GETTING STARTED
The information in this document is subject to change without notice and does not represent a
commitment on the part of Native Instruments GmbH. The software described by this document is subject to a License Agreement and may not be copied to other media. No part of this
publication may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted or recorded, for any purpose,
without prior written permission by Native Instruments GmbH, hereinafter referred to as Native
Instruments.
“Native Instruments”, “NI” and associated logos are (registered) trademarks of Native Instruments GmbH.
ASIO, VST, HALion and Cubase are registered trademarks of Steinberg Media Technologies
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All other product and company names are trademarks™ or registered® trademarks of their respective holders. Use of them does not imply any affiliation with or endorsement by them.
Document authored by: David Gover, Nicolas Sidi
Software version: 2.8 (02/2019)
Hardware version: MASCHINE MIKRO MK2
Disclaimer
Special thanks to the Beta Test Team, who were invaluable not just in tracking down bugs, but
in making this a better product.
Contact
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS GmbH
Schlesische Str. 29-30
D-10997 Berlin
Germany
www.native-instruments.de
NATIVE INSTRUMENTS K.K.
YO Building 3F
Jingumae 6-7-15, Shibuya-ku,
Tokyo 150-0001
Japan
www.native-instruments.co.jp
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75011 Paris
France
www.native-instruments.com
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USA
www.native-instruments.com
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UK
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111 Taizi Road, Nanshan District, Shenzhen,
Guangdong
China
www.native-instruments.com
© NATIVE INSTRUMENTS GmbH, 2019. All rights reserved.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1 Welcome to MASCHINE .............................................................................................
1.1 Documentation Overview ............................................................................................................ 10
1.2 Labeling on your MASCHINE Controller ....................................................................................... 14
1.1.1 In This Document ....................................................................................................... 11
1.1.2 Document Conventions .............................................................................................. 12
2 First Steps ................................................................................................................
2.1 Loading a Drum Kit from the Factory Library .............................................................................. 17
2.2 Playing with the Pads ................................................................................................................. 22
2.3 Recording Your First Pattern ....................................................................................................... 24
2.4 Playing with Your Pattern ........................................................................................................... 26
2.5 Saving Your Project .................................................................................................................... 29
2.6 To Sum Up… ..............................................................................................................................30
2.4.1 Using Solo and Mute .................................................................................................. 26
2.4.2 Using Note Repeat ..................................................................................................... 28
3 Building Your Own Drum Kit .......................................................................................
3.1 Opening Your Project .................................................................................................................. 31
3.2 Customizing Your Drum Kit ......................................................................................................... 35
3.3 Saving Your Project .................................................................................................................... 52
3.4 To Sum Up… ..............................................................................................................................52
3.2.1 Selecting Another Snare Sample ................................................................................ 36
3.2.2 Loading a Drumsynth ................................................................................................ 39
3.2.2.2 Loading a Drumsynth into a Plug-in List on the Controller ........................43
3.2.3 Adjusting Volume, Swing and Tempo ......................................................................... 45
3.2.4 Changing the Color of Your Sounds ........................................................................... 49
3.2.5 Moving your Sounds and Groups ................................................................................ 51
9
16
31
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 4
Table of Contents
4 Creating Beats ..........................................................................................................
4.1 Fine-tuning your First Pattern ..................................................................................................... 54
4.2 Adding a Second Pattern ............................................................................................................ 60
4.3 Editing Patterns in the Software ................................................................................................. 64
4.4 Saving Your Project .................................................................................................................... 65
4.5 To Sum Up… ..............................................................................................................................66
4.1.1 Your Pattern in the Software ...................................................................................... 55
4.1.2 Doubling the Pattern and Adding a Variation ............................................................ 56
4.1.3 Quantizing the Rhythm .............................................................................................. 57
4.2.1 Selecting a Pattern Slot ............................................................................................. 60
4.2.2 Adjusting the Pattern Length ..................................................................................... 61
4.2.3 Recording a New Pattern Using the Count-in ............................................................ 63
4.2.4 Switching Patterns .................................................................................................... 63
5 Adding a Bass Line ....................................................................................................
5.1 Selecting Another Group ............................................................................................................. 68
5.2 Renaming and Coloring the Group .............................................................................................. 69
5.3 Using an Instrument Plug-in for the Bass .................................................................................. 71
5.4 Recording a Bass Line ................................................................................................................ 78
5.5 Accessing the Plug-in Parameters .............................................................................................. 80
5.6 Saving Your Project .................................................................................................................... 85
5.3.1 Browsing the MASSIVE Presets .................................................................................. 71
5.3.2 Switching to Keyboard Mode ...................................................................................... 75
5.3.3 Adjusting the Root Note for the Pads ......................................................................... 77
5.4.1 Recording a Bass Pattern .......................................................................................... 78
5.4.2 Recording Another Bass Pattern ................................................................................ 79
5.4.3 Loading an Additional Bass Sound ............................................................................ 79
54
67
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 5
5.7 To Sum Up… ..............................................................................................................................85
6 Applying Effects ........................................................................................................
6.1 Loading Effects .......................................................................................................................... 87
6.2 Playing with Effects ....................................................................................................................92
6.3 Modulating Effect Parameters .................................................................................................... 95
6.4 Saving Your Project .................................................................................................................... 98
6.5 To Sum Up… ..............................................................................................................................98
6.2.1 Adjusting the Effect Parameters ................................................................................ 92
6.2.2 Practice Makes Perfect! ............................................................................................. 93
6.2.3 Bypassing Effects ...................................................................................................... 94
6.3.1 Recording Modulation ................................................................................................ 96
6.3.2 Editing Modulation .................................................................................................... 97
7 Creating Beats with the Step Sequencer .....................................................................
7.1 Building Up a Beat in Step Mode ................................................................................................ 101
7.2 Adjusting the Step Grid .............................................................................................................. 104
7.3 Saving Your Project .................................................................................................................... 107
7.4 To Sum Up… ..............................................................................................................................107
7.1.1 Using Step Mode ........................................................................................................ 101
7.1.2 Adjusting the Pattern Length in Step Mode ............................................................... 102
8 Creating Scenes ........................................................................................................
Table of Contents
86
100
109
8.1 Working with Scenes ................................................................................................................... 109
8.2 Assigning Patterns to Scenes ..................................................................................................... 110
8.3 Managing Scenes ....................................................................................................................... 113
8.4 To Sum Up… ..............................................................................................................................116
8.3.1 Renaming and Coloring Scene Slots .......................................................................... 114
8.3.2 Duplicating and Deleting Scenes ............................................................................... 114
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 6
8.5 Saving Your Project .................................................................................................................... 116
9 Creating an Arrangement ...........................................................................................
9.1 Accessing Song view .................................................................................................................. 117
9.2 Managing Sections ..................................................................................................................... 121
9.3 Selecting a Loop Range .............................................................................................................. 126
9.4 Saving Your Project .................................................................................................................... 127
9.5 To Sum Up… ..............................................................................................................................128
9.1.1 Creating your First Section ........................................................................................ 119
9.1.2 Assigning a Scene to a Section .................................................................................. 120
9.2.1 Adjusting the Length of a Section .............................................................................. 121
9.2.1.1 Adjusting the Length of a Section Using the Software ...............................122
9.2.1.2 Adjusting the Length of a Section Using the Controller .............................123
9.2.2 Duplicating and Removing Sections .......................................................................... 124
10 Playing Live ..............................................................................................................
Table of Contents
117
129
10.1 Performing with Scenes and Sections using the Pads ................................................................ 129
11 Quick Reference ........................................................................................................
11.1 Using Your Controller .................................................................................................................. 133
11.2 MASCHINE Project Overview ........................................................................................................ 138
11.3 MASCHINE Hardware Overview ................................................................................................... 143
11.1.1 Controller Modes and Mode Pinning .......................................................................... 133
11.1.2 Controlling the Software Views from Your Controller ................................................. 136
11.2.1 Sound Content ........................................................................................................... 138
11.2.2 Arrangement .............................................................................................................. 140
11.3.1 MASCHINE MIKRO Hardware Overview ....................................................................... 143
11.3.1.1 CONTROL Section .......................................................................................144
11.3.1.2 TRANSPORT Section ...................................................................................147
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 7
133
Table of Contents
11.4 MASCHINE Software Overview ..................................................................................................... 152
11.4.1 Header ....................................................................................................................... 153
11.4.2 Browser ..................................................................................................................... 155
11.4.3 Arranger .................................................................................................................... 157
11.4.4 Control Area ............................................................................................................... 160
11.4.5 Pattern Editor ............................................................................................................ 161
11.3.1.3 PADS Section .............................................................................................148
12 Troubleshooting ........................................................................................................
12.1 Knowledge Base ......................................................................................................................... 163
12.2 Technical Support .......................................................................................................................163
12.3 Registration Support .................................................................................................................. 164
12.4 User Forum ................................................................................................................................. 164
13 Glossary ...................................................................................................................
Index ........................................................................................................................
163
165
173
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 8
Welcome to MASCHINE
1 Welcome to MASCHINE
Thank you for buying MASCHINE!
MASCHINE is essentially the synergy of the MASCHINE controller hardware and the MASCHINE software combining the advantages of both worlds for making music, live as well as in
the studio. The intuitive, hands-on qualities of a dedicated Instrument, the MASCHINE controller, with the advanced editing features and the versatility of the MASCHINE software turn it
into the creative center of your musical productions.
You can create tight rhythms, harmonies and melodies — the highly enjoyable instrument
combines a pattern-based sequencer, professional sampler, multiple studio and creative effects, and VST/AU plug-in host. Everything is intuitively controllable via the fully integrated
hardware — once you touch the tactile controller the fun and intuitive workflow takes over, allowing you to stay focused on your music.
Since you can integrate it in any DAW that supports VST, Audio Units or the AAX format with
multiple instances, you can profit from its abilities in almost any software setup or use it as a
stand-alone application. You can sample your own material, slice loops and rearrange them
easily turning your ideas into full productions.
However, MASCHINE is a lot more than an ordinary drum machine or sampler: It comes with
an 8-gigabyte Library programmed and created by well-known artists and a sophisticated, yet
easy to use tag-based Browser to give you instant access to the sounds you are looking for. But
it doesn’t stop there! You can create your own sounds and samples or use MASCHINE EXPANSION packs, available for purchase from the Native Instruments website to further enhance
your library of sounds.
You can also control your external MIDI Hardware and Software with the MASCHINE controller
and customize the functions of the pads, knobs and buttons to your needs, utilizing the Controller Editor Application.
We hope you enjoy the MASCHINE playground as much as we do. Now let’s get going!
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 9
Welcome to MASCHINE
Documentation Overview
1.1 Documentation Overview
Native Instruments provide many information sources regarding MASCHINE. The main documents should be read in the following sequence:
1. MASCHINE Getting Started (this document): The MASCHINE Getting Started guide provides
a practical approach to MASCHINE via a set of tutorials covering simple tasks in order to
help you familiarize yourself with MASCHINE.
2. MASCHINE Manual: The MASCHINE Manual provides you with a comprehensive descrip-
tion of all MASCHINE software and hardware features.
Additional documentation sources provide you with details on more specific topics:
▪ Controller Editor Manual: Besides using your MASCHINE hardware controller together with
its dedicated MASCHINE software, you can also use it as a powerful and highly versatile
MIDI controller to pilot any other MIDI-capable application or device. This is made possible
by the Controller Editor software, an application that allows you to precisely define all MIDI
assignments for your MASCHINE controller. The Controller Editor was installed during the
MASCHINE installation procedure. For more information on this, please refer to the Controller Editor Manual available as a PDF file via the Help menu of Controller Editor.
▪ Online Support Videos: You can find a number of support videos on The Official Native In-
struments Support Channel under the following URL: https://www.youtube.com/NIsupport-
EN. We recommend that you follow along with these instructions while the respective ap-
plication is running on your computer.
Other Online Resources: If you are experiencing problems related to your Native Instruments
product that the supplied documentation does not cover, there are several ways of getting help:
▪ Knowledge Base
▪ User Forum
▪ Technical Support
▪ Registration Support
You will find more information on these subjects in the chapter ↑12, Troubleshooting.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 10
Welcome to MASCHINE
Documentation Overview
MASCHINE documents are available in PDF. You can also access these documents from the application’s Help menu or the following location:
www.native-instruments.com.
Please check the Native Instruments website regularly for up-to-date and localized versions of these
documents.
1.1.1 In This Document
What you are reading now is the MASCHINE Getting Started. This document consists of a set
of tutorials that will guide you through common workflows in MASCHINE. Please follow these
tutorials in the described order. You will learn a little something in each of them which will be
essential later on. On the way, you will get to know the main objects and concepts of MASCHINE. After reading this, you should have the basic know-how allowing you to make music
with MASCHINE!
