Noisetheorem

So the live setup hit a snag.  I just cant seem to get everything I want into the memory of the MPC5000.  I had a feeling this might be a problem.  I have been tempted to just say screw it and use Maschine on a laptop and have all the RAM I need, but I have decided not to do it.  A lot of the appeal of trying to take NoiseTheorem live is in doing it with a laptop free rig, and (possibly) even keyboard free. 

The basic problem is I need a source for some good key mapped sounds, as well as some very longish samples.  Some of my evolving textures from Absynth and Reaktor are 20 or 30 seconds long, and yes..looping part of it looses something for the song.  I need some way to extend the memory of the MPC, no way around it.  I looked at options, and here is what I have so far.

Akai Z4/Z8

I was always an ‘EMU Man’, but this sampler is hot.  512 MB of RAM; 24bit/96khz fidelity; a very comprehensive and flexible multi filter system and a mod matrix to make it sing.  On the Z8, you could even pop off the front panel and use it as a remote for live tweaking.  This was the last of the great Akai hardware rack samplers, and its widely under acknowledged.   It even has Akai Sys support, which means I can manage the entire unit from my PC for setting up key maps and multi programs for use on stage.  Really, this is a monster, and I cant think of much it *cant* do.

So with all that good stuff, what are its downsides?  Not much.  They can be had for song on eBay, but are rare.  If this is my choice, it wont be easy to find one.  Akai Sys should make things easier, but I have heard horror stories about getting that to work.  I also am under the impression that Akai sys has been abandoned, meaning the move to Windows 7 and x64 will mean it becomes useless anyway..

EMU E64

This has the advantage of having already been purchased.  I have one sitting in the rack next to me, and its a workhorse that I have used for years.  I am intimately familiar with its every nook and cranny.  If this box can do it, I have done it. 

The major downside is the age of the device.  This sampler already has a very dim display, and I have had days it didn’t want to light up at all.  The chassis fan is *very* loud, too, and probably should be replaced.

The biggest downside is it doesn’t really solve my problem.  This one only has 32 mb of RAM installed.  I could upgrade that to the full 64 if I dug up some 30 pin simms of the right type on ebay (they go for around $30) but…even that’s not going to be enough.  Dealing with SCSI is a whole other issue.  I’d have to use MIDI SDS to get samples into this box and that is not going to be pleasant.  In fact, having done that once in my life, I never want to do it again. 

Yamaha DTX-Multi

This one is really out of left field, but I think its a viable option.  The DTX is a 12 pad trigger device with a pattern sequencer and a lot of neat beat making performance features built into it.  You can load samples into it from a USB stick, and it keeps the samples in FLASH memory, so there is *no* loading needed.  That already puts it out a head of the pack.  It has some built in FX and a sound engine derived from the Motif series, so there isn’t much bad one can say about it.  I think it even does melodic programs, so I could use it as a rompler too.

The downside?  I am not a drummer.  In fact, I kind of suck at drums.  Playing this on stage would probably be something I would have to work toward, or use sparingly.   I could just use it as a sample playback device – kind of like a memory extender for the MPC, but that seems to be a waste.  Also, I am not sure 64 megs is going to cover it.

Another factor is that you edit the device through a two line backlight LCD that has something like 32 characters on it.  Wow…welcome back to 1995.  That is going to suck…

Roland V-Synth (2.0 or XT)

Now this one…THIS ONE…this is tempting.  I loved the V-Synth GT when I had it, and had I not needed a more practical keyboard for doing live shows, I would definitely still have it.  The V-Synth 2.0 and V-Synth XT are both amazing instruments that let you do amazing things to audio files that nothing else I have ever played can do.  They are like a playground for synth geeks and samples.   I would love to have one again.

The big downside here is cost.  I really don’t want the V-Synth 2.0 keyboard.  Its a big beast, and I have no where to put it in my studio, let alone dragging it out live.  I would want the Rack, and prices for them regularly go over $1200 on eBay.  That is way over my budget for this.  Other negatives are small amount of sample memory available (50 megs), and the fact it just plain doesn’t handle key mapped programs very well.  Of course, it has that wonderful VA section to make up for it.

