Improve "clip/session launch" mode functionality

So when you are in the "session view" (if you will) and you want to mix/match clips to create new scenes, Jam does something very un-push-like that is driving me crazy!

If you click an empty button, rather than just playing silence on that channel, it lights up - creating a new clip... but the clip is EMPTY, no data exists.

So, if you click buttons a few times that are not already lit/loaded with data, you end up with a layout which does not accurately represent your song session. Many lit buttons with ZERO sound or data associated. Also, we lack the ability to "capture and insert new" scene from a random combination of clips.

I hope that these features are easy enough to implement, and popular enough amongst Ableton fans, to cause some attention to this cause.

I am extremely happy with the developments for Jam, as they inch me farther and farther away from my Push 2 controller... But we could move just a little farther over!

I accept that the Push 2 hardware is superior in pad quality, the awesome screen, and the knobs, but I understand why you left out the screen and knobs. Maybe version 2 could have pressure-sensitive (PUSH 2) pads and throw in a bank of 8 knobs up top for additional control. Think "Macro Knobs and 8 assignable faders for simultaneous control of multiple parameters)... Awesome.

 

What do you expect to happen? It's the same with the other controllers and the GUI: if you select a Pattern/Scene slot that has no Pattern/Scene in it, a new blank one will be created.
Are you expecting the corresponding Pattern to start recording on the next bar like Live's quantized clips?

You already have this functionality. In MASCHINE, it's called DUPLICATE SCENE because all currently playing Patterns must already be in the same Scene i.e., unlike Live, you can't have clips from different Scenes playing together. So if you did have a "capture and insert new" function in MASCHINE, it would just be the same as duplicating.

 

Perhaps I wasn't clear. In Ableton's session view, when a MIDI track is NOT record-armed and you click a blank clip box on Push 2, it plays nothing. The box does not light up, as if it contained data. It remains blank.

In the same situation, if I select clips from different "scenes" on the controller, they blink, indicating that they are playing. If I hit the "capture and insert" button, all of those clips populate in a row, below the last row, as a fresh scene. They all blink. Their playback status has no effect on the "scene arrangement" as that is on a different window. So, Maschine Jam opened up a bunch of awesome functionality, but when I bounce around to different clips on the controller it just changes the playing clips in the same scene... Because you are "in" a scene on the GUI, as you said.

So perhaps what I "meant" was, it would be preferable to allow us to play different clips from different scenes playing at once. It would then be more natural to click one button and have it all become a new scene. It may be silly to some, but firing back different patterns (clips) on Push 2 is still MUCH MORE fun than doing the same on Jam. It seems like an easy change/update. Blinking boxes while playing, allowing mixing of clips from different "scenes" on playback (separate from the timeline/arrangement view), and the default action to NOT create a new lit clip when you tap a blank button.

If I am "record armed" on an audio clip in Push, it starts recording on the drop beat. that's awesome. It also loops on cue, which is awesome. However, if I am "not record armed" in that channel, it does nothing more than play back a clip, or silence, when I hit the button.

I am not complaining, by any means. I just hope to see a few minor tweaks to make Jam as fun as Push, so I can sell the thing!

Thanks for the thoughts.

 

But there are fundamental differences between Ableton Live and MASCHINE on both track and Scene levels that you talk about.

The difference between Ableton Live tracks and MASCHINE Groups is that there is no record arming in MASCHINE, so selecting a Pattern slot creates an empty Pattern to record into. That's how it works. Empty clip slots in Live stop that track's playback (unless the stop button has been removed) and MASCHINE does not have this. Instead, you simply press the playing Pattern's button to remove that Pattern from the Scene.

Which moves us onto Scenes...

The difference between Ableton Live Scenes and MASCHINE Scenes is that all currently playing Patterns in MASCHINE are in the same Scene, which is not the case in Live. Because of this, capturing and inserting a Scene as in Live would simply be duplicating the Scene. However, I'm also wondering if you're suggesting the ability to play multiple Scenes at the same time... Is this what you mean?

 

I understand the distinct differences, but I am requesting that they remove some of them

Maybe the answer is a "JAM MODE" for Maschine, whereby the default behavior is more like Push.

It's awesome to have Jam at all, but I keep expecting the Ableton behavior, and when it's not there - it seems less amazing to jam live with.

Maybe it's a change in my workflow, or maybe they can just tweak it a bit to be more like Ableton. The prospects are exciting this season!

 

Of course, if I would just sell the Push 2 controller I would have fewer of those moments where I expect controller B to behave like my other controller A...

 

I don't think the Pattern/Scene paradigm that MASCHINE uses should be changed to be more like Live in these ways. However, I would like to see the option for quantized Pattern changes.

 

They obviously looked at Live to see how to implement some things. It just seems bizarre to make clips behave in a way other than Ableton.

Sometimes you want to write data to clips. Other times you want to perform clusters of clips without any new saved data. Why not make it easy to differentiate? I sold Push 2, and really the main thing I miss is the stupid logical way the clip-firing was handled.

I only present this view as someone who used Ableton for much of my fun. If thousands of users of Push give Jam a try, maybe remove the main thing that's going to annoy them right off the bat.