Ableton user looking for a new controller: Push or Maschine? I own Ableton Live 9 Suite and I love it. if you already owned a full version of the software which controller would you buy?
I understand that this question has been asked to death across the web, but it's primarily asked by those who are first looking to get into production, and don't own a DAW.
I'm on the fence, and know that I'd be happy with either, but am always looking to take the opinion of others into account!
Thanks guys!
EDIT: also, is it possible to use the samples supplied with Ableton within the Maschine? |
Henri Thiesen
22.08.2014 | Hi, I used both but prefer Push. If your are running ableton live I really recommend Push since its 100 % intregated with live and it have all features that machine got + alot more
Go with push
_______________________________________________
http://www.promotionfordjs.com/ |
Frederic Acidera
18.02.2014 | Maschine as a VST inside of ableton is a real asset...however if you're planning on using maschine as a midi controller for ableton 9.1, well the script is just buggy and doesn't work well. NI hasn't updated that. Perhaps in lieu of people buying maschine 2.0....so as a midi controller for ableton I'm dissapointed in maschine...however when I use it with traktor is a whole different thing. So straight producing I would go for push...if you are DJing with traktor, maschine is very nice to have. |
Ervin Calvery
17.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by kbridge
if you could squeeze in how you'd go about using Maschine in stand alone, but then exporting individual tracks into Ableton (I believe done through soloing), in beginner sized chunks, so we can have just - for example - kicks, hats, snares etc all as separate Ableton tracks?
I've seen a few videos, but if you can create a comprehensive guide I'd be eternally grateful, and I'd love to spread word to anyone else left wondering!
Thanks if possible!
here you go:
|
Ervin Calvery
13.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by amadeus
Not a great option like others have said.
Your original options win easily over the Novation gear
.
Personally I'd still go with Maschine, and it can intergrate as much as you want it too with Ableton, and it does very well.
It's nice to occasionally just having a jam in Maschine in stand alone mode, then bringing the idea's into ableton.
+1 I like to start in Maschine and finish tracks in Ableton. |
Lawana Mileto
13.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by kbridge
After further thought, I've realised a third option would be to purchase a Novation Launchpad and Launchcontrol for less that half the price of the push and about a third of the price of the Maschine - this would give me rotary control, some help sequencing through session and some basic drum programming..
anyone have any input on this idea, or any experience with these bits of gear?
Not a great option like others have said.
Your original options win easily over the Novation gear
.
Personally I'd still go with Maschine, and it can intergrate as much as you want it too with Ableton, and it does very well.
It's nice to occasionally just having a jam in Maschine in stand alone mode, then bringing the idea's into ableton. |
Nikole Resende
13.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by kbridge
After further thought, I've realised a third option would be to purchase a Novation Launchpad and Launchcontrol for less that half the price of the push and about a third of the price of the Maschine - this would give me rotary control, some help sequencing through session and some basic drum programming..
anyone have any input on this idea, or any experience with these bits of gear?
I would not recommend getting the novation gear, for the same reasons botstein gave you.
Also, when comparing prices, remember that Maschine comes with a software package which, if you bought each product individually, would cost almost as much as you are paying for Maschine itself.
Maschine is probably the best Groovebox out there right now, so if it's mainly about the drums, this should be your #1 choice.
If you want something a little less focused on drums and better integrated with Ableton, Push is your friend. |
Brunilda Kora
13.01.2014 | Basically, mate, if you are considering producing in Live with anything OTHER than The Push you are missing a MILLION tricks.
The Push is a phenomenal piece of kit, and Live is a phenomenal piece of software.
The Push is ideal for production using Live. (Fuck - I've very nearly sold The Push to myself... ) |
Ervin Calvery
13.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by kbridge
After further thought, I've realised a third option would be to purchase a Novation Launchpad and Launchcontrol for less that half the price of the push and about a third of the price of the Maschine - this would give me rotary control, some help sequencing through session and some basic drum programming..
anyone have any input on this idea, or any experience with these bits of gear?
Not really - the launchpad is not as expressive as either push or maschine, and definitely isn't intended (nor would I reccomend it) for drum programming. For one thing, it has no velocity sensitivity. Also, the launchcontrol has knobs, not encoders like the other controllers we've talked about in this thread (push, maschines of all types, BCR/BCF, etc).
...for a third of the price of the Push or Maschine, you could pick up a QuNeo. It comes with two MIDI remote scripts, one of which is a lauchpad emulator.
