The MV feels great to use and it's very impressive in what it can do. These things were expensive when they came out and I remember thinking I'd never afford one. Now they are dirt cheap and it's one of the most advanced hardware sequencer/samplers out there.
I didn't like the screen though and it takes forever to load anything. Very slow HD. But the results are what count, and actually I was really impressed with it's sound quality throughout which I think is clearly better than Akai's. It's just really satisfying laying out a beat on one, don't know why.
I'd probably sooner go for the Octotrack next time though, but it's not a sequencer primarily.
14 years multitracking in DAW's - bye computer!
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- KVRAF
- 4014 posts since 29 Jun, 2011 from USA
Aiynzahev-sounds
Sound Designer - Soundsets for Pigments, Repro, Diva, Virus TI, Nord Lead 4, Serum, DUNE2, Spire, and others
Sound Designer - Soundsets for Pigments, Repro, Diva, Virus TI, Nord Lead 4, Serum, DUNE2, Spire, and others
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- KVRian
- 966 posts since 16 Feb, 2010
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 1336 posts since 21 Dec, 2004
Now that is what I thought Maschine should have been.
I first thought Maschine was a device you hooked to PC for ease of mouse and monitor, then unplugged and used standalone when needed. Same with MPC Rennaisance.
I was disappointed it was controllers only.
I first thought Maschine was a device you hooked to PC for ease of mouse and monitor, then unplugged and used standalone when needed. Same with MPC Rennaisance.
I was disappointed it was controllers only.
"I am a meat popsicle"
Soundcloud Vondragonnoggin
Soundclick Wormhelmet
Soundcloud Vondragonnoggin
Soundclick Wormhelmet
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 1336 posts since 21 Dec, 2004
Just wanted to throw a little update on MV use after a few weeks -
Unbelievably fun for me to use this thing now that I've had a chance to get familiar with some of the workflow here. So much more to discover, but to get started on how to structure things pattern and song making, instrument building, audio phrases and Audio tracks, sequencing external gear, has been fairly easy. It is what I'd hoped it would be. There is something about the process of setting this up with thousands of samples, new patches, sequencing my iPad, Blofeld, and Venom (soon a JV1010 for BnB sounds) that I really liked. It was a little time consuming, but not less so than doing it on a fresh computer and setting up routing in Ableton for external gear.
To make music on this thing is fairly intuitive after understanding a few things. Most of all it's really good workflow and whether chopping samples, making instruments, live play bangin on the pads, or anything else for that matter, it feels very focused for me. That is entirely my outlook on hardware vs software right now influencing my opinions on this, but I haven't had as much fun in years tinkering with a piece of gear.
Software-wise, has a lot of similarities to my SU700 sampler and something like Beatmaker 2 app on my iPad. This thing begs to be played. The only drawbacks I see so far that cause slight annoyance (very slight at the moment) are sample preview load times are a little slow, as is project loading if you have several instruments and use longer samples. The good thing is 512MB RAM is efficiently used and ability to create multiple songs (up to 256) per project. I think pattern limitation is 999. You can have a large pool of patterns and instruments and/or audio phrases and build many songs out of that pool you load up at once in one project, then if you played live with it, you could have only brief intermission time between project load times. I took out the 1GB stick of RAM which is unsupported and reported by some to get a little unruly in lockups or crashes if used in excess of 512MB, and traded for recommended 512MB stick. You can load a lot on 512 the way it uses it. YMMV on using a 1GB stick. I personally never loaded up a project yet bigger than 230 MB and the 1GB stick never caused me issues. Swapping RAM is easy though.
There was a certain way I liked to work in Ableton with clips, and Beatmaker 2 with setting up live loops and one shots to play entirely live and not engage the sequencer other than its use in syncing things (nothing actually recorded) by setting up triggered, one shot, or gated samples on pads, and it is really easy to use the MV the same way. Mixing pre-recorded patterns and live play in song mode is a blast too.
If you set it up like the first example above, you can play the songs live and have basically one song per track in song mode or pattern mode and skip song load times too. A lot of versatility in the way you can approach song making/song playing.
The amount I paid for what it does was a great bargain.
