will Maschine ever support aftertouch, better yet MPE?

@CakeAlexS and Mr36: I am not sure what you mean. Native Instruments specifies on its own website that the Maschine pads have aftertouch. Native instruments website is not talking about pressure-sensitivity, nor anything else: just aftertouch. That was, at least for me, all the confirmation I needed when I decided for Maschine. Unfortunately I was wrong.

By the way: even if they did not specify it, I find it very strange for this type of software that it does not support aftertouch. Any vst host software I have been using so far, supports aftertouch and any other general midi signals, even NI's own Kore and Komplete Kontrol.

 

Exactly - it's just standard for most hosts so they are having to actually filter it out for some reason. May be a design flaw?

 

Ignore my last comment. Clearly states pads have aftertouch..and we all know the software does not support it.

I was actually thinking it may be some sort of telekinesis at work...

So come on NI..are you there? Speak up please. Or so we need another open letter in 13 months?

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm not defending NI's use of the term aftertouch there, I'm just saying that it is referring to the pressure-sensitivity of the pads, which can be used for aftertouch purposes. Unfortunately, the Maschine software doesn't yet support aftertouch, so the only uses are in note repeat mode (to vary the velocity of a held pad's repeated notes) and using the controller in MIDI mode.

 

The key thing is are they sending aftertouch midi data (whether channel or poly)? They may be pressure sensitive but it's what that is used for that is the issue here, because pads work mechanically differently from keys pads (thinking of my QuNexus for example) they tend to use pressure for velocity as well as aftertouch, in Maschines case it may be just using it for velocity but not actually sending aftertouch data (which if it's true the Maschine host can't use it would be redundant).

 

Pad "press" can be assigned to "channel pressure" or "poly pressure" (among other things) in Controller Editor, so I think the hardware is capable, it's just (as has been said) the software that is lacking (without sounding like a broken record).

 

Curiouser and curiouser

And what happens to that data inside Maschine?

Did NI mistakenly decide because the pads outputted AT that they just wouldn't support it from any other source?

 

Note repeat uses it. The rest, I eat.

I've never intentionally tried using pressure with a plugin that uses aftertouch, but I'm taking it that nothing happens during playback and the sequencer doesn't record any pressure/aftertouch, yeah?

 

Well, I have returned Maschine. This was just not acceptable for me.

I am now going for Mainstage with Nektar Panorama P1, which is probably a better replacement for good old Kore anyway.

 

Good for you, I hope you let them know why you did this, just as I am letting them know I will not consider purchasing it until they implement it.

btw did you find out if breath cc was also supported?

 

I guess NI reads this forum as well, so they probably know by now. But I have very little hope that they will do anything about it. I was browsing trough the forum about this subject, and it seems that users are complaining about this at least since 2012. So apparently NI is very reluctant to solve this.

I did not test the breath controller anymore.

 

OK just looking at the specs for Maschine 3 and no mention of aftertouch. And yet Maschine can now be integrated into Komplete keyboards, which do support aftertouch. So surely aftertouch support in Maschine DAW is essential now?

btw I'm also hoping Maschine will be available to KK owners in software form - I would buy it - if it suported aftertouch.

 

Come on NI, it's time to bite the bullet and implement aftertouch in the Maschine software. It's a glaring omission, that becomes ever more annoying as time goes by with no action (or even discussion) on your part.

 

There must be a reason to leave it out. But there should also be a solution and have it implemented.

The pads do send out aftertouch and I think in the background, hidden, the pad aftertouch messages do get printed into the maschine sequencer, but they are hard wired to note repeat velocity. I think because of this, they removed AT entirely.
It’s just a bit lazy.

Akai did it with the MPC4000. Those pads have poly aftertouch, routable to many parameters in a mod matrix + when applying pressure while in note repeat you can change volume of every trigger, same as Maschine.

The pads on the Maschine just scream for poly aftertouch inside Maschine software.

 

It's just such a glaringly ridiculous omission given that their latest Synth, Massive X, makes such good use of aftertouch modulation for many patches, patches that cannot be played correctly and a synth that is crippled when used when in Maschine. Not to mention an entire range of keyboards that come with pretty good aftertouch capabilities. If it really is a result of decisions around use of the drum pads then they should just add an instrument mode/drum mode option to toggle how aftertouch is used.

 

Every single time i’m playing something other than drums and bass sounds, I’m like god dammit, these pads need poly pressure. I even press in while playing even though it doesnt do anything

 

the pads are poly aftertouch. which is quite normal for drum pads.
midi-ox confirms it.
the implementation of poly aftertouch of via a midi transformer within maschine itself, like ableton (push 2 has poly aftertouch, ableton uses aftertouch), is simple poly and channel aftertouch are only midi CC messages. nothing fancy.

i also i have now MPE controllers, also not rocket science. but for to implement it for the specific instruments and fx for maschine it takes work.

i always buy keyboards, or always, i wanted always aftertouch. for expression. and changing sound.
strangely i do not really miss it in maschine, but that is the way i work in maschine.
you can use after the fact modulation...

but still aftertouch is a big oversight.

 

I'd definitely like to see mpe support at some point, I have the roli blocks songmaker kit that I use mostly in bitwig, for adding mpe stuff to projects that I export, would be great to do it in standalone though and save a few steps in the process, pigments is a case in point for me, I use it a lot and it has some great mpe patches that I'd love to use in the maschine environment rather than add them post project, it's a bit of an inspiration killer..

 

MPE would be great indeed, although, to my knowledge, none of the Native plugins support it except for Reaktor with a Roli macro and Kontakt with a hacky way