Even if you’re already familiar with MASCHINE, all tutorials are worth a read as every chapter may
have little workflow hints of which you weren’t aware. Should you wish to revise a specific task covered in a later tutorial, be sure to check the prerequisites listed at the beginning of each chapter!
This document is structured as follows:
▪ The first part is this introduction.
▪ The second part holds the tutorials:
◦ Chapter ↑2, First Steps: Load a drum kit from the factory library via the Browser, play
this kit with the pads and use it to record a simple rhythmic pattern — all this using
your MASCHINE controller only.
◦ Chapter ↑3, Building Your Own Drum Kit: Customize your drum kit by quickly ex-
changing some of its sounds via the Browser and by adjusting some of the sounds’ basic settings.
◦ Chapter ↑4, Creating Beats: Record a second pattern and discover how to fine-tune
your patterns.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 11
Welcome to MASCHINE
Documentation Overview
◦ Chapter ↑5, Adding a Bass Line: Add a bass line to your song using a VST/AU instru-
ment plug-in in MASCHINE.
◦ Chapter ↑6, Applying Effects: Add effects to the various instruments in your song and
quickly automate the effect parameters.
◦ Chapter ↑7, Creating Beats with the Step Sequencer: Create a Pattern, this time with
the step sequencer, which is another great way of creating grooves from your controller.
◦ Chapter ↑8, Creating Scenes: Arrange your Patterns into Scenes and play them live.
◦ Chapter ↑9, Creating an Arrangement: Assign your Scenes to Sections and Arrange
your song.
▪ The third and last part consists of useful global information on MASCHINE to be used at
any time:
◦ Chapter ↑11, Quick Reference provides you with a quick reference of the MASCHINE
hardware controller and the MASCHINE software. It gives you a good overview of the
main concepts and features of MASCHINE, along with lists of hardware shortcuts for
various tasks. You can use it as a quick reminder before you dive into the MASCHINE
Manual.
◦ Chapter ↑12, Troubleshooting gathers useful information for troubleshooting and get-
ting help.
◦ Chapter ↑13, Glossary holds definitions of all the important terms and concepts used
in MASCHINE.
1.1.2 Document Conventions
This section introduces you to the signage and text highlighting used in this document. This
document uses particular formatting to point out special facts and to warn you of potential issues. The icons introducing these notes let you see what kind of information is to be expected:
Whenever this exclamation mark icon appears, you should read the corresponding note carefully and
follow the instructions and hints given there if applicable.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 12
Welcome to MASCHINE
Documentation Overview
This light bulb icon indicates that a note contains useful extra information. This information may
often help you to solve a task more efficiently, but does not necessarily apply to the setup or operating system you are using; however, it’s always worth a look.
Furthermore, the following formatting is used:
▪ Text appearing in (drop-down) menus (such as Open…, Save as… etc.) and paths to loca-
tions on your hard drive or other storage devices is printed in italics.
▪ Text appearing elsewhere in the software (labels of buttons, controls, text next to checkbox-
es etc.) is printed in blue. Whenever you see this formatting applied, you will find the same
text appearing somewhere on the screen.
▪ Text appearing on labels of the MASCHINE controller is printed in orange. Whenever you
see this formatting applied, you will find the same text on the controller.
▪ Text appearing on the display(s) of your controller is printed in gray. Whenever you see this
formatting applied, you will find the same text on the controller’s display(s).
▪ Important names and concepts are printed in bold.
▪ References to keys on your computer’s keyboard are in square brackets (e.g., “Press [Shift]
+ [Return]”).
► Single instructions are introduced by this play button type arrow.
→ Results of actions are introduced by this smaller arrow.
Naming Convention
Throughout the documentation we will refer to MASCHINE controller (or just controller) as the
hardware controller and MASCHINE software as the software installed on your computer.
The term “effect” is sometimes be abbreviated as “FX” when referring to elements in the MASCHINE software and hardware. These terms have the same meaning.
Button Combinations and Shortcuts on the Controller
Most instructions will use the “+” sign to indicate buttons (or buttons and pads) that must be
pressed simultaneously, starting with the button indicated first. E.g., an instruction such as:
“Press SHIFT + PLAY” means:
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 13
Welcome to MASCHINE
Labeling on your MASCHINE Controller
1. Press and hold SHIFT.
2. While holding SHIFT, press PLAY and release it.
3. Release SHIFT.
Displayed Products
Some images displayed in this document include products from the KOMPLETE and KOMPLETE ULTIMATE series. These products are not included with MASCHINE.
For more information on KOMPLETE and KOMPLETE ULTIMATE please visit the Native Instruments website.
1.2 Labeling on your MASCHINE Controller
Since its initial release the labels of the MASCHINE MIKRO MK2 controller have been revised.
The instructions in this document will only refer to the 2nd generation controller labels. If you
have a first generation MASCHINE MIKRO MK2 controller, please use the table below to reference the equivalent labels of the first and second generation controllers.
MASCHINE MIKRO MK2 Controller
MASCHINE MIKRO MK2 Controller
2nd Generation
1st Generation
BROWSE (MODULES) button BROWSE button
RESTART button RESTART (LOOP) button
PLAY (METRONOME) button PLAY (METRO) button
REC (COUNT IN) button REC (COUNT-IN) button
GRID button GRID (REC MODE) button
VIEW button VIEW (MIX) button
COMPARE pad 3 STEP UNDO pad 3
SPLIT pad 4 STEP REDO pad 4
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 14
Welcome to MASCHINE
Labeling on your MASCHINE Controller
Labels in brackets refer to the secondary function, available by pressing and holding SHIFT when
pressing the button or pad.
Label changes since first generation MASCHINE MIKRO MK2
If you have the original MASCHINE MIKRO MK1 controller please download the relevant documentation for that controller from the Native Instruments website.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 15
2 First Steps
In this first tutorial, you will load a drum kit from the factory library, play it with the pads and
record a simple rhythmic pattern.
For a complete overview of MASCHINE and its controls, please see section ↑11, Quick Reference.
Prerequisites
Please carefully follow the instructions of the Setup Guide which can be downloaded in PDF
format from the Native Instruments website. Once you have followed the Setup Guide, MASCHINE should be installed on your computer, its basic audio settings correctly configured,
and the hardware controller connected to your computer. If this is not the case, please return
to the Setup Guide for more information before going any further.
► Please start MASCHINE via one of the usual ways on your operating system — for exam-
ple, by double-clicking the alias placed on your desktop during the installation procedure.
First Steps
A Project in MASCHINE
In MASCHINE, your whole song (or track) is called Project. A Project consists of all sounds,
instruments, effects, settings, along with all arrangement information you will create — in other words, a Project holds everything defining your song.
► If you already started testing MASCHINE, please start again with a blank, new Project by
clicking the File menu and choosing New or by using the shortcut [Ctrl] + [N] ([command]
+ [N] on macOS).
First you will learn how to load a drum kit using the MASCHINE software and then use your
hardware controller to carry out the same procedure.
For a complete overview of a MASCHINE Project, please see section ↑11.2, MASCHINE Project
Overview.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 16
Loading a Drum Kit from the Factory Library
2.1 Loading a Drum Kit from the Factory Library
First you will choose a complete drum kit from the huge factory library included with MASCHINE, and load it using the MASCHINE Browser. The Browser is your tool for finding, tagging and categorizing all types of objects used in MASCHINE.
A drum kit basically consists of several instruments — called Sounds in MASCHINE terminology. Those Sounds are put together into a Group, which represents the complete kit. In addition,
A MASCHINE Project can have any number of Groups which are organized into Banks. The first
Group bank is labeled A1 to H1 in the MASCHINE software and the second is labeled A2 to
H2, the third A3 to H3, and so on. So let’s look for a nice kit and load it into Bank 1 Group A
which is selected by default when you start a new Project.
2.1.1 Loading a Drum Kit from the Factory Library in the MASCHINE Software
In the MASCHINE software, the Browser is found in the left part of the window.
If you cannot see the Browser in the MASCHINE software, click the magnifying glass icon in
the Header at the top of the MASCHINE window in order to show the Browser:
First Steps
Enable the magnifying glass to display the Browser.
To load a drum kit, do the following:
1. Click the Library tab to open the Library pane.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 17
Loading a Drum Kit from the Factory Library
2. Click the Group icon to get a list of all available drum kits in the Library:
3. Make sure the Content selector to the right is unlit, so you only see Native Instruments
factory content:
4. In the TYPES filter, select the Kits.
⇨ The Browser will then display only kits in the Result list:
First Steps
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 18
Loading a Drum Kit from the Factory Library
5. Select the Urban Kit sub-type tag below to further refine your search.
6. Scroll down the Result list and double-click EK-TL A Kit to load this drum kit into Group
A:
First Steps
2.1.2 Loading a Drum Kit from the Factory Library Using the Controller
On your controller, do the following:
1. Press GROUP + pad 13 (also labeled A) to select the first Group slot. This is where you
are going to load our drum kit. While you hold GROUP, the pad 13 should be lit in blue to
indicate that it is selected.
2. Press the BROWSE button at the left of your controller.
The BROWSE button lights up. In the display, you now are presented with a selection of
choices.
3. Press F1 above the display to select FILTER.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 19
Loading a Drum Kit from the Factory Library
4. Turn the Control encoder at the right of the display until you see GROUP at the bottom of
the display.
This will allow you to browse Groups only.
5. Press Right Arrow until you see 2/3: PRODUCT at the bottom of the display.
6. Turn the Control encoder until you see ALL.
First Steps
This way, you can browse all products.
7. Press Right Arrow again until you see 3/3: TYPE at the bottom of the display.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 20
Loading a Drum Kit from the Factory Library
8. Turn the Control encoder until you see KITS.
Now you can browse all kits.
9. Press Right Arrow until you see 4/4: SUB-TYPE at the bottom left of the display.
10. Turn the Control encoder until you see URBAN KIT, to further limit the result list to this
type of kits.
First Steps
11. Now press F2 above the display to select LIST.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 21
12. Press F3 above the display so that +PAT is deselected.
13. Turn the Control encoder until you see EK-TL A KIT at the bottom of the display.
14. Press the Control encoder to load that kit.
→ The drum kit is loaded into the first Group slot.
First Steps
Playing with the Pads
Now let’s leave the Browser and get back to the default Control mode of your controller:
► Press the lit BROWSE button to leave the Browser (the button is unlit).
That’s it! You just loaded a drum kit into a Group slot of MASCHINE. It is now ready to be
played from the pads, as you will see in the next section.
The process of loading from the Browser is the same for all kinds of objects: In the Browser, after
choosing the desired object (Project, Group, Sound, etc.), select the desired content, type, and subtype, then scroll through the result list and select an object for loading.
2.2 Playing with the Pads
As soon as a Group is loaded (here the EK-TL A Kit) and the corresponding Group slot selected
(here Group slot A), this Group can be played from the pads on your controller. Each pad triggers one of the Sounds included in the Group.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 22
Playing with the Pads
► Play the pads to get the feel of your controller: reactivity, sensitivity to the force you apply
while playing (called velocity), etc.
If you don’t hear any sound when playing on your pads, check that none of the buttons in the column to the left of the pads is accidentally lit (if any button is lit, press it to disable it).
While playing, take a look at your pads. You will note the following:
▪ When you press a pad, it flashes and then stays fully lit.
▪ At any time, only one pad is fully lit. This is the pad you pressed last.
▪ All other pads are half lit to indicate that they are loaded with a Sound ready to be played.
▪ An unlit pad would indicate that it has no Sound loaded — hence, pressing it would not
have any effect.
► Now press and hold the GROUP button.
You will note the following:
▪ All pads 13–16 and 9–12 (A–H) except pad 13 (A) and pad 14 (B) are off, indicating that
they are not loaded with anything.
First Steps
▪ Pad 13 (A) is fully lit, indicating that Group slot A is currently selected. This means that
the pads currently trigger the Sounds of this Group.
▪ Pad 14 (B) is lit in white to indicate the next Group can be created here.
► While holding GROUP, press any other pad (9–16) to select it.
You will note the following:
▪ The newly pressed pad is fully lit. If you release GROUP the pads can be used to trigger
the Sounds of the selected Group. Since you haven’t loaded anything in the other Groups
yet, all the pads are unlit, except one of them (indicating that it is currently selected).
As you can see, MASCHINE communicates in both directions: The commands you give via the
pads and buttons control the software, but the software also communicates information back
to you via the display and the LEDs.