Roland Fantom XR

This is another unit I have had my eye on, particularly since I sold my Fantom X6.  I actually loved the sound of the X6, however I did *not* like the way it handled certain things – particularly its sequencer.  I just couldn’t get used to all the weird key combinations you needed to use to get around it.  Because of that, I never really exploited its master keyboard functions.  Its a shame, really…it was such a lovely sounding board. 

With the XR, you don’t get any of that baggage – just the great sound engine.  You also get some neat things in that the XR and X6 could hold up to 512mb of RAM. Also, you could load the files from CF cards up to 2gb in size.  The unit also has USB on it, allowing it to hook up to an editor and not require any MIDI ports to be eaten up.  In fact, you could actually use it as a MIDI interface and (i believe) sound card.  This is sounding pretty good.

It handles key mapped programs.  It handles drum programs (for sample loops).  Its modern..its supported…

And its not cheap. Still well under $1000 though, and they pop on eBay all the time.

Negatives?  I really cant think of any off the top of my head, other than ‘its a Roland’, which I never understood why people thought that was negative…

Korg Kaos Pad KP3/Pro

I want this one.  It doesn’t doe what I need, but it will add to the performance aspect of the show regardless.  Buy me one for xmas?

Conclusions

Yeah, its going to be the XR.  Not quite as exotic as a V-Synth, but much more practical.  I think its going to do everything I need and do it without costing an arm and a leg.  Now, I just need to hunt one down at the price I want and pull the trigger.

FAN BOY WARNING: You will not like what I am about to say.

All feminine hygiene jokes aside, I was actually interested to see what Apples iPad would be like. Would it be a touch based netbook, or would it be a giant crippled iPhone. Today we got our answer, and its worse, much worse, than I thought Apple was capable of.

My main issues with it are no multitasking (i.e. only one app can run at a time) and only apple proprietary devices can connect to it. Basically, no matter how you cut it, its just a really big iPhone. It is *not* a computer. Its a crippled phone. It even runs iPhone OS. Thats great on a teeny tiny screen…not so great on a 9.7 inch one.

What will the developers do with it? make iFart apps that take up more screen. Its locked down and locked into the apple iTunes ecosystem which immediately alienates me as a user since I *hate hate hate* iTunes. Its crappy bloatware used to punsh PC users who dont buy macs but dare try to hook up apple hardware to such inferior junk. Yes, thats exactly what it is.

And one more thing. My ‘netbook’ which ‘does nothing well’ does everything the iPad does, and does it all at once. It doesnt have a touch screen, but there are models coming out this year from other manufacturers that *do*.

So I have a choice, basically (much to apples chagrin..choice is antithetical to the whole apple marketing premise). I can buy a crippled giant iPhone, or I can wait and pay (probably less) for a device that will do more all at once and not be locked into to a crappy choice free application store. hmm..hard one there.

So far the rig is going to be the MPC5000 and the Korg EMX-1.  I have two tracks broken down and set to run on the rig, and they work pretty well all told.  Based on playing through what I have pretty rigorously, I’ve come up with a few items I am definitely going to need:

1.  Mixer – Need something smaller (about the size of an electribe) with at least 6 stereo inputs and an FX loop.  Possibilities are one of the numerous Behringer small format mixers or maybe a Roland VS series HD recorder.  Cheap and it would probably work.  I’ve given up on a DJ mixer, because they aren’t really designed for what I have in mind.  Most of them that I can afford only allow for two channels to be cross faded regardless of inputs.  I need at least 3 stereo inputs running all the time, and probably an FX loop.

2.  Keyboard -  Probably the Blofeld but maybe a Miniak if anyone will buy this MPC2500 and actually pay for it. It would be nice if it were no more than 4 octaves.  Hell, maybe Ill just take my MIDI controller. 

3.  Stand – This is the sticky one.  I’d really like to have a DJ coffin that i could easily box everything into, but I would have to build it custom to fit the MPC5000.  It shouldn’t actually be *that* hard to build..its basically a box covered in felt…

4.  Kaos Pad KP3 or KP Pro – I know I want one of them…but I haven’t figured out which.  It will really come down to sample capacity.  The MPC5000 is getting too full to fast.  It seems I always have one or two very long samples in there that would be great to offload and just be triggered. 

