Getting More Out of the Maschine Drum Synth

This great video tutorial shares some excellent pro tips about sound design in the Maschine drum synth to help you get more out of it!

Jonny is back to share some helpful insights about sound design in the Maschine drum synth. This recent addition to the Maschine software is a serious bonus for those of us who started with the first version. The Maschine drum synth is super-intuitive and has been stripped of everything that could be considered un-necessary or clutter, keeping you focused on the task at hand and moving forward in your workflows. Since the parameters you need to make killer drum sounds are the only things you see in the interface you can literally design a new sound in a matter of seconds. These means less time hassling with tweaking knobs and sliders and more time spent on actual music production.

A great drum or percussion sound has a nice balance of character, texture, body and proper envelope curve. It takes a few minutes to acclimate to the simplistic approach of the Maschine drum synth, but once you get rolling you will find that it is perfect for efficient sound design sessions. Getting the envelope curve is very important. You need a transient to help the sound cut through the mix. You need the perfect amount of decay for the right delivery. You need to right amount of release to keep the resolve in-line with the rest of your beat. Then you can dial in the character with the tone settings and some effects.

Once you have created some sounds in the Maschine drum synth that you are happy with you can program a quick arrangement and start playing around with things like swing, choke groups, etc. This is where designing your own sounds becomes very powerful. As you go through the process of arranging, processing and mixing, you can jump into the Maschine drum synth to make a couple small changes to make something fit perfectly. Using pre-made samples does not always allow for such easy editing. There are a lot of great reasons to spend the time getting to know this amazing tool!

Cheers,
OhmLab