Maschine Studio or Push 2? (2018 edit :) )

Hi all

I can get brand new Maschine Studio for 500 euro which is very cheap as normal price in my country (Poland) is like 700 Euro.

I have no music production experience whatsoever and only a DJ (on Denon DJ MCX8000) but I am thinking of trying it, especially with Ableton and also my friend wants to do that too and he is in love with Push 2 which is expensive at nearly 700 Euro.

The only genre I listen to and would like to produce/make in the future is Deep House and (not very hardcore) Techno.

Will I be ok with Maschine Studio (which is the best NI controller right?) for 500 euro or is it better to pay more and get the 700 euro Push 2???
I mean they both have screens right? Studio looks even more professional then the Push 2 imo. I don't mind waiting a bit more and saving for Push 2 if it's gonna serve much better, so that's cool. I just wanna get the best controller.

I also heard that Maschine is like more suited for hip hop and Ableton Live is better for music creation piece by piece right? On the other hand, Maschine Studio will work quite well in Ableton as a plugin right? so if I won't like Maschine software I am always covered as can start using Studio with Live right?
I think I also read somewhere that Maschine software is not a full blown DAW yet as it is too much in its infancy (as opposed to Live which is a rightful DAW, which it wasn't in the first years/versions). True?

I don't intend to take it anywhere or play Live sets so the size and portability are not important to me with Studio. Besides, I read somewhere that if someone wants to do live acts with Ableton the only right choice is Akai APC40mk2 - dunno if it's true.
Nevertheless I just want sit at home and make Deep House/Techno tracks in DAW (Ableton Live right? Maschine software?)

I also heard that Novation's Launchpad Pro + Launch Control XL will give me great alternative to Push 2 for like half the money asked for Push 2.

What do you guys think please?
700 Euro Push 2 or brand new Studio for 500 Euro or 350 Euro Novation set?

thanks

 

You want a Push 2. You know it. I know it. Your friend knows it. We all know it ! What you're hoping for is someone on the Maschine forums to convince you otherwise. Get the Push 2. It's very well suited for what you want to do. Right now.

Integrating Maschine with Live is not the best use of your productivity. Some make it work...but really it's like wearing a belt with suspenders. What's the point?

I have the great misfortune of owning both and all it does is give you option paralysis.

By the way...no one would choose a LPP over Push 2 if given the choice. Usually comes down to budget. Push 2 blows it away in almost every category. Especially with Live 10

 

Not really sure how this reply was supposed to be helpful to someone who already explained they were confused and had no clue.

To the OP you keep saying "you have heard" but based on the things you are hearing you should try and listen somewhere else.
In the mean time try to get a better idea of exactly what it is you are looking to do.
LIVE can feel very uncomfortable if you can't wrap your head around it's workflow and find a controller that works for how you think.

I have a APC40 and a Launchpad my thoughts;
Launchpad - good if you are heavily into clip launching
APC - if you are more into a somewhat traditional workflow

Best thing to do is get the LIVE demo and see if LIVE works for you then start evaluating controllers.

 

My reply was very helpful. OP's whole post makes Push 2 best for him. He can't go wrong with Live/Push for Deep House and Techno. Besides there being tons of training material on those very combos for Live, his friend also loves it!

Maschine or Live will have the same issue in that regard. Again, the OP has to learn anyway. And he'll be fine! The Live demo without the controller only gives you a very limited experience of what things will be like. And I dare to say things are actually harder without the controller.

If the OP gets Maschine he'll regret not getting Live and Push 2. Again his friend already loves the combo and Live runs circles around the Maschine software in it's current state. I wouldn't recommend Maschine yet. But that's just my opinion .

Either way, I knew someone would be juxtapose to one or the other. And that's the best way for the OP to get more info from his post. Get on with it and make some great music! Good luck!