(I do work for KMI, like I disclose is my signature, but there's never been a more appropriate place to recommend QuNeo; OP is looking for something like Maschine or Push to use with Live, for a third of the price, with clip launching capability and suitable for drum playing/programming.) |
Bernard Pulizzi
12.01.2014 | After further thought, I've realised a third option would be to purchase a Novation Launchpad and Launchcontrol for less that half the price of the push and about a third of the price of the Maschine - this would give me rotary control, some help sequencing through session and some basic drum programming..
anyone have any input on this idea, or any experience with these bits of gear? |
Shan Bauerly
08.01.2014 | 'Round these parts, you gan get MKI Maschines for ~$200 USD. Not a lot of diff between MKI & II, IMO. Certainly not worth the upcharge. Now the studio model... that's an upgrade! Take care. |
Bernard Pulizzi
08.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by HigherFi
You're wasting precious time on the fence, man. Press the "buy it now" button and put that boner to use making tunes! You're not going wrong either way.
you're absolutely right pal, and this is something that I do regularly, I research the shit out of things I like and spend far too many hours just going back and forth, BUT as I won't have the money til summer, I actually do get kicks out of staring at pictures, watching videos and hearing opinions on these bits of gear before I get my hands on them - keeps the excitement going and tides me over til I can actually afford one of them on my horrific student budget! |
Shan Bauerly
08.01.2014 | You're wasting precious time on the fence, man. Press the "buy it now" button and put that boner to use making tunes! You're not going wrong either way. |
Bernard Pulizzi
08.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by HigherFi
I have Maschine as well. Had it long before the PUSH. There are a lot of overlaps, but, if I'm working in Ableton, PUSH is definitely the way to go for me. The pads are just awesome. Having a 2x larger grid for drum sequence is also killer. 'Suppose it depends on if you are using it just for drums/making beats vs taking advantage of the aftertouch and and and... Not bagging on Maschine, at all. I'm not getting rid of mine, by any means. If I were using any other DAW, it'd be the way to go 100%. The way I see it, PUSH can do pretty much everything Maschine can do - the converse is not true in Ableton.
See this is what keeps me leaning towards the Maschine - I'm primarily a techno producer, so the beats are the most crucial for me at this point really, so once the beats are in Ableton, I believe I'm quite happy to control the rest with a mouse/rotary controller. I believe I'd be happy for the Maschine workflow and added kits and features, seems this would give me the best of both worlds!
I just spend every day going back and forth in my mind about which I'd rather have, and I just believe with a great beat-making *groove studio* such as the Maschine, I'd be more than happy to program the rest by mouse.
It's ALSO worth noting that I pretty much only use the arrange view and not the session, although I can see myself recording from session to arrangement when I get one of these two. |
Shan Bauerly
08.01.2014 | I have Maschine as well. Had it long before the PUSH. There are a lot of overlaps, but, if I'm working in Ableton, PUSH is definitely the way to go for me. The pads are just awesome. Having a 2x larger grid for drum sequence is also killer. 'Suppose it depends on if you are using it just for drums/making beats vs taking advantage of the aftertouch and and and... Not bagging on Maschine, at all. I'm not getting rid of mine, by any means. If I were using any other DAW, it'd be the way to go 100%. The way I see it, PUSH can do pretty much everything Maschine can do - the converse is not true in Ableton. Your comment about using it stand alone would lead me to recommend you get the Studio version. As long as you are good with the physical size, it goes a long way toward keeping you away from your laptop.
Oh, my favorite bit of kit is AVID Artist Control. |
Alecia Soulliere
07.01.2014 | yeah the way I told you does route each sample (kick, snare, hat, etc) to a different midi track. you can set them all on the same channel and combine the group if you want to, but its actually easier to do 1 sound per midi track. |
Ervin Calvery
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by kbridge
if you could squeeze in how you'd go about using Maschine in stand alone, but then exporting individual tracks into Ableton (I believe done through soloing), in beginner sized chunks, so we can have just - for example - kicks, hats, snares etc all as separate Ableton tracks?
I've seen a few videos, but if you can create a comprehensive guide I'd be eternally grateful, and I'd love to spread word to anyone else left wondering!
Thanks if possible!
Yeah - maybe I could tear through three different methods in 10 minutes... something like that. |
Nikole Resende
07.01.2014 | The easiest way to to this after you did your drum in Maschine would be:
Save the Maschine project.
Load Maschine as a Plug-in in Ableton.
Load the Maschine Project inside the Plug-in, route midi and audio as you need it -> done. |
Bernard Pulizzi
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by botstein
if you could squeeze in how you'd go about using Maschine in stand alone, but then exporting individual tracks into Ableton (I believe done through soloing), in beginner sized chunks, so we can have just - for example - kicks, hats, snares etc all as separate Ableton tracks?