► Select the Group A again by pressing GROUP + pad 13 (A) and continue playing on the
pads to get familiar with them.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 23
Recording Your First Pattern
When you feel ready, move on to the next section, where you can record a little rhythmic pattern using this drum kit!
2.3 Recording Your First Pattern
Now that you feel comfortable with the pads, let’s use them to live record some rhythm into a
Pattern. A Pattern is a recorded sequence of notes played on the Sounds of the current Group.
In each Group you can have an unlimited number of Patterns which are grouped into Pattern
banks containing up to 16 Patterns each.
In addition to recording your own Patterns, you can also add audio loops to your Project. For more
information on how to add audio loops to your Project, and to learn about the MASCHINE Audio
plug-in, refer to the MASHINE Manual.
You can now use the transport controls, which are located at the bottom left of your controller:
First Steps
The TRANSPORT section on your controller.
1. Press PLAY to start the sequencer.
The PLAY button lights up green. You won’t hear anything yet because nothing has been
recorded.
2. Press SHIFT + PLAY to activate the metronome so you get a rhythmical reference.
You now hear the metronome indicating each beat, the first beat of each bar being indicated by a different note.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 24
Recording Your First Pattern
3. Play along to the metronome to get a feel for the tempo.
4. If you’d like to increase or decrease the tempo to make your playing feel more comfortable, press MAIN (at the bottom right corner of the display), then F3 (above the display),
then turn the Control encoder at the right of the display.
The tempo value is indicated in the display.
When you’re done, press MAIN again to deactivate it.
You can also adjust the volume of the metronome by pressing SHIFT + GRID and turning the Control encoder.
It is recommended that you to start with a simple sequence using a few Sounds only (e.g., the kick
and the snare on pads 1 and 2). You will have the possibility to enrich your Pattern later.
First Steps
To start the recording:
1. With the sequencer playing, press REC to enter recording mode.
REC lights up red.
2. Play the desired rhythm on the pads. By default, the recorded Pattern is one bar long.
Your playing is recorded and directly played in a loop. As long as you don’t press PLAY
again, the new Pattern keeps playing.
3. Press REC again to stop recording.
→ You just created your first Pattern!
You can now deactivate the metronome by pressing SHIFT + PLAY again and listen to your
newly created rhythm.
► To stop the sequencer, press PLAY again.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 25
Playing with Your Pattern
Quick Edits on Your Pattern
At any time, you can undo your last action by pressing SHIFT + pad 1, whether you are currently recording or not. You can redo it by pressing SHIFT + pad 2.
The undo and redo commands are global in MASCHINE: Almost any action in MASCHINE can be
undone/redone.
At any time, you can enrich your Pattern by activating PLAY and REC again, and playing the
pads. This way, you can progressively build up a complex Pattern step by step.
2.4 Playing with Your Pattern
Now that you have a nice Pattern, let’s introduce a few powerful tools for playing your Pattern
live.
2.4.1 Using Solo and Mute
Mute can be used to bypass a Sound or Group, whereas Solo is the opposite: Solo will mute all
other Sounds in the Group, or all other Groups in the Project, so a selected Sound, or Group
can be heard alone. The combination of both is a useful means to play live and to test different sequences together.
First Steps
When used on Sounds, the Solo only applies to the current Group: The Sounds in other Groups
will not be affected.
2.4.1.1 Using Solo and Mute in the MASCHINE Software
Soloing a Sound
► To solo a Sound, right-click the number on the left side of the Sound slot in the Pattern
Editor.
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Playing with Your Pattern
Soloing the first kick Sound.
► To unsolo a Sound, right-click the number again.
Muting a Sound
► To mute a Sound, click the number on the left side of the Sound slot in the Pattern Edi-
tor.
First Steps
Muting a Sound.
► To unmute the Sound, click the number again.
By default, the Mute on Sounds is an event mute: events for muted Sounds are not triggered, but
the audio coming from previous events might still be audible (reverb tail, etc.). You can also activate audio mute for Sounds to mute both events and audio. See the MASCHINE Manual for more
information.
2.4.1.2 Solo and Mute Sounds on Your Controller
1. Press PLAY to start the sequencer.
2. Hold the MUTE button at the bottom of your controller.
3. While holding MUTE, press pad 1.
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Playing with Your Pattern
4. While holding MUTE, press a few other pads to mute their Sound to your liking.
5. While holding MUTE, press pad 1 again.
6. While holding MUTE, press the muted pads to bring their Sounds back.
7. Release MUTE.
8. Now hold the SOLO button (just above MUTE).
9. While holding SOLO, press pad 1.
10. Now release SOLO and hold MUTE again.
11. Press the half-lit pads one by one, progressively bringing each drum back in the mix.
→ The combination of muting and soloing Sounds allows you to create effective breaks on
the fly.
You can also solo and mute whole Groups by holding SOLO or MUTE + GROUP + pad (9–16); since
you only have one Group loaded, it would not make much sense yet.
2.4.2 Using Note Repeat
Note Repeat is a really handy way to play and program beats: it plays the selected Sound or
note repeatedly at a given rate. You just need to hold a pad and its Sound/note will be steadily
repeated until you release the pad.
First Steps
▪ When using Note Repeat all pads will be both velocity and pressure sensitive, allowing for
expressive drum rolls or dynamic basslines.
▪ Note Repeat is a great way to play percussion and drums live to create build-ups and
breaks.
▪ Note Repeat can also come in handy to quickly record a regular beat when creating Pat-
terns.
▪ Note Repeat is also interesting to use with tonal Sounds and you can access it from Key-
board mode to create synthesizer-like arpeggios.
Note Repeat can only be enabled using the controller.
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Saving Your Project
1. Check that your Pattern is playing — if not, press PLAY to start the sequencer.
2. Hold the NOTE REPEAT button.
3. While holding NOTE REPEAT, hold any pad.
The Sound of the pad is repeatedly triggered at the rate shown at the bottom of the controller’s display.
4. Press F1, F2 or F3 above the display to select another repetition rate.
→ This is a handy way to add live ornaments to your Pattern!
Of course you can also use Note Repeat to program your Pattern (e.g., recording a continuous hihat).
2.5 Saving Your Project
A drum groove is an ideal starting point for the creation of a song. All the instruments you record afterwards will be based on the feeling of that rhythm. Before you get to adding new elements and editing your Pattern, you should save your work right away.
First Steps
Saving your Work for the First Time in the MASCHINE Software
1. Click File.
2. Click Save.
⇨ The Save Project As dialog opens.
3. On your computer keyboard, type a name (e.g., “My First Project”) in the field and press
[Enter] to confirm.
→ Your Project with its new Pattern is now saved on your hard disk. If you close MASCHINE
or open another Project, you will still be able to open this Project later.
Saving your Work for the First Time on the Controller
1. To save your modifications to the Project, press SHIFT + SAMPLING.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 29
⇨ A message will appear on your controller that asks you to look at the MASCHINE software.
Since our current Project was not saved yet, MASCHINE asks you to name it before saving. For this, you need to get back to your computer. A Save Project As dialog opened and
is waiting for your input.
2. On your computer keyboard, type a name (e.g., “My First Project”) in the field and press
[Enter] to confirm.
→ Your Project with its new Pattern is now saved on your hard disk. If you close MASCHINE
or open another Project, you will still be able to open this Project later.
2.6 To Sum Up…
In this first tutorial, you have learned to:
▪ Load a Group using the Browser.
▪ Use the pads to play the Sounds of that Group.
▪ Record a simple Pattern with that Group.
First Steps
To Sum Up…
▪ Use the Mute, Solo and Note Repeat features to create variations on the fly.
▪ Save the current Project for a later use.
Once you feel comfortable with these tasks, please proceed to the next tutorial, where you will
customize your drum kit, and have a closer look at the MASCHINE software user interface.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Opening Your Project
3 Building Your Own Drum Kit
In this tutorial, you will exchange some of the Sounds of your drum kit, and adjust a few settings for your Project and your Group. On the way, you will discover some features of the MASCHINE software user interface.
Prerequisites
It is assumed here that you have followed the previous tutorial. In particular, you already know
how to:
▪ Load a Group using the Browser.
▪ Use the pads to play the Sounds of that Group.
▪ Record a simple Pattern with that Group.
▪ Save the current Project for a later use.
If you have any doubts about these tasks, please refer to chapter ↑2, First Steps before proceeding!
3.1 Opening Your Project
If for any reason your tutorial Project is not currently open in MASCHINE (e.g., you opened another Project in the meantime), you first need to open it again. You can do this with the controller or in the software, for example using the MASCHINE Browser.
If you closed MASCHINE and started it again, your last Project should automatically load by default. If you changed this setting, follow these instructions to load the tutorial Project again!
If the tutorial Project is already open in MASCHINE, you can skip to section ↑3.2, Customizing
Your Drum Kit.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Opening Your Project
Available both on your controller and in the software, the Browser will be the preferred way to
open a project when working on your controller. Here you will use a nice feature of MASCHINE:
Each file you created and saved in MASCHINE is automatically put in “User” content. Hence,
you will select the User icon in the Content selector to quickly find your tutorial Project again.
Opening a Project in the Software
In the MASCHINE software, the Browser is found in the left part of the window.
If you cannot see the Browser in the MASCHINE software, click the little magnifying glass in
the Header at the top of the MASCHINE window in order to show the Browser:
Enable the magnifying glass to display the Browser.
To open the tutorial Project, do the following:
1. At the top left, click the button showing the Project icon to get a list of all available
Projects in the Library:
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Opening Your Project
2. On the right, click the Content selector icon (icon on) to select only the user-created
Projects:
In the result list below, you now have one unique Project left — your “My First Project”:
3. Double-click this unique entry to load the Project in MASCHINE.
If you have already created other Projects in MASCHINE, they will also appear in the result list
along with your tutorial Project.
Opening a Project Using the Controller
Now try operating MASCHINE via the controller wherever possible. To open a Project via the
controller, you will follow the same process as above, filtering MASCHINE objects to narrow
your search until you find your tutorial Project. This is similar to what you did when loading a
drum kit in the previous tutorial. Do the following:
1. Press BROWSER to show the Browser.
2. Press Button 1 above the displays repeatedly until PROJECTS is selected.
3. Press Button 4 above the displays to enable it.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Opening Your Project
4. If you have already created more than one Project, turn the 4-D encoder or Knob 8 until
My First Project is selected on the right display.
5. Press the 4-D encoder or Button 8 to load the Project.
6. Press BROWSER to leave the Browser.
The BROWSER button turns off.
→ You can continue to work on your tutorial Project.
You will note that every action you did on the controller is directly mirrored in the Browser of the
MASCHINE software. This is true in both directions.
Opening a Recent Project Using the Controller
Your MASCHINE controller also provides a handy way to open Projects on which you worked
recently:
1. Press FILE to open the File mode.
The right display shows a list of your recent Projects.
2. Turn the 4-D encoder or Knob 8 to select the desired Project from the list.
3. Press the 4-D encoder or Button 8 to load the selected Project.
4. Press FILE to leave the File mode.
→ You can continue to work on your Project.
The File mode provides additional options for managing your Project files directly from your controller: start a new Project, save a copy of the current Project, or save the Project under a new name.
For more information, please refer to the Manual.
Opening a Project using the Controller
Now try operating MASCHINE via the controller wherever possible. To open a Project via the
controller, you will follow the same process as above, filtering MASCHINE objects to narrow
your search until you find your tutorial Project. This is similar to what you did when loading a
drum kit in the previous tutorial. Do the following:
1. Press BROWSE to show the Browser.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
2. Press F1 to select FILTER.
3. Press the Left or Right Arrow button under the display to select the FILETYPE field at the
bottom of the display, then turn the Control encoder to select PROJECT. This indicates
the type of files that will be displayed.
4. Press F3 to select USER.
5. Now press F2 above the display to select the LIST (for “result list”).
6. If you have already created more than one Project, turn the Control encoder until MY
FIRST PROJECT appears at the bottom of the display.
7. Press the Control encoder to load the Project.
8. Press BROWSE to leave the Browser.
The BROWSE button turns off.
→ You can continue to work on your tutorial Project.
You will note that every action you did on the controller is directly mirrored in the Browser of the
MASCHINE software. This is true in both directions.
3.2 Customizing Your Drum Kit
You might want to replace one or more drums from the Group “EK-TL A Kit” with ones that
sound better with your Pattern. To do this, you must make use of the Browser again.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
3.2.1 Selecting Another Snare Sample
For the sake of providing an example, replace the Sample “Snare Ektl A 2” used in the Sound
on pad 6 to something less intrusive.
