We’ve been having some pretty good discussions on using Maschine with Ableton Live, and the two seem to work well together.
I personally was using Live before I got Maschine so I fell in love with it’s session view.
Now there are multiple ways people like to work with the two, some go standalone and drag and drop into Live for arranging. Others use Maschine as a plugin sequencing inside of Maschine, others do the same yet drag the data out of Maschne into Live for arranging.
You can route groups, pads, instruments, record the midi into Live, etc.
Lot’s of ways to work!
I want to show one of my more common workflow styles, that’s using Maschine as a module inside of Live.
I record midi notes directly from the maschine pads into Live, so all sequencing is actually handled inside of Live, as well as routing.
I use external instrument devices when I want to route and sequence a whole group, since it can hold midi and audio.
This video is more of an introduction and explanation of the concepts behind my workflow, which I plan to follow up with more detailed videos showing how I set things up and how I work.
Be sure to ask any questions you may have as I am forming the Maschine/Ableton videos, so I can get them answered for you!
*exclusive video accessible when you join today!
It seems pretty interesting SJ, but still looks a little confusing with the routing. I like the fact that you could record your performance right into ableton live’s sequencer. Going to wait on those other videos to see if it makes sense.
With Live it’s one of those things you have to see a couple few times lol. But once you understand it, you see how flexible it is 🙂
Live has MPC groove templates too….just saying lol.
Amazing….I was just about to post to the forum asking how people use maschine and ableton and here we are! Definitely looking forward this series. I setup my template in Live as per one of SJ’s first templates, routing to tracks in live and then had to wait until recently when I had a powerful enough computer t work the way I wanted! Now I have it I’m really looking forward to getting back into Live and Maschine. In terms of a request I’m also interested to know how people synchronise other devices and which they use as the master?… Read more »
Awesome!! Yeah man, more coming for sure, it’s really a slick setup. As for the other requests, we have a spot in the forum for you to fill it up with whatever you wish! However if you do have specific ableton/maschine request for this series please let me know, don’t be afraid to ask anything man, we love all questions here! I need to get me an iPad bro, so I can start messing with that and Maschine! I assume it will work like any other external device though. I will show a video with how I work with, sequence,… Read more »
SJ, I ditched my laptop at work 4 weeks ago and I’m now pretty much able to do everything I need to do for work on my iPad with the exception of finding a replacement for MS Project (I own a business in Datawarehousing, BI and EPM). So if when you get an iPad or need what insights I have on the business or music app front just let me know! Be great to give something back given how much you give out! I’m just about to start with integrating the ipad into ableton/maschine so i’ll no doubt be after… Read more »
I will have a mac at some point, not sure if I want the mini, imac, or macbookpro, I need one though, gotta support the apple heads! lol
The mac mini is a beast homie!
Awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww lol, it will happen at some point. I really like the iMac though…but we will see, mac mini may be it. You never know!
You could always try a building Hackintosh 😉 thats what Im running for my main machine. I have a macbook pro as well which is nice if you want a mobile setup.
Yeah, no doubt I could do that as well, But I already built my main PC, I don’t want to do another till it’s time to replace this one lol. I’d most likely get an iMac or mac mini, I have a dope laptop already.
Awwwww….shit…you don’t mess around here at MT! Always on the case Joe.
Ha….my first tutorial shout out, too!
Nice intro Joe – definately clears up some of the stuff we were discussing, and has opened my mind to some other ways of working with it.
But yeah, routing can be a bit of a nightmare for a rookie, so keen to cop the sequel to this vid in the future.
I hope this helps a bunch of people!
Yeah man, it’s funny, as I was planning on diving into this series anyway, it was perfect as we were discussing it. The thing I dig about Live, there are so many ways to work with it. You know what’s really funny? The dudes that started ableton…..used to work at NI…think about that for a minute lol.
Just a bit of background, too – the whole reason I chose Live as my DAW, was the workflow and interface. Every review I’ve ever read on it praises these aspects, and their ability to facilitate, rather than hinder, creative flow. I’m not the most technically minded guy, so this was a REALLY important consideration. Likewise, my decision process was similar when getting Maschine – I actually was originally just going to get a standard midi controller (probably an MPD or similar). But after a lil research, I saw Maschine, and went ‘oh, wow… this is definately a better way… Read more »
Indeed man, main reason I chose Live a few years back myself, coming from hardware, it was the only one I “got with” and seemed wide open in terms of creativity options.
More coming man, and make sure you share as you come up with new ways of working too!
Will do, for sure.
I’m just cramming real hard to get my understanding of my tools down TIGHT, so that the tools kinda just melt away in the process.
So I’m not stopping ever 15 minutes to go ‘why isn’t that working?!’ (major creativity killer!)
I hear ya, that’s always the goal!
I just started using Live last week, been running logic for past few years. Work flow is pretty dope, not sure if I will stick to it… theres alot of things I like about Logic, but I love that I can record mutes!!! (if only Maschine had this).
iPad is awesome, I have one with tones of music apps (BeatMaker 2 is one of my favs). Theres this app touchAble that lets you control Ableton from the iPad, a lot of potential with that.
I hear that, Live isn’t for everyone, I’m a firm believer in using exactly what fits you!
Oh ya you know I’ve been waiting! Bring it on dude!
Ahahaha yeah brotha, it’s coming!
