Push 2.0, other gear, setup ideas/questions - it's a little wordy.

Hey guys, my head is spinning as I watch the videos on Push 2 and I had to ask for someone else's perspective on this. So here goes:

I have Maschine Studio and Mikro, with the S61 keyboard - for a really sweet home setup - with K10U. All were purchased during their blowout sale, and via other sales, $1775 for the 4 products "all in."

For DJ'ing I have the S8 on Traktor Pro, and I still have an F1 lying around from a few years ago. I nabbed the S8 for $400 and an old control surface by pure chance, and the F1 ran me $200.

This fall I bought the Midi Fighter Twister, bc I was frustrated that NI won't yet allow Maschine to run within traktor, thus my remix decks were fun, but I could not sequence out beats and such within the deck. The twister was an obvious solution. However, after a few dozen sessions, I think it's still something I can live without in Traktor, and maybe that USB port could be better used.

As I watched videos for the Twister I slowly started seeing more footage of Ableton, which reminded me of my lovely Ableton Suite install I hadn't opened in ages. For reference, I used to DJ at loads of events, but that was many years ago, and lately between work and bikes I have barely touched my software. I played multiple instruments as a kid, and there's a million ideas in my head I need to try to express musically. I am renewing that interest and the gear to get going again -

I digress:

I recalled how much fun the old APC40 was, and how great live shows were with Ableton. The Twister videos led me to Push, which now has my FULL attention. The instrument seems to combine the cool parts of Maschine with the cool parts of Ableton, all in one layout. It's brilliant. The original Push unit reminded me of the old Maschine v1 in some ways, and I could see how the Maschine Studio unit still excelled in certain areas when compared to the Push (ie- the displays, browsing, sampling and slicing)...

So PUSH 2 comes out last night and totally adds all of the awesome stuff in Maschine Studio, making my head explode.

NOW comes the issue/questions:

If I was going to order Push 2, do you guys see a legitimate reason to keep this Midi Fighter Twister alongside?

I like my new setup with the Macbook Pro, and I would like to avoid bringing USB hubs to a gig, so I am considering getting the Audio 2 Dj just to pack alongside Push.

Originaly I purchased Mikro so I could sketch out ideas, later taking them to the Maschine Studio unit for advanced procedures. I am now looking at the Midi Fighter Twister as a similar tool, a VERY simple and portable control surface for Ableton ideas that can be later translated into the Push unit.

BUT here's the thing: I'm not made of money and I don't need 3 of each thing. I like to think I'm a musician and a producer, but to date I haven't any original compositions worth sharing, so really I just enjoy playing around (so far) and I am STOKED by the potential of these new devices. Additionally, I just received my new laptop and got everyting configured, so I haven't really even been able to test Mikro or Twister as a portable sketchpad. I'm now in a town with a demand for live electronic and downtempo, and with my many years of playing I am really well suited to fill the void, but I need the right setup and a few months at home to get things flowing first.

At home I have a thunderbolt dock, so I can run loads of devices into that and plug 1 cord into my Pro. However, for shows I really just want a simple setup.

What would you do?

My S8 is the mega-beast for Traktor and I love it. While running that unit i can plug just 1 more thing into my other USB port on my MB Pro... Right now that's an F1, but that seems redundant - except the fact that remix decks are a bit more fun with 16 pads vs 8, and it's nice to control multiple remix decks simultaneously, which is sometimes tough on the S8... But I could live without the F1. The Push would be nice alongside, but I would need to route the audio internally with Traktor and Ableton into my S8, and in years past I had terrible luck with things like SoundFlower.

Maschine Studio is MEGA powerful and i was very excited to get it, but so far I haven't experienced the same creative spark Ableton used to provide me. The fact that I can run Maschine inside of Ableton, with internal sync, and have both devices share a single audio card output, is a cool idea... But I have to plug in a hub to run those things + a sound card. The audio 8 seems like it will do the job, albeit with 1/8" to RCA outs only.

I am pretty sold on Push, but again I have a hard time justifying Maschine, Mikro, and PuSh - and the DJTT unit too!

So, anyone here with an insane reason why I should definitely integrate the MF Twister with Push, or should that thing just be sold along to someone who really needs it?

I'm thinking the following items are up for potential sale:

Kontrol F1
Midi Fighter Twister
One of my Maschine units
- maybe even the S61 - since Push allows for expression of keys so smoothly, and the S25 would be much more affordable and compact, should i need keys for producing.

I know it's long guys. I figured this is the best place to pick brains. I just want creative setups that aren't too redundant. Maybe you guys have experience with these various setups and can steer me. Thanks in advance!

