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Native Instruments Maschine Getting Started

Summary of Maschine

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    Getting started.

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    The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a commitment on the part of native instruments gmbh. The software described by this docu- ment is subject to a license agreement and may not be copied to other media. No part of this publication may be copied...

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    Native instruments gmbh schlesische str. 29-30 d-10997 berlin germany www.Native-instruments.De native instruments north america, inc. 6725 sunset boulevard 5th floor los angeles, ca 90028 usa www.Native-instruments.Com native instruments k.K. Yo building 3f jingumae 6-7-15, shibuya-ku, tokyo 150-00...

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    Table of contents 1 welcome to maschine! ............................................................................................10 1.1 where to start? ........................................................................................................................... 11 1.1.1 your first ...

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    3.2.2 loading a drumsynth ................................................................................................ 42 3.2.2.2 loading a drumsynth into a plug-in list on the hardware ........................46 3.2.3 adjusting volume, swing and tempo ..............................................

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    5.3.3 adjusting the base key of the pads on your controller .............................................. 81 5.4 recording a bass line ................................................................................................................ 82 5.4.1 creating a bass pattern .....................

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    7.3 save your work! ......................................................................................................................... 110 7.4 to sum up… .............................................................................................................................. 110 8 creati...

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    9.4 the mix view ............................................................................................................................... 145 10 quick reference ........................................................................................................148 10.1 using your maschine...

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    11.2.1 knowledge base ........................................................................................................ 178 11.2.2 technical support ...................................................................................................... 178 11.2.3 registration support ............

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    1 welcome to maschine! Thank you for buying maschine! Maschine is essentially the synergy of the maschine controller hardware and the ma- schine software combining the advantages of both worlds for making music, live as well as in the studio. The intuitive, hands-on qualities of a dedicated instrume...

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    1.1 where to start? Maschine provides you with many information sources. The main documents should be read in the following sequence: 1. Maschine setup guide 2. Maschine getting started (this document) and online video tutorials 3. Maschine manual maschine documents are available in pdf format and l...

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    1.1.2 maschine getting started guide after reading the setup guide and following its instructions, your maschine should be up and running. The next step is to read this maschine getting started. This gives you a practi- cal approach to maschine via a set of tutorials covering easy and more advanced ...

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    1.1.7 other online resources if you are experiencing problems related to your native instruments product that the supplied documentation does not cover, there are several ways of getting help: ▪ knowledge base ▪ user forum ▪ technical support ▪ registration support you will find more information on ...

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    ◦ chapter ↑ 3, building your own drum kit : customize your drum kit by quickly ex- changing some of its sounds via the browser and by adjusting some of the sounds’ ba- sic settings. ◦ chapter ↑ 4, creating beats : record a second pattern and discover how to fine-tune your patterns. ◦ chapter ↑ 5, ad...

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    1.3 document conventions this section introduces you to the signage and text highlighting used in this document. This document uses particular formatting to point out special facts and to warn you of potential is- sues. The icons introducing these notes let you see what kind of information is to be ...

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    The term “effect” is sometimes be abbreviated as “fx” when referring to elements in the ma- schine software and hardware. These terms have the same meaning. Button combinations and shortcuts on your controller most instructions will use the “+” sign to indicate buttons (or buttons and pads) that mus...

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    2 first steps in this first tutorial, we will load a drum kit from the factory library, play it with the pads and record a simple rhythmic pattern. For a complete overview of maschine and its controls, please see section ↑ 10, quick reference . Prerequisites please carefully follow the instructions ...

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    2.1 loading a drum kit from the factory library we will first choose a complete drum kit from the huge factory library included with ma- schine, and load it. To do this, we will use the maschine browser. The browser is your tool for finding, tagging and categorizing all types of objects used in masc...

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    2. Click the group icon to get a list of all available drum kits in the library: 3. In the content selector to the right, click the ni icon to select only native instruments factory content: first steps loading a drum kit from the factory library maschine mikro - getting started - 19.

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    4. In the types filter, select the kits . The browser will then display only kits in the result list. 5. Select the urban kit sub-type tag below to further refine your search. First steps loading a drum kit from the factory library maschine mikro - getting started - 20

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    6. Scroll down the result list and double-click ek-tl a kit to load this drum kit into group a. 2.1.2 loading a drum kit from the factory library using the controller on your controller, do the following: 1. Press group + pad 13 (also labeled a ) to select the first group slot. This is where we are ...

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    4. Turn the control encoder at the right of the display until you see group at the bottom of the display. This will allow us to browse groups only. 5. Press right arrow until you see 2/3: product at the bottom of the display. 6. Turn the control encoder to select all . This way, we will browse all p...

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    8. Turn the control encoder until you see kits . Now we can browse all kits. 9. Press right arrow until you see 4/4: sub-type at the bottom left of the display. 10. Turn the control encoder until you see urban kit , to further limit the result list to this type of kits. 11. Now press f2 above the di...

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    12. Press f3 above the display so that +pat is deselected. 13. Turn the control encoder until you see ek-tl a kit at the bottom of the display. 14. Press the control encoder to load that kit. → the drum kit is loaded into the first group slot. Now let’s leave the browser and get back to the default ...

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    2.2 playing with the pads as soon as a group is loaded (here the ek-tl a kit) and the corresponding group slot selected (here group slot a), this group can be played from the pads on your controller. Each pad trig- gers one of the sounds included in the group. ► play the pads to get the feel of your...

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    ▪ the newly pressed pad is fully lit. If you release group the pads can be used to trigger the sounds of the selected group. Since we haven’t loaded anything in the other groups yet, all the pads are unlit, except one of them (indicating that it is currently selected). As you can see, maschine commu...

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    1. Press play to start the sequencer. The play button lights up. You won’t hear anything yet because nothing has been record- ed. 2. Press shift + play to activate the metronome so you get a rhythmical reference. You now hear the metronome indicating each beat, the first beat of each bar being indi-...

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    → you just created your first pattern! You can now deactivate the metronome by pressing shift + play again and listen to your newly created rhythm. ► to stop the sequencer, press play again. Quick edits on your pattern at any time, you can undo your last action by pressing shift + pad 1 — whether yo...