Any perspectives on the above welcome as always.

It is becoming obvious to me that if I am to pull off this NoiseTheorem set the way I want to (Me, an MPC, a keyboard and no computers at all) that I am going to have to whip out every trick I have ever learned and really push the MPC5000 in every way I can.  I am going to have to squeeze every bit of juice out of it possible.  To illustrate this, lets explore the issue of managing sampler memory.  We will have to start with a little bit of math…

If a song is 7 minutes on average, I need 6.42 songs to cover my set of 45 minutes.  Lets round down to 6 which is probably the realistic number that I will have (some will be longer, some shorter). 

The MPC5000 has 192 megabytes of RAM for sample and sequence storage.  Sequences are very small and compact, so we don’t need to figure them into our calculations.  6 songs into the memory of the MPC5000 without having to load and replace data each song can be no bigger than 32 megabytes in size.  In my mind, that sounds reasonable.

Today I took a song I am working on in Propeller head’s Reason 4.0 and broke it down into loops.  This song is not a particularly complex track, and so I figured that it should give me a good idea on the storage requirements of a single song.  I broke the drums down into individual loops, sample synth loops with and without FX, and sampled a number of variations of the parts that were most important to be variable.  When All this was done on this ‘simple’ track, I came to a total of 75.6 megabytes, more than twice what I can allot per track without having to load new data.

This is not good.  I need to find a way to improve that figure dramatically, or this is not going to work as intended.

So what can I do?  The first thing I can do would be to convert most of the samples to Mono instead of stereo.  PA systems at most venues wont be stereo anyway, so having stereo samples would be a needless luxury.   That will cut the memory in half.  In my example above, that would be to 37.8 megabytes.  That is still over the limit, but much more within the range of acceptability.  Some tracks should be smaller than this one, its not too important that I be overly dictatorial about this. 

Another trick I can do would be to break the drum samples down further to individual hits and then sequence them inside the MPC patterns.  This is not a bad idea and would save a *lot* of memory.  For a lot of the drum loops, they are repetitive and filled with empty spaces.  I could probably score another 10 or so MB of space if I take the time to do this.

The final trick I will employ will be sample rate reduction.  For obvious reasons (loss of audio fidelity) I will avoid this one if I can.  If I drop a sample from 44.1khz down to 32khz, that will have about a 27% reduction in storage.  on some samples, I may even be able to push that down to 22khz which is half (though the reduction will become very obvious at that point). 

So this is going to take some work just on the sample side.  I haven’t even gotten into the issues I am starting to see on the horizon such as FX bussing (I don’t think I can change the FX section of the MPC except by loading a new project from disk) or the bigger one of how to gracefully cross between songs.  Also on the horizon is the issue of how Ill ever be able to do a set longer than 45 minutes.  At that point, I will have to load from disk, and I will need some way of covering for that live (a second MPC or rack sampler perhaps?).

This is going to be a challenge.   Fortunately, I like a challenge. 

Any comments or suggestions welcome.  How would *you* handle this?

So yesterday morning, after enjoying what will probably be our last relaxing xmas morning for at least the next 18 years, I got an e-mail giving me a heads up on a killer deal on an MPC5000.  It was a fully loaded and hardly used (studio only) 5000 that was being sacrificed cheap to move fast.  Basically, the price was low enough that I can sell my 2500 and possibly even make a profit.  How sweet is that?

I talked to the wife, because I would have to put the item on a credit card pending sale of the 2500.  She agreed, e-mails were sent, and as soon as the post office can get it here, I will have my upgrade!  This is awesome.

Basically, this means I can skip rig #1 which was proving to be a bit of a pain anyway.  Making a program that could play like a synth patch on the MPC2500 was just not going to be possible, and bringing the TG500 with was going to be headache.   Dealing with MIDI, another sound module, and just having to have another rack space that needed to be supplied was not going to be worth it for the short period I was planning to have to do that. 

