MPC Vs. Maschine mini Review

Alright, I was hesitant about making this thread better yet even coming back to this forum after having to deal with all the closed minded folks that derailed the last gear discussion thread I made.

Last Episode I asked about product opinions from people who owned both the MPC and the Maschine, absolutely no one that owned both of them ever chimed in, it just turned into posts about opinions and a bunch of nonsense which is not helpful or even meaningful to folks just looking for some insight into gear and setups and have a mature discussion. Please come off that stuff folks, there's plenty of gear out there and there's plenty of ways to use it, it doesn't start nor end with the MPC.

Just wanted to get that out the way.

Now about the Maschine:

As I noted in my last thread I got mine about 2 or so ago. I've been really playing around with it learning about how much it can do, and what it can do and I'm still learning to be honest as there's a lot of uses for this piece of gear.

First up the Maschine isn't stand alone you will need a lap top of desktop to access it. Once it is plugged in though it acts like a stand alone drum machine that you can can edit with it's software program.

It took me a while to get the Maschine installed and running (so it's not like the MPC where you just boot it up and load your sounds off the disk on the fly right out the box) Matter of fact that's the first thing I noticed about the Maschine, It has so many features to it so it's not so easy to just dive into at first (will probably get easier as you get more familiar with it).

What's the biggest difference I noticed and the main reason I brought to use over my MPC is the ability to access and edit sounds. It's no joke that the sample library is full of sounds but they aren't rinky dinks they have some sick samples on the software already. The Maschine organizes all of the samples and sounds very nicely and very neatly.

You can change sounds on the pc or on the Maschine itself by selecting the sound catagory, and the type of sound you want and even test them as you do it. Like if you load up your dope kit and your like I don't like this snare or these claps, you can just select the pad the snare of claps or whatever is on and run through the samples till you get what you want. That's probably the nicest feature I think I"ll be using the most.

On the MPC I would have my kits preloaded for most of the man samples I used but some tracks I'd be like nah I don't want to use this snare I want this one, off this disk, then have to go loading up several disk to build the kit with the few sounds I wanted. I like that the Maschine manages sounds and kits better so customizing the pads is easier.

The other sick thing about the sounds on the Maschine is that you can edit every sample and every kit right then and there, You don't have to leave a window and go outside your kit to editing mode. Everything is right on your screen to adjust on the fly. The editing ability is really precise since it's basically audio editing software. I see that as a better convenience that trying to figure out which pixel on the screen is the part you want to cut and edit on the MPC.

There's also other interesting functions on the Maschine like the Not repeat is independent and can be adjusted live. It's not just a secondary feature. I've seen some videos of DJ's using the Maschine doing live mixes with the note repeat function that sounded sick. It's interesting to see it used outside of just recording a pattern.

Beat making wise I'm still getting into the programs on the Maschine. There is a lot of options as well as quantizing features that help with making those precise tracks. It's a lot to learn about since there's a lot the software can do.

My impressions of it so far is that it's a more technical device than the MPC for it's sample management and editing features. I've had my MPC for a little over a decade so anything new that's like it I compare and contrast it to. The Maschine however is just on a different level of recording I actually feel like it should cost more consider I paid about $1,200 for my MPC and it does so much less at half the price. Since they both really are so different I just say it depends on the user if they'll like it or not. The MPC is good because it's Standalone and simple to get into. The Maschine is good because it has so many features and is very technical.

I don't see a reason to dump my MPC or a Reason not to Own a Maschine. For me I think the MPC will be easier to lift samples since it's stand alone I can hook it up to almost anything with an RCA jack and get what I want. I'm no so thrilled about routing stuff with my sound card yet but Ihaven't got into the sampling function of the MAschine really.

So far so good...I like it.

Thanks! Good review. You would definitely get more feedback if you had posted this in the "MPC Studio Envioronments".

I've been watching vids about Maschine and DAW interaction and it looks amazing. I'm concidering purchasing it but I don't want to go full software yet. I still like my hardware and especially my MPC.

you never mentioned what MPC you're using!

i take any workstation 100x more seriously when they include essential sampling features like crossfade/reverse loop, otherwise it is pretty useless to me at this point.

johnnyonehand wrote:Last Episode I asked about product opinions from people who owned both the MPC and the Maschine, absolutely no one that owned both of them ever chimed in.....

Maschine doesn't have all the sample editing features that I feel a sampler should have. The MV-8800 and MPC 2500/1000 running JJ OS come the closest to what I feel is ideal.

People really don't speak of how deep the Mv's sample manipulation & Editing is

It’s amazing how fast you can set up everything in Maschine and make music. Reminds me about some old Pete Rock interview where he’s talking about how stunned he was when he first saw someone working on the MPC 60 while he was still on the SP-1200. I fear that all those blinking lights might give me a seizure though. Sad to see Akai not being able to keep up at all.