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    2.4.1.1 using solo and mute in the maschine software soloing a sound ► to solo a sound, right-click (on mac os x: [ctrl]-click) the number on the left side of the sound slot in the pattern editor. Soloing the first kick sound. ► to unsolo a sound, right-click (on mac os x: [ctrl]-click) the number a...

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    By default, the mute on sounds is an event mute: events for muted sounds are not trig- gered, but the audio coming from previous events might still be audible (reverb tail, etc.). You can also activate audio mute for sounds to mute both events and audio — see the beginning of this section for more i...

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    You can also solo and mute whole groups by holding solo or mute + group + pad ( 9 – 16 ) — for now we only have one group loaded, thus it would not make much sense just yet. 2.4.2 using note repeat note repeat is a really handy way to play and program beats: it plays the selected sound or note repea...

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    2.5 save your work! A drum groove is an ideal starting point for the creation of a song. All the instruments you re- cord afterwards will be based on the feeling of that rhythm. Before we get to adding new ele- ments and editing your pattern, you should save your work right away. Saving your work in...

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    ▪ load a group using the browser. ▪ use the pads to play the sounds of that group. ▪ record a simple pattern with that group. ▪ use the mute, solo and note repeat features to create variations on the fly. ▪ save the current project for a later use. Once you feel comfortable with these tasks, please ...

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    3 building your own drum kit in this tutorial, we will exchange some of the sounds of our drum kit, and adjust a few settings for our project and our group. On the way, we will discover some features of the maschine software user interface. Prerequisites we assume here that you followed the previous...

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    Opening a project in the software in the maschine software, the browser is found in the left part of the window. If you cannot see the browser in the maschine software, click the little magnifying glass in the header at the top of the maschine window in order to show the browser: enable the magnifyi...

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    2. In the content selector to the right, click the user icon to select only the user-created projects: in the result list below, we now have one unique project left — our “my first project”: 3. Double-click this unique entry to load the project in maschine. Of course, if you have already created oth...

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    3. Press the left or right arrow button under the display to select the filetype field at the bottom of the display, then turn the control encoder to select project . This indicates the type of files that will be displayed. 4. Press f3 to select user . User will become highlighted to indicate you ha...

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    That’s it! Now we can continue to work on our tutorial project. You will note that every action we did on the controller is directly mirrored in the brows- er of the maschine software. This is true in both directions! 3.2 customizing your drum kit you might want to replace one or more drums from the...

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    2. Click the browser button in the top row to show the browser within the maschine win- dow (the button becomes highlighted): 3. In the top row of the browser, click the sample icon on the far right to get a list of all the available samples in the library: 4. Since we want to find a side stick, typ...

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    5. Now activate prehear by clicking the prehear button (with the loudspeaker symbol on it) at the bottom of the browser: 6. Now you can listen to the available side sticks by clicking on their names in the list and choose one you like. 7. When you have found a nice side stick sample, double-click it...

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    Selecting another snare sample on the controller on your controller, do the following: 1. Press browse to show the browser. The browse button should be lit. 2. Press f1 to select filter . 3. Press pad 6 to select its sound. 4. Press left or right arrow repeatedly until you see filetype at the bottom...

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    To help you decide which sample would fit best, maschine offers you an additional, conven- ient help: autoload. This allows you to replace the selected sound on the fly with the sound currently selected in the browser’s result list while your pattern is playing. Thus, you can listen to each sample i...

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    The control area showing some sampler plug-in parameters for our kick drum sound. To the left of the control area, you can load an internal, native instruments or external plug-in into the plug-in list. The plug-in list allows you to load as many plug-ins into its slots as you want. The processing o...

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    ▪ using the plug-in menu: you can also choose the desired plug-in directly from the plug-in slot itself via the plug-in menu. Note that these methods work for the sound, group and master level. However, drumsynth can only be loaded into slots on the sound level. The difference between the two method...

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    3. At the far left of the control area, click the small plug-in icon to display the plug-ins. This displays the plug-in list on the left of the control area: the plug-in list in this instance contains sampler . 4. Click the down-pointing arrow at the right to open the plug-in menu. The plug-in menu ...

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    5. In this menu, click the drumsynth submenu to display the drumsynths. 6. Click the kick entry to load it into the plug-in list. → the kick plug-in is now loaded and is ready to be tweaked. 3.2.2.2 loading a drumsynth into a plug-in list on the hardware 1. Press select + pad 5 to select the sound k...

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    2. Press f3 to select the sound tab. 3. Press nav + f3 to select plug-in . 4. Continue to hold the nav button and press pad 1 to select the plug-in slot. Release nav . 5. Press shift + browse to select an effect. If we would have pressed browse alone here, we would have accessed the browser. By addi...

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    8. Press the page right button to display internal . 9. Press f2 to view the filtered list. 10. Turn the control encoder to browse the available maschine instruments. When the dis- play shows kick , press the control encoder to load it. 11. Press shift + browse again to leave the plug-in menu. → the...

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    3.2.3.1 adjusting volume, swing and tempo in the maschine software adjusting volume to adjust the various volume levels in the software, the following controls are at your disposal: ► to adjust the overall output level, click and drag the master volume slider located on the right part of the header,...

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    In each group or sound slot, the right knob allows you to adjust the panoramic position of that group or sound! You can also use mix view to adjust your sound and group levels. Mix view gives you quick access to the level and routing settings of all your sounds, groups, and the mas- ter. In addition...

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    Adjusting volume 1. Press the main button to activate it (the button lights up). 2. Press f1 to select volume . ► to adjust the overall volume, simply turn the control encoder. Press and turn the control encoder to adjust the value in finer increments. ► to adjust the volume of a particular group, p...

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    2. Press f2 to select swing . 3. Turn the control encoder to adjust the overall swing for your project. 4. To adjust the swing of a particular group, press and hold the group button, press the pad corresponding to the desired group (the pad must be lit, here the pad 1 for our drum kit), and turn the...

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    At any time, the display indicates the current value. Adjusting tune to adjust the overall tempo of our project: 1. Press the main button to activate it (the button lights up). 2. Press f3 to select tempo . ► to adjust the tune of a particular group, press and hold the group button, press the pad 1 ...

