Yay, NIs Maschine arrived yesterday and i was asked to share my first impression. Here it is…

Foreword

After taking a close look at Novations Launchpad and Akais APC40 and trying to use both for drum programming (and step sequencing) i got my head around to ditch both and go for Native Instruments Maschine instead. Still can’t say above controllers are bad (actually, i’d love to keep the APC40 for Ableton) but even with remote scripts and whatever hacks they didn’t satisfy my needs. Yes, both can be bent to extremes but see, i just want a piece of gear to work. And honestly some of those hacks require a master degree in rocket science to deal with.

The hardware part

Like the X1, the Maschine controller has a very stable and rugged feel to it, buttons and knobs are well illuminated. Different pad states are easy to determine unlike on some other devices (hello Akai). The displays are also well readable from all angles.

Getting started

Of course i was eager to check out the system hence can’t get my head around studying the manual, fire up the software instead, load the Anthony Rother preset, hit play and try to get along on my own. The first few minutes end up in an “oh, it’s playing sounds and the pads are flashing”-state of mind, staring at controller and screen, back & forth, trying to make a sense of what’s going on. Is that a bad thing? No, rather some kind of being overwhealmed in a good way.

After waking up from mind-hibernation i’m taking action in own hands start hitting the pads for good. So far, the best ones i tried, instantly get a feel for sensitivity and velocity response. One of the things i’m most concerned about is the step sequencer mode to which is easily accessible via hard- and software. I was a bit afraid it might be some kind of a hack – maybe due to my Launchpad and APC40 learnings – fortunately it’s not. Actually, it’s more or less an alternative view to the pattern and not some kind of arbitary, restricted mode.

Obviously the first thing for me to do is loading a 909 kit and give it some good old-fashioned Ghetto-style-snare-in-the-face-and-tom-your-ass-off-treatment. Once started with programming and checking which button does what Maschine unfolds its untuitive handling. Editing, duplicating, altering pattern goes with a snap.

Last not least i’m interested in pattern transfer from Maschine to Ableton. It should work by drag & drop, unfortunately the icon choosen for that function isn’t too self explanatory – had to look that one up. Once located there are a number of options like having a single pattern holding all notes or a pattern for each pad. That’ll certainly come in handy lateron.

I also had a look at the variety of menus on the two controller-side displays every now and then, fiddled around with filters, envelopes, effects… First thought they might be too small to present enough information to work with, but they really aren’t. Once used to them those will speed up the production process a lot over going through the software on the monitor. I guess? At least for specific operations.

And that’s all about me scratching Maschines surface – it is lots of fun and so far i’m very, very impressed with every aspect of it. More to come – stay tuned!