That said, I am also a little nervous about getting a 5000.  The buzz on the net was very VERY negative when it was first released.  Its 1.0 OS was really a disaster with bugs that, supposedly, made the unit unusable.  Of course,  a lot of it was also driven by the fact a certain well known producer posted a blog rant about it, and a lot of the hip hip fan boys who buy MPCs because that’s what JAY-Z uses started to echo the complaints.  Weather or not 2.0 fixes all the issues seems to depend on who you ask.  There is also the fact that I am not your usual MPC user.  I am kind of used to that though.

So why do I like the MPC concept so much?  Well, it actually stems from a love of samplers in general.  Samplers are like a completely blank canvas you can fill however you choose.  You get out of a sampler, literally , what you put into it.   When I recorded my first album, it was all done with a Synth, a Sequencer and a Sampler.  Back in a day when hard disk recorders and DAWS were just a distant idea,  it was the sampler that got pushed hardest.  The Sampler (an Emu E64 which I still have) was my multi track recorder, my audio mutilator, my synthesizer and my mixer.  I did whole tracks in that thing, and they were all done within 10 mb of RAM (this was when loading it to 64 mb would have been $3000). 

The MPC5000 really represents that original trinity of Synth, Sequencer and Sampler in one box.  In addition, it adds performance controls and FX processing that, even if primitive by today’s standards, is light years ahead of anything I had access to in those early days.  Not to sound like an old fart, but when I here people complain about the small amount of RAM the 5000 supports (192mb) I really do laugh on the inside.  You would be amazed what you can do with half that.  You would be amazed what you can do with 2mb.

Having rambled on enough, I am going to post this and go start backing up all my data off the 2500, and get some tracks ready for loading into the 5k.  Its going to be a fun 2010. 

So I did a lot of thinking (way more than necessary (as usual)) regarding what kind of live setup I would use with NoiseTheorem.  blog posts were written..Google waves started….diagrams drawn and far more doodles on my sketch pad than I care to admit (yes, that chicken scratch does mean something…it is not just some kind of din plug infested Rorschach test).   A decision has been made.

I want to try to be interesting on stage.  As a one-man show, that is going to be hard. Suggestions ranged from using a Theremin to getting scantily clad dancing girls.  If only I could fin a bunch of Theremin-wielding S&M strippers I couldn’t help but be a hit!  Sadly, I don’t think that’s going to happen.  Unless I do the stripping.  You don’t want that.

But I digress.  Because I cant just go out and buy all the stuff I need right away, and because I would like to do some performances sooner rather than later, I have decided to plot a path to an eventual goal rather than try to buy and build a whole new setup all at once. 

Version 1: MPC2500 + TG500 + Korg Prophecy + Korg EMX1 + Small format mixer

This is the incarnation that requires I buy nothing save for a mixer (haven’t picked out a model yet).  I control everything from the MPC2500.  The TG500 is there for keyboard sounds and the Prophecy is there as a keyboard.  The EMX is there for being a tweekable synth, though I might replace that with something else.  Its got the advantage of multiple channels that are very easily accessible and a control surface a kindergartener could get around (or younger….my 6 month old son loves the damn thing).   I do not have any external FX to play with (save for the electribe), and the control surface for manipulating the sampler is limited to the 2500’s Q-controls.  

The big question on this setup (and all the setups, really) is weather or not I can crap a full live set of samples into 128 megs of ram without having to reload mid set.  This is another reason to bring the EMX as it can probably cover for a bit if the sampler needs to load.  Hell, I’ve done whole songs on that thing so It should be a good cover.  Also, back in the day, I managed to get the entire 45 minute live set for Carbon Haze into 10 megs of RAM.  NT is a bit different project with a lot more ‘evolving’ type sounds, so it remains to be seen if i can cram it all in there. 

One really nice thing on thing about this rig is, as I said, that I already have it.  I just got a $75 guitar center gift card, and that could basically cover the mixer I would need (it doesn’t need to be a all fancy).  Id be able to do a show in January, if anyone would book me..and I could pull 45 minutes of music out of my ass.

Version 2:  V1 + MPC5000 – MPC2500 – TG500

This one swaps the 2500 for a 5000 and takes the TG500 out of the loop.  Any synth sounds I need can be sampled and played as key map programs in the 5000, a feature the 2500 lacks. 

