Hey what’s up! I’m back with part 5 in the Maschine in Ableton Live tutorial series
This one is for those looking for a way to use the flexibility of Live’s arranging while not giving up the creative/workflow of Maschine
So if you like to compose in Maschine standalone as opposed to using it as a module inside of Live, this one is for you.
I show how to setup the routing so that you can drag midi from Maschine into Live, and also have your audio routed properly for each midi channel.
I go step by step just so you see the exact process. There is a reason I keep showing the routing in Ableton…because once you understand it you will be able to do this stuff really quickly.
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Hey thanks for your help once again!!!!!
🙂 I love this site, its like having your own private tutor!!!
Glad to help fam!!
SJ just from a observation and stopping the video I believe the hiccup should be on channel 6 not 7, Your H&S clean and PRC clean are hitting at the same time with the same sound. I could be wrong but It just seemed that way. You first said six then seven and put it on 7. You are the teacher and a great one. Not trying to correct just a observation. I love this series it hits so home for me in my setup. I will probably use this from now on. Thanks man. MT the realist on the… Read more »
Thanks bruh, I kept that in there so folks can see how to fix it if it happens but Nah, it was channel 7, if you see in the video when I go into channel 7 it’s set to channel 2 like my strings, so it had the strings coming out both channels track 2 and track 7:) The percs hitting at the same time were on purpose, I played them that way, sorta how I layer stuff 🙂 Glad yo like the series man, these two do work well together and this one is for those that prefer to… Read more »
Yeah SJ, like you said at the end, “You can drag them in and get really crazy with ’em” and crazy is where I need to go! Lol 😀 I really need to get my maschine and ableton workflow on cos I think it would help me out with getting a little more complex and being able to fine tune everything just so. I did mess with it a little yesterday while doing that ‘My Star’ thing but then I could not get any audio in Ableton. I was trying to drag the full sounds over like I’m sure I’ve… Read more »
Yeah man, it’s a great little combo really, I prefer to compose in Maschine, most of the time I just use scenes but I still like session view sometimes. Would like to get an apc myself.
I did watch all the ableton vids yesterday right enough and couldn’t see it (they are well good dude). I think you had done it for another daw. Basically I’d like to see how you can drag something over into ableton that you have played in maschine to then arrange just the audio without the midi in ableton. Like if you play a melody on a sound in a group in maschine say with razor for example how you just drag that audio over into ableton and get the sound in there. I’ll have a look over the other daw… Read more »
Did you watch this one?
https://maschinetutorials.com/drag-audio-from-maschine-to-ableton-live-and-making-sure-the-loops-play-correctly
Good one Joe! this is what I’m talking about as far as loving Ableton. I’m so glad I have these videos at my access because it’s coming, Maschine + Ableton combo is next on my list.
Everything else besides S1 seems “no me”
Luh bro!
Yeah man, like I said before if I didn’t use Maschine for production it would be straight Ableton Live…they can co exist together well. Admitidly I don’t do it often, but when I do, it’s just like a continuation of Maschine man, I feel at home in both.
But for me I really like composing in Maschine, so this right here is a really good workflow for getting stuff into Ableton and adding lil parts and piece or arranging.
Thumbs up man!
I told you I had you bro 🙂
I know it took me a while to get em coming for ya but…I just wanted to do it the proper way because there’s a nice workflow and I wanted to cover everything in detail
Hope it helps ya man!!
It’s all help bro! Every little tip and trick! I’m still diginn routing all the midi to Live sequencer linearly though with ext instrument plugin in Live, so many ways to get this done though it’s nut’s! Using clips though?? Hmm I gotta try that.
I use the external instrument for pretty much anything I do involving midi in Live with Maschine.
Ooops, maybe not them all, haha. I knew I had seen it done before, lol!
Cheers bud!! 🙂
Hahahaha, it’s cool man, that was an older one.
Nice One Homie! One Question, After you drag the loops from Maschine into Ableton’s Session view, can you then freeze or bounce the Midi to Audio in Ableton??
Yes bro, since I set it up with the audio on the same track I can do a bounce/freeze or I can just record the audio into the arrangement view when I’m done. I’ll do a vid showing how to you can freeze after dragging it in.
cool man! Thanks! Man u got me bouncing back and forth between Ableton and S1, as soon as I say I’m going all in on S1, U show me something w Ableton and pull me back in.. I guess I should be glad that i’m blessed to have both, I know some people would luv to have my problem.. 🙂
Yeah I still look as ableton as the production/creative stage, you can still export from there into S1 for final mixing/recording vocals and such 🙂
I got to give this a try and those strings sound nice I got to check those out someday.