Selecting another Snare Sample in the Software
You have already used the Browser to open various objects (e.g., your tutorial Project). Now you
will learn another of its facilities: This time, you will not select Types, but instead use the text
search. This powerful feature allows you to instantly find items by name.
1. Click the Sound slot containing the “Snare Ektl A 2” that you want to replace:
2. Click the Browser button in the top row to show the Browser within the MASCHINE window (the button becomes highlighted):
3. In the top row of the Browser, click the Sample icon on the far right to get a list of all the
available samples in the Library:
4. Since you want to find a side stick, type “side stick” into the empty field above the list of
Samples.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
5. Now activate Prehear by clicking the Prehear button (the loudspeaker symbol) at the bottom of the Browser:
6. When you have found a suitable side stick Sample, double-click it to load it in the Sound
slot. You can also drag and drop it on the Sound slot.
You can also mix both search methods: You can simultaneously select specific Banks (and Types,
Subtypes…) and type the desired search query in the Search field.
You can activate the Autoload feature to listen how the selected Sample work with the other
percussions in your Pattern. To do this:
1. Click the Autoload button at the bottom left corner of the Browser to activate it (you can
deactivate the Prehear button next to it):
2. Click any Sample in the result list.
⇨ The Sample will automatically load in the selected Sound slot, replacing the previously
loaded Sample. If the Pattern is playing, you can directly hear the new Sample in context.
Try to exchange a few Samples to familiarize yourself with the procedure described above, both
on your controller and in the software. This should allow you to build a custom drum kit that
fits your needs.
Note that you can also start from a blank Group and entirely fill it up with the Sounds of your
choice.
Selecting another Snare Sample on the Controller
On your controller, do the following:
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
1. Press BROWSE to open the Browser.
2. Press F1 to select FILTER.
3. Press pad 6 to select its Sound.
4. Press Left or Right Arrow repeatedly until you see FILETYPE at the bottom left of the display.
5. Turn the Control encoder until you see ONE-SHOT below FILETYPE.
The Browser will now show Sample files only.
Press Right Arrow repeatedly to select TYPE.
6. Turn the Control encoder until you see DRUMS at the bottom right of the display.
The Browser will now show the drum samples only… but the factory library still holds
many hundreds of them, so you need to narrow your search a bit more.
7. Press Right Arrow again to select SUBTYPE.
8. Turn the Control encoder until you see SNARE at the bottom right of the display.
The Browser will now show the snare drum samples only… but the factory library still
holds many hundreds of them, so you need to narrow your search a bit more.
9. Press Right Arrow again to select SUBTYPE#2.
10. Now turn the Control encoder to select (for example) SIDE STICK.
In the middle of the display, you now see that a few dozen of side stick samples are ready
to be browsed.
11. Press F2 to display the result list.
12. Press F3 to activate the Prehear feature.
13. Use the Control encoder to scroll through all side stick samples. You can hear each sample that you select thanks to the enabled Prehear feature.
14. Once you have found a suitable side stick sample, press the Control encoder to load it into the Sound slot currently selected (the one triggered by the pad 6).
To help you decide which sample would fit best, MASCHINE offers you an additional, convenient help: Autoload. This allows you to replace the selected Sound on the fly with the Sound
currently selected in the Browser’s result list while your Pattern is playing. Meaning, you can
listen to each sample in the context of your Pattern. To do this:
1. Press PLAY to start the sequencer.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
⇨ The Pattern you created starts playing.
2. Press F3 to deactivate the Prehear feature. In the display, PREH. should not be enabled
anymore.
3. Now, instead of using the Control encoder for scrolling through the Samples, use the Left
and Right Arrow buttons under the display.
→ The selected Sample will automatically load into the Sound slot triggered by the pad 6.
Since your Pattern is playing, you will hear the selected Sample in place of the former
“Snare Ektl A 2” Sample in the context of your recorded Pattern.
When you have found a suitable Sample you don’t need to explicitly load it, with Autoload it is already loaded in the Sound slot. Use page left and page right button under the display to audition
other Sounds in the MASCHINE library.
3.2.2 Loading a Drumsynth
In this section you will learn you how to load Drumsynths in MASCHINE using the Plug-in List.
The Plug-in List
Before you load a Drumsynth, have a quick look at the Control area in the software:
1. Select the Group “EK-TL A Kit” (Group A1).
2. Select the Sound “Kick Ektl A 2.”
Now have a look at the Control area:
The Control area showing some Sampler Plug-in parameters for your kick drum Sound.
In the left part of the Control area, you can load any number of Plug-ins into the Plug-in List.
The processing order is from top to bottom (from the first Plug-in to the last).
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
For example, in each Sound of the Group “EK-TL A Kit,” the first slot in the Plug-in List hosts
a Sampler Plug-in (that is, the MASCHINE internal sampler). The Sampler is the sound source
of each of these Sounds.
Plug-in slots are available in every channel of your Project:
▪ Sound channels: In Sounds, the first Plug-in slot is the only slot that can contain an instru-
ment and an effect. The other slots can only contain effects.
▪ Group channels: Each Group also offers slots for effects that will process all Sounds of that
Group together.
▪ Master channel: The Master channel provides additional slots for effects that will process
the overall audio of your Project before it is sent to the master output.
By loading an effect Plug-in into the first slot of a Sound, you make this Sound available as a bussing point for other signals in MASCHINE and for signals from the outside world. You will learn how
to set this up in Using Other Sound Sources.
Loading a Drumsynth into a Plug-in List
To further customize your drum kit, you could replace one of the kick drums with another one,
for example coming from an internal instrument included with MASCHINE: Drumsynth.
You can load Plug-ins into the Plug-in List via two methods:
▪ Using the Browser: You have already used the Browser to load Projects, Groups, Samples,
and Plug-ins. Similarly, you can use it to search for plug-in effects.
▪ Using the Plug-in menu: You can also choose the desired Plug-in directly from the Plug-in
slot itself via the Plug-in menu.
Note that these methods work in any channel: Sounds, Groups, or Master. However, since
Drumsynth is an instrument, you can load it only into the first Plug-in slot of Sounds.
The difference between the two loading methods is that the Browser allows you to load Plug-in pre-
sets (from the factory content or user-created), while the Plug-in menu allows you to load Plug-ins
in their default state.
Since you should already be familiar with the Browser (if not, check for example section ↑2.1,
Loading a Drum Kit from the Factory Library or ↑3.2.1, Selecting Another Snare Sample), this
time you will learn the method using the Plug-in menu.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
3.2.2.1 Loading a Drumsynth into a Plug-in List in the Software
1. At the left of the Pattern Editor, click the Sound slot’s name (Kick Ektl A 2) to select that
Sound slot.
2. In the Control area above, click the SOUND tab to select the Sound level, since this is the
only level at which Drumsynths can be loaded.
3. At the far left of the Control area, click the small Plug-in icon to display the Plug-ins.
This displays the Plug-in List on the left of the Control area:
The Plug-in List in this instance contains Sampler.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 41
4. Click the down-pointing arrow at the right to open the Plug-in menu.
The Plug-in menu opens and displays a list of all available effects.
5. In this menu, click the Drumsynth submenu to display the Drumsynths.
Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
6. Click the Kick entry to load it into the Plug-in List.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 42
→ The Kick Plug-in is now loaded and is ready to be tweaked.
3.2.2.2 Loading a Drumsynth into a Plug-in List on the Controller
1. Press SELECT + pad 5 to select the Sound Kick Ektl A 2.
2. Press F3 to select the SOUND tab.
3. Press NAV + F3 to select PLUG-IN.
4. Continue to hold the NAV button and press pad 1 to select the Plug-in slot.
Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
Release NAV.
5. Press SHIFT + BROWSE to select an effect.
If you would have pressed BROWSE alone here, you would have accessed the Browser. By
additionally holding SHIFT, you access the Plug-in menu instead!
6. Press F1 to select FILTER.
⇨ This will allow us to narrow down the available effects to what you are looking for.
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 43
7. Turn the Control encoder until the Category field turns to INSTRUMENT:
8. Press the Page Right button to display INTERNAL:
9. Press F2 to view the filtered list:
Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
10. Turn the Control encoder to browse the available MASCHINE instruments. When the display shows KICK, press the Control encoder to load it.
11. Press SHIFT + BROWSE again to leave the Plug-in menu.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
→ The Kick Plug-in is now loaded and ready to be tweaked.
3.2.3 Adjusting Volume, Swing and Tempo
After selecting the right Samples for your drum kit, you might need to adjust their levels. MASCHINE holds a powerful sampler that allows you to fine-tune many settings for each generated sound. Without entering into too many details yet, look at a quick way to adjust the volume
level and swing for each Sound in your Group.
3.2.3.1 Adjusting Volume, Swing and Tempo in the MASCHINE Software
Adjusting Volume
To adjust the various volume levels in the software, the following controls are at your disposal:
► To adjust the overall output level, click and drag the Master Volume slider located on the
right part of the Header, at the top of the window.
Use the Master Volume slider in the Header to adjust the overall volume of MASCHINE.
You can also use Mix view to adjust your Sound and Group levels. Mix view gives you quick access
to the level and routing settings of all your Sounds, Groups, and the Master. In addition, it provides
you with an intuitive interface for adjusting the parameters of all your Plug-ins. More on this in section The Mix View.
Adjusting Swing
To adjust the overall Swing of your song, you can use the display in the Header, at the top of
the MASCHINE window:
The SWING control in the Header.
► To adjust the Swing value of your Project, click the SWING value, hold the mouse button
and drag vertically.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
Adjusting Tempo
To adjust the overall Tempo of your song, you can use the display in the Header, at the top of
the MASCHINE window:
The BPM control in the Header.
► To adjust the Tempo (Beats Per Minute) value of your Project, click the BPM value, hold
the mouse button and drag vertically.
3.2.3.2 Adjusting Volume, Swing, Tempo and Tune on Your Controller
You can now adjust the volume, swing, tempo and tune for your overall Project, for each
Group, and for each Sound individually using the Control encoder:
Adjusting Volume
1. Press the MAIN button to activate it (the button lights up).
2. Press F1 to select VOLUME.
3. To adjust the overall volume, simply turn the Control encoder. Press and turn the Control
encoder to adjust the value in finer increments.
4. To adjust the volume of a particular Group, press and hold the GROUP button, press the
pad corresponding to the desired Group (the pad must be lit, here the pad 1 for your
drum kit), and turn the Control encoder while holding GROUP. Press and turn the Control
encoder to adjust the value in finer increments.
5. To adjust the volume of an individual Sound, press and hold its pad, and turn the Control
encoder. Press and turn the Control encoder to adjust the value in finer increments.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
At any time, the display indicates the volume’s current value.
It is recommended you try this while your Pattern is playing, you will immediately hear the effect of
your changes.
Adjusting Swing
Now adjust the overall swing of your Project, too. The Swing feature shifts some of the played
notes, hereby adding some “groove” to your Pattern. The procedure is similar to the one described above for the volume:
1. Press the MAIN button to activate it (the button lights up).
2. Press F2 to select SWING.
3. Turn the Control encoder to adjust the overall Swing for your Project.
4. To adjust the swing of a particular Group, press and hold the GROUP button, press the
pad corresponding to the desired Group (the pad must be lit, here the pad 1 for your
drum kit), and turn the Control encoder while holding GROUP. Press and turn the Control
encoder to adjust the value in finer increments.
5. To adjust the swing of an individual Sound, press and hold its pad, and turn the Control
encoder. Press and turn the Control encoder to adjust the value in finer increments.
At any time, the display indicates the current value.
It is recommended you try this while your Pattern is playing, you will immediately hear the effect of
your changes.
Adjusting Tempo
To adjust the overall tempo of your Project:
MASCHINE MIKRO - Getting Started - 47
1. Press the MAIN button to activate it (the button lights up).
2. Press F3 to select TEMPO.
3. Turn the Control encoder to adjust the overall Swing for your Project.
At any time, the display indicates the current value.
Adjusting Tune
To adjust the overall tempo of your Project:
1. Press the MAIN button to activate it (the button lights up).
2. Press F3 to select TEMPO.
Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
3. To adjust the tune of a particular Group, press and hold the GROUP button, press the pad
1 for your drum kit, (TEMPO will change to TUNE) and turn the Control encoder while
holding GROUP. Press and turn the Control encoder to adjust the value in finer increments.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
4. To adjust the Tune of an individual Sound, press and hold its pad, (TEMPO will change to
TUNE) turn the Control encoder. Press and turn the Control encoder to adjust the value in
finer increments.
At any time, the display indicates the current value.
