Am I correct in understanding that I can either hook up the Novation keyboard as a midi controller to Maschine to play it's software sounds or I can have it work side by side with Maschine in a DAW but not have it control Maschine's software sounds but whatever else I like in the DAW? In other words accessing Maschine's sounds via the Novation keys is only possible with a direct MIDI set up to the Maschine and therefore dedicated. I use Automap as well.