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    3.2.4 changing the color of a group or sound maschine allows you to change the color of each group or sound. It can be very useful to see at a glance to identify certain groups or sounds. Let’s assign different colors to the different types of percussions in our drum kit: ► right-click ([cmd] + clic...

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    Our drum kit full of colors. This helps you see much quicker where the kicks, the snares, etc., are. You can assign colors to your sounds, groups, patterns, and scenes — we will describe scenes later. It’s up to you to decide which colors to use. You can use colors to distin- guish different sound t...

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    2. While holding the mouse button, drag your mouse up. As the mouse cursor moves up, an insertion line appears at the places where you can drop your sound. 3. When the insertion line appears under the other kick, release the mouse button. → your second kick takes place under the first kick in the so...

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    ► press [ctrl] + [s] ([cmd] + [s] on mac os x) to save your project. To save your work using the controller: ► press shift + sampling to save your project. 3.4 to sum up… in this tutorial, we have learned to: ▪ open a project using the browser (both on your controller and in the software). ▪ replace...

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    4 creating beats in this tutorial, we will further enhance our tutorial project with the following: ▪ we will double our pattern and fine-tune it. ▪ we will add a second pattern for breaks. Even though we have only dealt with drum kits until now, maschine is much more than a rhythm box. Indeed, it a...

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    4.1.1 our pattern in the software first of all, let’s have a quick look at the pattern editor in the software: 1 2 3 4 our first pattern displayed in the pattern editor. In the pattern editor, you will note the following: ▪ at the top left (1), ek-tl a kit indicates the name of the group currently s...

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    ▪ the biggest area of the pattern editor (3), in the lower right part, displays the events (the notes) of the selected pattern. In other terms, you see here what you recorded in ↑ 2.3, re- cording your first pattern . Events mirror the colors of their respective sounds. Vertical lines indicate the b...

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    5. Press rec to start recording (the button lights up), and add a few notes with the pads when the second half of the pattern is playing. 6. At any time, don’t hesitate to undo/redo your last action(s) by pressing shift + pad 1 and shift + pad 2, respectively. 7. Once you are pretty much satisfied w...

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    ▪ for now, we haven’t selected any event yet, and quantization (or half-quantization) was ap- plied to all events — in other terms, to the whole pattern. If by chance you selected some events in your pattern, quantization would be applied to these events only! This can be very useful if you want to ...

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    A detailed view of our live recorded pattern: the first two kicks are late, the third one is in advance. Maschine provides you with a powerful quantization feature that allows you to correct this to the desired extent. 4.1.3.2 quantizing the rhythm using the controller quantizing your pattern the pr...

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    Original event, half-quantized event, and quantized event. At any time, don’t hesitate to undo/redo your last action(s) by pressing shift + pad 1 and shift + pad 2 , respectively. 4.2 adding a second pattern we now want to create another pattern that we could use as a break in our song. This will al...

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    → pattern slot 2 is now selected. Selecting an empty pattern slot automatically creates a blank pattern in it. You will note that the slots’ lighting behavior in the software mirrors the pads’ lighting behavior on the controller: ▪ pattern slot 1 is half lit: there is a pattern inside but the slot i...

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    4.2.2.1 adjusting pattern length in the maschine software in the software, you can change the pattern length in two ways: ► in the timeline of the pattern editor, click the right limit of the pattern (indicated by a little triangle pointing to the left) and drag your mouse horizontally in the timeli...

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    → the empty pattern in the pattern slot 2 now has a new length, as you can see in the soft- ware’s pattern editor. You can change the resolution of the pattern grid (the resolution at which the patten length can be resized) by holding pattern , pressing the right arrow button (to select 2/2 grid ) a...

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    4.2.4 switching patterns once you have recorded something in the second pattern slot, you can check that both pat- terns fit well together by instantly switching between both: 4.2.4.1 switching patterns in the maschine software 1. Click the play button in the header at the very top of the maschine w...

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    Double-click into the grid to create an event. Right-click it to delete it. ► to clear an event, right-click ([ctrl]-click on mac os x) it. ► to move an event, drag it (i.E. Click it, hold the mouse button, drag your mouse to the desired location, and release the mouse button). Dragging horizontally...

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    ► press [ctrl] + [s] ([cmd] + [s] on mac os x) to save your project. To save your work using the controller: ► press shift + sampling to save your project. 4.5 to sum up… in this tutorial, we have learned to: ▪ double a pattern. ▪ quantize or half-quantize a pattern. ▪ select different pattern slots...

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    5 adding a bass line maschine is not only about rhythm. It is also a full-featured sequencing environment and, as such, lets you create melodic parts as well. As an example, we will add a bass line to our song. More precisely: ▪ we will create a new group with a nice bass sound using a vst/au plug-i...

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    5.1 selecting another group until now, we have only used the first group available in our project. Groups are labeled from a1 to h1. We will now select another group and load a bass sound into it. Loading the bass into a different group slot will later allow us to handle it separately, and easily co...

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    5.1.2 selecting another group using the controller 1. Press and hold the group button. The top eight pads now represent the first eight groups. All eight pads are unlit except pad 13 , which is fully lit and pad 14 which is half lit indicating that a new group can be created here. All groups are emp...

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    2. Type a new name (e.G., “bass”), then press [enter] on your computer keyboard to con- firm. → the new name replaces the default name. A new name for the group b. Let’s quickly give our groups different colors. The procedure is the same as for sound slots (see → for a quick reminder): ► right-click...

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    5.3.1 browsing the massive presets not only is massive included with maschine, but its factory library is fully integrated into the maschine workflow and its preset sounds are directly available from the maschine browser. Hence, you can choose a bass sound with the common workflow we already used fo...

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    5. In the product selector click the drop-down arrow. 6. And select massive. Adding a bass line loading a plug-in instrument for the bass maschine mikro - getting started - 76.

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    7. Click all sub-banks to reveal a list of all massive sub-banks installed on your computer. 8. From the massive sub-bank menu click massive factory . This will update the results list with only presets from this sub-bank. 9. In the tag filter below, click bass in the types section. 10. Click bass l...