What a great idea doing these videos sj! And what’s that you’re working on, it sounded lovely! Really looking forward to it. Live has really turned my productivity peak in the right direction, and by integrating Maschine in the workflow, I guess the sky is the limit. I’m also hooked up on iPad these days. There’s a nice app called LiveControl (http://liine.net/livecontrol) to control the session view. And with iTeleport I don’t even have to be in the house to do things. I would be great with some iPad/Maschine vids in the future. Who know, maybe there’s a Maschine app… Read more »
Thanks bro, the combo is deadly. I want the ipad and especially for controlling live, will be dope! I posted that track in the music section of the forum, it was something I did when first getting back into ableton/maschine 🙂
Yeah, I forgot to mention, that beat sounds hot SJ.
Thanks fam, you can listen to it in the music section of the forum 🙂
It’s called “don’t break my heart”
Dope reviewer and Dope beat maker! Lol! where is Leon when you need him! Hahaha! Man you going to make me blow the dust off Ableton…nice beat!
Ahahahaha, classic son!!
Cool! Thanks for the Video. Looking forward to part two.
I always just “grap” my clips from maschine and build the tracks from these bricks. Good to see different ways! Thx
Yep, that’s a really dope way to work as well. Just using Ableton for it’s arranging abilities.
when are you going to do part 2 of this work flow ? We need to know Saint thanks bro
It’s coming fam…got a lot of other stuff to do too 😉
Gotta make sure we keep a good mix
Nice. I’m going to be digging into this next week. Vacation! (Ice-T voice)
I have a question. You said you have all your VST loaded in Maschine as well. So Maschine is running in VST mode, and you have VST running inside Maschine? A VST within a VST? Lol does that bog down your system any differently than if you ran all the VST in Ableton?
*For some reason I think VST is like sheep. It can be used for both plural and singular lol
Actually in this one I was running all my vst in Ableton, with my chops/drums in Maschine.
But you can do either or. Maybe you just want to run anything that is NI from within Maschine, sometimes I do that as well. And use other plugins directly in Ableton.
Whatever you want to do, I don’t notice much more cpu usage either way, as ableton is multicore so it will still spread the processing around.
Nice…I’ve got 6 cores! Lol
Uh Very nice (borat voice) lol
How do you get Ableton to recognize maschine as an external instrument in the browser? My browser dosent even have a tab for external instruments.
What version do you have? To use plugins you need to set the plugin folder in ableton preferences
I have ableton live 8 Apc version. I have the plugin folders set up, and I can run maschine as a plugin but i dont have the option for an external instrument. Is there another plugin file I have to put in my plugin folder for an external instrument version of maschine?
you need the full version to have the external instrument, you only get that in the full version of ableton live
Dear S.J.
I m trying to follow workflow part one (ableton live integration) but I think I m missing out some crucial routing set up .. for example .. on my two ext.instrument tracks I can select MIDI FROM > 2-maschine but just beneath that I can only select post/pre effects.
Which tutorials should I follow first to set my routing in Ableton and maschine correctly ..
thanks !!
Pieter
Make sure on Mac you are using the vst and not the AU, AU plugins can’t send midi out. You can enable ableton to use vst in the preferences menu.
problem solved thanks !!
Another issue
I have a group loaded from the presets (studio break kit). Every preset comes with a few patterns .. But I like to load more (preset) patterns without the group. So that I can obtain the sounds in my studio break kit group but with different patterns..
So one group with different patterns, where can I find these ?
Is there a preset patterns folder ?
Thanks
No, there are no separate patterns, you would have to go through and save all the factory patterns manually if you wish to access them with other kits.
ok! Thanks !
No problem!
Hi saint joe , Another question about the factory patterns. I ve saved them into the library to use them with other kits like you ve told me to do. But I was wondering Ableton Suite comes also with a lot of factory drum clips. Can I also import them (just the midi patterns) into maschine mikro (and use mikro as a stand alone). So rephrased can I convert midi clips into .mpat-files ? If not, can I find maschine patterns on the www for download ..? Or, are their others ways … ? Thanks! ((((((Alternatively I could use mikro… Read more »
maschine doesn’t import midi patterns currently, but yes you could use maschine as a plugin in ableton and send midi to it, that’s the only way to record existing midi data into maschine until they allow direct midi import.
yesterday made the decision to get my feet wet with ableton….today i dove in. part one complete, on to the next one.
If you have questions just ask fam
Sorry SJ
is there a new chapter ableton vs maschine on line ?
the next one ?
Love
Pix.
yes indeed sir, try this link for all of the parts
https://maschinetutorials.com/tag/maschine-in-ableton-live/
Dear
whats the tittle of the new tutorial ableton cs maschine. From those 7 vids I ve learned so much that I m actually finding a method that works for me.
Much Thanks !
Pieter
Yeah there were 7 in the series so far that shows how to get everything setup and going for sequencing Mashine in Ableton.
Saintjoe – much respect on these tutorials. I’ve watched the whole Ableton series and searched the site, however, and still haven’t found the answer I’m looking for. I’ve also searched the internet and I’m not the only one with this issue: When I load Machine as a VST plugin inside of Ableton there is a slight delay, lag, or buffer when I’m hitting the pads vs. when the audio comes out of ableton. I’ve tried turning delay compensation off in Ableton’s menu as well as the options.txt file. The closest thing so far I’ve found is changing the output buffer… Read more »
Hey man, cheers for all the awesome videos. I’m having some trouble setting this up – i can’t select Maschine in the MIDI From ‘Input Channel’…the only options i have are Pre FX and Post FX. Do you know how i can fix this?
Make sure you are loading the vst and not the au plugin
Ah! That was driving me insane. Thank you.
No problem!
this was the solution i was looking for,thanks for the speedy reply. btw is there a way to set the end point of chops to overlap oneshots like the mpc 2000xl does when slicing
Glad to help. Not sure exactly what you mean about the end point of the chops though, you can set them to overlap other chops if you wish, just make sure you don’t have them in a choke group together.