I’m a DJ of 17 years and I am ready to stretch myself into some groove production or even take a crack at some completed tracks. I’ve watched a ton of YouTube tutorials on both Maschine and Ableton and am pretty sure those are the two platforms I want to meld together at some point (I’m aware that Abelton is much more finite and that Maschine is usually best used as a plugin). However, I’m a working husband and father of two young kids and I don’t have enough expendable income to invest in Ableton Live Suite + / or Maschine Studio yet. My budget is probably $600 dollars tops. That probably means I’m starting off with only one of the two platforms. I’m curious as to what some of you might suggest as the better starting point. Maschine MKll/ or Mikro, or Ableton Standard Version without a designated controller / hardware? For those of you that have both, did you start with one or the other and would you have a suggestion based off your experience?
I started with a Maschine and only used the software that it came with. That being said…it wasn’t great, it’s not horrible for just making some basic beats and stuff but when it comes to anything outside of that I’d recommend just jumping right into Abelton live…if I would have known from the start I would have bought: Ableton live (Cheapest version that includes EQ 8, compressors) and just get VST’s and Samples else where. Good luck and hopefully this helps. P.S. I never use my machine anymore.
Hi Hart! Thanks for your insight. To be honest I go back and forth and to this point have been leaning towards Maschine. I guess because I’d be getting a piece of hardware in addition to the software that could at minimum be used as a midi controller or physical trigger for drum overlays and/ or keyboard stabs to add bass lines, samples, etc. However, you bring up a great point regarding the limitations of Maschine in opposition to the expandable features that Ableton offers, especially should I eventually upgrade to Live Suite. In addition, I have a Roland TR-8 and some Korg Volca(s) for the functions I mentioned. I think my fear is dropping money for something that I don’t use and want to sell. I’ve admittedly been wooed by NI’s promotional videos and “Trutorials” which is a weak reason to invest. I should probably be thinking in terms of what the two platforms offer in contrast to the setup I currently have. An entry version of Ableton definitely sounds a lot more attractive from your perspective. Thanks again!
No problem! No I completely understand, they got me too lol they have really good advertising with their stuff. Don’t get me wrong it’s a cool product and everything…it could be incorporated into ableton later if you wanted to, but on a budget with the most function I’d stick to ableton as I’m sure you know you can get MIDI controllers pretty cheap (as long as their not super fancy). Plus you can use drum rack or something in ableton and do the same kind of thing with a keyboard or whatever your midi you choose (just drop your own samples into the pad/key you want). It Depends on how far down this hole you wanna go too lol. I’ve definitely spent too much money throughout the years on Vst’s and stuff that will improve productions. I’d look at the mashine as more of a fun messing around type of thing with decent samples , and ableton more of a commitment…still fun but a little more serious (takes longer to learn too). Hopefully that made some kind of sense and I didn’t just make it worse lol.
I have both !aschine studio and ableton Live with Push. Live is my primary production environment. Everything ends up there and that’s where all arrangement is done.
It’s really really frustrating to integrate Maschine with Live. The best way I found for myself is by using stand alone Maschine and drag and drop the audio into Live.
That said Maschine is AMAZING for jamming and coming up with ideas. I use it a LOT
I have Maschine and Ableton. I found Maschine to have a much quicker workflow for me and I like that it came with a ton of samples and some good synths. I did end up getting FabFilters Pro-Q to supplement Maschines lack of a graphical EQ though.
as I’m sure you know you can get MIDI controllers pretty cheap (as long as their not super fancy). Plus you can use drum rack or something in ableton and do the same kind of thing with a keyboard or whatever your midi you choose (just drop your own samples into the pad/key you want). It Depends on how far down this hole you wanna go too lol. I’ve definitely spent too much money throughout the years on Vst’s and stuff that will improve productions. I’d look at the mashine as more of a fun messing around type of thing with decent samples , and ableton more of a commitment…still fun but a little more serious (takes longer to learn too). Hopefully that made some kind of sense and I didn’t just make it worse lol.