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    1. Press group + pad 14 to select the group slot b1. 2. Press the pad 1 to select the sound slot 1. Pad 1 should be fully lit. 3. Press browse to show the browser. The browse button should be lit. 4. Press f1 to select filter . 5. If the bottom right part of the display is not highlighted (the attri...

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    ► click the autoload button in the software to activate it, or use buttons 5 and 6 on your controller to use the autoload function. → each preset is now automatically loaded into the sound slot 1 when selected. For now we can hear the presets only by pressing the pad 1 , which triggers a single note...

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    The keyboard view button. The pattern editor shows a vertical keyboard at the right of the sound slots. The rows in the grid now represent each note for the selected sound slot, instead of representing each sound slot. The keyboard mode on your controller and the keyboard view in the software are st...

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    5.3.3 adjusting the base key of the pads on your controller while trying out various bass presets on the pads, you will note that they are playing quite high notes. This is because your 16 pads play by default the notes from c3 to d#4 — not the most appropriate notes for playing bass. Hence, we need...

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    5.4 recording a bass line we are now ready to record a bass pattern. This will allow us to review many of the tasks we have learned until now. 5.4.1 creating a bass pattern on your controller, do the following: 1. Press play . You hear your drum pattern playing. 2. Practice with the bass to get fami...

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    5.4.3 loading an additional bass sound to enhance your song further, we will load another bass sound next to “analovue.” this sec- ond bass could for example play rhythmic lines with somewhat higher frequencies. Selecting the sound slot 2 before you load another sound, you first need to select anoth...

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    Loading and recording another bass ► once sound slot 2 is selected, repeat the steps described above in this tutorial to load another bass sound (see loading a plug-in instrument for the bass) and to record bass lines with that sound in the same patterns 1 and 2 as we did for the first bass (see cre...

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    5.5.1 accessing the plug-in parameters in the software 1. At the left of the pattern editor, click the sound slot’s name ( analovue ) to select that sound slot. 2. In the top left part of the control area, click the sound tab to select it (it should be highlighted). 3. In the plug-in list below, cli...

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    The control area indicating which parameters are displayed. The large part of the control area to the right is called the parameter area. This gives you ac- cess to the desired parameters: the parameters for the sound “analovue.” these parameters are organized into pages that you can select for disp...

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    1. Click the osc2 label at the top of the control area to select the osc2 parameter page. The control area now displays the parameters of that page. 2. Click the fourth knob ( osc2amp ) and drag your mouse vertically to adjust the value. You can fine-adjust the parameter value by holding down [shift...

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    To adjust any parameter from your controller, do the following: 1. Use the left/right arrow buttons to select a parameter. 2. Turn the control encoder to adjust the parameter value. Example as an example, let’s adjust the amplification level of the second oscillator in our “analovue” preset. Do the ...

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    ▪ select different groups and rename them. ▪ load a vst/au plug-in instrument into a sound slot. ▪ use the keyboard mode on your controller (and the keyboard view in the software) to play and record melodic instruments. ▪ adjust the base key when using keyboard mode. ▪ adjust the plug-in parameters ...

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    6 applying effects now that we have created a few patterns, let’s spice them up with some effects. Maschine provides a healthy selection of effects (fx) that can be loaded in the form of plug- ins. Each sound, each group and the master can have an unlimited number of insert effects loaded in their p...

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    6.1 loading effects in this section we will show you how to load effects in maschine. 6.1.1 the plug-in list before we load an effect, let’s have a quick look again at the control area for our bass sound “analovue” in the software (see ↑ 5, adding a bass line ): 1. Select the group “bass” (group b)....

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    ▪ sound level: the first plug-in slot is the only slot that can contain a sound source (e.G., a (sampler, drumsynth, native instruments or external instrument) or an effect. The other plug-in slots can only contain effects (internal, native instruments or external). ▪ group level: each group also of...

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    6.1.2.1 loading an effect into a plug-in list in the software 1. In the top part of the maschine window, click the group bass to select it. 2. In the control area below, click the sound tab to select the sound level, since you want to apply the saturation to a sound. 3. The actual sound that you ass...

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    4. At the far left of the control area, click the small plug icon to display the plug-ins. This displays the plug-in list on the left of the control area: the plug-in list in this instance contains massive . 5. Click the “ + ” icon below to open the plug-in menu. The plug-in menu opens and displays ...

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    6. In this menu, click the saturator entry to load it. → the saturator plug-in is now loaded and is ready to be tweaked. If you have vst/au effect plug-ins installed you may also load them from the menu by selecting the native instruments (for native instruments products) or external (for third- par...

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    3. Press f3 to select the sound tab. 4. Press nav + f3 to select plug-in . 5. Continue to hold the nav button and press pad 2 to select the next free plug-in slot. Release nav . 6. Press shift + browse to select an effect. If we would have pressed browse alone here, we would have accessed the browse...

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    9. Press f2 to view the filtered list. 10. Turn the control encoder to browse the available maschine effects. When the display shows saturator , press the control encoder to load it. 11. Press shift + browse again to leave the effect selection. → the saturator plug-in is now loaded and ready to be t...

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    When saturator is selected from the plug-in list, the control area displays its parameters. 6.2.1 adjusting the effect parameters let’s now adjust the effect parameters to our needs. The method is basically the same as when we adjusted the parameters for the massive plug-in in ↑ 5.5, accessing the p...

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    6.2.1.2 adjusting the effect parameters using the controller 1. Press enter 2. Press nav + pad 2 3. Press left arrow button repeatedly until the parameter field reads 1/4: mode at the bot- tom of the display. 4. Turn the control encoder until the parameter field reads tube . This selects the tube mo...

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    6.2.3.1 bypassing effects in the maschine software 1. At the top left of the control area, click the tab of the level (either sound , group or master ) where you want to bypass the effect. 2. If you want to bypass an effect at the sound or group level, make sure you have the right sound (click it on...

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    6.2.3.2 bypassing effects using the controller 1. Depending on the level (master, group or sound) the effect you want to bypass is located, do the following: ▪ effect on master: press f1 ( master ). ▪ effect on a group: press f2 ( group ) to select the group level, then press group + pad 9 – 16 to s...