I get a lot of stuff upgrading the 2500 to the 5000.  50% more sample space, more FX busses, more real time control and a number of other nice things that just aren’t available on the 2500. 

This I could probably do pretty soon, actually.  I have a few items I don’t need laying around I could sell, and obviously the 2500 would be on eBay.  With the price of the 5000 trending downwards, I should be able to snap one up at a deal without having to dip into any cash.  That’s always nice.

Version 3: V2 + Yamaha DTX-Multi

This is where things start to get more ‘fun’.  The DTX adds another 64mb of sample space, but also it adds a whole new control interface, one I have always wanted to use.  I watched the demo videos of this, and I really love the idea of ditching the keyboard completely and doing a lot of the melodic performance using sticks or hand playing techniques.   This is the first money I would actually have to spend on the rig, and its not insignificant.   By this point, however, I should have probably done a show or two and know what the hell it is I am doing and maybe even have drawn in a dollar or two to the cause (though I wouldn’t bet on it.  The day I get significantly compensated for a gig has yet to pass). 

Version 4: +-?

And that’s as far as I have planned anything out.  Beyond this point, Id probably swap the Prophecy for something a little less precious and easily damaged, maybe just a generic controller after all.  Maybe an MPK49.  Maybe a Miniak…or a Quasimidi Sirius (one can dream)?  Who knows.  I also think that, at some point, a Kaos Pad needs to be integrated here somewhere.  That’s just a moral imperative.

I love planning out my rigs. Yeah, its kind of silly, but its also fun to speculate.  I have a few days off, and in between relaxing and playing with the little dude, I plan to setup rig one and putz around a bit.  Maybe even write a tune or two.

Any other suggestions?  How would you suggest I kick up the fun?  Know any scantily clad dancers who like electronic music?  

To do this live show, it is becoming clear that I will need some gear.  But first, that means I have to sell some other stuff and square away a few debts.  In that spirit, I guess I am going to go back on my word when it comes to selling certain items I had sworn not to.  Sentimentality has to be sacrificed in the name of progress. So here goes..

MFB Synth II

I got this one in trade from a friend not to long ago.  I love the thing – its got a great analog sound and a really nice little sequencer.  Add some FX and Sync it to your favorite analog drum machine and you have Nitzer Ebb’s That Total Age in a box.

Korg Electribe ESX1

This is the Electribe that samples.  Its awesome.  Unfortunately, it is also not 100% working.  I have a feeling its nothing more than a loose connection in the display, as it works most of the time, then sometimes the display goes buggy and you cant use the instrument.  You leave it alone/off for a while and it goes back to normal.  Think of it as your schizophrenic uncles drum machine and you will do fine.  I am definitely willing to sell it at a price that is appropriate for what is wrong with it. This one I will definitely get again some day.  I just really need something reliable for the stage rig.

Kawai XD5

This is a great little sound machine.  I sampled it off a while ago, and now it just sits in the rack.  I am willing to let this go really cheap if anyone wants it.  I really don’t want to deal with eBay fees on this one (or any of these auctions).  Please…buy it!

Yamaha TG500 and Emu e64

Yeah, I am too lazy to take separate pics.  Sue me.  Anyway, these two are sentimental classics.  I wrote my first album on that e64, and while its display is dim and its fan makes a bit of noise, its still a great box.  I am willing to let it go really cheap simply because of the display.  If you know anything about anything the fix is pretty easy and cheap.  I will also include a box of various SCSI device that I will never ever use again (zip drives, jaz drives, a CD-Rom and a mess of disks and cables) just to get them out of my damn life.  The TG500 was not used on my first album, but its sister product the SY85 basically WAS that album.  All the songs were written on its 8 track linear sequencer of Joy.   The sound is amazingly good, partly because synths at this time did not employ compression to fit as many as they could into a small ram space.  Its not the easiest thing to use, and definitely not the most advances synth, but its still a great musical resource. I also have a couple cards for it, and they will be included.

