Since the new changes to routing MIDI in Maschine I’ve been getting a lot of question on how to record MIDI into Live properly.
I put together this updated video to show how you can record MIDI from your groups in Maschine 2.7 into clips or tracks in Ableton Live 10.
I go through the MIDI batch settings, as well as the group and sound input/output routing.
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Hey! So… I have Maschine 2.7.2. Im using the MK3 in Ableton Live 10. I followed the directions in this video and got the midi to work but now I can’t get it to play back after I record it down. Need help…Am I missing something?
Double check the midi settings for the group input, also make sure you’ve changed the root note so it triggers the proper notes. What’s in the video is all you have to do to make it work.
GOT IT TO WORK! THANK YOU! one last question… Do you know how to convert the midi to audio inside of Ableton? Now I can record the midi from my Maschine VST plug in which is great but it won’t let me freeze the midi track to audio…is there away around this?
Cool. Honestly the quickest way to get it to audio would be to sample the audio that’s playing by routing it to a separate audio track. The way the routing is setup, freeze/flatten doesn’t work the same way as it does with a regular plugin track.
I’m using maschine 2.7 and got this to work. Is there a similar tutorial for multi out midi to ableton? This one seems to map all the midi sounds into one ableton clip. I’d like to map different sounds to separate channels in Live . I’d be willing to pay separately for more help.
In that case you’d want to give each pad it’s own midi channel (sounds to midi channels) instead of setting up the group to be triggered with notes per pad. https://maschinetutorials.com/maschine-2-1-midi-drag-and-drop-instruments-into-ableton-live-9/
Great! the main reason I became a member is to learn how to do this with 2.7. It works,…thanks! But one other situation I’m curious about, If you have an existing pattern in Maschine, is there a way to record it into an Ableton clip while you are simply playing the clip in maschine? THe reason I’d like to be able to do this is to interact with the playing pattern, changing it in real time for instance randomly hitting the mutes on different pads/sounds. (I know how to drag and drop midi. I’m not wanting to do that!) is… Read more »
Glad to help! Yeah, once you set this up, if you have a pattern already it will output the notes the same way as playing live.
this doesn’t seem to work with deep matter library,some pads trigger more than one sound..I didn’t have this problem with any other library…I noticed that root key for some pads is not C3 but I tried changing all the roots to C3 while transposing the samples for correct pitch but I had no luck..any ideas?can you look into it?
Thanks
If deep matter is an instrument library it will not work this way since the instrument is spread across one pad. You’d have to give a single pad it’s own midi channel instead of setting up the whole kit to trigger a note per pad. Then you can play it via keyboard mode to trigger the sounds.
Its not an instrument library,it is a maschine expansion with maybe An instrument or 2 in pad 15 and 16 like many other maschine expansions,some of the pads work as if they were ”layered” triggering more than one pad
Thanks
For the instrument pads they need their own midi channel (not a midi note). For the linked pads they need to be unlinked if you don’t want them to trigger together.
The instrument part I understand and there are some drumsynths in these kits but this also happens between samples ,I don’t think that there are any linked pads because I checked under pad mode link group and didn’t see anything there linked also in standalone they don’t behave like that..if you have deep matter just check for example first kit…Alecia kit
Thanks for your help
Ahh ok, yeah I’m not sure on Deep Matter, I do not have that one. Drum synth sounds would be treated as instruments as well so may need their own channel instead of the “sounds to midi notes” setup similar to any massive or monark presets as the only way two sounds could trigger at once is if they are set to the same note (sounds to midi notes gives each pad a separate note) or if some of them are instruments spread across the keys so they trigger with the other notes. Can you tell which type of sounds… Read more »
Hey SJ, I’m replying to this thread as I *think* it may be the answer to one of my own questions … I’ve got all the midi routing going well in ableton w maschine, but when I switch a drum kit group into keyboard mode to do a quick “pitched Note Repeat snare fill” for example, it sounds right when I perform it (audio from Maschine) and the midi records, but doesn’t play back right. What am I doing wrong? How do I record Maschine Keyboard Mode Note Repeat stuff into Ableton? Thanks so much!!
Yeah, the pad has to have it’s own MIDI channel, if it is setup like this video then it only has a single note. This video shows the setup even though it’s for another workflow, the MIDI settings would be what you would use to make this work, unfortunately it’s not as simple as just switching into keyboard mode to make it work lol. https://maschinetutorials.com/maschine-mikro-mk3-recording-chords-in-ableton-live-10/
Gotcha – ok great thanks for pointing me in the right direction!
