What DAW do you use in combination with Maschine?

Interesting. Would you explain about the intergration in bitwig?
How do you use Maschine in bitwig? What’s possible, what‘s not? How did you setup Maschine in bitwig?

 

For a person using Garage Band I would say Logic would be the easiest transition for you. (You can learn a bunch of other DAWs after that if you want but if you want to transition right into it Logic X would make it easier for you since it's very similar to Garage Band. I use Maschine to sequence beats and to Sample (Unless I have a reason to sample in another app) Maschine is set up as a plugin in Logic then I sequence in Logic switching in and out of midi mode. I use midi mode to control Logic and 3rd party plugins and plugin mode to take advantage of Machine's internal features. People cry about losing the use of Maschine's note repeat in midi mode however I use midi mode to pull up Logic's note repeat and I have buttons setup to switch between divisions. (The pitch bend works to change divisions but buttons are more accurate for me.) I use Reason in rewire mode at the same damn time mainly for sounds but there's other features in Reason I like to take advantage of and this way I can use all three apps Maschine, Logic and Reason. Anyway you sound like a bruva I met in ATL using the same GB + Maschine setup.

 

Dope, so many replies. Thanks.

For the Ableton users: I read in multiple forums thst mixing in ableton is not as easy as it is in Logic. Can you confirm or deny that?

Thanks for the insight. rewiring is another thing thats way above my head. I guess Im not made to get into the technical stuff... Ill stay on the creative side.
Yes, I think Logic might be the one but Im very indecesive when it comes to making investments which is why I always spend like weeks researching products.


Saw some youtube vids of respected hip hop producers use ableton which made me reconsider again. Any pros you know of that use logic? The only one I knew was Havoc.

 

The clean interface was one of the things that drew me to it. It’s funny how our brains work.

 

Start in maschine, export midi and/or audio, finish in logic. Or start in logic, forget about Maschine plugin, load Maschine kits in Battery.

 

I use Ableton too most of the time, though I know my way around Logic and Studio One pretty well too. The only reason I would say Live is harder to mix in for me personally is just because the little arrows they use as faders are a touch harder to grab real quick with the mouse. Otherwise you have really in-depth routing options, totally resizeable mixer, great stock plug ins (I'll take Live's EQ8 and Compressor over any other DAWs stock plug ins myself).

The thing to know about Live is that a lot of things are simplified to make it easy to use. Other DAWs might have very specific functions for tasks that might save you more time (like trimming silence), but you can usually still do the same things in Live it just might take longer.

 

Lol at people perplexed at other peoples workflows. I like using Maschine for drums, barely see the point in it for other things. (NKS mapping though, so plug ins that are well set up in Maschine I will use in it) I don't particularly like doing drums in a DAW, (barring Ableton with Push 2). If I'm working in Reaper, DP Logic etc. I like using Maschine as a drum machine plug in. Getting it all kosher was a PITA, but once it's done it's great. Definitely export the MIDI to the DAW when it's mostly fleshed out though, editing fine details is easier in a DAW, and Maschine glitches switching patterns with time signatures changes otherwise.
At this point I mostly use DP and Live, but I will probably eventually switch to Reaper + Live, except for big movie score type setups, that's where DP shines.

 

Reaper, running Maschine as a VST. Love Reaper. It's cheap, brutally efficient, and skinnable. Right now I'm using a skin to make it look like Logic. When I get bored of that I use one of the protools skins.

 

Yea, its strange. For example I love Premiere Pro but dont like Final Cut because the GUI is too simplified. Abletons GUI on the other hand seems intimidating and complicated to me while Logic seens very logical *no pun intended*.

 

Good suggestion. Can you give me your thoughts on this video?

 

Ive read that Reaper has a super long learning curve and you need to invest qiet some time into just learning rhe daw.

 

I probably have my head in the clouds right now but what is DP?

 

MOTU Digital Performer

 

Dope. Maybe you can answer this one for me:
Since Ableton‘s approach is already loop based why would one use Maschine along with or inside Ableton? Two loop based apps seem - at first hand - redundant.

Also, can you or anyone else explain the use of Maschine as plugin? Why would I use a big and very capable controller like Maschine just as a plugin? Seems wasteful to me.

Thanks once again for all the knowledge.

 

Maschine is an AWESOME controller, but as far as arrangement is concerned, it is weak in comparison with a full blown linear DAW. It also lacks the precision with automation that you'll find in most DAWs.

 

"Since Ableton‘s approach is already loop based"

...it's only loop based when you use ableton's session view...in arrangement view it's like any other "normal" daw...

i also use maschine as a vst inside live as a drum module when i perform and i can tell you that it's not redundant...for instruments i use ableton since it's so much easier for sound design, use of fx, routing, multitrack recording and so on...to have the maschine controller control the maschine vst for my drums makes it easier for me to program my drum patterns or change from one pattern to another while e.g. playing an instrument with the other hand...i just like to have a dedicated controller for my drums...if i'd want to it would be possible to use my maschine expansions with my push2 by using audiomodder's maschine bridge...

 

Reaper can be used straight out of the box, as is, with little issue. You can arm tracks, record, add plugins, route things, do automation, it's all there.

However, Reaper is also HIGHLY customizable. Nearly anything can be changed, even the visual design of the DAW. When you're reading that there's a super long learning curve to even use the DAW, that's most likely the super long learning curve relative to customizing Reaper to function exactly how you want it to work. In many cases, people making those customizations are trying to make it work exactly like the other DAWs they may already know.

You can take Reaper and use it as is, but if you want it to function exactly like Pro Tools, or Logic, you can do that too, hot keys and all, but you'll spend a ton of time customizing the software and learning how to make those customizations.

 

After using Maschine VST in Ableton for years, i recently switched to run Maschine within Studio One. I have a Maschine 'folder' track which contains all of Maschine's groups (as individual MIDI tracks) ... these tracks in turn have 'layers' where i record multiple patterns for the group with the ability to comp that group's MIDI data from multiple patterns - a very nice layout and practical integration into a DAW environment. S1's layers and comping setup works great for this - now my favourite way to work with Maschine

as it happens, my particular soundcard/audio streaming setup allows running multiple audio apps in sync without needing ReWire ... works well for me to have Maschine VST in Studio One and Push2 running Ableton ... all app windows are open across 3 adjacent 23' screens

 

Im curious, what's your soundcard/audio streaming setup?
Are you also a gamer? Tripple monitor setups are very unusual for musicians, could you share a pic of your setup?

 

Personally I usually use Maschine standalone to get my ideas down. I only switch to Live when it's time to arrange those into a song. As other people have said, it's just way easier and faster than trying to do it in Maschine. And I like the default plug ins for mixing a lot more too.