Sampling from hard drive?

Hey guys, I am brand new to the Maschine and I havn’t really used any production equipment before… So I apologize in advance if my questions are kinda foolish. My setup is very basic, at this time it’s just the Maschine console and my HP laptop with a pair of monitors… nothing too fancy. I’m trying to sample an MP3 that I have on my hard drive into the Maschine and I can’t seem to find a clear cut explination on how to do so… From what I’ve read, it seems as if I need to have a cable going from the 1/4” headphone jack, into the MIDI-In on the Maschine? Any information that could be provided would be greatly appreciated.

-MH-

 

do you have an external Soundcard?

i think you mean using the Audio Out of your laptop, and plug that into the Audio In of your Soundcard. but if you don't have a Soundcard then....

btw, MIDI is not for Audio.

anyway, if i was you i would download an mp3 to wav converter and then use the converted file in Maschine by navigating Maschine's Browser to it.

sowari

 

sowari,

i downloaded a MP3 to WAV converter... i converted an MP3 from my hard drive and saved it to my desktop. now when you say "navigate Mashcine's browser to it" im assuming you mean from the software. but when I click File>Open, the Open File window doesn't let me select .wav files... am I doing something wrong?

 

inside of maschine software, look at the left, there is the internal browser. at the top, choose DISK, then go to your folder and select the files.

 

awesome, thanks for the info guys. im gonna go home and mess around with it now! i just came to pick up a turntable and a Axiom M-Audio 49 MIDI keyboard... so i'll be entertained for the rest of the weekend.

 

Sampling from iTunes, web, etc in Maschine

Hey! This question has been asked before but this is how I do it.
there are many people using SoundFlower or Jack or some software method to route the sound into Maschine, but this process takes a lot of CPU power and often creates artifacts in the audio. You can also of course convert your mp3s and then put them into maschine but that takes too long and you still have to sort through the file until you find the part you want to edit. Sometimes I am watching a movie on my laptop and hear some audio I want to record directly. This is the best way to do it, and it lets you sample exactly what you want, instantly.

Just get a stereo 1/4" splitter, have one go to your headphones or speakers, and the other back into your Audio In (or mic. in) port. Then while in maschine, select record from "external" , set it to record both L and R stereo channels, then set your threshold setting to something not too high but not too low either, and hit "start". When you click play in iTunes or any audio that comes out of your computer (including maschine sound, metronome, etc) it will automatically start recording as the sound begins.

I have my sound going out of the headphone port, splitting into 2 RCA jacks that go into my Korg KP3 effects processor, then have a splitter from the front of the KP3 with one 1/4" going to speakers, and the other going back into my MacBook Pro. This allows me to record any audio out, while also letting me record any effects I use on the KP3. Really sweet setup with no audio artifacts or complicated software setups.

hope this helps, cheers.

 

@synapse_lotus: wow man thanks! that seems like a much better way to pinpoint exactly which part of a song i'm trying to sample from. looks like im heading to best buy, much appreciated.

 

No, problem. I am really surprised no one else has explained this in detail already. I had the same problem and searched for hours only to find complicated processes that didn't really work. By chance one day, I had everything hooked up just right (for doing something else I believe) and then I noticed that sound was coming through my Maschine under SAMPLE and I was only playing a song in iTunes!

The best of creation usually comes from dumb luck.
Tell me how it goes, and enjoy the easy sampling!

 

so theoretically... i can record a sample from anything i can plug a 1/4" into... such as an iPod? just put it into the iPod rather than the audio in...

 

Exactly! I usually sample from iTunes or web audio players like GrooveShark. The best part of it is that if you are watching a movie and hear something you want to record (perhaps a comical line to add to a hip hop beat), all you have to do is go back to the spot, setup maschine to record, and hit start. Without this method you would have to rip out the audio from the video, narrow down that audio track to the part that you want in some external editor, then import the tiny part you wanted to use in Maschine.

This current setup has saved me hundreds of hours, but more importantly it improves creativity rather than inhibiting it.