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    6.3.1 recording modulation let’s record some simple modulation for the effect parameter of your choice. 6.3.1.1 recording modulation in the maschine software if you take a closer look at the knobs in the parameter area you will notice they have an outer ring. This ring serves for recording modulatio...

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    3. Press the left/right arrow buttons to put the focus on the parameter you want to auto- mate. 4. Press and hold shift , and turn the control encoder. → your modulation gets recorded now. On the next loop, the parameter changes will be re- produced. There is also another way to record modulation fr...

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    For more information on editing modulation and automation, please refer to the manual. 6.4 save your work! Again, it is recommended to regularly save your work. You can then open another project or close maschine and take a break. Your tutorial project will be recalled as is the next time you open i...

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    7 creating beats with the step sequencer we will now show you a completely different way to create patterns from your controller: the step mode. The step mode turns your controller into a fully featured step sequencer. If you are familiar with classic drum machines, you should quickly feel at home. ...

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    7.1 building up a beat in step mode until now, we recorded all patterns “live”: we hit the various pads at the desired moments while the sequencer was playing and the sequencer directly recorded our hits. This is the re- cording workflow when the controller is in control mode. On the contrary, in st...

  • Page 107

    If you decided to create a pattern more than one bar long, you can use the left and right arrow to switch between each bar or alternatively press f1 follow and maschine will automatically follow the pattern and display the steps on the pads accordingly. 7.1.2 adjusting the pattern length in step mod...

  • Page 108

    7.2 adjusting the step grid as you have probably noticed, until now our beats were split into four steps each. In other words, the steps’ default size is 1/4th beat (or quarter note), that is 1/16th note (i.E. Sixteen steps fill a whole note). The set of all available steps is called step grid. The ...

  • Page 109

    1. Click the step menu at the bottom left of the pattern editor. 2. Select the desired step size in the list that opens. You can directly see your modification to the step grid resolution: the step grid after selecting 1/32nd in the step menu. Selecting another step size in the step menu does not mo...

  • Page 110

    2. Press f3 to select step and access the step grid’s resolution setting. The resolution is indicated at the bottom of the display. 3. Turn the control encoder to adjust the value. 7.3 save your work! Again, it is recommended to regularly save your work. You can then open another project or close ma...

  • Page 111

    Once you feel comfortable with these few tasks, proceed with the next tutorial, where we will discover how to build a full arrangement for your song! Creating beats with the step sequencer to sum up… maschine mikro - getting started - 111.

  • Page 112

    8 creating a song using scenes now that we have created a few patterns for both our drum kit group and our bass group, we can start to arrange them together in order to build up a structured song! In maschine, a song is made of a variable number of scenes, which represent the different parts of the ...

  • Page 113

    The arranger is where you organize your scenes in order to build up a song. Here, only the first scene slot is used. This is how scenes work: ▪ only one scene is played at a time. ▪ in each scene, you can choose to play one particular pattern of each group. For example, in the picture above, in scen...

  • Page 114

    Scene 1 already contains clips! Once again, the method is straightforward: ► to create a clip referencing a particular pattern slot in the selected scene, simply select this pattern slot (press pattern + the corresponding pad on your controller or click the desired pattern slot in the pattern editor...

  • Page 115

    ▪ but you could also compose scenes “group by group,” by first selecting a particular group (for example, the drum kit), filling a few scenes with patterns from that group, then select- ing the next group, etc. This method puts the focus on how well patterns fit together in the series of scenes — no...

  • Page 116

    3. Click the desired pattern from the drop-down menu in the pattern editor to select it. Upon selection, a clip referencing this pattern is automatically inserted into scene 2. → by repeating these two steps for all groups you want to use in this scene, you progres- sively build up a new scene. You ...

  • Page 117

    2. While holding scene , hit pad 2 to select scene 2. Pad 2 lights up brightly to confirm its selection. Pad 1 turns half lit, indicating that scene 1 is not currently selected. 3. Release the scene button. → scene 2 is now selected. If the sequencer is playing, you won’t hear anything because this ...

  • Page 118

    8.1.3 pinning the scene mode the following will describe a helpful feature on your controller that can improve your workflow in many situations: the ability to pin controller modes. The controller modes until now we often used combinations of two elements to execute actions. For example, we pressed ...

  • Page 119

    8.2 preparing scenes now that we have created a few scenes of interest, we want to organize them into a song. For this, the arranger provides you with many editing facilities. Let’s introduce the most important ones. 8.2.1 renaming, coloring, and moving scenes slots as with sound slots and groups, y...

  • Page 120

    Moving a scene renamed break it down between scenes pt a and pt a+. You can also choose custom names and colors for your pattern slots. Furthermore, both the pattern name and color will be mirrored in each of its referencing clips in the ar- ranger! Please refer to the manual for more information on...

  • Page 121

    To delete a scene in the arranger: ► right-click ([cmd] + click on mac os x) for example the scene slot 2 and select delete in the context menu. → the content of scene slot 2 is deleted and all other scenes are moved one scene to the left. 8.2.2.2 duplicating and deleting scenes using the controller...

  • Page 122

    2. Press for example pad 2 to select scene slot 2. 3. Press f2 ( dupl ) to duplicate this scene slot. ⇨ a new scene slot is inserted right after scene slot 2 with the same properties and content (clips). The existing scene slots are shifted one slot to the right to make way for the new entry. Note t...

  • Page 123

    Please refer to the manual for information on exporting audio. On the other hand, if you are preparing a track for performing live, you will probably want to switch back and forth between different scenes or a group of scenes during your performance. For this, maschine provides you with various tool...

  • Page 124

    The loop range now contains three scenes. You will note that selecting a single scene amounts to selecting a one-scene-long loop range. 8.3.1.2 selecting a loop range using the controller on your controller: 1. Press and hold scene to enter scene mode (or pin it by pressing scene + main ). 2. Press ...

  • Page 125

    8.3.2.1 jumping to other scenes in the maschine software in the arranger, you will find the sync menu and the retrigger check box in the header: the sync and retrgger controls. ► to adjust the scene sync setting, click the sync menu and select the desired entry in the menu, for example scene. → the ...