No doubt fam, yeah I like those strings man, good joints.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!! Lol I’m kinda pissed that I’m not at home right now actually. This vid got me hyped! Lol feels like this option might be able to do the same as a straight audio track-out.
Yeah the benefit here, is you can still do all your arranging and everything inside of Ableton while doing your main track creation in Maschine.
Word. But let’s say I have a track that I already arranged out in Maschine (LaLaLaHushHushHush). I ain’t really trying to arrange that bastage all over again lol. If I just wanted to do a straight track out of audio, is that possible like in Protools?
Yeah I know what ya mean by tracking out, that’s why I replied as I did. This wouldn’t be a replacement for that…but I got something for ya…stay tuned 🙂
Oh word? Lol I was all happy with this. I’m in for a real treat then. Lol 😀 like a virtual burrito of the Maschine Ableton flavor!
Wit extra hot saaaaaaaaaaawce on it lol
This workflow rocks…. Best of maschine, with the best of Live….. But with the bonus of being able to tweak and add fills, change ups etc… And use lives effects…. Awesome!
Word fam, glad ya diggin the series 🙂
I have 2 massive sounds alicias keys and grand pianos all in the same group, do i need separate channels on live for each one? All my drums and hits all go through channel one but then my synths and plug ins don’t?
You can drag them in like I did the instruments in this video, just set them up with different channels, that would be my suggestion.
So must they be in seperate groups? All my plug ins are in group B in maschine.
no, you can drag each instrument, you just set the sound midi settings for each instrument to a different midi channel, so when you drag the midi it will be separate for each pad/channel. When you right click on one of your instruments in group b, choose sound midi settings, enable, and set it to a midi channel.
Do this for each instrument, making sure they are on different channels. Then when you drag the group, you will get the midi data separated for each instrument in the group.
Ok thanks, another question when i dragged my alicias keys midi over it only has one key dragged over instead of 2 it is not how it sounds in maschine as i had 2 keys triggering at the same time. And when i draf to ableton it only has midi for one of thos keys.
Is it only happening with the keys? Are the MIDI setting setup right? I haven’t come across that problem before myself. You can send me the project file to checkout if you want.
Yeah ok how do i send it??
Just email the project file to help@MaschineTutorials.com
Just the actual project file, I don’t need any samples or anything as I have alicias keys, so I will be able to test it with that.
Ok mate, i hope you can help. As i say it plays one note from alicias keys other than both keys i have going… Ill do it in half an hour.
I hope that maybe this can help others too if it is a problem o have discovered.
We will see fam, we’ll figure out what’s going on, either it may be a bug or just a setting that needs changed. Since its only happening with alicias keys.
You have all the latest updates for alicias keys right?
So you are good to go now right?
This is awesome, thanks once again Joe.
I take it that you are necessarily limited by the 16 outs, right?
For example, I have a few older Maschine projects that have two full drum kits, each one is using 10-12 pads – plus I’ve got a bass instrument and a lead etc.
I take it that I would have to bounce down the extra percussion to audio, and then choose which 16 sounds (drums and instruments) that I would want to use my 16 outs for, right?
You would HAVE to do that. You could just open another instance of Maschine 😉
Right, so 16 outs per instance of Maschine – is that what you mean? Also, when I dragged my midi for my drums into Live, if there was not midi notes on EVERY pad for that particular pattern, then the midi imported midi clips populate the far left channels of live only. Ie. if I only had 4 pads in use on a pattern (pads 1, 5, 9 and 13) – then when I drag and drop that midi, I end up with 4 clips side by side on the first 4 vacant channels – ie, NOT the correct channels… Read more »
To clarify that point, what I end up with is my patterns for pads 5, 9 and 13 on the channels 2, 3 and 4 – hence they are playing the wrong drum sounds.
