Maschine Studio: Problem with voices going out of tune

[flasky_robinson]

Hi there

I'm new on here - I hope this is the right forum in which to post.

Musically speaking, I'm an enthusiastic hobbyist. I've been using Maschine Studio for a few years now and it's given me hours and hours of joy. But lately it's developed a weird problem, which only seems to be getting worse. When I'm playing or recording, the voice I'm using will suddenly go out of tune, typically dropping a semitone or a whole tone... It happens with samples too. I use a mic to record live vocals on the Sampling function and when I play them back, very often the pitch has changed and the sample's out of time.

It's incredibly frustrating. I can record, for instance, a four bar pattern - e.g. drums, bass, a piano part - and then jam live over it using, say, another piano or synth voice. Suddenly, and seemingly for no reason at all, the voice I'm playing live will detune, even in mid-note. The tracks I've already recorded for the four bar pattern may also suddenly detune.

Sometimes the detuning seems to become more likely if I'm changing the pattern length. For instance, let's say I make a four bar pattern and then I decide I want to add another track over it but this time as an eight bar part. So I'll double the length of the pattern I've already made - and then, it sometimes seems, I'm suddenly in more danger of parts detuning. Also, it seems possible that the pitch bend wheel (and/or possibly the modulation wheel) on my keyboard controller might be lousing things up. Then again, it seems lately that it's equally likely de-tuning will occur at any time for any reason at all. There seems to be no rhyme and reason to why it's going wrong.

I use a Focusrite Scarlett (have to check exact model) as my audio interface. My keyboard is a Novation Launchkey.

Yesterday I dug out an old Alesis keyboard and tried plugging that in instead but I still experienced the same issue, which would *seem* to rule out the Novation being the problem. Also, the pads on the Maschine itself were playing the voice out of tune. But I'm still not convinced the Novation is entirely blameless. Perhaps the Alesis and the Maschine pads were playing detuned because this particular project had already been cursed (by the Novation?). I guess I should go back and try making a project from scratch without the Novation's involvement...

I also wonder if it's something to do with the MIDI clock on my computer. As far as I can see I've got everything set to 44.1kHz but still... I don't know enough about this stuff to figure out how to solve this problem. It's driving me nuts and for all practical purposes I simply can't make music at the moment.

Thanks for reading and please excuse my layman's vocabulary. Any help appreciated.

[sazb30]

Anything connected at the midi ports? Or just USB?

[flasky_robinson]

Just USB.

[sazb30]

Hmmm.. not sure what this is, but some standard trouble shooting steps might help to narrow it down.

Have you tried changing the USB cable? And swapping ports on your PC? I'd try that first.

Also, try starting a completely new project from scratch and see if the same thing happens.

Finally, try working only with the software. Obviously you'll still use your mic and keyboard, but bypass the Maschine hardware in order to see if the problem persists.

Someone here might have some more specific advice though..

Btw.. your sample rate (44.1 kHz) is nothing to do with the midi clock. It's about how the Maschine 2 software converts your analog recordings into digital information (the higher the sample rate, the better the quality). I'm pretty sure that this is not the source of your problem.

[BMoore]

Which VSTs are you using?

[flasky_robinson]

Thank you, sazb30, I'll try your troubleshooting tips and report back.

I'm using Komplete - I think it's Komplete 10 Ultimate but will have to check...

[dredd i knight]

Ask on the NI forum. More chances of getting someone who experienced the same problem.
Sounds to me like your accidentally retuning your sounds somehow.

[flasky_robinson]

Thanks to everyone who replied. I did end up posting at the NI forum and NI customer support got back to me. Over a series of very helpful emails I was able to isolate the problem. It seems there's a problem with my Novation Launchkey. It's sending MIDI data altering the pitch, which is getting recorded as automation.

Really glad to be free of this incredibly annoying problem, though it remains to be seen whether Novation will offer me a replacement keyboard... In any case, I'm back in biz.