# Do an epic cinematic and orchestral composer need NI Maschine?



## HarmonyCore (Jun 10, 2020)

Dear VI Controllers,

I hope you're all staying safe.

I wonder if NI Maschine has any use for the epic cinematic composer in terms of more user friendly workflows. I mainly see it as a DJ-type instrument for EDM or house music. However, it also crossed my mind that idea of programming epic drum patterns in it so it can play the rhythm for me without my intervention. If that's the case, then I think it will be very useful and a handy tool.

Please share your opinions


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## kevinh (Jun 10, 2020)

HarmonyCore said:


> Dear VI Controllers,
> 
> I hope you're all staying safe.
> 
> ...



Do you already have a Komplete Kontrol keyboard? And are you heavily invested in NI/nks based plugins or do you plan to?


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## HarmonyCore (Jun 10, 2020)

kevinh said:


> Do you already have a Komplete Kontrol keyboard? And are you heavily invested in NI/nks based plugins or do you plan to?



Yes, I have KK MK2 with many NKS libraries.


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## kevinh (Jun 10, 2020)

I’ve only had Maschine for a couple of months so still working out how to integrate it into my workflow. I’ll answer based on my experience. Hope it’s okay. If you have googled enough you probably noticed that half of people work within the maschine standalone sw and the other half use it as plugin and then export midi/audio to their daw. I found i liked working out ideas using the standalone program and then moving to the daw. I find breaking my usual routine helps. Same for writing songs. I don’t write cue’s so this may not apply to you but sometimes I start ideas on a guitar and then move to piano or vice versa. Rumor has it that NI is working on an update to make Maschine sw capable enough so people don’t feel they need to move to a daw. As far as workflow, Maschine screens and kk mk2 screens complement each other in Maschine sw where you can use all 4 screens to display different views. I really like the hands on hw control. Hope they extend this to komplete kontrol someday because Maschine can’t control kk. As far as non percussive use of Maschine, I was inspired by the video below. Loved the evolving sound and shows other uses for Maschine.


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## HarmonyCore (Jun 10, 2020)

kevinh said:


> I’ve only had Maschine for a couple of months so still working out how to integrate it into my workflow. I’ll answer based on my experience. Hope it’s okay. If you have googled enough you probably noticed that half of people work within the maschine standalone sw and the other half use it as plugin and then export midi/audio to their daw. I found i liked working out ideas using the standalone program and then moving to the daw. I find breaking my usual routine helps. Same for writing songs. I don’t write cue’s so this may not apply to you but sometimes I start ideas on a guitar and then move to piano or vice versa. Rumor has it that NI is working on an update to make Maschine sw capable enough so people don’t feel they need to move to a daw. As far as workflow, Maschine screens and kk mk2 screens complement each other in Maschine sw where you can use all 4 screens to display different views. I really like the hands on hw control. Hope they extend this to komplete kontrol someday because Maschine can’t control kk. As far as non percussive use of Maschine, I was inspired by the video below. Loved the evolving sound and shows other uses for Maschine.




Thanks for the video.

I can notice that it has its own sequencer and access to sample libraries in standalone which means you can create your own looped phrases then import them into your DAW in a separate track I guess. Still not sure how this can benefit my workflow. I am mainly composing for epic cinematic cues using just the KK midi keyboard. Don't know what's the use of Maschine in this category. I believe it's definitely cool for EDM and DJ folks out there to perform live with it.

I think I will have a look at the manual to see what NI is saying for its uses in details especially for cinematic composers.


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## Christophe (Jun 11, 2020)

I never played live music and never will but I love using maschine at home! It's not just for live performance. It's just a different way to work. For epic cinematic music, I think it's completely useless. You need a real DAW, with lots of tracks. I use Cubase Pro for that subject. But for creating patterns in EDM style or hip hop, trap, chill, cuban, middle east... it's perfect. And their expansions are great too. You can create different patterns and play them in the order you want to create a real track, but it's really limited, because if you have vocals, they won't feet, cause they are not the same lenght of your patterns, so for "serious" projects, you still need a DAW. But IMO it's really fun to use as a recreative tool. And creating patterns is already really cool, I don' need to create perfect tracks.