Unbelievably fun for me to use this thing now that I've had a chance to get familiar with some of the workflow here. So much more to discover, but to get started on how to structure things pattern and song making, instrument building, audio phrases and Audio tracks, sequencing external gear, has been fairly easy. It is what I'd hoped it would be. There is something about the process of setting this up with thousands of samples, new patches, sequencing my iPad, Blofeld, and Venom (soon a JV1010 for BnB sounds) that I really liked. It was a little time consuming, but not less so than doing it on a fresh computer and setting up routing in Ableton for external gear.
To make music on this thing is fairly intuitive after understanding a few things. Most of all it's really good workflow and whether chopping samples, making instruments, live play bangin on the pads, or anything else for that matter, it feels very focused for me. That is entirely my outlook on hardware vs software right now influencing my opinions on this, but I haven't had as much fun in years tinkering with a piece of gear.
Software-wise, has a lot of similarities to my SU700 sampler and something like Beatmaker 2 app on my iPad. This thing begs to be played. The only drawbacks I see so far that cause slight annoyance (very slight at the moment) are sample preview load times are a little slow, as is project loading if you have several instruments and use longer samples. The good thing is 512MB RAM is efficiently used and ability to create multiple songs (up to 256) per project. I think pattern limitation is 999. You can have a large pool of patterns and instruments and/or audio phrases and build many songs out of that pool you load up at once in one project, then if you played live with it, you could have only brief intermission time between project load times. I took out the 1GB stick of RAM which is unsupported and reported by some to get a little unruly in lockups or crashes if used in excess of 512MB, and traded for recommended 512MB stick. You can load a lot on 512 the way it uses it. YMMV on using a 1GB stick. I personally never loaded up a project yet bigger than 230 MB and the 1GB stick never caused me issues. Swapping RAM is easy though.
There was a certain way I liked to work in Ableton with clips, and Beatmaker 2 with setting up live loops and one shots to play entirely live and not engage the sequencer other than its use in syncing things (nothing actually recorded) by setting up triggered, one shot, or gated samples on pads, and it is really easy to use the MV the same way. Mixing pre-recorded patterns and live play in song mode is a blast too.
If you set it up like the first example above, you can play the songs live and have basically one song per track in song mode or pattern mode and skip song load times too. A lot of versatility in the way you can approach song making/song playing.
The amount I paid for what it does was a great bargain.
"I am a meat popsicle"
Soundcloud Vondragonnoggin
Soundclick Wormhelmet
Soundcloud Vondragonnoggin
Soundclick Wormhelmet
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 1336 posts since 21 Dec, 2004
Oh yeah, types of music I'm doing right now or plan on with the MV-8800 are:
Ambient
Chillstep
Dubstep
Drum n Bass (this the most interest right now)
Hip Hop
Downbeat
Industrial
This is most definitely not just a hip hop machine despite its associations and primary target audience. This is a make whatever music you like machine. If country is your thang with twangy guitars and real drums, just as easy as other styles.
Ambient
Chillstep
Dubstep
Drum n Bass (this the most interest right now)
Hip Hop
Downbeat
Industrial
This is most definitely not just a hip hop machine despite its associations and primary target audience. This is a make whatever music you like machine. If country is your thang with twangy guitars and real drums, just as easy as other styles.
"I am a meat popsicle"
Soundcloud Vondragonnoggin
Soundclick Wormhelmet
Soundcloud Vondragonnoggin
Soundclick Wormhelmet
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- KVRAF
- 5627 posts since 23 Mar, 2006 from pendeLondonmonium
Wormhelmet wrote: I wanted a change.
Change is good.
Speaking of hardware sequencers, I always liked Yamaha's approach for the very simple fact that they got the whole solo/mute of tracks (almost) right. A basic feature: easy soloing or muting of tracks without sub menus. And easy access to tracks with direct track selection buttons, that sort of thing.
For example, I love the way Roland MC909 looks. It has 16 tracks, which is how many I'd need, but they are divided into two groups of 8 tracks, so there is a need to constantly flip from one group to another in order to solo or mute/select a track. Same with the volume faders, 8 of them for 16 tracks. These should be designed properly because this is part of the whole UX experience/ease of use.
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- KVRian
- Topic Starter
- 1336 posts since 21 Dec, 2004
Great combo!D-Fusion wrote:Roland fa-06 paired with a Blofeld here
"I am a meat popsicle"
Soundcloud Vondragonnoggin
Soundclick Wormhelmet
Soundcloud Vondragonnoggin
Soundclick Wormhelmet