Yamaha MG16/6 Mixer

Ok, so its not a Toft Audio or a Speck.  It works, and it works well.  I need something smaller for my live rig that can fit in a rack and be left alone.  I don’t need all the EQ, as that will be done in the samples before I run them to the rig.  I am not going to let this one go free, but its definitely going to be reasonable.  I would also trade it for a DJ mixer, possibly, or for some kind of FX.  This one is a bit more open.

So that is it. If anyone is interested, send me mail to tony at this domain dot com (if you cant figure that out, your a scum sucking bot and you can go to hell with you and your ass bot face) and let me know your offer.

I might be posting up more later.  Maybe.

Jason Weaver (Dead Man’s Kassette) and I are considering teaming up to do a few shows with our solo projects (we are both in Short to Ground).  What we are thinking is that we each do a half hour set with a mini cross over set in between with both of us contributing.  I love this idea, however, it got me thinking about how in the hell I will pull this off.

The problem

Now, most people these days doing these kind of one man electronic shows grabs a laptop running Ableton Live and a controller/controllers of some variety and do some kind of triggering of loops and sonic manipulation.  I could do this.  I have the software and a capable laptop.  I’d just need a controller and an audio interface. 

The problem is that I don’t think I would be *happy* doing that.  I prefer keys to on a matrix controller, and I certainly don’t think triggering loops would make me happy.  Further more, I don’t know that it would be particularly interesting to watch me do this.  Others can make a show of this, but I think I am more fun to watch pounding on keys than I am typing on a laptop. 

So that’s out.  What now?

Solutions?

As always, there is more than one way to approach this live set using gear I have that will make things interesting.  I know for a fact there are certain parts of the setup that I must have to pull it off.  I must have a keyboard to play that has a broad pallet of sounds, a sampler to play back triggered loops of material from the songs and a sequencer for playing the backing tracks.  I don’t want to use a hard disk track for backing tracks to keep the set a little more live and fluid. 

The keyboard choice is pretty obvious.  If I bring my Korg M3, I can us its combi mode to control everything.  It also has a nice control surface mode I could probably put into use for performance aspects.  Its also just a damn nice synthesizer. 

The downside to the M3, if there is one, is in its bulk.  The thing is damn heavy.  Also, its kind of my main STG board, and it would be kind of nice to completely break out of that headspace while doing NoiseTheorem shows.  This might sound crazy, but I really like the idea of having something a bit more primitive there.  Something like a Quasimidi Sirius or Roland JX305…or maybe one of those EMU Command Station Keyboards.   Something with hard lined limitations that force me to focus more on the sequence of events than just synth noodeling.  If I could find an Elektron MonoMachine keyboard at a price that didn’t make my left testicle ache that would be awesome.  Basically anything light and simple that just had enough sounds would be cool.

As for the sampler and sequencer, this is where it gets tricky.   I have a wealth of options at this point.  If I bring the M3, I could use its firewire interface with my  laptop and run any combination of software on it.  Anything from FL Studio to Maschine to Live.  The idea of Maschine, particularly interests me.  Its just a great program and I could really put the hardware controller to the test.  I could also, theoretically, sequencer other MIDI gear from it since it now supports MIDI out.  It and the M3 could be really good pals..

But there we are in software land again.  Blah.  I really don’t want to bring a computer if I don’t have to.  I feel it may be one thing that distinguishes my shows from others (aside from the music of course).

So after all of this, I have kind of settled on bringing the M2500 out and playing that live.  The 2500 should have enough memory for the entire set, it can be setup to do real time control and I can play with the sequences a bit using the various setups it has.   My current thought is to have a few patterns per song and I will mix match and mute them live along with my own interjected synthy stuff.   I’d like to actually be able to tweak *musical* sequences live, but for that I would need some more MIDI synths (virus desktop?) and some kind of performance sequencer to run it. 

Another problem with all of this is going to be mixing.  I really don’t know *what* I want for that.   Maybe I could get a DJ Mixer and run through that?  It would be kind of cool to have that kind of performance capacity.   Of course, Id be limited to very few channels, but how many do I need?  I honestly have no idea.

Cry for help

So I don’t know what to do really.  Maybe I just need to start with the MPC and  build from there.  That’s pretty much what I did with the STG rig, starting with the M3 and adding as needed.   Maybe try the Prophecy as my controller or the blofeld and just see what happens.  