No problem fam!
Hi! I’m struggling because on the drop down menu on my midi track in the midi from section there is no option to click maschine in the second bar only pre and post fx options?
When that happens it means you’re using the AU and not the VST plugin. MIDI output only works with VST format.
I’m super new to all this and trying to follow step by step. When I arm the second midi channel, my maschine disappears and I have to arm the First master channel for it to reappear. How do I resolve this?
That’s a setting inside of Live, under “Look/Feel” in the preferences, turn off “auto-hide plugin windows”
When trying to set my Input settings, after putting Key Mode to manual, i go to Source to select “Host” but i get a bunch of other options in the drop down other then Host..Did i miss a step along the way?
If you’re on a sound and not the group, you will see other options like focus and default in addition to host. But if you want to receive from the host then that’s what you’d choose.
Hey SaintJoe – just signed up based on this tutorial offering – been using ableton live 10 for awhile, but new to maschine 2.7 (mikro mk2).
At the :48 mark, I’m using the VST version of the plugin, but I don’t have a “Midi To”…just an “Audio To”.
Do I have to add something to the Ableton Live 10 preferences in the “Link MIDI” tab?
Thanks for any advice!
Welcome to the site! There’s nothing to setup in the Link MIDI tab, this is related to the internal routing,. Are you doing this from a MIDI track? There should not be an “audio to” on a MIDI track.
Figured it out. I had setup a ‘default MIDI track’ long ago to include an EQ8 and Compressor. Once removed those and saved it as the default MIDI track again, the “Audio To” became “MIDI To”.
Great tutorial!
Ahh ok, glad it worked out!
Hi saintjoe: Just joined your site. Great information with regards to Maschine mk3. I am trying to use Maschine with motu dp 9.5. I am able input midi. My question is this: I have noticed that with some of the kits from Deep Matter, when inputting in dp trigger 2 notes at once. when i look in the notation window, when i hit the lowest key (should be c3) i see other pitches being notated. Most of the kits will play the notes as determined by the start not c3. I have a feeling this is the way theses kits… Read more »
Hey John, welcome to the site! As for the kits, it could be possible that there are link groups being used, where one pad triggers multiple pads. I haven’t run into the issue and I am not familiar with DP but when you enable MIDI for the group the notes should automatically respond according to their configuration. Is it only these kits and is it only specific kits in that expansion?
Hi Saintjoe: Hope you had a great Holiday! Thank you for your response. Yes-I did check for the linking parameter in the pads mode. There are no links enabled. In the notation window in dp normally the first pad would trigger middle c or c3. However with deep matter the lowest pad will sometime produce f# or some other odd note. there are also the aforementioned double notes and these will appear in the notation window. AFAIK this is the only expansion with which this has occurred. I also check the root note parameters and these do not seem to… Read more »
Yeah, I think it may be this kit specifically, I believe deep matter was one of the earlier expansions so sounds like some of the note assignments were off. It doesn’t impact users within Maschine but as you can see when triggering via MIDI you notice lol.
Hi saintjoe: I figured out the deep matter mystery. In the ideas mode in the software-in the window where you see the pad/sound list 1-16 there is an icon that switches to a color grid corresponding to the sixteen pads on the controller. normally the “start” note for each pad is c3. However when I triggered the pads and looked at the software I found that there were some other pitch classes that were assigned to other notes some out of the range of what the pads could transmit via midi. When I went through and changed each back to… Read more »
Ahh ok, yeah, sounds like they mapped the kits in there a bit differently, not sure if it was for tuning purposes or what, glad you found a work around at least!
i’ve tried this method but for some reason, my second MIDI From drop down does not contain the Maschine option. Only PRE & POST FX. What gives?
You’re probably using the AU, not the VST. It only works with the VST, AU plugins can’t send MIDI output.
Hey SJ! Getting better at this, Managed to get 4 kits and sounds routed perfectly into Ableton.
However, when I start playing in Maschine there seems to be an echo that throws me off when Im recording. I already clicked on the thru (which give a repeating note if I leave it on) to avoid feedback (as you mentioned) but I get that echo… any idea how to minimize that? This the only thing missing now!