 

ok, so i got the concept of capturing the sample and slicing it... but is there any way to create my own slice points? when i hit the Slice button, it automatically slices into the equal parts that maschine defaults to... lets say i only need 3 short snare hits from a sample. how can i just select those 3 parts rather than adjusting the start/end points?

 

Try Detect Mode.

 

@Lotuz Cool I'll definitely play around with that when I get home. Thanks alot for the tips

 

@MadHatter973

Yo Mad, I typically just DUPLICATE the recorded sample button onto 3-4 other pads and then use the EDIT (under the SAMPLE button menu) feature to define the start and end points of the sound. This works great when you want to chop up a recorded drum beat into individual hits of bass, snare, hi-hat, cymbal, etc to recreate a new beat pattern with the same drum kit sounds.

I used to use the SLICE feature alot when I first started MASCHINE about a year ago, but using this method has pretty much removed any need for that. I also think that I get better results and a more precise (non-chopped up sounding) feel to my beatz.

Hope this helps. BTW, what kind of music are you working on? Mine is most close to J-Dilla or Jazz Liberators style hip hop beats. If you have something you have been working on, feel free to share.

My biggest hurdle now is in the arrangement of my tracks. I find that it is easiest to make a few beats and melodic patterns in MASCHINE using samples, and then importing the exported wav loops into Ableton LIVE for adding effects and compressors. I also use my KP3 effects processor for its "Nod3" effect. Everything sounds cool when you use that one. But, still I feel my tracks are lacking a certain story......they often end up being just really sweet beats that loop over and over for 4 bars. Anyone else have this problem?
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Lotuz! Nice name by the way...
I just heard some of your tracks on SoundClick and gotta say we are in the same frame of mind when it comes to hip hop. Really feelin that "Tired of Payin' Dues" Sample!

I am curious if you use only Maschine for your beats or if you are using some kind of external DAW like LIVE or LOGIC?
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Sowari....I am a bit disappointed in you. I have seen you post thousands of times and always appreciated the help but.... Why would he need an EXTERNAL sound card to do that? a simple adapter works fine for me? Wait... you work for NI....thats right.

They do make nice external sound cards...if you needed something like that.

 

Sometimes I use the Maschine VSTi in Cubase, but most beats are made with the Maschine standalone. And I use this limiter in Cubase/Sound Forge, because it sounds better than the one in Maschine.

http://www.db-audioware.com/db-l-mastering-limiter.html

Good point about using Edit instead of Slice. People nowadays seem to think that you have to use the Slice feature to make beats. I don't use it at all.

 

the simple reason is: a) there are no internal sound cards for laptops
b) you'll have a descent background noise from the audio out of your laptop (no matter it's a mac, don't believe everything they tell you) - do the test and record 'nothing' coming out of it.

 

I have a 4 year old macbook pro that is just about to die. That being said, I use the built in audio input and I never have any artifacts, background noise, or lost quality at all.

There have been times when I was a step away from getting an NI sound card simply because when the sounds start piling up I sometimes did hear things that shouldn't have been there (though that may have been due to a slow processor). However, for doing 99.9% of music creation, I have found my internal sound card quite capable. I am sure the new models are much better equipped as far as the max amount of sounds they can process at once.

There are reasons to buy an external card, I just don't need it for SAMPLING and wouldn't recommend someone use a convoluted setup to accomplish something as simple as what people are saying they want to do; sample anything that comes out their computer.

 

@synapse cool man thanks for the tips i'll play around with that method... it seems alot easier to do it that way. im so fresh to this whole thing that i dont even have a style yet. im just trying to get a good enough handle on the features of Maschine and how to manipulate it before i really start getting busy... i wanna be able to start something and come to a reasonable conclusion. i dont wanna hit a million and one speed bumps because i dont know what to do next... feel me?

 

If your sampling in from external source or resampling like you outlined, an external soundcard *is* going to sound better than one that's onboard a MB, whether it's laptop or desktop, in almost all cases.

I get that you're saying you don't *hear* the difference, but there is a difference.

STRATEGY