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  • Maschine Accessibility
  • Patterns

Patterns

Patterns are the building blocks of your music in Maschine. You can think of them as short segments of music that can be chained together to create more complex musical structures.

Pattern Mode is the recommended mode for recording and is activated by pressing The Pattern button (the seventh button from the bottom in the Pad Mode Zone). If the Helper announces “Clips” when you do this, just press Screen Button 1 and you should hear “Pattern” (in this mode, Screen Buttons 1 and 2 change between Patterns and Clips).

In Pattern Mode, you can create and edit Patterns, and use the 4-D Encoder to move and edit note events.

Creating and Deleting Patterns

Patterns are created in banks of 16, with each pattern within a bank being assigned to one of the pads. Try creating some patterns by following these steps:

  1. Hold down the Pattern Button and press Screen Button 1 to pin it. This will free up your hands for later.

  2. Within the Helper, navigate to the Pad Zone and you should see that all of the pads are assigned to “New Pattern”.

  3. Press Screen Button 5, which is assigned to Create a new pattern. The patterns are mapped to the pads in ascending numerical order. Note that the Accessibility Helper numbers the pads from the top left to the bottom right, while Maschine numbers the pads from the bottom left to the top right. Therefore, the first pattern is mapped to Pad 13 as read by the screen reader.

  4. If you have created 16 patterns and you then create another one, the 17th pattern will appear as being on Pad 1 within Bank 2. You can use Screen Buttons 7 and 8 to move from bank to bank.

  5. Tapping a pad will select the pattern mapped to that pad (or allow you to map a new pattern to the pad if it is empty).

  6. Screen Button 6 will delete the selected pattern.

  7. You can check the pad assignments in the Helper by navigating to the Pad Zone.

Recording a Pattern

When you are ready to record a pattern:

  1. Press the Pattern button on the controller, if you have not already.

  2. Press the Group A button to select your drum kit—you should hear either “Group A 1” or the name of the preset you chose. The “1” that you hear is the number of the pattern within the current bank.

  3. Create a new pattern, or select an existing pattern if you want to overwrite it (see above).

  4. Turn Screen Knob 4 to set the pattern length. You can change the pattern length in finer steps by holding down the Shift Button while you turn Screen Button 4.

  5. Press the Pad Mode Button in the Pad Input Modes Zone—you should hear “Pad Mode page”.

  6. Press Shift + Record [Count-In] to activate the count-in. The RECORD button is the second button from the left on the bottom row of the Transport Zone. The length of the count-in is set in the first parameter page of the General Settings panel (see above).

  7. Play the pads to enter your idea.

  8. Stop recording by pressing the Stop button, which is immediately to the right of the Record button.

  9. You can hear what you recorded by pressing the Play button, which is the leftmost button on the bottom row of the Transport Zone. Pressing the Play Button a second time will pause the playback, so pressing it a third time will resume playback from where you paused it. If you want to play the pattern from its start, press the Restart Button (the top-left button of the Transport Zone).

  10. If your timing is a little off, you can correct your recording by holding down the Shift button and pressing Pad 5 [Quantize]. If you want the correction to be a little gentler, try holding down the Shift button and pressing Pad 6 [Quantize 50%].

  11. If you do not like what you have recorded, hold down the Shift button and press Pad 1 [Undo]. Holding down the Shift button and pressing Pad 2 [Redo] will bring your recording back if you used Undo and then changed your mind.

  12. You can change the tempo at any time by pressing the Tempo Button in the Edit Zone then turning the 4-D Encoder—you will hear the tempo announced as you turn the knob. Fine tempo values can be achieved by holding down the Shift Button as you turn the 4-D Encoder.

  13. You can toggle the metronome by holding down the Shift Button and pressing the Tap Button (the third button from the left on the top row of the Transport Zone).

  14. Create more new patterns and repeat the recording process to record slightly different drum parts.

  15. Create more patterns, but this time press the Group B button before you start recording so that you can record some bass parts.