Review: Native Instruments Maschine
NI crosses a beatbox with a computer and conceivably leaves an indelible mark on MPC history.
22 June 2009
Review: Brad Watts
The history surrounding the MPC60 has become one of the cornerstones of electronica folklore. The story goes that Roger Linn and Akai got together to build a killer sampler with a drum machine interface, splicing the DNA of the Linn9000 drum machine with the Akai S1000 sampler. The MPC, in the words of the great Borat Sagdiyev, was: “big success”. The form factor went on to be imitated by Akai itself for many years, and later Roland, with the MV8000.
The MPC design, despite being initially conceived as a drum machine on steroids, quickly became the primary sequencer, sampler, and overall production centre for thousands of music producers. Why? Well, the MIDI sequencer had extremely solid timing and a great feel; even the swing quantising felt great, the 16 large velocity-sensitive trigger pads were unheard of on anything at the time, and let’s not forget the chunky Akai audio signature – drums sounded great belting out of an Akai sampler, and the MPC was no exception. Technical aspects aside, the MPC’s ergonomics also won it many friends. An MPC sat on a tabletop much like a book, with all editing and interaction with the unit executed in a downward motion. Compared to the vertically arranged rack-mounted samplers, the MPC saved plenty of backache.
Nowadays, with so many music producers relying on computer-based systems, it’s almost an archaic notion to rely on a standalone unit for sampling and sequencing – although many still prefer this method. This is where controller units such as Akai’s MPD pad controllers have won back some ground, offering the same style of 16-pad playing surface, but without the sampling and sequencing smarts, seemingly offering the best of both worlds: virtually unlimited creative possibilities, with the MPC groovebox style of performance and data entry.
This is where Native Instruments steps into the fray with its eagerly anticipated and (already) somewhat successful Maschine. We actually had a degree of difficulty getting our mitts on one here at AT, with the first shipment into Australia selling out before we’d batted an eyelid. Fortunately, a demo model was recently unearthed so let’s have a squizz shall we?
MAN & MASCHINE
First impressions of Maschine are of a very portable and solidly built piece of kit. With the entire case built from an extruded aluminium chassis, Maschine is light enough to carry about, and the substantial build quality is what you’d expect in a percussion controller. Let’s not forget that this unit will be something you’ll hit… hard and often. A firm push downward on the top panel yields no give whatsoever – unlike the flimsy collapsing movement regularly seen on so many audio products these days. Maschine’s rear panel features a USB port and MIDI In and Out sockets… and that’s it for I/O. Power is supplied via USB. The only other ‘port’ is a Kensington security lock point. The unit measures a mere 320mm by 295mm so it’s certainly small enough to carry to gigs along with your laptop.
NEED TO KNOW
WHERE THE ACTION IS
The top panel is, of course, where all the real action is, with the first point of interest being the 16 off-white velocity and aftertouch-sensitive rubberised pads. These are somewhat smaller than the pads found on any of the ‘classic’ designs, but perfectly functional and totally fine for playing nonetheless – the cute thing is they’re backlit, as are all other buttons across Maschine’s surface. But before investigating the more in-depth workings of Maschine, I should hastily point out its modus operandi.
The Maschine controller surface runs hand in hand with dedicated Maschine software. This can run either as a stand-alone application, or an instrument plug-in via AU, VST, RTAS, ASIO, Core Audio, DirectSound, and the Windows 7 only WASAPI format. Installation requires Windows XP or OS X 10.4 or better, and you’ll need 5GB of drive space for the included sound library. Maschine also requires a USB 2.0 port – it simply doesn’t work via USB 1.1.
The idea behind Maschine is that the hardware unit will address its standalone software for all sequencing, sampling and editing duties. Once you’re running the program within a DAW as a plug-in, however, the Machine controller only addresses the Maschine plug-in – it doesn’t act as a universal MIDI controller for your other virtual or real MIDI instruments (at first). Maschine locks into its own universe, behaving as if it were a bona-fide hardware instrument. This mode of operation does initially seem odd when you’re used to typical DAW operation, but within minutes you’ve forgotten about the computer connection and you’re editing away on the Maschine surface. This is the beauty of Maschine.