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## Mornats (Jun 11, 2020)

Christophe said:


> but it's really limited, because if you have vocals, they won't feet,


Whenever I've added something that's longer than the standard pattern length, such as a long pad, it's always just continued playing whilst the other parts progressed through the different patterns. They won't stop playing when it moves from one pattern to the next.

I love Maschine but would agree it's not much use for cinematic but you could possibly put together orchestral percussion with it if you wanted to use the pads for recording or wanted to use patterns etc.


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## Sunny Schramm (Jun 11, 2020)

A groovebox like machine, mpc, etc. with drumpads can be very inspiring. the pads can be played in all scales, chromaticaly or by a differend chords, pitch, layer, etc. per pad. you will play notes differently and in a way you never would on a keyboard. its fun... I dont think you need it but it can be inspiring and maybe you try completely new styles of music with it. Its not really about creating loops and then use them in your daw and build the rest around it. the main focus are beats - complete tracks for rap/hiphop. but grooveboxes have found their way to all kind of musicians. playing drums via pads and finger-triggerung feels more natural and is faster...but you have to train it. the workflow is not for really complex arrangements. thats why you can use the maschine-software also as a vst-instrument in your daw and build the rest around. the maschine-software is small daw for its own because its developed for beat-maker which normaly just use one groovebox for their beat-productions. you sample live from vinyl, put some drums on and rap over it - thats the classic way. there were also no multisample-instruments back then. old akai mpc´s are standalone (no pc needed, but also no plugins and vsts possible) - the rapper/producer put it in his backpack, go to the club and perform. NI goes hybrid so producers can use vsts and plugins in their productions (the new akais and other too) - BUT you need a "good" pc/laptop for that - like for your daw. but with a long usb-cable and headphones you can sit on your couch and produce your music with all your instruments/plugins from your pc. I think there is not really a "need" for cinematic composers...but it can be fun and inspiring as I mentiond before.


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## Christophe (Jun 11, 2020)

When you add a long pattern in a scene, the short patterns will loop until they reach the lenght of the long pattern and then it moves to the next scene. I've heard that they work on it, because it's quite annoying not to be able to use a single vocal track for exemple.


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## Technostica (Jun 11, 2020)

Having a hardware controller that is integrated so tightly with the software is very inspiring.
I have a MK3 and love it and I don't even usually use it for rhythm tracks.
If you have a lot of NKS compatible software then that's a bonus also.
The Maschine software has been updated recently so you can use it for extended takes and don't have to be limited by the initial length of a track.


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## HarmonyCore (Jun 11, 2020)

Thanks everyone for the valuable opinions and for sharing your experience using this controller.

I am sticking with my humble midi keyboard and DAW as I don't find any issues creating rhythmic patterns using the keyboard. Of course, I would be more than glad if NI included pads in the right area of their keyboard, not hard I think but I understand that this is a business model to create more revenues by introducing the pads in another controller for the price of an arranger keyboard 

Stay Safe !!


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## Sunny Schramm (Jun 11, 2020)

the maschine mikro is a nobrainer for 225€ - its a perfect deskcontroller next to your keyboard or "on top"? with a laptop-stand you can set her up above the keyboard without really loosing space. this one has long flat feet which takes place under your keyboard. I have two of those and you can adjust the height and width:









Fame Audio Laptop Stand LS-1


Der Fame Laptop Stand LS-1 black ist ein leichter und portabler Laptopständer für Musiker, Techniker und DJs, die ihren Laptop oder Controller sicher im Studio positionieren wollen.




www.musicstore.de


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## Mornats (Jun 11, 2020)

I've got two stands like that - see below. In case you're wondering, the Maschine on the left is the Maschine Jam. It's used in conjunction with the Maschine Mkii as a step sequencer and arranger. But if you flip it into midi mode you can configure it. So I've got the four touchstrips on the left set up as dynamics, expression, vibrato and variation (which is for Orchestral Swarm). Quite handily, the array of small pads start at C0 (I think it's that) which is where Spitfire's, and possibly others', keyswitches tend to start. So I always have access to those regardless of which octave I've got my keyboard set at and I can control multiple faders when playing and recording.


