It's all very clever, and allows users of these classic machines to move to Maschine whilst still maintaining much of the sound that's been making them cling on to the originals, whilst at the same time gifting those without the means to obtain them with a very passable imitation.
Simply switching to SP-1200 mode gives some grit, but perform the old trick of pitching samples down too and suddenly you're in a world of dirt. The sample engines go much further than aping the phonics of the limited bit and sample rate of these classic machines, providing accurate reconstructions of the nuances of everything from pitch adjustments to filters, envelopes and so on. Native Instruments have quite shrewdly added a few features designed to facilitate switching from some of Maschine's main hardware competitors, namely import of MPC (all models except the ) programs, and two total sample engine emulations – the MPC60 and the SP-1200. Be that as it may, the new features that we have been furnished with aren't so much a step as a hop, skip, and jump in the right direction, and they both shave precious minutes off sampling and chopping sections out of a record, and also turn Maschine into a useful tool for creating personal stock libraries with the destructive editing in effect. Were it to be able to do this, akin to the MPC's emancipating JJOS, or perhaps have the ability to make slices permanent after a non-destructive fiddle, Maschine's slicing engine would be reaching perfection. However the way non destructive slicing works, namely to allow different MIDI notes to reference different start and end points of a sample loaded onto a pad, creates an inability to pitch or otherwise effect slices independently.
At least, almost all there – a few features are still conspicuous by their absence, most notably a 'mono' feature for combining the channels of a stereo signal, a 'Snap to Zero Crossing', and a destructive slicing mode.ĭestructive slicing isn't necessarily important, indeed, Maschine's non-destructive editing is a huge step forward in speedy sample chopping, especially since the ability to actually select how many slices are required rather than having to rely on a musical measure based slice. Truncate, Normalise, Fix DC Offset, Cut, Copy, Paste, Silence… it's all there (and made smooth by the introduction of waveform zooming and more sensitive value editing on the controller). Yes, Maschine 1.5 can destructively edit samples, and it's wonderful. Thankfully, the sampling system has received a major overhaul in 1.5, and I'm pleased to report that the bods at NI have finally seen it fit to furnish their little groove box with a pair of scissors. A machine designed to sample, but lacking basic sample editing features, created a workflow encumbered at its very core by workarounds and jury rig solutions. Compared to its only real competitors, hardware behemoths in the Akai and Roland stables, it was the basic ingredients rather than the icing on the proverbial cake that was lacking. In light of this, and for the sake of ensuring that this piece doesn't descend into a dull checklist of each of 50 changes and new features, I implore you to go to NI's own site and acquaint yourself with them – it's all there.ĭespite my relatively glowing review of Maschine 1.0, as time went by little niggles began to turn into big qualms. Native Instruments boast over 50 additions to Maschine, from the subtle, such as the improvement of the controller's ability to facilitate (computer) screen navigation, to the colossal, like the sample editing overhaul.
When planning this review I realised that once again, there were to be a lot of words - testament to the quality and sheer number of features and fixes that this update, which is somewhat stunningly a free point release, brings to the table. The result is a more impressive, mature, useful, and admittedly power hungry animal, and I've enjoyed putting Maschine 1.5 through its paces immensely.
Not content, however, with carving a niche and sitting smugly inside it, Native Instruments have listened to user criticisms and suggestions and delivered a substantial update – free of charge. Fast forward to today… and there still isn't. When I reviewed Maschine's initial incarnation over a year ago, there was no single thing on the market that did what it did.