Native Instruments' Maschine combines a hardware controller with pads and a dedicated software environment built around the MPC tradition: sample something, chop it, play it on pads, sequence it into patterns. Where Kontakt is designed for building deep, detailed instruments, Maschine is designed for speed - getting from a sound to a beat as quickly as possible.
How Maschine is organised
- Sounds - a single slot holding a sample or instrument, assigned to one pad.
- Groups - a set of sixteen sounds on the sixteen pads - a drum kit, a set of chops, an instrument.
- Patterns - sequences of notes played by a group.
- Arranger - patterns organised into sections and a song.
The pads respond to velocity, so you can play dynamically - essential for natural-sounding drums and chops.
Sampling
Maschine can record directly from an audio input, from another sound or group inside the project, or from the master output - resampling your own beat.
- Set the source and level. Avoid clipping, keep the level healthy.
- Threshold recording starts recording when the signal passes a set level, so you never miss the start of a sound.
- Record more than you need. You can always trim later.
Editing
Once recorded, a sample can be trimmed, normalised, reversed, faded and time-stretched in the sample editor. Set the start point precisely on the transient for clean, punchy playback.
Slicing
Slicing chops a sample into pieces and maps each slice to a pad:
- By transient - slices at each detected hit. Best for drum breaks.
- By grid - slices at regular divisions (1/8, 1/16). Best for loops at a known tempo.
- Manually - place slice points exactly where you want them.
Apply the slices to pads, and each one becomes a playable sound. Now you can play the break, chord loop or vocal phrase in any order, as in the hip-hop chopping tradition.
Playing and sequencing
- Play in real time on the pads, with quantise on or off.
- Note repeat - hold a pad to retrigger it at a chosen rate. Perfect for hi-hat rolls.
- Step sequencer - program patterns step by step.
- Keyboard mode - play one sound chromatically across the pads, to make melodies from a single sample.
- Swing - apply swing per group or per pattern.
Sound shaping
Each sound has its own sampler settings - tuning, envelopes, filters - and slots for effects. Maschine includes many effects, and groups and the master can have their own effects too. Saturation, filtering and compression on chops can transform a sample.
Maschine with your DAW
Maschine runs standalone or as a plug-in inside your DAW. A common workflow: build beats in Maschine, then bring the patterns or audio into the DAW for arrangement, vocals and mixing.
Do this now
- Sample a drum break, a chord loop or a vocal phrase into Maschine.
- Slice it by transient or grid and apply the slices to pads.
- Play a new four-bar pattern using the slices, with swing.
- Use keyboard mode to play a melody from one slice, and note repeat for a hat roll.