You can, however, put the Maschine into ‘MIDI Controller’ mode if you prefer, enabling the unit to drive other software-based instruments, with a separate editing application supplied for configuring the Maschine’s pads and buttons to output any manner of MIDI information. These setups can be stored as templates within the Maschine controller, and recalled whenever required. Cooler still is the option to bump Maschine into Mackie Control Universal (MCU) mode. The majority of DAW applications will allow control via this protocol, so you’ve got a reasonably sophisticated mixing control surface to boot, albeit one with knobs for volume control rather than faders. Jumping between ‘Maschine mode’ and the more typical control surface mode is a quick two-button procedure – completely painless.
Using your established sample libraries involves importing WAV or AIFF files from scratch. Native Instruments hasn’t made it possible to import other sample libraries from say EXS, Giga, or indeed its own Kontakt and Battery sampler systems – yet. But Maschine isn’t merely a rehash of the Kontakt engine in a different outfit. Consequently, synthesis tools are quite different.
As far as modulating a sample goes, there’s access to an amplitude envelope that can be configured as either AHDSR amplitude envelope, pitch, glide, reverse, and of course sample start and end points along with looping. An assignable modulation envelope can then be routed to any of four destinations, one of which is cut-off. Filters include low-pass, high-pass and band-pass. There’s also a typically spec’d LFO for mangling duties, sync’able to bar divisions as well as free-flowing oscillations. There’s a swag of effects that can be applied to samples, and the software allows the use of individual outputs of your audio interface.
I don’t think I’ve seen a dedicated sample button on a sampler since, gosh, I can’t remember when.
DEUS EX MASCHINA
So what can you actually do with Maschine? Well, well, well… the possibilities run as broad as what most MPC style units can accomplish. As I’ve mentioned, all Maschine operations can be carried out from the control unit: from loading sounds and banks through to sequencing and editing of waveforms. The waveforms are displayed on the Maschine’s LCD displays and there’s even a large button labelled ‘Sampling’. That’s correct; press the sampling button to sample – I don’t think I’ve seen a dedicated sample button on a sampler since, gosh, I can’t remember when. It’s a friendly touch nonetheless.
Organising your sounds across Maschine’s 16 pads is a piece of cake. Select the pad you wish to use, dial up a sample from the none-too-shabby library, and hit the ‘Load’ button. The software reflects these changes very quickly – remember the link is via USB 2.0. Once you have a full bank of sounds spread across the pads you can then commence filling up another bank of 16 sounds. Up to eight banks can be configured, each one recallable via the eight blue backlit bank buttons on the left of the Maschine controller – these are labelled A through to H. Each pad’s sound can be step sequenced, or alternatively, patterns can be recorded in real-time, with each pad’s events shown in the software via a piano-roll style edit window – the controller depicts each sequence step via the backlit trigger pads. The edit window in the Maschine software depicts lanes for each pad within a group. Once a group has a set of sequences recorded or programmed, that sequenced phrase is referred to as a Pattern. Individual events within these Patterns can have all manner of parameters edited, including any style of parameter within the mixing, effects, or the sampler section of Maschine. For example, each event could have its sample start point edited, along with pitch (of course), filter settings and effect settings. These patterns can then be arranged in whatever order you wish and depicted in the upper section of the Maschine software (plug-in or standalone). Aside from the eight ‘soft’ rotary encoders below the LCD screen, there are three dedicated encoders. The first being volume, then tempo, followed by the all important ‘swing’ control…
INTO THE BOWELS OF MASCHINE
Oh dear. I’ve just realised I’ve completely immersed myself in the thick of it here, and don’t have the word space to go into everything you can do with Maschine, but I’ll attempt to squeeze a few more tid-bits in. How does the ability to slice samples by grid or transient point sound, or the facility to have notes continually trigger according to the current grid setting? Then there’s muting and soloing individual sounds via the trigger pads, or indeed grouping them via the Group buttons. And let’s not disregard the frightfully powerful ability to resample patterns as waveforms clocked to the tempo of the track and then re-trigger them. Then there’s the incredibly fast sampling and key-mapping procedure. You can put together a vocal drum kit with an SM58 stuffed in your mouth within minutes… no, make that less than a minute. Then there’s the very capable effects section, with both insert and master effects. The list does go on, but I just can’t.
The verdict? Well, we’re not the only ones to give Maschine the thumbs up (the office guys have been giving it a workout too) There are countless favourable reports on the Maschine buzzing around the web. In short, the Maschine might well do what many have believed impossible till now: bridge the gab between MPC-style performance and production, and computer-based tune-smithing. To be honest, it’s hardly worth sitting back waiting to find out if it will. If this style of workflow even slightly resembles your postcode, you’d be a duffer not to take it for a spin.
RESPONSES