Pad Sensitivity (midi mode vs Maschine Control)

When playing on the physical Drum Pads on the Maschine Hardware, I have observed that:

The sensitivity of the pads, and the volume level in which the samples play based on a given "hit input" does not carry over to midi control mode.

At least, when I play the same samples / same kit through my DAW (after switching the controller into MIDI Mode) there is a noticeable volume decrease for me. In other words, I have to hit the pad much harder in MIDI Mode to get a comparable volume (as compared to playing the same pad in Maschine Control mode, which yields higher volumes with a lighter touch).

As a note: I have my sensitivity turned up pretty high inside of Maschine's preferences... but this setting does not seem to carry over to the midi mode, thus reducing the play back volume when controlling Maschine via Midi Mode inside a DAW.

Please fix this so that "Pad Sensitivity" (or some type of velocity curve) is also available in MIDI Mode, so there is not such a noticeable difference in volume when playing using the Drum Pads. This is, in many ways, a live instrument, and a musician needs consistency between these modes, the way I see it. Thanks!

 

In midi mode you can hit shift and it will give you a settings option for padsens. The controller editor app allows you to adjust the velocity sensitivity for the pads as well.

 

Thank you for your reply. I should have mentioned that I was aware of the sensitivity adjustment in MIDI Mode... but even after turning this sensitivity all the way up, I still feel there is a very noticeable difference.

Maybe it is just me? So as you are probably well aware, in a DAW, you can play the Maschine VSTi via the MIDI Mode...playing the midi notes through to a midi instrument track. If you have a set up that would allow you to try an experiment, Would you be so kind as test this and see if you discover a noticeable difference in Pad sensitivity?... currently I have turned my MIDI Mode sensitivity all the way up to 100% to try and match the Direct Controller mode's feel. Which, by the way, I also prefer to be quite high (90% to 100%). Thanks for the response, and the experimentation, if you can take the time to test.

 

Yeah old problem and a very annoying one. Pad sensitivity in midi mode doesn't do much so your only options are the curve settings in the controller editor, then resave your template.

Even at Soft 3 you still have to slap the pads a lot harder than in stand alone mode.

So, a sort of work around is to use maschine as a vst and enable Sounds to MIDI notes on a group, then assign the notes you want per sound. It's slow and doesn't seem to save right but you get to play over midi with the nice sensitivity. I use it in Reaper to play multiout drum kits in kontakt 4.

Good luck!

 

Jonnypig,

Thanks for the work-around! This is very obnoxious... and I hope the find a way to fix it! Thanks again for the response.

Regards, Steve

 

Just use the Assign pads function of the controller editor and manually assign each pads minimum velocity lvl to 127.

Assign the pressure sensitivity (PRESS) to activate at a sensitivity of 1% (ON) and deactivate at 0% (OFF). This will change the midi sensitivity to what I believe is the same as the Maschine DAW..

So you tell me if you notice anything different, I think that is how it works.

 

OK sweet I'll try this tomorrow
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I couldn't wait... had to try it out!

You sir have solved a very OLD FR!

Thank you so much!

-robo
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Ah hang on... changing Press to Note with off @ 1% and on at 0% essentially plays whatever velocity you set under all hits.

Too bad because the sensitivity is awesome!

 

One quick clarification question about the above work around... (and huge thanks for the suggestions by the way!)...

Does this mean use the settings in midi control mode and just put it down to "1" ?

Or is there another place where I should be editing this setting?

Thanks in advance!

Shapeless ~Steve

 

You may have checked this already, but from scratch if you hit the pad on Maschine, it's at 0dB in the Sound, routed to 0dB in the Group, routed to 0dB in the Master, and that then goes to your soundcard.

With a DAW however ther is a further channel after the master in maschine, and then a further master. You would only get the same volume if these extra settings in the DAW are at 0dB, so have you checked these?

There can also then be issues within the DAW itself with regards to the stereo panning law which is used. Some DAW's give you both left and right at 0dB, meaning a unity gain of +3dB, but others have it as -3dB on left and right, to give a unity gain of 0dB.

It might be the case that Maschine gives 0dB on each channel, and the DAW in question gives 0dB at unity gain.

If one of the mods can clarify this I'd be very interested to know.

Thanks
B

 

The midi mode sensitivity problem is that the pads don't respond to velocities under 10 or so, with the pad sensitivity set to 100. Everything above that is fine.

If you enable poly pressure under the PRESS tab and look at Maschine on the Monitor page you can see it's responding to slight touches but HIT doesn't show response til over velocity 10 or so.

It's a bug and I so wish NI would read the forums.

-robo

 

You can change the velocity for all pads at once in the controller editor by selecting the bottom leftmost pad and then hold shift and select the top rightmost pad. Change your velocity and it will be applied to all pads.

-GFUNK

 

Hi I was hoping to use Maschine as a midi controller, but the pad sensitivity issue is a big problem. I tried all the ideas suggested above and the pads are just not responding the same way as they do in stand alone mode or when I play them on the keyboard.
Has there been any progress made on this issue since this posting? I'm running all the latest software updates
thanks!

 

i guess its the HW has to decide what you mean: press or hit. because you can set it to different functions it seems to make sence. the problem is - this behavior keeps "on" even if u disabling the press-function: you have still to use the sledgehammer to get midi-out.

for me its unpossible to play accent akkords and thats so pitty, cause the new ableton template has all this nice scales and corresponding remap/pitch for the pads.
i hope they will update maschine with intern-scales (and of course midi-fx) and a fix that the pads react at smoother attacks.

 

I was just at Guitar Center and the sales guy said the new MASCHINE has better pad response. I have the older one with all the Orange pads. Is there really a difference?