yes use multiple instances and make sure you set the MIDI to route to the proper instance. You could use one for drums and one for sounds/instruments
Hey Joe, I’ve watched this video through about two and half times now, and its clear that I don’t fully understand exactly what is going on. By far, I’ve found routing/maschine>live to be the hardest concept to grasp. I can get it to work sometimes, but then I’ll change something, lose audio, and sit there for half an hour trying to fix it. So, clearly I dont fully understand it yet. • Firstly, is a Midi Channel (as selected in ‘Sound MIDI Batch Setup’ a different thing to an ‘Out’? • Secondly, in ‘Sound MIDI Batch Set-Up’ what is the difference… Read more »
1. Midi is data/information, not an audio output. Not the same as the out for the sound. 2. Midi batch setup, sets the midi settings for each sound/pad in one go. Sounds to midi channels gives each pad it’s own midi channel, sounds to midi notes uses whatever midi channel you want, and spreads each sound/pad as a note on that single midi channel. 3. Exactly, midi channels is useful if you want separate tracks, midi notes is better if you want it all in the same clip. Generally, I use midi channels for instruments and midi notes for drums… Read more »
how do you automate maschine’s effect parameters in ableton or export automations from maschine? thanks!
you can’t export the automations but you should be able to automate them by turning the knobs on maschine or by using the automation lanes in Live
maschine isn’t showing certain parameters, how do you configure them in ableton?
Not everything will show, you will have to assign stuff to the 8 macro knobs in the groups.
thanks! is there an MT quick tip on mapping macros then automating them?
also, im trying to side chain maschine kick drum with a compressor in live, which is usually done with drum racks, how would you go about this (possible future video) and will there every be a section on DJing with maschine/live? I know there are certain templates available for the controller editor like MaschineLiveControl but I feel like a video about it would really help me internalize the workflow. thanks again, sorry to be a hassle
You’re not a hassle fam, don’t ever feel like that, we welcome all questions. Honestly, on the dj side of things, that’s not really my area of expertise, maybe we can get someone in to do a series on that or something. As for macro automation/assignment, once you assign your macros then you can automate them in the daw or maschine.
Check this out for assigning them
https://maschinetutorials.com/using-macro-controls-and-midi-learn-with-external-controllers
thanks, that helped a lot. what I was most curious about however was sidechaining maschine drums… would you do it just as you would do with a drum rack?
yes, because you can send maschine sounds out using external outputs in maschine, and route that to the input of your sidechain input as needed.
thanks joe, youre a savior. I think that’s a pretty cool video topic, the maschine+ableton series could get wiiiild. take care bro, thanks again
if you guys could release a maschine+ableton live template, with your stylistic inputs… that would be awesome.
yeah, there’s already quite a few ableton templates out there for maschine though, not sure what we could add to what’s already there, some pretty nice ones too
Dear SJ ,
quick question about part 5 .. everything seems to be running and playing but when I hit the stop all buttons or want to start new scene with apc 40 every track/clip keeps playing no matter what I do .. only when I hit spacebar then everything stops planning.. Can you figure out what seems to be the issue ?
As always , Thanks !!
I don’t have an apc so not sure, but I would think it should work the same no matter if you’re sequencing maschine in there or not. The apc should still control ableton. Is it still setup as a control surface in ableton? Does it work when you don’t use Maschine? Maybe something in the midi settings?
Hey SJ, what do you do when you have like 8 different sounds in your drums alone and want to route each one separately to Live plus all your instruments, so you end up having like 20 sounds? Can you open up 2 instances of Maschine and have up to 32 outputs/tracks or is that stupid? Just wondering how you handle projects with over 16 sounds and you DONT want to sum up into groups and want each sound on its own track in Live? (I prefer this videos workflow the best BTW)…Thanks as always! !!!!!
In that case, I would use one instance for my drums, and one for my instruments, as you can use as many instances of Maschine as your computer can handle, each one will give you 16 stereo outputs.
Thank you.. NICE!!!! Informative, I feel like I owe you someting..LOL
Hahahahaha, glad to help man, you don’t owe me anything 🙂
Hi SJ – This video basically set me up for life. Thanks so much for it – a terrific explanation for a complicated subject. A couple of follow up questions: 1. When routing individual drums to individual tracks in Live (audio + MIDI), you can only have 15 drums routed to Maschine as the 1st track in Live is taken up by Maschine. Correct? 2. Have a problem with running a second instance of Maschine in Live when routing the midi and audio – so I have my first instance of Maschine with routing to 15 channels in Live. This… Read more »
OK – Figured out the answer to #3, thanks to one of your other videos SJ. Still need help on #1 and #2, though.
