Velocity Mapping with Maschine's Sampler

Using velocity mapping techniques, Maschine can create realistic dynamics and natural transitions between samples.

Whether used for finger drumming or programming beats, sampling more deeply and using velocity mapping techniques can open many possibilities for music production and performance with Maschine. In this tutorial, we examine velocity mapping techniques used to achieve realism in the Abbey Road series kits in Maschine’s factory library. Then, velocity mapping techniques are applied using two samples from Liquid House. We also look at some of Maschine’s hardware preferences, including velocity sensitivity and velocity scaling (soft, linear, and hard curves), as well as their implementation in MIDI mode via NI’s Controller Editor software.

The Zone pane of Maschine’s sampler allows producers to map multiple samples of any length across the velocity range as well as the note range (128 points each). A single pad or sound could be used with just one sample, or up to 16384 samples – one for each of the 128 MIDI notes and each of their respective velocities. Using just a handful of samples, the sounds in the kits from the Abbey Road series in Maschine’s factory library achieve an impressive depth and realism. When using just two samples, it can be useful to tweak and to pay attention to the gain of each sample, the sample’s root key, and its length, as well as the velocity destination settings found under the last page of Maschine’s sampler’s parameters. These techniques can be used to achieve a quite even and natural response along the velocity range, but there is no substitute for sampling more deeply (using more samples mapped across the velocity range).

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