It is recommended you try this while your Pattern is playing, you will immediately hear the effect of
your changes.
3.2.4 Changing the Color of Your Sounds
MASCHINE allows you to change the color of each Group or Sound. It can be very useful to see
at a glance to identify certain Groups or Sounds.
Now assign different colors to the different types of percussions in your drum kit:
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
► Right-click on the desired Sound slots, select Color in the context menu, and select the
desired color according to the type of percussion in that Sound slot.
Here is an example of how you could color Sounds:
Your drum kit full of colors.
This helps you see much quicker where the kicks, the snares, etc., are.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Customizing Your Drum Kit
You can assign colors to your Sounds, Groups, Patterns, Scenes, and Sections. It’s up to you to decide which colors to use. You can use colors to distinguish different sound types, purposes, or anything else that best fits your needs and workflow.
Changing the color of items can be done in the MASCHINE software only.
3.2.5 Moving your Sounds and Groups
You can exchange the position of your Sounds and Groups at any time. This can be done in the
MASCHINE software only. It can be helpful to organize your Sounds or Groups more conveniently. Notably, this allows you to move your Sounds to other pads, and create a Group that is
easier to play from the pads.
Now exchange the positions of the “Kick Ektl A 2” and the “Snare Ektl A 1” in order to have
both kicks on pads 1 and 2, and both snares on pads 5 and 6:
1. Click and hold the Sound slot 5 containing the “Kick Ektl A 2.”
2. While holding the mouse button, drag your mouse up.
As the mouse cursor moves up, an insertion line appears at the places where you can drop
your Sound.
3. When the insertion line appears under the other kick, release the mouse button.
→ Your second kick takes place under the first kick in the Sound slot 2. It will now be trig-
gered by the pad 2 on your controller.
In a similar manner, you will now move the “Snare Ektl A 1” to pad 5:
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
Saving Your Project
1. Click and hold the Sound slot 3, which now contains the “Snare Ektl A 1.”
2. While holding the mouse button, drag your mouse down. When the insertion line appears
above the other snare, release the mouse button.
→ Your first snare takes place above the second snare in the Sound slot 5. It will now be
triggered by pad 5 on your controller.
Keep in mind that any change in the Sound slot positions also affects the pads triggering the corresponding Sounds! Hence, it is recommended you practice with your new mapping to avoid confusion.
3.3 Saving Your Project
Again, it is recommended to regularly save your work. You can then open another Project or
close MASCHINE and take a break. Your tutorial Project will be recalled as it was the next time
you open it.
To save your Project in the software:
► Press [Ctrl] + [S] ([command] + [S] on macOS) to save your Project.
To save your Project on the controller:
► Press SHIFT + SAMPLING to save your Project.
3.4 To Sum Up…
In this tutorial, you have learned to:
▪ Open a Project using the Browser (both on your controller and in the software).
▪ Replace one of the Sounds from the original Group with another Sample taken from the
factory library using the Browser.
▪ Replace one of the Sounds from the original Group with a Drumsynth.
▪ Adjust the overall volume of MASCHINE along with the individual volume levels of your
Groups and Sounds using your controller.
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Building Your Own Drum Kit
▪ Adjust the overall Swing of your song, both on your controller and in the software.
▪ Change the colors of your Sounds, and possibly of your Groups, Patterns and Scenes (more
on Scenes later).
▪ Move your Sounds across your Group to assign them to other pads on your controller.
Once you feel comfortable with these few tasks, proceed to the next tutorial, where you will
learn more on Patterns!
To Sum Up…
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Creating Beats
Fine-tuning your First Pattern
4 Creating Beats
In this tutorial, you will further enhance your tutorial Project and do the following:
▪ Double your Pattern and fine-tune it.
▪ Add a second Pattern for breaks.
Even though you have only dealt with drum kits until now, MASCHINE is much more than a rhythm
box. Indeed, it also does a great job with melodic instruments! For those who can’t wait: Please be
patient, you will add a bass line in the next tutorial.
Prerequisites
It is assumed here that you followed the previous tutorials in chapter ↑2, First Steps and ↑3,
Building Your Own Drum Kit. In particular, you already know how to:
▪ Open a Project (↑3.1, Opening Your Project).
▪ Use the pads to play the Sounds of the loaded Group (↑2.2, Playing with the Pads).
▪ Record a simple Pattern with that Group (↑2.3, Recording Your First Pattern).
▪ Save the current Project for a later use (↑2.5, Saving Your Project).
If you have any doubts about these tasks, please refer to the previous tutorials before proceeding!
In case your tutorial Project “My First Project” is not open, please open it now:
► Open the tutorial Project “My First Project.”
4.1 Fine-tuning your First Pattern
You will start by improving your first Pattern using some of the powerful editing features of
MASCHINE.
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4.1.1 Your Pattern in the Software
1 2
3
4
First of all, have a quick look at the Pattern Editor in the software:
Creating Beats
Fine-tuning your First Pattern
Your first Pattern displayed in the Pattern Editor.
In the Pattern Editor, you will note the following:
▪ At the top left (1), EK-TL A Kit is the name of the selected Group; in this instance, it is
your customized drum kit.
▪ Under the Group name, you see a vertical list of all Sounds included in the Group (4). If
the list does not fit into the screen, a vertical scroll bar at the right end of the Pattern Editor allows you to display the missing Sounds. At any time, the selected Sound slot is highlighted (in the picture above, the Clap Ektl A 1, triggered by the pad 1).
At the right of the Group name, you find a drop-down menu which reveals the Pattern Manager. This comprises the Pattern List view and Pattern Pad view (2). These represent the Pattern
slots for that Group. At any time, the selected Pattern slot is highlighted both in the List view
and in the Pad view (in the picture above, the Pattern slot 1). A Pattern contains the events
(the notes) that plays Sounds from the current Group. More typically this is known as a sequence.
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Creating Beats
Fine-tuning your First Pattern
▪ The biggest area of the Pattern Editor (3), in the lower right part, displays the events (the
notes) of the selected Pattern. In other terms, you see here what you recorded in ↑2.3, Re-
cording Your First Pattern. Events mirror the colors of their respective Sounds. Vertical
lines indicate the beats and their subdivisions. The thin white line at the top of the pattern
indicates the current play position and the thin white line with a triangle is the pattern end
marker. At the bottom, a horizontal scroll bar allows you to display other parts of the Pattern, in case it is too long to fit on your screen.
Now that you have a better overview of your Pattern, you can start fine-tuning it.
4.1.2 Doubling the Pattern and Adding a Variation
Your Pattern is currently one bar long. When played in a loop, it might get a bit monotonous.
To solve this, you will exclusively use the controller to double the pattern length and add some
variation.
Double is only available on your controller.
Do the following:
1. Press PATTERN and hold it.
2. While holding PATTERN, press F1 to select DBL (for “double”).
3. Release the PATTERN button.
4. Press PLAY to listen to your Pattern.
5. Check the CONTROL button at the top right corner of the display is lit — if not, press it to
enter Control mode.
6. Press REC to start recording (the button lights up), and add a few notes with the pads
when the second half of the Pattern is playing.
7. At any time, don’t hesitate to undo/redo your last action(s) by pressing SHIFT + pad 1 and
SHIFT + pad 2, respectively.
8. Once you are pretty much satisfied with the ending of your extended Pattern, disable REC
to stop recording.
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Creating Beats
Fine-tuning your First Pattern
→ The Pattern has increased to two bars and now contains some added variation.
A doubled Pattern with some added side-sticks in bar 2 for variation.
When recording, you don’t necessarily need to be super-accurate in your playing: The next section will show you how the Quantize functions can correct the timing of your playing to a set of
discrete values.
4.1.3 Quantizing the Rhythm
It takes a little practice to be very precise when playing the pads. Sometimes (especially if
you’re new to MASCHINE) your timing may be slightly off and this will be evident when you
record your Pattern. MASCHINE has a solution for this! It's called quantization.
A Few Notes on Quantization
Here are a few points worth noting on quantization:
▪ The use of quantization notably depends on the music style of your song: In some cases,
the rhythm must be perfectly tight, while in other cases, half-quantization (or even no
quantization at all) would fit best.
▪ For now, you haven’t selected any event yet, and quantization (or half-quantization) was
applied to all events — in other terms, to the whole Pattern. If by chance you selected
some events in your Pattern, quantization would be applied to these events only! This can
be very useful if you want to build a tight rhythmic basis (e.g., kick and snare) while keeping specific events or Sounds “out of rhythm” (e.g., ornaments, slightly shifted hi-hat…).
This can help create a powerful groove. For more information on selecting particular events
in a Pattern, please refer to the Manual.
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Creating Beats
Fine-tuning your First Pattern
▪ You can change the resolution of the subdivisions to which events will be quantized.
▪ You can also quantize events directly when playing on the pads and/or recording! By de-
fault, this option is disabled. You can enable it in Preferences > Defaults > Input > Quantize. Please refer to the Manual for more information.
4.1.3.1 Quantizing the Rhythm in the MASCHINE Software
Zooming In Your Pattern
To check this, zoom on specific parts of your Pattern in the software. Go to the bottom of the
Pattern Editor in the software where you find the horizontal scroll bar which can also be used
as a Zoom tool:
The Zoom Tool in the Pattern Editor.
► Click either end of the horizontal scroll bar, hold the mouse button, and then drag your
mouse left or right to zoom in/out.
Alternatively, you can click anywhere on the scroll bar and drag upwards or downwards to zoom in
and out of your pattern.
At any time, you can click the middle of the horizontal and vertical scroll bars to display another part of the Pattern.
If you zoom in, you can see that some of your hits might not be accurate:
A detailed view of your live recorded Pattern: The first two kicks are late, the third one is in advance.
MASCHINE provides you with a powerful quantization feature that allows you to correct this to
the desired extent.
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Creating Beats
Fine-tuning your First Pattern
4.1.3.2 Quantizing the Rhythm using the Controller
Quantizing Your Pattern
The process of quantization (sometimes called “note snap”) consists of forcing events to stick
to the beats or to their subdivisions. This ensures that the rhythm is perfectly tight. On your
controller, do the following:
► To quantize the events of your Pattern, press SHIFT + pad 5.
→ Your Pattern now plays perfectly tight. In the Pattern Editor, you can see that all events
now are exactly on the beats or their subdivisions.
Quantizing Your Pattern, but Not Too Much
Sometimes, having beats perfectly tight might sound too “mechanical” and dull. Indeed, the
groove often comes from all these little imperfections in the rhythm. Hence, to avoid losing the
Pattern’s groove, MASCHINE lets you half-quantize your events: Events are moved half way toward the closest beat/subdivision. Thus, you get a tighter rhythm while keeping its human
touch and groove.
► To half-quantize the events of your Pattern, press SHIFT + pad 6.
You can apply half quantization several times in a row: Each time, events will move half of the
remaining way to the beats/subdivisions.
Here is the effect of half-quantization and quantization on an event:
Original event, half-quantized event, and quantized event.
At any time, don’t hesitate to undo/redo your last action(s) by pressing SHIFT + pad 1 and SHIFT +
pad 2, respectively.
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Creating Beats
Adding a Second Pattern
4.2 Adding a Second Pattern
Now you can create another Pattern that you can use as a break in your song. This will introduce a few more tasks and features of MASCHINE, namely the selection of Patterns, the Pattern Length, and the Count-in.
4.2.1 Selecting a Pattern Slot
Until now, you only used the first of the 64 Pattern slots available in your Group. You will now
select another Pattern slot, in which you will later record your second Pattern.
4.2.1.1 Selecting a Pattern Slot in the MASCHINE Software
► In the Ideas view of the Arranger at the top of the MASCHINE window, double-click the
empty slot below Pattern 1 to create a new Pattern.
Double-click the slot below slot 1 to create a new empty Pattern.
▪ Pattern slot 2 is now selected. Selecting an empty Pattern slot automatically creates a
blank Pattern in it.
Note that the slots’ lighting behavior in the software mirrors the pads’ lighting behavior on the
controller:
▪ Pattern slot 1 is half lit: There is a Pattern inside but the slot is not selected.
▪ Pattern slot 2 is fully lit: There is a (blank) Pattern inside and the slot is selected.
▪ All other Pattern slots are dark: They contain no Pattern.
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Creating Beats
Adding a Second Pattern
4.2.1.2 Selecting a Pattern Slot on the Controller
1. Press PATTERN and hold it.
All pads light off except pad 1, which is fully lit. This indicates that all Pattern slots are
empty except the first Pattern slot, which is additionally selected.
2. While holding PATTERN, press pad 2.
→ Pattern slot 2 is now selected. Selecting an empty Pattern slot automatically creates a
blank Pattern in it.