  • Page 126

    2. Press f1 to select perf . At the bottom of the display you see the current scene sync value. The default value scene means that the next time you select a new scene or loop range, the switch will happen once the current scene has played to the end. 3. Turn the control knob to select the desired v...

  • Page 127

    8.4 save your work! Again, it is recommended to regularly save your work. You can then open another project or close maschine and take a break. Your tutorial project will be recalled as is the next time you open it. To save your work in the maschine software: ► press [ctrl] + [s] ([cmd] + [s] on mac...

  • Page 128

    9 using advanced features this chapter quickly presents a brief introduction to another four powerful features of ma- schine: ▪ the sound, group, and master channel properties ▪ advanced routing ▪ sampling ▪ mix view for detailed information on these features please refer to the maschine manual. 9.1...

  • Page 129

    These buttons are called the channel property selector and allow you to select a particular set of channel properties for displaying in the parameter area on the right. Let’s look at a few examples. We will use the software or the controller alternatively, but — as usual — most of these tasks can be...

  • Page 130

    To know which parameters you can assign to a macro control, consider this single rule: a macro control of a channel can control any properties or plug-in parameters of that channel or of any underlying channel. In other words: ▪ for sounds: you can assign the macro controls of a sound to any paramet...

  • Page 131

    2. Click the down-pointing arrow in the bottom left corner of the control area to reveal the assignment area underneath: 3. Click the pages tab in the left part of the assignment area: → the pages tab lights up and the pages pane appears on its right. You are now ready to assign macro controls to pa...

  • Page 132

    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 the control area with the pages pane active in the assignment area underneath. (1) delete page button (“x” symbol): click the little “ x ” after a page name to delete this parame- ter page. (2) add page button (“+” symbol): click the little “ + ” after the last page label to append a n...

  • Page 133

    (6) target selector: displays and selects the target parameter of the selected macro control (in- dicated by the selection frame). This multi-level drop-down widget allows you to quickly navi- gate through the structure of the channel to the desired parameter. The detailed procedure is explained in ...

  • Page 134

    2. Upon your selection in the previous menu, the menu takes the name of your selection, and another menu appears on its right which allows you to refine your search (e.G., by list- ing all parameter pages of the selected plug-in or channel). This continues until a param- eter is reached and you sele...

  • Page 135

    9.2.1 using sounds and groups as sound source the sound source of a sound is set in its first plug-in slot. In the software, do the following: 1. Click the group slot c in the arranger to select it. 2. Click the sound slot 1 in the pattern editor to select it. 3. Click the plug-in icon. 4. Open the ...

  • Page 136

    7. Click the group tab in the control area to select the group level and display the parame- ters for the group “bass” that we just selected. 8. Click the channel icon. 9. Click the output icon to select the output properties of that group. 10. Click the aux parameter page. Using advanced features u...

  • Page 137

    11. In the aux 1 section, click the label none of the dest. (destination) selector. In the menu that opens, select c1: sound 1-1. → you hear your bass line processed by the fm effect on top of the original bass line! You can adjust the level of the processed bass line via the level knob in the same ...

  • Page 138

    Please be aware using too many effects may cause a high load on your computers cpu, as a result the amount of effects you should use is dependant on the processing power of your computer. ▪ since patterns are saved together with your group, you can also prerecord modulation for your effects, for exa...

  • Page 139

    4. Assign at least maschine in 1 l and maschine in 1 r to any pair of inputs on your audio interface. Using advanced features using other sound sources maschine mikro - getting started - 139.

  • Page 140

    5. Click close to exit the preferences dialog. 6. Plug anything (e.G., a turntable) into the audio interface’s input pair that you selected in the audio page for the first two inputs of maschine. 7. Now click the group d in the arranger to select it. 8. Click the sound slot 1 in the pattern editor t...

  • Page 141

    ▪ send any external signal to the send effect we built in ↑ 9.2.1, using sounds and groups as sound source . ▪ plug a microphone and process it in real time in your live performance! 9.3 sampling now let's look at another great feature of maschine: its sampling facilities. Maschine al- lows you to r...

  • Page 142

    2. Now click the sample editor button right underneath the keyboard view button, at the left of the pattern editor: the pattern editor switches to the sampling tabs: 3. In the record tab, select your source at the bottom of the page. You can record sam- ples from an internal signal (select internal ...

  • Page 143

    We will record from the drum kit group “ek-tl a kit,” so click internal in the source menu: 4. Click ek-tl a kit in the input menu nearby: 5. Next to the input menu is the mode switch. Use this to select a way to start the record- ing: either by setting a threshold value (adjustable with the mouse b...

  • Page 144

    7. Now click the start button and, since the recording is going to be triggered by the se- quencer, start the sequencer (e.G., by pressing play on your controller or the [space] bar on your computer keyboard). → after the recording stops, you will see the waveform of your sample: under the large wav...

  • Page 145

    ▪ the slice tab allows you to cut your sample into slices in various ways and to distribute the slices across the keyboard —notably this allows you to play each drum hit of the sample via a different pad in keyboard mode! ▪ the map tab allows you to precisely define the note and velocity ranges assi...

  • Page 146

    The mix view with group b1 selected. Switching between arrange view and mix view you can switch the maschine software at any time between the arrange and mix view: using advanced features the mix view maschine mikro - getting started - 146.

  • Page 147

    The mix view button. To switch between arrange view and mix view in the maschine software: ► click the mix view button at the top left of the arranger to switch between the arrange view and the mix view. To switch between arrange view and mix view on the controller: ► press shift + view to switch be...

  • Page 148

    10 quick reference this chapter introduces you to the main areas and concepts of maschine. In the following sections, you will find: ▪ information that will help you in your every-day work with your controller ( ↑ 10.1, using your maschine controller ). ▪ an overview of a maschine project and a desc...

  • Page 149

    For some of these modes, you need to hold the button to keep the mode active. For example, when you press the pad mode button, the displays will show pad-specific control options; when you release it, the controller switches back to control mode. The buttons that are required to be held are in the m...

  • Page 150

    → you can release the view button: the controller will remain in view mode until you press view again. Once a mode has been pinned your controller will automatically pin the mode next time it is pressed. You can unpin any mode by pressing its button together with main again. See section pinning the ...

