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View Full Version : Maschine Mikro User Reviews?



DonRaja
02-11-2012, 12:05 PM
Looking at picking one of these up. For the price, it seems like an excellent value. Would anyone recommend saving up and going with Maschine instead?
Given that they both come with the full version of the software, I was thinking I could get past the single screen and fewer set of nobs.

Thanks!

mostapha
02-11-2012, 03:19 PM
I've used both. Maschine is infinitely better than Mikro. IMHO, Mikro isn't worth buying at any price, but I have an obsession with knobs.

If you're actually going to get into what maschine can do, get the real one. If you're going to get it to be a glorified trigger finger, buy something cheaper.

DonRaja
02-11-2012, 03:30 PM
Take away 1 screen, Midi, and a few knobs, and you have Machine Mikro right?
Maschine is really that much better? I know it would lead to a less button pushing workflow but its really not worth $350?

About to head over to GC to give it a feel.
Thanks M

mostapha
02-12-2012, 02:35 AM
The Mikro still does MIDI, it's just limited to MIDI over USB.

The screen is smaller in addition to one of them being missing. Everything is insanely cramped. It takes forever to find the parameter you want to adjust, and then you can only adjust one…before you spend forever in a menu again. You have to go through menus to adjust the master volume for crying out loud. And with as horrendous as NI's metering is, that's something that comes up even when it shouldn't.

And those knobs are everything on the Maschine.

No, the Maschine Mikro isn't worth $100 IMHO. The guy I know who has one likes it, but he also doesn't mind using mice as much as I do.

The pads are the same, and for playing beats…it'd be fine. If you're ever going to use effects (including the basics of EQs, compression, sends, and levels) the Maschine destroys it. If you're ever going to attempt a rough mix on it instead of always hosting it in a DAW, Maschine destroys it. If you're ever going to browse for sounds or groups and like using the hardware, Maschine destroys it. If you're ever going to use it's export to get a stereo track out of it (instead of recording it into a DAW), Maschine destorys it. If you're ever going to use it live, Maschine destroys it.

I wanted to like it, I really did. And I really like my Maschine. But I'd spend even more on Maschine long before I'd spend anything on Mikro.

When I've used my friend's, I ignore the hardware and use the mouse for everything, including sequencing, because everything else has you hunched over staring at a computer screen and playing with a mouse…what's the point of sitting up and moving? And I hate mice.

If I'd used Maschine Mikro as my first NI product, I might have sworn off the entire brand.

Synergy
03-01-2012, 08:36 PM
^^ Thank you, I was torn between Mikro and the bigger, and I think I am going for the bigger one. I am wanting to get into editing tracks and making my own to play out. This will be the best option. Without thread jacking, do the synths work very well without a keyboard or should I invest in a midi/usb keyboard?

mostapha
03-01-2012, 10:50 PM
If you can play keyboard, buy a keyboard. If not…Maschine's keyboard mode does work. It's cool, but you're limited to 1 octave + a mintor 3rd. At least you can set the root arbitrarily.

I actually spent a lot of time today building MIDI Out Groups for a lot of different scales in every key. I haven't figured out routing it internally, but considering that I already own DAWs, that's not a huge issue…I'll just host it in something else and run more than 1 instance of Maschine (since the AU spec doesn't allow plugins to output MIDI and I use Logic for now).

So, basically, I have it set up where I can control any synth (hosted in Logic, but anything else would work) with a standalone instance of Maschine and jam over whatever's happening in a variety of keys. And I get to think about shapes based on squares instead of intervals based on a line, which works because I'm way better at being a lousy guitarist than a lousy pianist.

So…I haven't used my keyboard in a while, and I suspect it'll be going back in the closet soon (maybe I'll use it to record pitch bend and modulation automation). But most people won't spend 6 hours making something like 120 groups just so they don't have to learn to improv on keyboard.