Regards,
JG
I’m not sure about the echo, maybe check the tracks in Live to see if “input” monitoring is turned on?
This works well thanks, I can play the controller and record the midi in Live! Great! Thanks! But is there any way I can play the controller in Pad Mode i.e. one sound scaled across the keyboard? This way I can play different pitches of one sound. I can do it inside maschine of course, but after experimenting thoroughly , I can’t figure out how to make it record in Live!
Whoops! correction: I need to switch the words ‘keyboard’ and “pad mode”. I want to play the controller in keyboard mode and record the midi in Live!
Gotcha, I see you commented on the other post. But overall the main idea is that you need to not turn on MIDI input for the whole group, you just need to set midi input/output for the individual pad you want to use instead.
Hey SaintJo, quick question… I have all the midi in/outs sorted out, I can drag the Maschine patterns into Ableton with multiple kits working perfectly… however… some of the Maschine sounds, that are like long sequences (example a shaker or a monark sound) can’t be played anymore or don’t pass into Ableton… any ideas? Its the only thing missing from my workflow!
Regards,
Jose
For instruments they need to have their own midi channel/input, when dragging a kit it’s just giving a midi note to each pad, so that’s why the instrument pads don’t respond.
Here’s a video that may help with the routing of an instrument: https://maschinetutorials.com/maschine-mikro-mk3-recording-chords-in-ableton-live-10/
This is an older one but shows how drag and drop of instruments works, of course Maschine has changed a bit in terms of the terms in the routing section but you’ll be able to see what’s going on:
https://maschinetutorials.com/maschine-2-1-midi-drag-and-drop-instruments-into-ableton-live-9/
Sounds neat, kinda of what I saw in one of your videos… I though that when dragging a whole kit all was taken care of. My workflow is: 1) Create several kits into Maschine 2) route every kit to a midi channel in ableton 3) Select sounds to midi notes 4) Drag the clip into Ableton (kit one / channel one and so on) Now, in the kits that have sounds… Id have to have an independent group just for the sounds and route them to their appropriate midi channel? Saying the massive and the monark are in channels 10… Read more »
Yeah, when you drag a kit and turn on MIDI input for the kit, it just gives each pad a single note. If that’s not the note that you hit for the instrument pad, then you won’t hear it. The best way to have instruments play back properly is to give each instrument it’s own MIDI input channel, that way notes sent to it can be played across the range of notes. Also, sometimes in reaktor you may have to enable MIDI input inside of Reaktor itself.
Saint Joe, I seem to remember you posted a live/maschine file with this all set up to use as a template. Is that still on the site somewhere?
That may have been for one of the older versions I previously showed, I didn’t post one with this tutorial though.
Man — I have been trying to get this to work after upgrading to LIVE 10 and failing every time! HOWEVER you are the only one to mention it cannot be AU version. Thats the one I had been trying to use —not knowing. THX a ton! Now its working!
JB
Glad to help!
Hey SJ. Thanks for your super helpful videos – has cleared up a lot of confusion for me. I’m using the Mk3 with Live 11 and the routing is all working perfectly except for when I have a kit with a sample on one of the pads that I want to play using keyboard mode. I get that you have to use sounds to midi channels not sounds to midi notes if you want to use the sounds across the keyboard ( I think?). So if I have a sample in a kit I want to play using keyboard not… Read more »
In that case I would say it would be easier to copy that sample to its own group and give that pad a midi channel instead.
Yeah I thought so thanks. Just found a workaround though, which means manually setting the transpose and midi channel on each sound but its a lot of hassle and I think its just a lot quicker to copy to a new group. Thanks for getting back so quickly!
Yeah, that’s an option, but I didn’t want to suggest that hahahaha, but yes, you could do it that way also.
you’ve been super helpful already and sorry to keep picking your brains. I’ve now got everything working really well after going through all of your tutorials except for one last problem. If I use record quantize (set in Ableton’s record quantization settings) while I record into Ableton I get this really odd midi echo every time a midi note plays if I don’t hit the pad exactly on the beat. It’s as if Ableton is adjusting and then replaying the midi note in real-time, so that I hear the note when I hit the pad, and then milliseconds later it… Read more »
Hmmmm, could be a loop from the MIDI being recorded and trying to playback immediately, possibly due to latency between the input and output. I can’t say that it is something I’ve run into. You could always quantize after the fact though.