  • Page 151

    ▪ the enter button allows you to enter control mode. ▪ the f1 , f2 , and f3 buttons above the display allow you to select the tab or button under them (at the top of the display). For example, in the picture above the sound tab is se- lected. ▪ the nav + f2 and nav + f3 allow you to switch between c...

  • Page 152

    Shortcuts for navigating the arranger from the maschine mikro controller. Action shortcut hide/view browser press pad 13 hide/view control lane press pad 14 compact/full mixer press pad 15 (only in mix view: shift + view ) scroll pattern left press pad 1 scroll pattern right press pad 3 zoom in (arr...

  • Page 153

    Pattern view use pattern view to navigate the pattern editor in the maschine software: 1. Press and hold the view button to enter view mode. You can also press view + main to pin the view mode so that you can release the view button and stay in view mode (see ↑ 10.1.1, controller modes and mode pinn...

  • Page 154

    Action shortcut compact/full mixer press pad 15 (only in mix view: shift + view ) scroll pattern left press pad 1 scroll pattern right press pad 3 zoom in (pattern editor) press pad 6 zoom out (pattern editor) press pad 2 scroll up (pattern editor) press pad 8 (only in keyboard mode: shift + pad mod...

  • Page 155

    1 2 4 3 the sound content aspect of a maschine project. ▪ a maschine project file (1) groups (2) are available in banks. Each bank contains eight groups ( a - h ) and each group contains sixteen sound slots ( 1 – 16 ) (4). Each sound slot can be filled with samples or plug-ins. ▪ you can influence t...

  • Page 156

    10.2.2 arrangement the arrangement aspect of a maschine project is about building patterns, and putting those patterns into a loop or a song structure. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 the arrangement aspect of a maschine project. The basic workflow in building a song in maschine is as follows: ▪ you load samples or...

  • Page 157

    ▪ together, the events add up to a pattern (7) for this group. ▪ all of this takes place in the pattern editor (8), where you can create several patterns for each of your groups. ▪ in the upper half of the software’s user interface, the arranger (5) lets you organize togeth- er the patterns of your ...

  • Page 158

    1 2 3 overview of the maschine mikro hardware controller. (1) control section: use this multi-purpose section to access to all parameters of the mode currently selected on your controller. There are also dedicated buttons to access the browser, groups and the sample editor. For more information on t...

  • Page 159

    10.3.1.1 control section this section gives an overview of the control section. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 overview of the control section. (1–3) f1, f2 and f3 buttons: the three buttons above the lcd display dynamically adapt their function to the active mode, allowing direct access to the mo...

  • Page 160

    ▪ control mode is the default controller mode and can be used to access parameters of the sound, group and master levels in your maschine project. ▪ main mode is used to change the volume, swing and tempo/tune parameters at each level of your project (master, group and sound). Press the main button ...

  • Page 161

    (11) browse button: press the browse button to access the browser. Press shift + browse to access the plug-in menu and load a plug-in (internal or vst/au plug-in) in the currently selected plug-in slot. (12) sampling button: press the sampling button to access the sample editor. Press shift + sampli...

  • Page 162

    The pads 9 – 16 can also be used to solo and mute groups on the fly when the solo or mute buttons are pressed. For example, in order to mute group c, hold mute , press group and then press the pad 15 . (14) note repeat button: note repeat is a really handy way to play and record beats — it plays the...

  • Page 163

    (2) step backward button: skip back through the loop range one bar at a time. Press shift + step backward to skip backwards step by step. (3) step forward button: skip forwards through the loop range one bar at a time. Press shift + step forward to skip forwards step by step. (4) grid button: enters...

  • Page 164

    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 overview of the pads section. All the following buttons can be pinned: simply press the desired button + main to pin/ unpin the corresponding mode. See ↑ 10.1.1, controller modes and mode pinning for more information. (1) scene button: enters scene mode. Scene mode allows you to cr...

  • Page 165

    (3) pad mode button: enters pad mode. This mode allows you to select a different mode for your pads. For example, you can quickly switch the pads to play melodies or even chords! The following pad modes are available: ▪ in the standard layout mapping, each pad represents one sound of the group and t...

  • Page 166

    (7) solo button: enters solo mode. In this mode, you can instantly solo any sound or group (equals muting all other sounds/groups) by pressing its pad — useful to tweak the sound or for performing live. The pad of the soloed sound or group is fully lit, while all other pads (rep- resenting the muted...

  • Page 167

    10.4 maschine software overview 1 2 3 4 5 the maschine software. (1) header: the header contains the main controls for the maschine software including the display area, the transport controls and the master volume slider. You can also use this area to toggle the browser, connect to your hardware con...

  • Page 168

    (4) control area: the control area allows you to control parameters and settings for each of the plug-in slots at each project level (sound, group and master). This area can hold settings for groups, sounds, plug-ins (internal or vst/au plug-ins), midi, routing. (5) pattern editor: the pattern edito...

  • Page 169

    (6) cpu meter: the cpu meter represents the current load on your computer’s processor and is constantly measured; it should not go above 70 % to avoid clicks and interruptions. You can save cpu power by sampling the audio output of maschine if necessary using export (for more information, please ref...

  • Page 170

    10.4.2 browser 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 9 the browser. (1) library tab: use the library tab to access your computer's hard drives via maschine's selectors and filters. (2) files tab: use the files tab to access your computer’s hard drives. Quick reference maschine software overview maschine mikro - get...

  • Page 171

    (3) file type selector: this contains six icons representing the different file types of ma- schine. From left to right the file types are: projects, groups, sounds, instruments, effects, and samples. Clicking one of them causes only the files of the selected type to be displayed. (4) content select...

  • Page 172

    10.4.3 arranger 2 3 4 1 the arranger. (1) mix view button: click the mix view button to access the mix view. The mix view proves you with quick access to the level and routing settings of all your sounds, groups, and the master. In addition, it provides you with an intuitive interface for adjusting ...

  • Page 173

    10.4.4 control area 2 3 4 5 1 8 6 7 the control area. (1) plug-in icon: click the plug-in icon to access plug-ins and their parameters. (2) channel icon: click the channel icon to access channel properties where you can display and adjust various properties for the selected sound/group or master cha...

