The Maschine vs. Battery Debate

JC Biffro

JC Biffro

New member
Sup guys,

So, I own Battery 3, but not Maschine. I'm looking to spend the next couple of weeks learning a new drum sequencer, and to learn it inside out. It seemed logical to contemplate using Battery considering 1) I own it and 2) it's highly regarded.

However, I don't want to invest time in thoroughly learning more than one drum machine so want to pick the one I choose to learn carefully. For those that have used both, would you say it's worth me learning Maschine instead of Battery? I know both are very good, but I've read that Maschine is a little more advanced. Where both are made by NI, I just don't see Battery ever overtaking Maschine in terms of functionality.

Cheers fellars.
 
learn what you own period

if you think Maschine has more to allow for your production needs
buy it
make sure buy from a place where you can return in 30 days or less

Maschine is blowing up..I don't know if it will ever out-do Akai MPCs
I believe so but there will aways be purists who love the Akai MPCs


Home of Yahweh Beats
-Coach Antonio
 
Maschine will have a bigger demand over Battery because of the hardware controller that it comes with. Most ppl will probably prefer hands on with software integration using something it was especially made for, rather than battery hooking it up to whatever....I mean you can do that with Maschine too.

Battery is still good for Daws that don't have a good drum plugin, most don't honestly from what I've seen..they're just limited to doing basic things it should do, but not really much to allow you to really get in and be free to do with you want. I used to be huge on Battery, but then I met Drum Racks and ummm.

Personally I got ppl in my team who use Maschine, I've used it a few times and if you want all the bells, whistles, integration eye candy, hands on then thats for you...but if you just want to program drums and you need something to arrange, edit, mix, use with any midi pads or piano...battery does more than enough. I think they aim at different audiences...I also think its not worth comparing. I want a Maschine, but I would just be getting one to have one cuz there's a empty space on my desk that needs to be occupied lol. I have more than enough midi controllers to do drum work....still got the old MPD16...use it as a mouse pad.

Also are you aware of Battery 4 being available on the 27th?
Komplete : Drums : Battery 4 | Products
 
I own Maschine but i don't see any advantage of using it compared to Ableton's Drum Rack. I've had Maschine for years but i hardly use it. It's like having to remember how to use another DAW. Who has time for that?
 
I have Maschine and Battery and they are very different. Maschine is more like a DAW where as Battery is just a drum sound loader. I use both Battery 3. and 4 with Maschine because they do different things better. I prefer Maschine because of the hardware controller, the sequencer, built in sampler and chopping. Battery is great if you just want to load some drum sounds up and have at it without the need for doing much if any actual sampling. Maschine is more of a sampler than anything else. A lot closer to an Mpc or MV 8k in software form. Where as Battery is all about drum samples and interesting sound design options which Maschine does not have. Pick your poison really. Do you sample a lot? Do you want a more hardware based workflow? Maschine is a very deep program about as deep as your average DAW but it is not a DAW do you want to take the time to learn it? I have had maschine for 2 months now and I am still learning a lot about it every day. Battery is more straight forward you can get really good with battery in a few days Maschine you will get started in a few days but again its a really deep program.
 
Xabiton said:
I have Maschine and Battery and they are very different. Maschine is more like a DAW where as Battery is just a drum sound loader. I use both Battery 3. and 4 with Maschine because they do different things better. I prefer Maschine because of the hardware controller, the sequencer, built in sampler and chopping. Battery is great if you just want to load some drum sounds up and have at it without the need for doing much if any actual sampling. Maschine is more of a sampler than anything else. A lot closer to an Mpc or MV 8k in software form. Where as Battery is all about drum samples and interesting sound design options which Maschine does not have. Pick your poison really. Do you sample a lot? Do you want a more hardware based workflow? Maschine is a very deep program about as deep as your average DAW but it is not a DAW do you want to take the time to learn it? I have had maschine for 2 months now and I am still learning a lot about it every day. Battery is more straight forward you can get really good with battery in a few days Maschine you will get started in a few days but again its a really deep program.
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Aye, I saw your video on Battery 4. Pretty much the main dissatisfaction point was to do with the lack of Drum Sequencer.