 

Everyone will have their own opinion and rightfully so and I'm not in any way going to bump heads, life is to short. Actually, and this is my opinion, Live and Push are a very good choice. Live has a half decent library and controlling the DAW with Push is a no brainer. Personally I wouldn't choose Maschine over Push as a controller for Live, but Maschine is killer. Prior the recent updates, I would have agreed with the "belt with suspenders" but now with "Ideas view" and recording beats into Maschine as a plugin and programing clips all within Live works seamlessly with little effort. One month ago the redundancy of both Maschine and Push on my studio desktop was bothering the hell out of me. I'm glad I kept both and also added the KK 49. Maschine and or Push will work fine for the OP. Live also is a little more intuitive for a DAW beginner... good luck with your choice!

 

Yes LIVE can be difficult without the controller but it's even worse with the wrong controller, the point of the demo is to see what the software is like which is very important.

The problem is that you are overlooking the confused nature of the OP and once a person starts to say things like "can't go wrong" that says it all for the advice they are offering.
The OP looks to be seeing Maschine as a controller for LIVE same as PUSH and that's a bad way to start off thinking but then he talks like he's comparing the software of the two.

 

Yes, I get that Ghost. And my recommendation is still Push 2 w/ Live. Not any other combination the OP may be confused by. If he gets that combination, there's nothing that can be done in Maschine with it's controller that can't be done in Live with a Push 2. I would also say that many of the things Maschine can do, Live can do better as of right now. After All, Live is a full fledged DAW. The same can't be said for Maschine.

I know that won't be a popular opinion on the Maschine forums. Only because many here don't like Live for there own reasons. But if you do like it, you'd be hard pressed to fully replace it with Maschine. And that is my point in recommending the combination as the first DAW / controller for this use case.

 

It's hard to give advice without knowing what you value and what is your preferred workflow. Each soft/hardware has its own pros and cons.

For simplicity and straight to the point production Maschine is better, its sounds are superior for the most part (more processed too), the browser is a lot more advanced, it's more controller focused (less mouse clicking and looking at the screen, at least for the hi-res controllers). For most users Maschine alone will never be enough, a DAW to finish/polish a final composition will always be necessary.

Ableton is far more complex and allows for much more complicated production and different approaches, the sequencer, MIDI editing, Audio tracks/clips, modulation/automation are much better than Maschine and you can record performances done in Session view and micro edit them in the arranger view. Ableton is also a LOT more open, everything is MIDI-mappable unlike NI who prefers to have a closed ecosystem. If you want certain things then you have to buy a Jam...

 

I do use the ideas view a lot in Cubase but in Live, it would still seem redundant to me. If you're using Maschine for it's awesome kits, I would just program the midi in Live and do all my sequencing and arranging from there. And automation (especially clip based) is much better in Live.

 

Agreed...but the OP doesn't quite have a workflow yet . Once the workflow does evolve, he's more than likely going to want a full DAW.

 

I know that you probably want to get up and running as soon as possible, and you really want to do it in the most cost effective way, or it least that's the way it seems. That being the case, I'm going to have to say that your best bet would be the Maschine Studio, and here's why:

With Maschine Studio, you'll get the Maschine factory library, and you will get Massive, Monarch, and a few other vst instruments. This is a very good starting point. Massive is a great wavetable synth that's capable of producing a ton of different sounds. Monarch is a very good Minimoog emulation, so you definitely won't go wrong there. You'll be off to a very quick start with that. If you buy a Push 2, you will not have any synths with it. Push 2 comes with Ableton "Intro" which doesn't come with ANY Ableton Instruments or Packs. If you want that, it will cost more money, and you will want something else, believe me. You would think that they would at least throw in Operator or Analog, but they don't. If you don't care about included synths and sounds, and you plan on getting more later anyway, then I would probably say go with the Push 2. The reason why is because you can always upgrade your version of Live that comes with it to Standard or Suite, which will give you the full version of Live. Then you'll have a full blown DAW to work with. Maschine has certain limitations that may make you want a full blown DAW down the road. With Push, you'll already be somewhat familiar with Live, and you'll be entitled to a discount on the upgrade once you register your Push.

 

kb420,

I forgot to add that I already have Ableton Suite.
And I suppose this means to me only one thing: Push 2 right?