Have a look at the pads:
▪ Pad 1 is half lit: There is a Pattern inside but the slot is not selected.
▪ Pad 2 is fully lit: There is a blank Pattern inside and the slot is selected.
▪ All other pads are unlit: They contain no Pattern.
4.2.2 Adjusting the Pattern Length
You have already learned how to change the Pattern Length by doubling the Pattern: the Pattern’s length was doubled and its content reproduced in the second half (see ↑4.1.2, Doubling
the Pattern and Adding a Variation). Here you will learn how to adjust the Pattern Length with-
out affecting its events, if any.
You can adjust the Pattern Length at any time, even if you already put events in the Pattern. If you
reduce the Pattern Length so that some events are not included in the Pattern anymore, these
events have not been deleted: They stay at their location — if you extend your Pattern again, you
can include them again.
4.2.2.1 Adjusting the Pattern Length in the MASCHINE Software
In the software, you can change the Pattern Length in two ways:
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Creating Beats
Adding a Second Pattern
1. In the timeline of the Pattern Editor, click the right limit of the Pattern (indicated by a
little triangle pointing to the left) and drag your mouse horizontally in the timeline to
change the Pattern Length.
2. At the top right of the Pattern Editor, click the value and drag your mouse vertically to
change the Pattern Length.
4.2.2.2 Adjusting the Pattern Length on the Controller
1. Press PATTERN and hold it.
At the bottom of the display, you see that the LENGTH parameter is currently set to
1:0:0, which means one bar.
2. While holding PATTERN, turn the Control encoder to set a new value for the Pattern
Length.
→ The empty Pattern in the Pattern slot 2 now has a new length, as you can see in the soft-
ware’s Pattern Editor.
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Creating Beats
Adding a Second Pattern
To change the resolution at which the Patten Length can be resized, refer to the Manual for information on Arranger Grid.
4.2.3 Recording a New Pattern Using the Count-in
Once your empty Pattern in Pattern slot 2 has the desired length, you are ready for recording.
You have already learned how to record a Pattern by starting the sequencer then enabling the
record mode, also using the metronome (see ↑2.3, Recording Your First Pattern). Here you will
learn another useful aid for recording: the Count-in.
The Count-in cannot be enabled from the software. Please use your controller as described below.
1. Press SHIFT + PLAY to activate the Metronome.
2. Press SHIFT + REC to start recording using the Count-in.
3. Play on the pads.
4. To stop the metronome, press SHIFT + PLAY. To stop the recording, press REC to disable
it. To stop the sequencer, press PLAY to disable it.
The Count-in allows you to prepare yourself and e.g. get the downbeat on time.
You can change the Count-in length (i.e. how long you hear the metronome alone before the
sequencer and the recording start) directly from your controller by pressing SHIFT + GRID ,
press the Arrow buttons to display the COUNT-IN LENGTH parameter and turn the Control encoder to set the desired length.
Pressing SHIFT + GRID opens the Recording Settings mode, which allows you to adjust various
metronome and quantization settings. For all details, please refer to the Manual.
4.2.4 Switching Patterns
Once you have recorded something in the second Pattern slot, you can check that both Patterns fit well together by instantly switching between both:
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Creating Beats
Adding a Second Pattern
4.2.4.1 Switching Patterns in the MASCHINE Software
1. Click the Play button in the Header at the very top of the MASCHINE window to start the
sequencer (the Play button must be lit).
2. Click Pattern slot 1 and 2 alternatively and listen how both Patterns fit together.
4.2.4.2 Switching Patterns on the Controller
1. Press PLAY to start the sequencer.
2. Press and hold PATTERN.
3. Press pad 1 and pad 2 alternatively and listen how both Patterns fit together.
4.3 Editing Patterns in the Software
In the MASCHINE software, the Pattern Editor allows you to precisely tailor new or existing
Patterns. Only the main mouse actions are mentioned here.
1. To create a new event, double-click into the grid at the desired location.
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Creating Beats
Saving Your Project
Double-click into the Grid to create an event. Right-click it to delete it.
2. To clear an event, right-click it.
3. To move an event, drag it (i.e. click it, hold the mouse button, drag your mouse to the
desired location, and release the mouse button). Dragging horizontally will shift the event
in time for the same Sound, while dragging it vertically will move it to another Sound
while preserving its timing.
4. To stretch an event, drag its right border (this makes more sense for melodic, sustained
instruments than for percussive sounds).
When you create, drag or stretch an event, your action is automatically quantized according to the
current quantization resolution.
You have the Pencil tool at your disposal for editing events in the Pattern Editor. For more information, please refer to the Manual.
4.4 Saving Your Project
Again, it is recommended to regularly save your work. You can then open another Project or
close MASCHINE and take a break. Your tutorial Project will be recalled as it was the next time
you open it.
To save your Project in the software:
► Press [Ctrl] + [S] ([command] + [S] on macOS) to save your Project.
To save your Project on the controller:
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Creating Beats
► Press SHIFT + SAMPLING to save your Project.
4.5 To Sum Up…
In this tutorial, you have learned to:
▪ Double a Pattern.
▪ Quantize or half-quantize a Pattern.
▪ Select different Pattern slots.
▪ Adjust the Pattern Length.
▪ Use the Count-in for recording.
▪ Edit Patterns in the software.
Once you feel comfortable with these few tasks, proceed with the next tutorial, where you will
add a bass line to your song!
To Sum Up…
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Adding a Bass Line
5 Adding a Bass Line
MASCHINE is not only about rhythm. It is also a full-featured sequencing environment and, as
such, lets you create melodic parts as well. As an example, you will add a bass line to your
song. More precisely:
▪ You will create a new Group with a nice bass Sound using a VST/AU plug-in synthesizer.
▪ You will record a few bass lines.
▪ You will adjust the Plug-in parameters to fine-tune the bass sound.
In addition to recording your own instruments, you can also add audio loops to your Project. For
more information on how to add audio loops to your Project, and to learn about the MASCHINE Audio plug-in, refer to the MASHINE Manual.
Prerequisites
It is assumed here that you have followed the previous tutorials. In particular, you already know
how to:
▪ Open a Project (↑3.1, Opening Your Project).
▪ Use the pads to play the loaded Sounds (↑2.2, Playing with the Pads).
▪ Select Pattern slots (↑4.2.1, Selecting a Pattern Slot).
▪ Record a Pattern (↑2.3, Recording Your First Pattern), possibly using the Count-in (↑4.2.3,
Recording a New Pattern Using the Count-in).
▪ Quantize a Pattern (↑4.1.3, Quantizing the Rhythm), and edit it in the software (↑4.3, Edit-
ing Patterns in the Software).
▪ Save the current Project for a later use (↑2.5, Saving Your Project).
If you have any doubts about these tasks, please refer to the previous tutorials before proceeding!
In case your tutorial Project “My First Project” is not open, please open it now:
► Open the tutorial Project “My First Project.”
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Adding a Bass Line
Selecting Another Group
5.1 Selecting Another Group
Until now, you have only used the first Group available in your Project. You will now select another Group and load a bass sound. Loading the bass into a different Group slot will later allow
us to handle it separately, and easily combine it with the existing drum kit Group and its Patterns.
In MASCHINE it is possible to have more than one Group bank. In this tutorial you will only be
working with Group bank 1, which contains the first eight Group slots. Each Group bank can contain another eight Groups. The Groups in each bank will be labeled sequentially: The Groups in
Group bank 1 will be labeled A1 to H1 and Group bank 2 A2 to H2. For more information on creating and selecting additional Group banks, please refer to the MASCHINE Manual, available from the
Help menu.
5.1.1 Selecting Another Group in the Software
1. In the top part of the MASCHINE window, click the + sign to add another Group.
2. Click the name of the desired Group B1 to select it.
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Adding a Bass Line
Selecting Another Group
Click the Group slot’s name to select that slot.
Upon selection, the Pattern Editor below switches to display the content of the newly selected
Group slot. For now, this is still empty (no Sounds, no Patterns).
5.1.2 Selecting Another Group on the Controller
1. Press and hold the GROUP button.
The top eight pads now represent the first eight Groups. All eight pads are unlit except
pad 13, which is fully lit and pad 14 which is white indicating that a new Group can be
created here. All Groups are empty except the first Group (A), which is selected.
2. While holding GROUP, press the pad 14 to select the second Group (B1).
→ Group B1 now is selected.
Have a look at the pads:
▪ Pad 13 is half lit: There is a Group inside but the slot is not selected.
▪ Pad 14 is fully lit: The Group is selected.
▪ All other pads are unlit: The Groups are empty and not selected.
5.2 Renaming and Coloring the Group
As you loaded the drum kit into the Group A1 (see ↑2.1, Loading a Drum Kit from the Factory
Library), the slot automatically took the name of the loaded Group (“EK-TL A Kit”). Here you
will manually rename the Group B1 to help keep your Project well organized.
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Adding a Bass Line
Renaming and Coloring the Group
This feature is only available from the MASCHINE software.
To rename a Group:
1. Double-click the Group name.
The Group name becomes highlighted.
2. Type a new name (e.g., “Bass”), then press [Enter] on your computer keyboard to confirm.
→ The new name replaces the default name.
A new name for the Group B1.
Now quickly give your Groups different colors:
► Right-click each Group, select Color in the context menu, and select the desired color in
the palette.
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Adding a Bass Line
Using an Instrument Plug-in for the Bass
New color for the Bass Group.
5.3 Using an Instrument Plug-in for the Bass
In addition to using the internal sounds of MASCHINE, you may also use 32-bit and 64-bit
VST/AU plug-ins from Native Instruments and third-party manufacturers. This notably allows
you to make use of your favorite synthesizer and effect plug-ins!
MASCHINE already includes KOMPLETE 11 SELECT, a premium instrument and effect package for all styles of music. This Native Instruments bundle notably includes MASSIVE (the legendary synthesizer), REAKTOR PRISM (a modal synthesizer), SCARBEE MARK 1 (an iconic
electric piano) and SOLID BUS COMP (a superior compressor), just to mention a few. Among
other things, MASSIVE is ideal for fat bass sounds — exactly what you need here.
5.3.1 Browsing the MASSIVE Presets
Not only is MASSIVE included with MASCHINE, but its factory library is fully integrated into
the MASCHINE workflow and its preset sounds are directly available from the MASCHINE
Browser. Hence, you can choose a bass sound with the common workflow you already used for
loading a Group (see ↑2.1, Loading a Drum Kit from the Factory Library) or a Sample (see
↑3.2.1, Selecting Another Snare Sample): By filtering your choices, you progressively narrow
your search by selecting the MASCHINE object, Product, Type, and Subtype.
5.3.1.1 Browsing Instrument Presets in the Software
In the software, do the following:
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Adding a Bass Line
Using an Instrument Plug-in for the Bass
1. Make sure that your Bass Group is selected — if not, select it again (see ↑5.1, Selecting
Another Group).
2. Click the name of the first Sound slot to select that slot.
3. Show the Browser if it is currently hidden (reminder: click the magnifying glass in the
MASCHINE Header).
4. At the very top of the Browser, select the keyboard icon from the File Type selector:
The Browser now shows the Instrument presets.
5. Deselect the Content selector icon (icon off):
This displays the Native Instruments factory content.
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6. In the Product selector click the drop-down arrow…
Adding a Bass Line
Using an Instrument Plug-in for the Bass
7. …and select
Massive:
This will limit the list of presets displayed to the MASSIVE presets.
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Using an Instrument Plug-in for the Bass
8. Click All Banks to reveal a list of all MASSIVE banks installed on your computer:
Adding a Bass Line
9. From this list, click
Massive Factory.
This will update the results list with only presets from this bank.
10. In the Tag Filter below, click Bass in the TYPES section.
11. Click Line in the Sub-Type section to further narrow your search.
→ You can now load a bass preset by double-clicking its entry in the result list below.
5.3.1.2 Browsing Instrument Presets on the Controller
On your controller, do the following:
1. Press GROUP + pad 14 to select the Group slot B1.
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Adding a Bass Line
Using an Instrument Plug-in for the Bass
2. Press the pad 1 to select the Sound slot 1. Pad 1 should be fully lit.
3. Press BROWSE to show the Browser. The BROWSE button should be lit.
4. Press F1 to select FILTER.
5. If the bottom right part of the display is not highlighted (the attribute), press the Left or
Right Arrow button until it is.
6. Press Left Arrow repeatedly until you see 1/4: FILETYPE at the bottom left of the display,
then turn the Control encoder until you see INSTRUMENT at the bottom right of the display.
The Browser will now show all instruments only.
