Virus TI, Komplete, Keyboard, Maschine

[MBTC]

Originally Posted by IanT

Well that's made that clear! Been looking at vids and comments and the NI stuff seems to integrate with the software extremely well so I was coming to the conclusion that the Virus wasn't going to be a great option.

All I have to do is convince myself that a Maschine is a better option than a S keyboard... Or not...

As far as being solely a controller, I think Maschine vs. a keyboard is kind of like being at the home improvement store and trying to decide which is better, a hammer or a screwdriver? Different tools for different types of jobs.

I think Berni was saying the NI keyboard would be better for controlling Komplete because a lot of things would be automatically mapped, and consistent across NI plugins I think (although that's hard to imagine because the plugins themselves are not really consistent across the product line). One thing you might look into is the Novation line of controllers, because the Automap software gives you the ability to basically do same regardless of plugin vendor.

Back to hammer vs screwdriver... Maschine is good for percussion, or triggering things like Berni said automation clips in Live. It is not good for playing a piano solo for example, or things like playing chords based on traditional music theory. You can play chords but you're doing it the Maschine way, not the way music as an art has done it for hundreds of years.

I like it because of the tight throw of the pads for percussive sounds and samples, like the old akai samplers. For keyboard playing I like a piano layout and some weight and throw in the keys. If I could only have one I'd take the keyboard because I can always play drums on a keyboard but I can't play the piano on Maschine.