Creating a Performance Kit in Maschine - Pt 1 - Main Chords

In the first video of this mini-series, learn how to create the foundation of a performance kit. A performance kit is a collection of melodic and drum samples that allows you to play a full track completely live on the pads. These are great for practicing your finger drumming or playing live routines.

To begin, I first choose my instruments. These will form the most fundamental layer of the kit, so I usually choose a simple, sustained sound like a synth pad. With specific sounds picked out, I move on to the process of recording.

I use the built-in chord sets to find three chords that I record to separate patterns. This allows me to add additional sounds to each pattern simply by recording and quantizing to the first beat. I show how you can add additional sounds to the primary chords to create interesting layers.

Once I am satisfied with the three patterns, I add some simple effects and do some basic mixing. It is much easier to make these adjustments now compared to later, when everything has been bounced down to audio. After mixing, I use internal sampling to render the three patterns as three individual samples.

Now that I have the basic chords finished, I can adjust how the pads play and where they are located in the group. In the next video, I’ll add some additional melodic content including a lead sound well as some bass samples.

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