I've seen a few videos, but if you can create a comprehensive guide I'd be eternally grateful, and I'd love to spread word to anyone else left wondering!
Thanks if possible! |
Ervin Calvery
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by kbridge
as a "techno(ish)" producer I kind of need individual tracks for most drums, I've seen a way to export each individual selection, so I'll have to do it this way, as I'll have to introduce each section in due time etc.
If anyone has any good tutorials or videos on how to do this, hit me up!
Ableton and Maschine - full tutorial:
http://community
.djranking
s.com/showthread.php?t=48092
This is one good way to go.
Maybe my tutorial for maschineskills.com this Friday will cover some different Ableton and Machine integrations... |
Bernard Pulizzi
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by lemeiux1
kind of yes, you can bring in a group or just an individual sound. basically you would load maschine as a plugin in ableton, then you would focus either the sound or the group and use the drag and drop icon to drop it on a blank track in ableton. The software creates midi clips in ableton automatically. Then all you have to do is set the channels in both ableton and maschine and you are done. It seems confusing at first but once you've done it a couple times its very easy
as a "techno(ish)" producer I kind of need individual tracks for most drums, I've seen a way to export each individual selection, so I'll have to do it this way, as I'll have to introduce each section in due time etc.
If anyone has any good tutorials or videos on how to do this, hit me up! |
Alecia Soulliere
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by kbridge
This is exactly what I'm looking for, I want to get my drums made and played quickly, then I can always substitute drum sounds out if needs be etc, this is perfect.
when you say you export the midi, I'm assuming you keep the drum sounds from Maschine.. is this done through soloing and dragging?
kind of yes, you can bring in a group or just an individual sound. basically you would load maschine as a plugin in ableton, then you would focus either the sound or the group and use the drag and drop icon to drop it on a blank track in ableton. The software creates midi clips in ableton automatically. Then all you have to do is set the channels in both ableton and maschine and you are done. It seems confusing at first but once you've done it a couple times its very easy |
Bernard Pulizzi
08.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by lemeiux1
What I like most about maschine is that I can literally close my laptop and just jam right from the hardware, its just awesome for quickly getting ideas down that turn into full blown songs later.
This is exactly what I'm looking for, I want to get my drums made and played quickly, then I can always substitute drum sounds out if needs be etc, this is perfect.
when you say you export the midi, I'm assuming you keep the drum sounds from Maschine.. is this done through soloing and dragging? |
Alecia Soulliere
08.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by kbridge
It is notable that I already have a midi keyboard, so coupled with the Ableton suite I believe Maschine may edge out Push for drums/percussion?
I'd love to know what your 1st favourite piece of kit is too!
That is my workflow and it is extremely relevant. I usually start in maschine to get ideas down for drums and synths, then when I find something I am relatively happy with I bring the midi into ableton and work on arranging it from there. I mainly do melodies with my keyboard in ableton because 16 pads isnt really that great for chords and such. The actual maschine software has a bit of a learning curve if you are already familiar with ableton's workflow, but I got it down pretty well in a week or so and there are plenty of youtube videos that will help you get started (and show you how easy it is to bring your midi from maschine into ableton as well).
What I like most about maschine is that I can literally close my laptop and just jam right from the hardware, its just awesome for quickly getting ideas down that turn into full blown songs later. |
Ervin Calvery
08.01.2014 | The BCR is great, but I use by BCF more. Flying faders are fun.
You code also look at Code -
http://www.lividinstruments.com/hardware_code.php |
Nikole Resende
08.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by kbridge
the UC33e is the exact kind of thing I'm looking for, shame it was discontinued!
Got a used one myself, didn't have any problems so far. It's plastic but quite sturdy, and the prices are mostly reasonable. |
Klara Kinnebrew
08.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by amadeus
Livid instruments Alias 8 looks pretty interesting, looks like it is built pretty tough with a nice amount of faders rotories and buttons, if a bit pricier.
I own the livid ohm rgb slim and I can vouch for the build quality. Livid builds nice stuff... |
Bernard Pulizzi
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by HigherFi
Without question, the PUSH is what you want. Seamless integration with ABLETON aside, it comes damn close to being an instrument in its own right. It's my 2nd favorite piece of kit of all time.
It is notable that I already have a midi keyboard, so coupled with the Ableton suite I believe Maschine may edge out Push for drums/percussion?