I like the fact that Machine can load MPC .pgm files. straight up up sold my xl after getting mine. might still get a lil 500 though for traveling. but i like mpc and maschine equally. good review

how often do u reverse a sample or need to do cross fades


most beats i jut need to assign samples to the pads and adjust the start points, thats the main thing.

jpeg wrote:how often do u reverse a sample or need to do cross fades


most beats i jut need to assign samples to the pads and adjust the start points, thats the main thing.

he said crossfade/reverse LOOP. they are techniques used mainly in building melodic instruments to play chromatically, not just like drum samples. if you creating realistic + efficient melodic programs, these functions are VERY helpful.

mpcs are not designed for this type of sampling, though...but doesnt jj bring it?

tapedeck wrote:
mpcs are not designed for this type of sampling, though...but doesnt jj bring it?

yea definitely

yeah, jjos has it. i think the 4k, too. on a technical level it's not a matter of mpc's "not being designed" for it as it's as simple as playing the same sample overtop itself, creating a smooth loop (at cost of 2x polyphony). even the oldest MPCs are more than capable of doing this - easy street. i was painstakingly simulating crossfade loop back on mpc1k os 1.07...i called it "blurring" back then.

it's just a matter of "programming priorities" (lack of support, in my opinion) leaving essential sampling functions out of the feature list. i wouldn't expect this function in say a sp404, but something that describes itself as a sampling workstation is pretty lame not to include it.

and that's a criticism of just one angle of approaching something like this. you could have the best sequencer ever and still have crappy/limited sampling features and use it beautifully. excellent conventional sample based hip hop has been made w/out it completely but for the more intricately programmed contemporary stuff it is a lifesaver.

i use crossfade loop on virtually every melodic sample slice. since i slice note for note, it allows me to control the length of each note's duration. elastic audio. it's like an updated version of my old alternate loop trick that allows for fake realtime "timestretching"

very old video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbqXKwXoImc

maschine developing its sampler further would be interesting. using kontakt is not an option since it's a lot less tactile than an MPC and has a pretty clicky, unpleasant interface in my opinion.

Nym wrote:on a technical level it's not a matter of mpc's "not being designed" for it as it's as simple as playing the same sample overtop itself, creating a smooth loop (at cost of 2x polyphony). even the oldest MPCs are more than capable of doing this - easy street. i was painstakingly simulating crossfade loop back on mpc1k os 1.07...i called it "blurring" back then.

well to be technical, most mpcs dont offer crossfade and def not reverse looping because they are simply not built in. yes the machine could handle it but it's not there. like you, i simulate it with super fast note repeat and attack/decay settings. you could manually do reverse looping as well by copy/paste/merging samples and looping.

but those functions are not built into most 'drum' samplers.

Nym wrote:you could have the best sequencer ever and still have crappy/limited sampling features and use it beautifully.

amen - and its called an mpc ;]. the 60 doesnt even have a filter, i dont think.

now an eps / asr - THATS a damn sampler!
bowtie / crossfade / reverse / butterfly looping / synthesised loop - its crazy how far you can take that thing.

curious, what editing features do the 60/3000 have to qualify them as having an awesome sequencer? i've never understood this. it's still step edit, right? 4 visible notes on 1 track at 1 time?

these days i can't stand actually sequencing in step edit. i'll jump in there every now and then but only to adjust a nv parameter. it's a blanket statement, but i wouldn't describe anything without a grid as having an awesome sequencer (in my opinion of course) anymore. it'd was too much of a pain in the ass to do the deep editing on the 1k step edit on Edge City...

you know nym, i used to feel the same way, 'wheres the visual editor' in regards to the sequencer...
since i decided to just totally dive into the mpc workflow, i have since come to realise how unimportant (for me) that stuff actually is.

what makes the mpc sequencer so great for me is the actual way you have to work with it. number one, the quickest way to work with it is to do it as you listen to it. this is something that has proven invaluable to me, as it really forces you to hear what you are doing. i had to change my way of thinking from 'i know the best way to do this' to 'how can the mpc take me there', but once i did, i couldn't look back. the thing i never expected was, by sequencing while listening, vs looking, i have come up with shit i would have never thought of if i was entering notes into a grid. for me, i can very quickly develop the tactile sense of where sounds are, and it makes it pretty intuitive to 'randomly' mash on the pads and come up with something new. in a grid editor, i haven't found this to be as quick or rewarding to 'jam' with.

it should be noted, the mpc basically converted me to only use step edit to fix minor things, i always build sequences in real time now (something i never did before).

i also really like the way you edit things in the sequencer. its so numbers based and so quick to do, once i got good at it i was doing edits way faster than i could visually.

the way you erase notes, just like playing them, what a concept. this is where maschine immediately let me down (you can do it, but its not the same).

note repeat, maybe its not new now but it is a really incredible feature. this is actually where maschine really impressed me!

anyway, im rambling, but the thing about the mpc sequencer is how strangely musical and instrument-like such a cold, sterile process has become. i mean, you can actually learn and practice and practice on it, and i still find myself finding new things, and getting better at it. the limitations that it imposes work to the players advantage - and imo the beauty is that where those limits are is perfectly designed. you know, do you think a virtuoso guitar player would prefer a guitar with 6 strings, or a guitar with 1000 strings? sometimes those 'limits' are actually what define the instrument so well.

maybe you find something interesting in there, but long story short, the mpc sequencer is so beautifully designed, its no surprise to me that so much that exists today, and since, is a copy, but many of them miss some very subtle points that actually combine perfectly in a good mpc.

and its that very subtle cohesion that makes me despise 'comparing' an mpc to maschine. why compare a 1000 stringed guitar to a beautifully designed 6 string? they can coexist, but neither is 'better' or 'worse' or imo even worth comparing to each other.