  • Page 174

    10.4.5 pattern editor 3 2 1 6 8 7 4 5 9 10 11 12 13 14 the pattern editor. (1) sample editor button: click this button to open/close the sample editor. (2) keyboard view button: click this button to display the keyboard view. (3) group view button: click this button to display the group view. (4) au...

  • Page 175

    (6) sound slots: sounds slots 1 – 16 of the selected group are listed here. Click a sound slot to bring it into focus and display its plug-ins and channel properties in the control area (see ↑ 10.4.4, control area ). In keyboard view (2), click a sound slot to display its events in the step grid (11...

  • Page 176

    11 troubleshooting – getting help this chapter assists you in solving common issues with maschine and provides you with the necessary information for getting further assistance. Before getting help please make sure you have downloaded the latest maschine soft- ware and documentation from service cen...

  • Page 177

    ▪ it is not recommended to run the laptop on battery, as built-in power management systems might slow the clock rate of the cpu in an effort to extend battery life. ▪ disconnect all unused hardware (e.G., printer, scanner). This will increase the amount of processing power available for your music s...

  • Page 178

    The links in the following sections can also be reached from the service center applica- tion: open the service center application and click on the support button in the upper- right corner. 11.2.1 knowledge base the online knowledge base gathers useful information about your native instruments prod...

  • Page 179

    11.2.3 registration support if problems occur during the product activation procedure, please contact our registration support team: www.Native-instruments.Com/regsuppfrm . 11.2.4 user forum in the native instruments user forum, you can discuss product features directly with other users and with exp...

  • Page 180

    12 glossary in this glossary you will find short definitions for numerous terms used in the maschine con- text. If you have any doubts about the meaning of a word, this is the place to check! Arranger the arranger is the big area located in the upper part of the maschine window, right under the head...

  • Page 181

    Channel properties channel properties are sets of parameters available at each project level (i.E. For each sound, each group, and for the master) that are independent of the plug-ins loaded in that sound/ group/master. Like the plug-in parameters, in the software the channel properties are dis- pla...

  • Page 182

    Effect (fx) an effect modifies the audio material it receives. Maschine already includes many different effects. You may also use vst/au plug-in effects. Effects can be loaded as plug-ins in any plug-in slot of the sound, group, and master levels. Maschine’s flexible routing allows you not only to a...

  • Page 183

    Header the header is the topmost row of controls in the maschine software window. It contains global settings, such as the master volume slider, the transport controls, controls for global swing, tempo, time signature, etc. Keyboard view keyboard view is the view of the pattern editor in which only ...

  • Page 184

    Mute and solo muting allows you to bypass a sound or a group, whereas soloing is pretty much the opposite: it mutes all other sounds or groups so that only the soloed sound or group is played. The combination of muting and soloing is a useful means both to play live and to test different se- quences...

  • Page 185

    Plug-in a plug-in is an instrument or effect unit, either internal or external (by native instruments or a third-party manufacturer), that can be loaded into a plug-in slot to produce or alter sound. When a plug-in is loaded into a plug-in slot, the plug-in appears in the plug-in list in the left pa...

  • Page 186

    Scene a scene is a combination of clips for your different groups. Each clip references a specific pattern of a group. In a scene you can create one clip for each group. Scenes are located in the arranger. They can be used to build up a finished arrangement or to trigger different parts of a song du...

  • Page 187

    Step steps are elementary time blocks. They are notably used to apply quantization or to compose patterns from your controller in step mode. All steps together make up the step grid. In the software’s pattern editor, steps are visualized by vertical lines. You can adjust the step size, e.G., to appl...

  • Page 188

    Index a arrangement [112] arranger [112] [167] definition [180] arranger timeline [172] arrow left button [160] arrow right button [160] audio engine button [169] audition [40] autoload definition [180] replacing sounds with [38] aux creating send effects [135] b base key adjusting [81] browse butto...

  • Page 189

    C channel macro properties [129] channel icon [173] channel properties adjusting [128] definition [181] channel property selector [173] clip [112] definition [181] referencing a pattern [113] color changing groups [73] scenes [119] sounds [54] content selector [171] control area [168] adjusting para...

  • Page 190

    E editing patterns [68] samples [144] effects [90] adjusting parameters [98] bypassing [99] definition [182] insert effect [182] load [91] muting [99] routing send effects [135] send effect definition [186] enter button [160] erase button [163] event definition [182] editing with the pattern editor ...

  • Page 191

    H header [167] audio engine button [169] browser button [168] cpu meter [169] definition [183] display area [168] maschine menu [168] master volume slider [168] ni logo [169] transport controls [168] help [176] i input channel [138] insert effect [182] instance mode [159] k keyboard mode base key [8...

  • Page 192

    M macro control definition [183] macro controls [129] main button [159] main mode [160] maschine menu [168] massive browsing presets [75] plug-in instrument [74] master definition [183] macro properties [129] master tab [173] master volume slider [168] melodic sounds playing [74] metronome activatin...

  • Page 193

    P pad mode button [165] pad modes definition [184] pads [166] in control mode [25] in keyboard mode [79] in scene mode [118] in step mode [106] velocity [25] pads section [163] parameter area [173] parameter page definition [184] parameters adjusting a sound [84] adjusting effects [98] pattern addin...

  • Page 194

    Properties macro [129] q quantization [63] definition [185] query [39] quick reference [148] r rec button [163] record tab [142] recording a pattern [26] in keyboard mode [82] modulation [102] to a sound slot [141] repeating notes note repeat [31] restart button [162] retriggering scenes [124] routi...

  • Page 195

    Send effect creating [135] definition [186] sequencer definition [186] shift button [163] solo definition [184] sound or group [28] solo and mute [30] solo button [166] sound adjusting parameters [84] definition [186] load a [38] macro properties [129] muting and soloing [28] routing [134] soloing [...

  • Page 196

    V velocity pads [25] view button [165] volume [168] volume adjusting sound, group, and overall [48] vst/au definition [185] load plug-in instruments [74] w waveform [144] z zoom [62] index maschine mikro - getting started - 196.