What do you think Mr. Internets?

It has been a little while since I squeezed out another one of these blog posts, and for the 3 of you that care I apologize.  There has just been a lot going on around here lately.  Here is a brief recap.

Short to Ground

The band is back in action again, or at least as much action as we can all muster considering our crazy lives.  We did a show last week at Silvies, and had a better turnout than I expected.  Actually, we will be honest, the turnout was mainly for the 3 acoustic douche bags that played before us, and Millipede who played after us.  We don’t care.  we had fun, and it was good networking a bit with some people who actually do care about electronic music (and laughing at the angsty hipster douche bags was also quite a treat).  We also got rock star parking that night, and that is always nice.

As part of this show we had to add a song to the set list.  We did what is becoming standard operating procedure and brought and old Carbon Haze/Cryostate track called ‘America’ back from the dead.  For being thrown together in two practices, it was actually pretty damn good.  One of the more ‘pop’ structured tracks that we have ever done, and definitely one you can sing along or dance to.  We will probably do a quick recording of the vox at some point and post it as a free track online.

NoiseTheorem

One of the interesting parts of that show was seeing Millipede, and realizing that the age of the laptop and controller artist is upon us.  Yep, I just finally got on board with what everyone else knew for the last 10 years or so.  This has kind of kicked my ass into thinking that maybe there is a performance future for NoiseTheorem after all…

The Studio

You know what?  I have had most of my hardware in disarray for the last month or so, and I do not care.  While I still plug in and play with the PEK and the Prophecy, I am finding that I just don’t want to *write* on them, because of the pain in the ass it is to get everything recorded.  Reaper and my NI software has given me a pain free solution.  Yes.  Software is taking over my life. 

To this end, I am probably going to sell more stuff off.  I still want to have a hardware setup, but certain pieces are just not going to ever get used anymore, and honestly I want to get my laptop setup there with FLStudio and Reaper on it to run that rig.  That means making some space…

I feel kind of bad about some of my hardware decisions.  The stuff is mostly just not useful to me anymore as I just don’t have the time to futz around with hardware the way I used to.   All that cabling…all that routing….its just a bunch of crap.  I want plug and play, and hardware just cant do that these days.

Oh, and the display on my E64 is totally dead.  The backlight went, so it is now totally unreadable.  Is it worth fixing? Probably a big ‘HELL NO’.  I might anyway.

I have decided to write this review in two parts: one now, detailing my first weekend with the product, and one later on when I have become more familiar with it and fully put it through its paces in detail.

Initially, when I heard about NI’s Maschine, I was very excited.  Here was the hardware/software integrated drum machine update to the MPC concept I had been waiting for.  Then I found out the details, specifically that it requires connection to the computer to run.  While the controller *looks* like one hell of a drum machine, it is actually just a controller with only a USB connection and a pair of MIDI sockets on the back.  I was bummed.  At the time, I was in the midst of a pure hardware kick and didn’t like the idea of being permanently tethered to a computer.  My interest went back to the MPC line and I eventually got a MPC2500.

Well, time passes, and I start getting really hardcore in to software again triggered by a rethinking of my studios basic ergonomics.   I started playing with the NI software that I had for a long time but hardly used, discovering it a new. Kontact, Massive, Absynth, FM8, and Battery all found new spaces in my heart and in my workflow. 

As I was playing with these apps, I noticed a gaping whole in the NI ecosystem. While it was nice that you had something like Battery to quickly layout a drum kit, I was completely dependent on a host sequencer to drive it. This works, mind you, but its not as lovely or elegant as working with FL Studio or my MPC to craft beats.  There is something about having a tailor made UI when it comes to working with beats.  This circled me back to Maschine, and after a big eBay sale..I pulled the trigger.  It arrived yesterday.

First Impressions

After unboxing the box containing Maschine (why companies feel the need to double the size of their package and waste so much cardboard and paper is beyond me) I was greeted by the very attractive controller pictured below:

NI did NOT cut corners on this thing.  It is no surprise that so many people thought this was a hardware MPC killer when they saw it.   When working the design, it is clear to me that their inspiration was the MPC line, and not the endless range of cheap plastic pad controllers that are currently flooding the market.  NI wanted to aim higher, and I think they hit a bull’s-eye.