7. Press Right Arrow to select 2/4 PRODUCT, then turn the Control encoder to select MAS-
SIVE.
8. Press Right Arrow to select 3/5 BANK, then turn the Control encoder to select MASSIVE
FACTORY.
9. Press Right Arrow to select 4/6 TYPE, then turn the Control encoder to select BASS.
10. Press Right Arrow to select 5/6 SUB-TYPE, then turn the Control encoder to select LINE.
11. Press F2 to display the result list.
→ You can now select the bass presets by turning the Control encoder, and load the selected
preset into the selected Sound slot (Sound slot 1 in this example) by pressing the Control
encoder. But don’t leave Browse mode yet: You will learn about some useful features for
choosing a bass in the next two sections.
5.3.2 Switching to Keyboard Mode
In order to choose a suitable bass preset, you can make use of the Autoload feature (see
↑3.2.1, Selecting Another Snare Sample for more information): This will directly load a Preset
into your Project as you select them in the Browser, allowing you to play them on the pads together with the drum kit Patterns you have already recorded.
As a reminder (in the software):
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Adding a Bass Line
Using an Instrument Plug-in for the Bass
► In the software, click the Autoload button at the bottom of the Browser to activate it:
→ Each preset is now automatically loaded into the Sound slot 1 when selected in the
Browser’s result list.
For now, you can hear the presets only by pressing the pad 1, which triggers a single note (by
default C3). This is not ideal for choosing a preset — not to mention for recording a bass line.
Hence, for melodic instruments like your bass, MASCHINE provides another mode for the pads
called Keyboard mode, in which the pads play different notes of the same Sound.
5.3.2.1 Switching to Keyboard View in the Software
► At the left of the Pattern Editor, click the Keyboard View button (with a keyboard icon) to
activate the Keyboard view.
The Keyboard View button.
The Pattern Editor shows a vertical keyboard at the right of the Sound slots. The rows in the
grid now represent each note for the selected Sound slot, instead of representing each Sound
slot.
The Keyboard mode on your controller and the Keyboard view in the software are strictly equivalent:
By switching to Keyboard view in the software, you also switch your controller to Keyboard mode; by
disabling the Keyboard mode on your controller, you also disable the Keyboard view in the software.
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Adding a Bass Line
Using an Instrument Plug-in for the Bass
5.3.2.2 Switching to Keyboard Mode on the Controller
► Press SHIFT + PAD MODE (at the left of the pads).
→ From now on, your 16 pads will not trigger the 16 Sound slots of your Group, but instead
16 notes of the selected Sound. This will make both choosing a bass preset and recording
a bass line much easier!
To disable this Keyboard mode, press SHIFT + PAD MODE again.
As long as the Keyboard mode is active, the PAD MODE button is half lit to remind you it is
switched on.
Other pad modes are also available. For a detailed description of all pad modes, please refer to the
Manual.
5.3.3 Adjusting the Root Note for the Pads
While trying out various bass presets on the pads, you will note that they are playing quite high
notes. This is because your 16 pads play by default the notes from C3 to D#4 — not the most
appropriate notes for playing bass. Hence, you need to lower the notes played by the pads.
1. Press and hold PAD MODE.
2. Press F1 (KEYBD).
3. Press F2 (OCT -) twice.
4. Release PAD MODE.
→ Your pads now play two octaves lower.
You can adjust this more precisely by changing the Base Key parameter available on the same Pad
Mode screen of your controller: Press and hold PAD MODE, press Right Arrow repeatedly until you
see 5/6: BASE KEY on the display, then turn the Control encoder to adjust the Base Key semi-tone
by semi-tone.
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Adding a Bass Line
Recording a Bass Line
This setting is only relevant for your controller: Indeed, in the software the vertical keyboard already
displays all notes (use the vertical scroll bar on the right to display them all).
You now can choose a bass sound:
1. If you left Browse mode in the meanwhile, press BROWSE to enter it again.
2. Load various bass presets into Sound slot 1 and play them on the pads to choose the bass
sound you would like to use.
Now choose the Sound “Analovue,” because it both has a nice bass content and some highfrequency ornaments. Moreover, it holds interesting rhythmic content synchronized to the
Project tempo!
► Once you have found a bass to your liking, deactivate BROWSE to leave the Browser.
In this example you don’t need to specifically load the selected Sound, since it is already loaded via
the Autoload function.
5.4 Recording a Bass Line
You are now ready to record a bass Pattern. This will allow us to repeat many of the tasks you
have learned until now.
5.4.1 Recording a Bass Pattern
On your controller, do the following:
1. Press PLAY.
You hear your drum Pattern playing.
2. Practice with the bass to get familiar with your instrument.
3. When you feel ready, press REC (the button lights up) and start recording a bass line.
4. When you have finished recording press REC to deactivate record mode.
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Adding a Bass Line
Recording a Bass Line
Don’t forget to reuse all you have learned in the previous tutorials for recording Patterns: using the
metronome, using the Count-in, adjusting the Pattern Length, editing the recorded Pattern, etc. If
you have any doubt about these tasks, please refer to the previous tutorials (notably in section ↑4,
Creating Beats and chapter ↑2.3, Recording Your First Pattern).
5.4.2 Recording Another Bass Pattern
A single bass line is obviously not enough for your whole song. Now record a second one that
you could use as variation.
1. Switch to the second Pattern slot. As a reminder, you can do this on your controller by
pressing PATTERN + pad 2, and in the software by double-clicking the Pattern slot 2 in
the Ideas view.
2. Record a second Pattern. Again, don’t hesitate to reuse the various Pattern recording/editing tasks that you have already learned.
Check that both Patterns fit well together by switching repeatedly between both Pattern slots.
5.4.3 Loading an Additional Bass Sound
To enhance your song further, you will load another bass Sound next to “Analovue.” This second bass could for example play rhythmic lines with somewhat higher frequencies.
Selecting the Sound Slot 2
Before you load another Sound, you first need to select another Sound slot — e.g., Sound slot
2.
In the software, you can select the Sound slot 2 as usual by clicking its name in the Pattern
Editor.
On your controller, you will notice that pressing pad 2 only is not working for selecting Sound
slot 2: Indeed, since your pads are in Keyboard mode, they don’t play/select each Sound slot
but play each note of the same Sound slot 1. To circumvent this, do the following on your controller:
1. Press and hold SELECT.
2. Check that QUIET is selected at the top of the display. If not, press F1 to select it.
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Adding a Bass Line
Accessing the Plug-in Parameters
3. While still holding SELECT, press pad 2 to select Sound slot 2.
→ Sound slot 2 is now selected.
Holding SELECT while pressing the pad selects the Sound slot regardless of which pad mode is active; on the contrary, pressing the pad only does not select the Sound slot if the Keyboard mode is
active. Moreover, when holding the SELECT button, you don’t hear the Sound when you press the
pad — hence the label QUIET in the display. This can be very useful when your song is playing and
you don’t want the audience to hear your selection!
You can also press SELECT (and F1 if necessary) to visually check on your pads which Sound slot is
currently selected!
Loading and Recording Another Bass
► Once Sound slot 2 is selected, repeat the steps described above in this tutorial to load
another bass Sound and to record bass lines with that Sound in the same Patterns 1 and
2 as you did for the first bass. For example, try with the Sound “Ad Voca” as a second
bass!
Choosing Colors for Your Bass Sounds
Now choose different colors for the two bass Sounds as you did for the Sounds of the Group
“EK-TL A Kit”:
► Right-click each Sound slot, select Color in the context menu, and select the desired col-
or.
5.5 Accessing the Plug-in Parameters
Once installed, MASSIVE is fully integrated into MASCHINE. Not only does this mean that its
factory presets are available in the MASCHINE Browser, but also that the MASSIVE parameters
themselves are available from within MASCHINE. Here, you will discover another area of the
MASCHINE software’s user interface: the Control area.
The Control area is located in the middle of the MASCHINE software window.
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Adding a Bass Line
Accessing the Plug-in Parameters
The Control area showing the MASSIVE plug-in parameters for your bass Sound “Analovue.”
The Control area allows you, among many other things, to adjust the parameters of your Plugins.
Here, you want to display the Plug-in parameters for your first bass Sound “Analovue.”
5.5.1 Accessing the Plug-in Parameters in the Software
1. At the left of the Pattern Editor, click the Sound slot’s name (Analovue) to select that
Sound slot.
2. In the top left part of the Control area, click the SOUND tab to select it (it should be
highlighted).
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Adding a Bass Line
Accessing the Plug-in Parameters
3. In the Plug-in List below, click Massive to select it.
→ The Control area now displays the parameters of your bass Sound “Analovue.” You can
check this by looking in the left part of the Control area:
The Control area indicating which parameters are displayed.
The large part of the Control area to the right is called the Parameter area. This gives you access to the desired parameters:
The parameters for the Sound “Analovue.”
These parameters are organized into pages that you can select for displaying by clicking the
little labels at the top of the Control:
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Adding a Bass Line
Accessing the Plug-in Parameters
The pages allow you to display further parameters for your plug-in.
On each page, you can click and drag the knobs to adjust the corresponding parameters.
Example
As an example, adjust the amplification level of the second oscillator in your “Analovue” preset. Do the following:
1. Click the Osc2 label at the top of the Control area to select the Osc2 parameter page.
The Control area now displays the parameters of that page.
2. Click the fourth knob (Osc2Amp) and drag your mouse vertically to adjust the value.
You can fine-adjust the parameter value by holding down [Shift] on your computer keyboard while
you drag the mouse.
5.5.2 Accessing the Plug-in Parameters on the Controller
1. Press F3 to select SOUND.
This displays parameters for the selected Sound slot.
2. If the Sound slot 1 containing the “Analovue” Sound is not currently selected, select it by
pressing SELECT + pad 1.
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Adding a Bass Line
Accessing the Plug-in Parameters
3. Press NAV + F3 to select PLUG-IN (more on this later).
The display should now look like this:
→ You now have access to the parameters of your bass Sound “Analovue.” At the bottom of
the display, the selected parameter and its value are displayed.
The selected parameter and its value displayed at the bottom of the display.
To adjust any parameter from your controller, do the following:
1. Use the Left/Right Arrow buttons to select a parameter.
2. Turn the Control encoder to adjust the parameter value.
Example
As an example, adjust the amplification level of the second oscillator in the “Analovue” preset.
Do the following:
1. Hold the NAV button and press the Right Arrow button repeatedly to select OSC2.
2. Press Left/Right Arrow buttons to select 4/8: OSC2AMP (i.e., “Amplification parameter of
Oscillator 2”, which is the fourth parameter in that page).
3. Turn the Control encoder to adjust the value of the Amplification parameter.
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Adding a Bass Line
Saving Your Project
You can fine-adjust the parameter value by pressing and turning the Control encoder!
5.6 Saving Your Project
Again, it is recommended to regularly save your work. You can then open another Project or
close MASCHINE and take a break. Your tutorial Project will be recalled as it was the next time
you open it.
To save your Project in the software:
► Press [Ctrl] + [S] ([command] + [S] on macOS) to save your Project.
To save your Project on the controller:
► Press SHIFT + SAMPLING to save your Project.
5.7 To Sum Up…
In this tutorial, you have learned to:
▪ Select different Groups and rename them.
▪ Load a VST/AU plug-in instrument into a Sound slot.
▪ Use the Keyboard mode on your controller (and the Keyboard view in the software) to play
and record melodic instruments.
▪ Adjust the Root Note when using Keyboard mode.
▪ Adjust the Plug-in parameters both from your controller and in the software (using the Con-
trol area).
Once you feel comfortable with these few tasks, proceed with the next tutorial, where you will
add effects to your Sounds and Groups.
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Applying Effects
6 Applying Effects
Now that you have created a few Patterns, you can spice them up with some effects.
MASCHINE provides a healthy selection of effects (FX) that can be loaded in the form of Plugins. Each channel (Sounds, Groups and Master) can have an unlimited number of insert effects loaded in their Plug-ins slots. In each Plug-in slot you can load an internal, Native Instruments or external effect Plug-in.
Effects can also be applied to external audio or set up as send effects. These tasks will be covered
in the Manual.
In this tutorial, you will:
▪ Apply effects to various Sounds and Groups of your tutorial Project.
▪ Tweak the loaded effects.
▪ Modulate the effect parameters.
Prerequisites
It is assumed here that you followed the previous tutorials. In particular, you already know how
to:
▪ Select Groups (Selecting Another Group).
▪ Select Sounds.
▪ Access the parameters of a Plug-in (Accessing the Plug-in Parameters).
If you have any doubts about these tasks, please refer to the previous tutorials before proceeding!