 

I didn't realize that you already had the Suite. I guess it's up to you then. There is a bit of a learning curve going from Live to Maschine. I had Live 9 Suite before I got Maschine, and it did take a while to get used to. I always thought that the workflow on Maschine was the best, but the original Push hadn't been out that long at that time. Another thing, for me personally, was that I liked NI's sounds better than Live Suites. I actually bought my first Maschine as a package deal that included Komplete 10. Also, I was a big fan of all the Maschine Expansions that were available too. I actually own ALL of them now. If you would like to get your foot in the door with NI, then I would get the Maschine Studio. Then you'll be able to receive discounts on certain things from time to time if you want to add on Expansions or some of Komplete's instruments and effects.

Right now is an exciting time for Live users. Push 2 was a big improvement over the first Push, and it's been getting better and better. I'm actually using Live 10's beta now, and Push's integration with that is even better. If you own 9 Suite, you can now download Live 10 Suite's Beta which will install a firmware update for Push 2 which will give you all of the new Push features. At this point in time, I think you may enjoy a Push 2 more than Maschine. If anything, you may want to add a Komplete Kontrol mk2 keyboard to your setup with Komplete Ultimate 11. You'll have more sounds than you'll ever be able to go through then, and you won't have to go through the trouble of learning Maschine's software. At this point in time, I don't know if I would buy a Maschine Studio over a Push 2. I have a feeling that there will be a Maschine Studio mk2 release some time this year, and you'll probably want the new one instead anyway.

 

I think that before anything, you should wait for Live 10 or try the Beta ... IMO, improvements are huge and take Live one step forward. Take a little more time, evaluate Live 10, and then make your decision if you wanna fully stick with Live (by buying Push) or learn Maschine.

You do a lot of automation? because if you for example automate a filter cutoff from bar 1 to bar 10 in Live, is really easy, you just draw or move some encoder. But if you try to do it on Maschine, and bar 1 to 10 are not on the same "scene" you won't be able to do it. Automation is not "time" based ... is "scene" based. Clips cannot cross scene boundaries, so you basically build your songs moving "scenes" instead of moving "clips"

And about the "forthcoming / upcoming song mode" ... my only advise is: make your decision based only on the current state of products, not the future promised state (and this is not about NI only, is about any software company). If you love Maschine on its current state better than Live, then go for Maschine, or viceversa. But don't take into account the "future updates" forum talk.

 

The only reason I am on Maschine is because I bought Komplete Ultimate which is great.

If I was to do it all over again I'd probably opt for Ableton and Push 2 just because of the poor sequencing via Maschine software and some stupid legacy bugs and promises not being kept.

I can only talk for myself.

 

If you mean sequencing in AL software with a keyboard+mouse and without Push then yes it's better, there no comparison there. But if the conversation is just with the controller then Maschine is superior.

If the OP already owns AL Suite then Push2 is probably a better option, just keep in mind push is mainly designed for session view and not arrangement view.

 

If I could go back in time I would have picked Push 2. Simply because it comes with a fully functional DAW for one.One of the many flaws with Maschine is if you don't have the hardware connected to your computer the software is completely useless. You cant trigger any sounds from your laptop keyboard like every other Daw on the market you cant even use your mouse to solo or mute a sound.There are no number values to the faders so you cant for instant turn the snare down 2 decibels. I like all of the new updates cause they are great but let's be real they should have already had them to begin with..My last and final grip is NI Maschine don't hold their value. Meaning you're going to buy this nice piece of equipment for 700 or more and you won't be able to sell it for 1/3 of that price cause within the 2 years you owned and took excellent care of your machine.NI will put out two newer Machines.. That's why push & push 2 are better in my opinion. Abelton isn't concerned about selling you newer and better version of equipment that they told you 2 years ago was the best game-changing equipment ever. Instead, they focuse on one flagship piece of equipment and really focus on there DAW. Equipment is fun but if the DAW is great too you don't mind working with a mouse... NI needs to focus on making there DAW more practical without the hardware and only one kickass piece of hardware...

 

Um, you can. Unless I misunderstand.
To the op:
Since you have Live Suite, I say get a Push 2.
Unless you need a good quality sound library, in which case get a Maschine.

 

To be fair... I have both and still haven't decided which one I like better.

 

maschine=(drum)instrument
ableton live+Push2=instrument/daw/live suite
me=happy camper