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## kevinh (Jun 11, 2020)

Sunny Schramm said:


> the machine mikro is a nobrainer for 225€ - its a perfect deskcontroller next to your keyboard or "on top"? with a laptop-stand you can set her up above the keyboard without really loosing space. this one has long flat feet which takes place under your keyboard. I have two of those and you can adjust the height and width:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I upgraded from M32 to KK Mk2 because the screens made a big difference for me when producing. Same reason why I waited for a good sale on Maschine MK3 because heard some of the same issues I ran into with M32 when researching Mikro and most ended up upgrading anyway. But it does require patience.


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## OctoberSky (Dec 24, 2020)

Christophe said:


> I never played live music and never will but I love using maschine at home! It's not just for live performance. It's just a different way to work. For epic cinematic music, I think it's completely useless. You need a real DAW, with lots of tracks. I use Cubase Pro for that subject. But for creating patterns in EDM style or hip hop, trap, chill, cuban, middle east... it's perfect. And their expansions are great too. You can create different patterns and play them in the order you want to create a real track, but it's really limited, because if you have vocals, they won't feet, cause they are not the same lenght of your patterns, so for "serious" projects, you still need a DAW. But IMO it's really fun to use as a recreative tool. And creating patterns is already really cool, I don' need to create perfect tracks.


HI im new here but I have been using the Mikro MK3 for a few weeks now and I think its brilliant at macking music for films etc. Check out one of my new songs here: 
Once you have the hang of it you can come up with this style of cinematic music very quickly.
Stay safe and well.


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## RogiervG (Dec 24, 2020)

answer: no you don't


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## Christophe (Dec 24, 2020)

OctoberSky said:


> HI im new here but I have been using the Mikro MK3 for a few weeks now and I think its brilliant at macking music for films etc. Check out one of my new songs here:
> Once you have the hang of it you can come up with this style of cinematic music very quickly.
> Stay safe and well.



Great tune, no doubt. But you don't need Maschine to do that. There is no repetitive pattern in it, so a DAW works just fine. In Maschine, you have to use dozens of scene. Or use the new "clips". The most important is to use the tool that makes you happy, so if you prefer to do this kind of music in maschine, it's your choice, no problem with that


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## StillLife (May 3, 2021)

I think Maschine is great for any kind of music, and I also think many (including me) do not grasp everything it can do. Yesterday I made me a little string template with VSL Elite strings: violins 1 and 2 on group B, Viola group C, Cello group D, Double Basses on E. Group A I always reserve for rhythm. Working with groups and patterns it is really easy to try out different string lines against eachother, building up a tune. 
The one thing I find a bit cumbersome in Maschine is the midi-editing part. For drums and percussion it is excellent, but for orchestral not so much. I would love to see something like Studio One's Sound Variations come to Maschine, that would be perfect. I must admit I considered moving to Studio One, just for this. But to regain some of the workflow I have with Maschine, I would probably need a Faderport 16 and a Console 1 with it, and still use the mouse a LOT more than I do now.
Oh, and last week I realized you can also make group and sound templates in Maschine. Need a vocal group with some pre-configured audio module-tracks: no problem. Oh, and vocal recording has become way easier with the new Clips.
Of course, any of these functions (and more) can be found in traditional DAWs also, but the hands on experience - and the getting away from your screen - with Maschine is unparallelled, in my opinion. I have used Cubase for 20 years, but for my usage, Maschine is just much more inspiring.


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