NI Maschine 1.8 Software Update (pt 1) - Time Stretching a Conga Loop

Ahead of the imminent release of the new range of Akai MPC hardware, Native Instruments have introduced MK2 of their hugely popular Maschine, and also updated the associated software to 1.8. It boasts many new useful features that not only exploit the colourful second incarnation of their Rhythm Machine, but breath new life into MK1. These include New Analog sounding Effects, Time Stretch and Pitch Shift, New Browser sample preview mode, Sample play position indicator to name but a few.

In this tutorial video, I'm going to focus on the Time Stretch function which has been probably the most sought after feature since the last update.

To get things started, I created a house groove using drum sounds from my library, combined with Bass, Pad and Rhodes sounds all sourced from Native Instruments' own Absynth and Kontakt libraries. I particularly liked the sound of Maschine's own 'ICE' Reverb used on the Rhodes stab.

In order to put the new Time Stretch feature to the test, I looked for a Conga loop from my library which I knew was at a different tempo to the tempo of my track. Firstly I created a new 'Group' and then dragged the audio loop onto the first available 'Sound' slot. After clicking the 'Sampler' button which brought up the waveform display, I selected the 'Edit' tab which reveals the small clickable menu on the right hand side. Clicking on this displays a list of all the available sample editing functions, including the new 'Stretch' feature at the bottom.

After selecting this, a box appears which gives you the option of adjusting the Pitch and Time of the sample. Amazingly it had calculated the original Source BPM very accurately, and automatically inserted the New BPM, meaning all I had to do was click on 'Apply'.

The functionality was incredibly slick, and sounded perfectly in time. Now that the conga pattern was sitting well with the beat, I decided to Slice it up so I could have the individual hits spanned across the Pads, which again was a very quick process.

I was really impressed with this new Time Stretch feature, and the speed of workflow rivals that of Ableton, with the added advantage you can work away from the computer screen if necessary. I can't wait to check out some more secrets of Maschine 1.8 very soon!