My gripe at the moment with FL Studio is that sequencer for more complicated drums (i.e. velocity changes, triggering different keys, adjusting key lengths etc) is a little cumbersome and it's not easy to take a step back and see where you are from a birds eye point of view.

Like, I want to be able to look at the sequencer and visually see where I'm at with my drums, for example, that the Kick is on 1, 3, 6,7 etc etc, Snare is on 2,4 etc, cymbals are on every 8th and so on. But, with the more complicated tweaks mentioned above made in the background. FL Studio mixes in the sequencer and piano rolls views so it's not that obvious. Plus, I sequence in double-time to add another level of complexity. I like to have each hit on it's own pattern (as well as mixer channel) so I can add/drop each drum hit when I want. In FL, if you have all the drums on the same pattern and then split them, any changes you make you have to remember to go back and change in both places which is really annoying.

Sorry, I know the above probably doesn't make sense, but maybe I will give Maschine a go. I'm not interested in the controller though and it's quite annoying that NI don't seem to sell just the software independently.
 
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JC_Biffro said:
Aye, I saw your video on Battery 4. Pretty much the main dissatisfaction point was to do with the lack of Drum Sequencer.

My gripe at the moment with FL Studio is that sequencer for more complicated drums (i.e. velocity changes, triggering different keys, adjusting key lengths etc) is a little cumbersome and it's not easy to take a step back and see where you are from a birds eye point of view.

Like, I want to be able to look at the sequencer and visually see where I'm at with my drums, for example, that the Kick is on 1, 3, 6,7 etc etc, Snare is on 2,4 etc, cymbals are on every 8th and so on. But, with the more complicated tweaks mentioned above made in the background. FL Studio mixes in the sequencer and piano rolls views so it's not that obvious. Plus, I sequence in double-time to add another level of complexity. I like to have each hit on it's own pattern (as well as mixer channel) so I can add/drop each drum hit when I want. In FL, if you have all the drums on the same pattern and then split them, any changes you make you have to remember to go back and change in both places which is really annoying.

Sorry, I know the above probably doesn't make sense, but maybe I will give Maschine a go. I'm not interested in the controller though and it's quite annoying that NI don't seem to sell just the software independently.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't buy Maschine to load battery its redundant and the sequencer is ass without the controller. Maschine itself is ass without the controller. I love my maschine but its the hardware and software working together that makes it dope. If you just want a sequencer use the one in FL. I am not sure i understand your beef with sequencing it in FL but I do not use FL either. I dislike FL. Just use the piano roll as a step sequencer or something. That's how I'd do it in Live.
 
fataltone said:
learn what you own period

if you think Maschine has more to allow for your production needs
buy it
make sure buy from a place where you can return in 30 days or less

Maschine is blowing up..I don't know if it will ever out-do Akai MPCs
I believe so but there will aways be purists who love the Akai MPCs
Click to expand...

I can definitely see Maschine outdoing Akai MPCs sooner or later. The convenience of being able to start a demo on my phone using the iMaschine app while I'm on the road and then throw the entire project into my laptop when I get home is amazing.
 
Having thought about it over the last few days, I don't think I can justify paying 600 euros for Maschine, so think I'll settle with paying 99 euros for now to upgrade Battery from 3 to 4.
 
Battery 4 got TRAP KITS.....with the name TRAP in it. How about Maschine?

hmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

I'm thinking about getting an old Mikro from the first gen. Just for decoration. Been all about having a bunch of stuff around so I can feel macho...you know? Nothing like looking at my MPD 32 sit there like "I can use it...if I want to". Get me two old cheep synthesizers and sit them on racks like "I can use them...if I want to."
 
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