In case your tutorial Project “My First Project” is not open, please open it now:
► Open the tutorial Project “My First Project.”
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Applying Effects
Loading Effects
6.1 Loading Effects
In this section you will learn how to load effects in MASCHINE.
In MASCHINE, effects are just a particular type of Plug-ins; the other type are the instrument
Plug-ins, which you already met in the previous tutorials. Both effect and instrument Plug-ins
are handled in the same way, with the notable difference that instrument Plug-ins can be loaded only in the first Plug-in slot of Sounds, whereas effect Plug-ins can be loaded in any Plug-in
slot of any channel (Sounds, Groups or Master). For the rest, you can apply to effect Plug-ins
what you have learned about instrument Plug-ins (see ↑3.2.2, Loading a Drumsynth and ↑5.3,
Using an Instrument Plug-in for the Bass).
In the following practical example, you will try to further shape your “Analovue” bass line by
fattening its low frequency content while enhancing its overall warmth. For this, you will use
one of the internal effects included with MASCHINE: the Saturator.
6.1.1 Loading an Effect in the Software
1. In the top part of the MASCHINE window, click the Group Bass to select it.
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Applying Effects
Loading Effects
2. In the Control area below, click the SOUND tab to select the Sound level, since you want
to apply the saturation to a Sound.
3. The actual Sound that you assign the effect to is always the one in focus. Hence, at the
left of the Pattern Editor, click the Sound slot’s name (Analovue) to select that Sound
slot.
4. At the far left of the Control area, click the small plug icon to display the Plug-ins.
This displays the Plug-in List on the left of the Control area:
The Plug-in List in this instance contains Massive.
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5. Click the “+” icon below to open the Plug-in menu.
The Plug-in menu opens and displays a list of all available effects.
6. In this menu, click the Saturator entry to load it.
Applying Effects
Loading Effects
→ The Saturator plug-in is now loaded and is ready to be tweaked.
If you have VST/AU effect plug-ins installed, you may also load them from the menu by selecting
the Native Instruments submenu (for Native Instruments products) or the corresponding vendor
submenu (for third-party products).
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If you wish to load a Plug-in at the Group level, just follow the same procedure except at the second
step click the GROUP tab instead of the SOUND tab! Similarly, if you wish to load a Plug-in at the
Master level (to process the audio of the whole Project), click the MASTER tab at this step.
6.1.2 Loading an Effect on the Controller
1. Press GROUP + pad 14 to select the Group “Bass” containing the bass lines.
2. Press SELECT + pad 1 to select the Sound “Analovue.”
3. Press F3 to select the SOUND tab.
4. Press NAV + F3 to select PLUG-IN.
Applying Effects
Loading Effects
5. Continue to hold the NAV button and press pad 2 to select the next free Plug-in slot.
Release NAV.
6. Press SHIFT + BROWSE to select an effect.
If you would have pressed BROWSE alone here, you would have accessed the Browser. By
additionally holding SHIFT, you access the Plug-in menu instead!
7. Press F1 to select FILTER.
This will allow you to narrow down the available effects to what you are looking for.
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Applying Effects
Loading Effects
8. Turn the Control encoder until the Category field turns to INTERNAL (for MASCHINE internal effects).
9. Press F2 to view the filtered list.
10. Turn the Control encoder to browse the available MASCHINE effects. When the display
shows SATURATOR, press the Control encoder to load it.
11. Press SHIFT + BROWSE again to leave the effect selection.
→ The Saturator Plug-in is now loaded and ready to be tweaked.
To load a Plug-in at the Group level, please follow the same procedure except at the third step press
F2 (GROUP) instead of F3 (SOUND). Similarly, to load a Plug-in at the Master level (to process the
audio of the whole Project), press F1 (MASTER) at this step.
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Applying Effects
Playing with Effects
6.2 Playing with Effects
Once the Saturator Plug-in is loaded into the Plug-in List, you will find its parameters displayed in the Control area when the Saturator effect is selected:
When Saturator is selected from the Plug-in List, the Control area displays its parameters.
6.2.1 Adjusting the Effect Parameters
To adjust the effect parameters to your needs, the method is basically the same as when you
adjusted the parameters for the MASSIVE plug-in in Accessing the Plug-in Parameters.
Press PLAY on your controller or the [Space] bar on your computer keyboard to start the sequencer.
This way, you can directly hear how your settings affect the sound!
6.2.1.1 Adjusting the Effect Parameters in the Software
In the Control area, you can quickly adjust each parameter with the mouse:
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Applying Effects
Playing with Effects
1. Click in the display of the Mode selector at the left and select the Tube entry in the menu
that opens.
Upon your selection, the other parameters change in the Parameter area, giving you access to settings specific to this saturation mode.
2. To adjust the various parameters, click and drag the knobs to change their values, and
click the buttons to activate/deactivate them.
6.2.1.2 Adjusting the Effect Parameters on the Controller
1. Check that the CONTROL button is lit — if not, press it to enter Control mode.
2. Press NAV + pad 2.
3. Press Left Arrow button repeatedly until the Parameter field reads 1/4: MODE at the bottom of the display.
4. Turn the Control encoder until the Parameter field reads TUBE.
This selects the Tube mode of the Saturator.
5. Continue to scroll the various other parameters by pressing the Right Arrow and adjust
their values by turning the Control encoder.
6.2.2 Practice Makes Perfect!
Don’t hesitate to practice with loading effects in different places of the tutorial Project and adjusting their parameters. For example:
▪ You could load a Chorus on the Sound “Snare Ektl A 1” of the drum kit Group to slightly
widen its sound (use a low value for the Mix parameter of the effect).
▪ In that same drum kit Group, you could apply a slowly evolving Flanger on the Sound
“Shaker Ektl A” to make it livelier.
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Applying Effects
Playing with Effects
▪ On the way, you will note that the drum kit Group itself (“EK-TL A Kit”) already has a Max-
imizer applied that processes the whole drum kit. Why not load a subtle Reverb to make
the kit sound more natural?
6.2.3 Bypassing Effects
Bypassing effects might come in handy whenever you want to return to a dry, unaltered signal:
Such as after applying so much Reverb that you can’t hear the dry signal anymore or to get rid
of the feedback while using the Delay for example. Bypassing effects is also a great tool when
playing live!
6.2.3.1 Bypassing Effects in the MASCHINE Software
1. At the top left of the Control area, click the tab of the level (either SOUND, GROUP or
MASTER) where you want to bypass the effect.
2. If you want to bypass an effect at the Sound or Group level, make sure you have the right
Sound (click it on the left of the Pattern Editor) and/or Group (click it on the left of the
Arranger) selected.
3. To bypass the effect, click the FX icon at the left of the effect name in the Plug-in List.
The effect is grayed out to indicate that it is now bypassed.
4. To reactivate the bypassed effect, click its FX icon.
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Applying Effects
Playing with Effects
Bypassing effects can be very useful when adjusting effect parameters in order to compare the
sound with/without an effect. But more than this, bypassing effects is also a powerful creative tool
when playing live.
It's also possible to bypass effects directly from the Mix view. When in Mix view click the small
square at the left of the effect name in the Plug-in List. Click again to reactivate the effect.
For detailed information on Mix view and using effects, please refer the Maschine Manual.
6.2.3.2 Bypassing Effects on the Controller
► Depending on the level (Master, Group or Sound) the effect you want to bypass is located,
do the following:
▪ Effect on Master: Press F1 (MASTER).
▪ Effect on a Group: Press F2 (GROUP) to select the Group level, then press GROUP + pad
9–16 to select the desired Group.
▪ Effect on a Sound: Press F3 (SOUND) to select the Sound level, press GROUP + pad 9–16
to select the desired Group, then press the desired pad (or SELECT + the desired pad if the
Keyboard mode is active) to select the corresponding Sound.
1. Now press and hold SHIFT + NAV.
All pads turn off except those that represent active effects.
2. Press the desired pad to bypass the corresponding effect.
The effect unit does not affect the sound anymore. The pad turns dimmed to indicate that
this Plug-in is now bypassed.
3. To reactivate the bypassed effect, press again SHIFT + NAV + the pad in question.
6.3 Modulating Effect Parameters
One of the really cool features of MASCHINE is the ability to modulate parameters from the
Control area in a very easy way — both from the controller and in the software. Modulating a
parameter means recording an offset to its value over time in order for these changes to be
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Applying Effects
Modulating Effect Parameters
played back again automatically in your song. The modulation data is saved into the current
Pattern. As an example, you could use this to create a filter sweep played in loop with your
Pattern.
Modulation is not limited to effects: In MASCHINE, you can modulate just about any parameter at
the Group or Sound level as soon as it has a continuous range of values — in other terms, almost
any parameter controlled by a knob in the Parameter area!
6.3.1 Recording Modulation
Now try to record some simple modulation for the effect parameter of your choice.
6.3.1.1 Recording Modulation in the MASCHINE Software
If you take a closer look at the knobs in the Parameter area you will notice they have an outer
ring. This ring serves for recording modulation:
► To record modulation, check that your song is playing, click the outer ring of the desired
knob and then drag it vertically.
Recording modulation for a parameter.
▪ You will note that the colored ring usually representing the current value of the parameter
turned to a colored little dash. This dash follows the movements you just recorded.
To remove modulation, do the following:
► To remove the modulation for a parameter, right-click its outer ring.
→ The dash in the outer ring turns back to the usual indicator for unmodulated parameters.
6.3.1.2 Recording Modulation using the Controller
To modulate a parameter from your controller:
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Applying Effects
Modulating Effect Parameters
1. Check that the CONTROL button is lit — if not, press it to enter Control mode.
2. Press PLAY to start the sequencer.
3. Press NAV, and then the relevant pad to select the Plug-in slot containing the effect you
want to modulate.
4. Press the Left/Right Arrow buttons to put the focus on the parameter you want to modulate.
5. Press and hold SHIFT, and turn the Control encoder.
→ Your modulation gets recorded now. On the next loop, the parameter changes will be re-
produced.
There is also another way to record modulation from your controller: the step sequencer. More on
this in ↑7, Creating Beats with the Step Sequencer!
6.3.2 Editing Modulation
You edit any recorded modulation in the software. For this, the Control Lane is at your disposal
at the bottom of the Pattern Editor:
The Control Lane displays the changes you recorded for each automated parameter.
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Applying Effects
Saving Your Project
To edit the modulation:
1. Click the desired parameter in the list of automated parameters (on the left) to select it.
2. Drag the modulation points vertically in the Control Lane.
For more information on editing modulation and automation, please refer to the Manual.
6.4 Saving Your Project
Again, it is recommended to regularly save your work. You can then open another Project or
close MASCHINE and take a break. Your tutorial Project will be recalled as it was the next time
you open it.
To save your Project in the software:
► Press [Ctrl] + [S] ([command] + [S] on macOS) to save your Project.
To save your Project on the controller:
► Press SHIFT + SAMPLING to save your Project.
6.5 To Sum Up…
In this tutorial, you have learned the following:
▪ The concept of Plug-in List (and Plug-in slot).
▪ The hierarchic structure of a Project (Sound level, Group level, and Master level).
▪ How to load Plug-ins using the Plug-in menu.
▪ How to adjust Plug-in parameters.
▪ How to bypass Plug-in slots.
▪ How to automate Plug-in parameters.
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Applying Effects
Once you feel comfortable with these few tasks, proceed with the next tutorial, where you will
discover another great way for creating beats: the step sequencer.
To Sum Up…
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Creating Beats with the Step Sequencer
7 Creating Beats with the Step Sequencer
In this chapter you will learn a different way to create Patterns from your controller: the Step
mode. The Step mode turns your controller into a fully featured step sequencer. If you are familiar with classic drum machines, you should quickly feel at home. Throughout this tutorial,
you will also discover more about the Step Grid and quantization settings.
In this tutorial, you will:
▪ Switch the controller to Step mode and create a new Pattern in this mode.
▪ Adjust the Step Grid.
▪ Use Step mode to record modulation.
Prerequisites
It is assumed here that you have followed the previous tutorials. For this tutorial you will especially need to be acquainted with the following topics:
▪ Quantization basics (Quantizing the Rhythm)
▪ Pattern Length (Adjusting the Pattern Length)
▪ Adjusting Plug-in parameters (Accessing the Plug-in Parameters and ↑6.2, Playing with Ef-
fects)
▪ Modulation (↑6.3, Modulating Effect Parameters)
If you have any doubts about these tasks, please refer to the previous tutorials before proceeding!
In case your tutorial Project “My First Project” is not open, please open it now:
► Open the tutorial Project “My First Project.”
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