-Bobby

I have a Push and a Twister and love the combination. I use Push to control the track I'm on and use the Twister for dedicated control over effects (reverb, delay, filter, the basics) on the master channel.
I used to have a Maschine and switched it for a push. Don't be fooled by the ads, the push doesn't give you as much of direct and logical control over everything as the maschine does. With push it's quite often a little menu-selecting before you get to the right control (knobs). Maschine does this way better. Which is logical of course, since it's more a hybrid solution than ableton-push is. Push has other advantages. But for that thing alone, keep the twister at least til you've played around with the push for a bit to see if you can use the extra knobs (I know I need them)

I have a Push + Twister bundle for this exact reason, it's always good to have an extra set of knobs that will have dedicated controls regardless of what layer Push is on so you might want to give that a spin before letting it go.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bobbyduracel

Hey guys, my head is spinning

---

Clearly. And you have a gift for understatement. :blink:

I would also say that you also have a pathological case of RGAS (Rapid Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and ADGD (Attention Deficit Gear Disorder) to boot. Rest assured, most of us have been there at one time or another. :w00t:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bobbyduracel

So, anyone here with an insane reason why I should definitely integrate the MF Twister with Push,

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMJ5WkicRpA

The auto mapping and synth controller are WAY cool. These both are mostly pain free ways to be really expressive and experimental with Ableton - without spending a !@#% load of time MIDI mapping things.

The step sequencer feature in Ableton is good, but not really the killer feature for me - especially if you have Maschine as a plugin.

Soundinmotiondj - you aren't entirely incorrect, and you definitely made me laugh.

I sold everything years ago and decided that I wouldn't really buy anymore gear until I was itching to play again. I also decided I would hold off on purchasing until sweet deals came along, so that happened.

I fell prey to good deals. :/ At least I take solace in the fact that every good video I've seen to explain the amazing power of these controllers is also a great display of those same two disorders, albeit much more refined use of said tools.

I'm trying to scroll through user manuals and find the overlaps with the various things. For example, I am going to try and route Ableton channels (or Sends) into a specific channel or two on my S8. If I can pull it off, I can run Ableton with an instance of Maschine & run that into my S8 mixer, alongside a couple of Traktor channels.

I can also see the possibility of mapping the 12 faders and multiple knobs of my S8 to Ableton... At least then my dj unit/audio interface can also be useful in Ableton for control of NUMEROUS mix controls. So much to learn.

I’m in a similar situation. I’m going to apologize if this comes off as hijacking your thread. I haven’t posted in a while & Bobby’s comments are similar to what I’m going through. I currently have a similar setup. I’m using Maschine Studio w/ Komplete Kontrol S49 & I have been a huge NI fan since I got into the scene. I love my Maschine & think it’s fantastic but it’s definitely not even close to a full fledge DAW. I own Ableton 9 Suite as well & haven’t used it since I started seriously focusing on production (about 8 or so months ago) as I’ve been working on creating tracks but just focusing on the main elements & not creating “finished” products. Now with the Push 2 out I feel like a lot of the features may be slightly redundant but you can’t compare Maschine with the functionality of a full fledged DAW. I’m feeling hell bent on purchasing the Push, but my logical brain won’t let me purchase it because I feel like I can utilize the Maschine for a lot of the creative ideas I want to put down & the push would essentially be the same thing. Especially cause I’ll be moving to a different country for the next 5 – 6 months so I am also about to buy the Komplete Kontrol S25 so I can take it with me & produce when I’m away from my home studio (I’ll be taking the Maschine Studio & Push if I purchase it with me). To go along with what the OP was talking about I was additionally thinking of getting a Twister as well as I can see it complementing the Push generously.

The way I imagine my workflow working is build the beat in Maschine & then routing Maschine into separate channels in Live & finishing up everything in Live itself. My main concern is that utilizing my setup in this way I won’t really “use” the Push that much, BUT I can imagine that if I sketch out a track in Maschine & then have it routed in Ableton when working on things like transitions , adding layers, & sprinkling finishing musical touches will be way easier using the Push. I love the Maschine cause I can bang out a decent hip hop beat in an hour (basically it’s a very efficient way for me to bang out sketches / the main ideas of a track down) but when working on my D&B / Bass music I can get the main ideas down easily enough in Maschine BUT I definitely need access to the full fledged DAW tools.

Additionally, I currently DJ (Although I haven’t spun out in 2 years & am completely focused on production I do want to get back into the scene sooner rather than later) with CDJ’s but with the Push, Maschine, & Twister I could totally see great potential for creating my own live show which is the final goal once I get my music to where I want it to be.

The bottom line:

I’m not made of money but I definitely have the purchasing power to get the Push 2, Twister & S25 without it being much of a financial burden & although I’m set on the S25 I guess I just want to hear other people say it’s a good idea to have both (Maschine & Push) & use them in conjunction. On the flip side I could save somewhere close to $1,400 (with discounts, etc.) that I don’t need to spend. I’m not one that really suffers from IGAS unless I can see some real benefits & I haven’t felt the urge to purchase hardware in a long long time (last thing I purchased was Omnisphere 2 upgrade back in April, & the S49 keyboard [had to get it to use chord mode, etc. in Maschine itself which is a bust cause I have a Novation Sl49 MKII just laying around now waiting to be sold] but prior to that it’d been almost a year w/ no big purchases. Do you guys think that the added functionality of the production tools of the Push & the DJ’ing capabilities of utilizing the Push, Maschine, & Twister all together is worth the cost or is there no ‘real’ (big?) benefit for me to purchase the Push?

Thanks for your responses in advance!