Also contained in the box were manuals, the software (with Mac and PC DVDs included) a coupon for an NI sound library, and the registration code.

Installation

For some reason, the first time I tried to run the installer it failed on me.  I don’t know why, it just gave an error and said ‘finish’.  Running it a second time, the install proceeded perfectly.  Go figure – this is windows vista after all…(yes..vista….and I have no problems with it usually).

After installation, I ran the NI Service Center application to register the product.  The Service Center app has matured a bit over the years, and really does a great job of handling your NI registrations.  It definitely beats the days of having a separate registration system for each application and having to be careful which version of update xyz you ran.  This app handles it and handles it well…and without resorting to a hardware USB key (props to NI on that!).

After updating the driver to the most current version, plugged in the hardware box and dove in.

The Idiot Test

To be a proper idiot test, you require two things: a new piece of gear, and an idiot to play with it.  Having both in the room, I decided to jump right in and not bother with the manual.  I also wanted to really test the hardware integration, so I turned of my computer monitor while doing my initial test.  I wanted to see how far I could really go without the benefits of a computer display.

You know, it is a true shame that NI doesn’t build hardware UI’s.  Korg, Roland, Yamaha, Akai and all the others could really learn a thing or two from Maschine.  Its layout is simple to navigate, and I was able to get a beat going, completely unaided by the computer, within minutes.  Everything from selecting sounds to sampling audio (it uses the audio inputs you specify on your sound card) can be done from the box without ever needing to look at the computer.  I particularly liked the x0x style drum editing.  

The design of the box is very solid, as I stated before.  The buttons are all backlight to give you instant information on the status of what your working with.  The dual displays with their row of knobs underneath are perfect for navigation.  Really, I think this is the first hardware synth UI that I have actually fell in love with. 

Digging deeper

After about an hour of idiot testing (man was it getting late at this point) I decided to turn the monitor back on and see how operating it from there was.  Could it be they put all their efforts into the hardware box, and didn’t polish off the software as much as the could have?  Thankfully, the answer to that is a big NO. 

The software Is laid out very logically, with group and scene selection at top, a file browser at the left, and a big sequencing window in the center, taking up the majority of the applications real-estate.  One very nice thing is that you can actually maximize the application window to take full advantage of the entire computer screen.  THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU NI!!!.  

Everything you can do on the hardware box you can do here, though honestly I do think the hardware box is easier for some things (sequencing).  One nice discovery I made is that each ‘pad’ sound is actually its own complete instrument track. In the software, you can switch that to a piano roll view and set pitches for pitched instruments.  This is really great, and something the MPC just cannot do given its architecture. 

So how does it sound?

Marvelous.  I only tested it with the provided library, which is very extensive. Finding sounds is easy either with the control surface or the software.  All the sounds have been categorized (bank, type, subtype), so you can drill down to what you want easily.  finding an 808 or 909 kick is just as simple as setting Drums-Kick-Analog  and scrolling through and auditioning your choices.

I haven’t had much time to get into trying to design my own sounds with it just yet.  So far my impression is that this is definitely no replacement for Battery or Kontact, but its a quite respectable voice structure none the less.  NI is pretty careful not to let one of their products overlap to greatly with any of their other ones, so this does no surprise me.  I do think it would be nice if there were a way to import your Battery and Kontact sets into Maschine for sequencing (maybe I missed it?). 

Preliminary Conclusions

If you like the concept of the MPC line, then you will love Maschine.  Its not as big and ambitious as FL studio, and its definitely more comprehensive than Guru.   Its not DAW, though you could probably squeeze whole productions out of it if you really tried. 

As much as I love Maschine, I cant leave without mentioning the one thing that is missing: Comprehensive MIDI output.  If I could drive my hardware from the Maschine Sequencer…I would be happier than pigs in shit, and my MPC would be on the way to a quick eBay auction.   According to the NI site, this is in Beta right now, so it may not be too long before Maschine is driving my entire rig..