Another problem is that when I import the Maschine audio/midi, the Sends and any external plugin effects do not work on the imported sounds. But they work on all other audio/midi data in the Live set. I can hear the Maschine audio just fine, but it seems frozen – unable to run effects on the data. Does this ring a bell with anyone? I cannot figure out how to fix it. The external instrument routing seems good – I’ve got it set just like the video.
I’m stuck. Thanks for any help anyone can give.
Couldn’t figure this out so I went back and created a template from scratch and now it is working. Would delete the comment if I could – sorry for troubling you.
Sorry I was out at my son’s football tournament just got back to see your messages 🙂
Yeah sounds like it was probably a midi issue but sometimes starting from scratch is the best way to get it running properly, glad you found a workflow that works for ya!
Joe – Can you help me with these two questions – just wondering what your thoughts are. Thanks so much. douglas 1. When routing individual drums to individual tracks in Live (audio + MIDI), you can only have 15 drums routed to Maschine as the 1st track in Live is taken up by Maschine. Correct? 2. Have a problem with running a second instance of Maschine in Live when routing the midi and audio – so I have my first instance of Maschine with routing to 15 channels in Live. This is typically my drum kit. Now I may want… Read more »
1. Correct
2. Check the midi and c make sure the track in ableton is sending to the second instance
Joe,
How is this different than workflow 2.1? Now I’m confused again lol … Thanks!
They are all connected, this one just specifically shows how to take midi from in Maschine, drag it into ableton, and then route it back to Maschine, while also routing the audio into Ableton.
Are the routings the same in the videos? It seems like they are? I’m just trying to figure out various ways to play with maschine/ableton and figure out what works best for me … I really like the 2.1 workflow, and I have that set as a template in ableton, but I like how in this one you composed in maschine and then just dragged when you were done … If the routings are the same, it would make it very easy to do both, which is why I’m wondering; thanks!
Yep, the routing is the same just different workflows, this one is for someone that already had a track made in Maschine but wanted to transfer to Live
Joe,
A few questions.
Firstly, obviously you recorded all of this in maschine, and not ableton. So do you have to record everything in maschine and only AFTER that, open ableton? I’m confused how you’re able to record in maschine even though it’s open as a plugin in ableton …
Second,
Can you explain why the external instrument output routings are different, comparing this to workflow video 2.1? In 2.1, for the first external instrument, you have this: http://o7.no/lynF4k … But in this video (workflow 5), you have this: http://o7.no/jHTpcB ..??
1. if you press record in the maschine plugin you can record your sequence into Maschine
2. The external instruments are pointing to different midi channels
So I opened ableton and have maschine on channel 1, I am not able to record into the plugin …?
Yes you can record into the plugin, but if you want to record into the plugin itself you don’t need to use an external instrument for that, you just record into the plugin like normal. You only use the external instrument if you want to route midi from within ableton to the Maschine plugin and you want to route the audio out of maschine into ableton.
Also, not understanding what you mean by “2. External instruments pointing to different midi channels.”
This is how I have it set up right now:
http://o7.no/j5Qgz6 – Group A
http://o7.no/n3QUep – Group B
But in THIS video, you have it different …..???
You asked me why the videos looked different, you have to change the second drop box in the external instrument if you want to access a different MIDI channel in Maschine, so 1/1 means it will access the Maschine plugin that’s on track 1 in ableton, and send to the first midi channel, if you set it to 1/2, then it will access that same plugin, on channel 2, 1/3 would be the same plugin on channel 3, etc.
Hi Saint Joe, Thanks for this video ,
i´ve one question , i´ve a pattern in maschine wich uses a kontakt sound, when i drag it from maschine to ableton, all the notes are flatened to C3. when i set the range of notes manually in the ‘Sound Midi Settings’ i can get the diferent notes, but how can i do this automaticly ? this happens mainly with kontakt sounds
best regards
No problem, check this one out
https://maschinetutorials.com/how-to-drag-and-drop-midi-when-using-keyboard-mode/
thanks man , great tutorials!
Glad to help!
This worked for me yesterday.
But since i have reset 2 groups in maschine and started a new. The sounds are routed into live on external instr channel. I can record from pad mode into live as a clip. But it does not play.
Have you any idea what i am missing?
…………….The sound comes thru from maschine into live and can be recorded into live clips but when the clip plays there is silence.
Make sure the channel that the clip is on, is properly routed back to maschine on the channel that you want to trigger