I'd love to know what your 1st favourite piece of kit is too! |
Lawana Mileto
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by HigherFi
Without question, the PUSH is what you want. Seamless integration with ABLETON aside, it comes damn close to being an instrument in its own right. It's my 2nd favorite piece of kit of all time.
It's all just personal opinion, I would like to try out Push, but have to say Maschine is a fantastic bit of kit, and although its not reinventing the wheel, what it does do it does very well. |
Shan Bauerly
07.01.2014 | Without question, the PUSH is what you want. Seamless integration with ABLETON aside, it comes damn close to being an instrument in its own right. It's my 2nd favorite piece of kit of all time. |
Bernard Pulizzi
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by amadeus
Yeah, I really wish I'd bought the uc33e years ago looks like a great bit of kit, saw one for 20 quid the other week on gumtree, msg'd the seller but the guy didnt have time to post it apparently.
Also the new novation launch control looks alright, if extremely plasticky.
Livid instruments Alias 8 looks pretty interesting, looks like it is built pretty tough with a nice amount of faders rotories and buttons, if a bit pricier.
The livid 8 looks great, but it far out of my price range for what I need, I just need a simple controller really, don't even need portability, just rotaries and possibly faders.. looks like the BCR 2000 is the only thing that will do the job really!
Kind of surprised that there aren't a million options for this! |
Lawana Mileto
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by TCMuc
You could try getting a used M-Audio Evolution UC33e.
24 knobs, 9 Faders and a number of buttons incl. transport controls should give you everything you need.
Yeah, I really wish I'd bought the uc33e years ago looks like a great bit of kit, saw one for 20 quid the other week on gumtree, msg'd the seller but the guy didnt have time to post it apparently.
Also the new novation launch control looks alright, if extremely plasticky.
Livid instruments Alias 8 looks pretty interesting, looks like it is built pretty tough with a nice amount of faders rotories and buttons, if a bit pricier. |
Bernard Pulizzi
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by TCMuc
You could try getting a used M-Audio Evolution UC33e.
24 knobs, 9 Faders and a number of buttons incl. transport controls should give you everything you need.
the UC33e is the exact kind of thing I'm looking for, shame it was discontinued! |
Nikole Resende
07.01.2014 | You could try getting a used M-Audio Evolution UC33e.
24 knobs, 9 Faders and a number of buttons incl. transport controls should give you everything you need. |
Bernard Pulizzi
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by amadeus
As the OP asked about controllers with rotaries for automation, the push and maschine was seperate to this.
I don't believe the QuNEo is what I'm looking for unfortunately, something more traditional with rotary knobs etc |
Lawana Mileto
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by TCMuc
No offense, but what - besides that fact that the QuNeo is your own product - makes you believe that it's a good option for someone who's trying to chose between Push or Maschine?
As the OP asked about controllers with rotaries for automation, the push and maschine was seperate to this. |
Nikole Resende
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by botstein
If you need more controls for Live, you might check out QuNeo, which will give you tons of control for a lower cost and in a smaller package - we've got great MIDI remote scripts for Ableton, including a Launchpad emulator and a more original solution. The BCR and BCF are great but require a power outlet, and aren't nearly as rugged.
No offense, but what - besides that fact that the QuNeo is your own product - makes you believe that it's a good option for someone who's trying to chose between Push or Maschine? |
Bernard Pulizzi
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by botstein
@kbridge Maschine is where it's at for techno.
If you need more controls for Live, you might check out QuNeo, which will give you tons of control for a lower cost and in a smaller package - we've got great MIDI remote scripts for Ableton, including a Launchpad emulator and a more original solution. The BCR and BCF are great but require a power outlet, and aren't nearly as rugged.
almost definitely settled for the Maschine, unless someone can change my opinion!
To go slightly off topic, I am also looking for a rotary controller to record in automation, I was looking at the BCR2000, but are there any others that are worth looking at? |
Ervin Calvery
07.01.2014 | @kbridge Maschine is where it's at for techno.
If you need more controls for Live, you might check out QuNeo, which will give you tons of control for a lower cost and in a smaller package - we've got great MIDI remote scripts for Ableton, including a Launchpad emulator and a more original solution. The BCR and BCF are great but require a power outlet, and aren't nearly as rugged. |
Lawana Mileto
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by kbridge
Do you record session view into the arrangement view?
Depends on the track Im working on but yeah I do just jam away and record into the arrangement view, then just go into arrangement and adjust if needs be. |
Bernard Pulizzi
07.01.2014 |
Originally Posted by amadeus
APC 20 for transport, Volume faders, Clip launches etc basically main controls within ableton, the less I have to touch the mouse the better
Do you record session view into the arrangement view? |
