Seems like Lotuz and saintjoe have answered most questions...
nod records wrote:How is the swing on it?
Good. You can apply individual swing settings to each Group, as well as Global swing. You can also invert the swing as well as automate it which is great.
nod records wrote:How are the effects that come with it?
The effects in Maschine kill anything out of a MPC. There are two insert effect slots for every individual sounds, every group, and the master section. Groups and sounds also have two auxiliary outputs. You can set up send effects internally by using a spare sound slot as a return channel, or you can route signals out to external buses for processing in a DAW. Each pad also has standard default effects like compressor, saturator, bit rate and sample rate, and a selectable low pass/band pass/high pass/EQ section. Combined with the sends/etc, and you have quite a bit of options for effects. Plenty of unusual effects as well, and of course pretty much everything can be automated.
nod records wrote:I love my MPC's, but I'm not gonna hate new technology either. I also use Ableton Live and have for years. It seems like Maschine had a lot of features that Ableton has been missing in drum rack. If Ableton changed drum rack to be exactly like an MPC, it would be a wrap!
Yep. Luckily, Maschibleton makes up for each other's missing features. But Maschine's not just about chopping up samples or playing drum hits. If that was it, we'd all be happy using Live's Drum Racks with pad controllers instead. Like I've said here many times before, the best thing about Maschine is that it essentially works like standalone hardware in terms of workflow with the dedicated controller. That does make all the difference. Matching a generic midi controller to software will not even come close, period. Maschine feels like an instrument and you can work with it really fast.
Aside from its main advantage of workflow, these are some things that complement other DAWs like Live:
- a powerful integrated hardware step sequencer w/ visual feedback through backlit pads
- Maschine is a non-linear pattern sequencer just like Live's session view but you can actually record real-time automation in it which Live still can't do without cumbersome workarounds or hacks
- makes for a superb midi controller for other software with two LCD displays and an excellent template editor
- flexible and tight integration with hosts. It can run as a plugin and quickly drag and drop patterns as audio or midi into DAWs
- you can do pretty much everything from the controller without having to use a mouse or look at the computer screen, but if you prefer, you can also you use the mouse for everything and stare at the screen the whole time. It's nice to have the option.
- performance friendly immediately accessible mute/solo of each sample as well as groups of sounds like a combination of features of both Electribe and RM1X
- ability to do things like sampling/resampling that stops automatically at a desired number of bars in sync with tempo, all without ever stopping the sequencer, and have the new sample kick in at the start of next bar (This is one of my favorite features. It kicks Live's ass in this department.)
- Kore-style browser with customizable tags to quickly find sounds; comes with a very useful library
- step parameter lock feature similar to Elektron MachineDrum
- it can work as a hardware multi-fx step sequencer like Sugar Bytes Effectrix for both internal and external sounds
- you can also use it as a matrix clip launcher for Live. In fact, Maschine did this long before APC40 even shipped.
- oh, and once you get it, be sure to check out the LiveMaschine template by fragmented. It works as a remote midi script for Live and has things like instant mapping to Live's 8 macro knobs as well as Group A pads instantly mapping to whatever pads that are in focus in Live's Drum Rack.
