi controller to trigger the LFO envelopes and it is working very well.

I couldn't find a free plugin to do this muting but I love LFO tool. It is CPU friendly and relatively cheap ($25)and works brilliantly with Maschine for all sorts of things - you can get it at http://www.xferrecords.com/products/lfo-tool.

There is another plugin currently in development designed specifically for recording mutes this way in Maschine but it can toggle mutes off and on with a midi note so you can record everything simply from the pads in Maschine - it basically makes everything easy. I've let the developer know about this thread and with a bit of luck you'll hear about it soon.

 

Hmmm I set this all up and maschine kind of freaks out if I try to launch a scene with a pad

you would think there would be an easier way to do this

All I want to do is have live clips launch scenes

 

You can launch Maschine's scenes from Live clips either with Program Changes (just create a dummy clip with a program change of 1 to play scene 1, 2 to play scene 2 etc.) or via midi notes. You can choose between the two in Maschine's Scene MIDI settings.

 

Ok thanks I'll have to mess with this. Do the live clips go on the Maschine track in ableton or a separate track or something? Are there any vids showing how to set this up? Sorry it's just kind of confusing.

 

Try this: open a midi track and load maschine as a vst label it MASCHINE
open another midi track (Group 1) and set the midi from MASCHINE/Maschine
then set Midi to MASCHINE/1-Maschine

now you can use midi clips in Live to trigger Maschine
now you can apply Live grooves to Maschine sounds
now you can record midi clips from Live into Maschine

If you Open a Midi Effect rack and nest another inside the first
then make a chain and name it Pad 1
open key selector and move to C3
copy that chain 15 times and move the selector up chromatically for each chain
ie Pad 2 is C#3 Pad 16 is D#4
Name your Midi effect rack and save it as preset or whatever
drop it into Grp 1 midi track
oh yeah right click on the nested pad rack and choose Show names in editor
you should see Pad 1-16 in your Live Midi Clip in piano roll

In Maschine Click the drop done menu from the Kit Name Tab in Pattern section
choose sound midi batch setup
choose Sounds to Midi Notes
Midi channel =1
Root note =C3

If you want to continue to Control Maschine's groups from Live midi tracks just duplicate your Midi Grp Trak
in Live and change to 2-Maschine and then change Midi Batch setup to 2 and so on

I recommend routing your kicks,snares etc back into live on Audio tracks
you can get some great layering

 

Warning:
If anyone does this, connecting MIDI IN<to>OUT you can do terrible damage to your hardware. Any hardware. You are creating a MIDI loop. This goes for software or virtual cables too.
LoopBe1 has a built in warning, so does MIDI-OX...

Just look at it as feeding audio out to audio in, you know what happens

 

Midi feedback may cause your system to hang or stutter but it shouldn't damage anything.

 

any word on this other bit of software?