What are owners of this thinking now that it has been released for a while? How has it integrated into your setup?
Am considering getting this however I do rely on the groove templates in ableton so am a bit concerned about a conflict with this. Although I’m sure it can be easily resolved.
I’ve had Maschine for quite a few years now and it is still as fresh and exciting as when I first opened it from the box. Regarding the Ableton groove templates, you can drag and drop MIDI patterns from the Maschine plugin to the host DAW, after which you can apply the Ableton groove you are thinking of. Hope this helps!
so, forgive me for the stupid question but…
the midi pattern that’s in say, Ableton, will still play the instrument that’s in Maschine with all the other FX in Maschine but… swinging to a groove template that’s in Ableton?
Or does it not work like that?
If not, can you manually add velocity and nudge midi notes off the grid to swing them directly in Maschine itself?
What are the kit’s like it comes with? I’ve heard they are good.
I think I’'ll get one in a few months.
[quote]jonsloan (08/02/2012)[hr]so, forgive me for the stupid question but…
the midi pattern that’s in say, Ableton, will still play the instrument that’s in Maschine with all the other FX in Maschine but… swinging to a groove template that’s in Ableton?
Or does it not work like that?
If not, can you manually add velocity and nudge midi notes off the grid to swing them directly in Maschine itself?[/quote]
Yes - this is exactly right. You drag and drop the MIDI pattern onto Maschine track in Ableton, then remove the pattern playing in Maschine so that Maschine is now being triggered by the MIDI notes from your host DAW. After this it is simply a case of applying Ableton’s grooves to the different clips you have exported.
You can of course tinker with velocity and nudge notes off the grid inside Maschine, but don’t forget that Maschine’s pads are velocity sensitive, and you can switch off the grid completely inside Maschine when recording a sequence to get more natural feel in the first place. A nice feature Maschine has is the 50% quantise option which retains some of the original feel if you want to quantise your notes a little after recording.
@ alanluvsfunk - I personally think the kits included in Maschine are excellent, but I’ve heard a few people bitching and moaning about them on the NI Maschine forum. Have a go on one in your local music shop if you’re not sure and see what you think.
Hope this helps guys and gals. 
thanks mate. and your answer probably took me one step closer to buying it.
though my missus still thinks I should buy a Reactable…
after we win the lottery of course.
Bloody hell that’s one expensive craps table :blink:
i always been interested in maschine, but i already own a APC40 and launchpad. so i have problems to understand how maschine would be better for me, as i seen it maschine a launchpad with knobs, or im totaly wrong?
Well, Launchpad and the APC40 are more dedicated MIDI controllers for Live, whereas Maschine is both a MIDI controller and a full instrument in its own right. The velocity sensitive pads, for example, offer far more expression in your playing than the off/on signals from the pads of many other controllers. Have a go on one for half an hour and I’m sure you’ll see what I mean.
Should be getting mine in the next month or so…can’t wait!
Nice one! Hope you have a good time with it. The first time you load a VST into it (especially a Native Instruments one) and all the parameters magically appear across the hardware is a beautiful thing to behold!
It certainly is a nice piece of kit to have
Spent yesterday routing mashines midi and audio into live - got it set up just the way i want so I can process each drum track and then able to bounce each track back into the maschine to use its own fx
Now my next challenge is hooking it up with Traktor - ain’t so easy I fear on a PC
Will be interested to hear how you get on mate!
How are ya anyway, long time no speak
[quote]MOZZATRON (15/02/2012)[hr]Will be interested to hear how you get on mate!
How are ya anyway, long time no speak[/quote]
Been very busy with production work, have 2 dj shows per month and now a schedule manager for Fnoob Techno Radio - oh my real job is hectic as its funding season
The track I am working on will be a Fnoob Techno Radio exclusive which will be available for free download - more info nearer the time 
I’ll chime in and say that Maschine is cool…but I never use mine. I haven’t had the patience to get it into a workflow that’s integrated with Ableton, and building a track inside Ableton is just so much faster and more flexible that I never touch my Maschine except perhaps to use the sound library.
I think a lot of it depends on your work flow. If you like doing live drumming and that sort of thing, then it’s quite nice, but I’m very much a mouse clicker for almost everything, so I just pretty much never use it.
Thinking about selling it, actually. Know I haven’t really “pitched it” very well. But if you’re interested you’re welcome to it. Dunno what the going price is on eBay - make me an offer. Mine’s in perfect condition, though. Let me know if you want it. Also, in the U.S. Happy to ship internationally, but it’ll cost ya.
they’re very nice you wont regret it
[quote]wickedged (14/02/2012)[hr]Well, Launchpad and the APC40 are more dedicated MIDI controllers for Live, whereas Maschine is both a MIDI controller and a full instrument in its own right. The velocity sensitive pads, for example, offer far more expression in your playing than the off/on signals from the pads of many other controllers. Have a go on one for half an hour and I’m sure you’ll see what I mean.[/quote]
my buddy will loan me a maschine mikro over weekend, so its gonna be awesome to see how it works, i have a komplette 8 so i believei can use like battery with maschine?
Yes I think so, but I’m only on Komplete 7 and have never bothered installing Battery as I assumed it duplicated Maschine. Am I being dumb?
Just as a quick side point - I would try out Maschine on the full controller if you want to get a full sense of what its all about. Half the fun of the controller is the eight rotary encoders on the full version - on Mikro you only get one so I would imagine a lot of the tweakability fun is lost. I could be wrong though as I’ve not used a Mikro yet. Let me know how it goes!
The new expansion pack looks interesting - plus I have a voucher