I once made beats with a drum machine that had Rock drums. It’s true, and those beats sucked. Whether it was drum machines, samplers, or my favorite DAW, it was always hard to come up with something that I could REALLY bob my head to. I thought that using a computer to make beats and clicking things was the best way to make music, and for awhile I did manage to come up with some really dope beats.

After growing tired of using the mouse and staring at my huge computer monitor, I decided that something needed to change. I was VERY close to buying an MPC because the main gripe I had was staring at a screen, and the MPC would allow me to use my ears rather than my eyes to make beats. Then I heard about Maschine. This is when everything changed…

The Intro

Before I even had the money to buy Maschine, I was watching many YouTube videos and reading lots of articles about it, so I could have a full understanding of it before I even touched the pads. Looking back now, this was the best thing that I did because when it came time to buy it, I felt like a Maschine Grandmaster, so to speak!

Reading articles and watching videos is one thing, but when I first touched it, that’s when things seemed a little daunting at first – until I turned it on. What I did at first was I didn’t even make any sort of beat whatsoever. I spent the first 2 weeks – yes, 2 weeks – playing with the controller and software, just trying to learn the ins and outs. Sure, I knew a lot from online materials, but I wanted to make sure I was fully comfortable on this piece of gear when I finally did make a beat.

The First Beat

I actually can’t remember much about my first beat but I know it sucked. It’s not that it was a bad sample I used, or I didn’t know what I was doing, rather I just wanted to make a quick beat with pretty much any sample I could get my hands on, just so I could say I made a beat on Maschine. I went wild with the drums, making a loop that sounded like a cross between Hip Hop, Rock, and Techno. I’m not sure, but I think that day I came up with a new genre of music!

But all was not lost. I accomplished what I set out to do, and that was to:

• Learn Maschine in theory
• Learn Maschine in practice
• Make my first beat

Why It Saved My Life

The reason why I’m saying it saved my life is because I was so fed up of making beats on a computer that I was ready to end it all. No, not kill myself, instead I was ready to toss the computer out the window and hopefully hit some Dubstep producer walking by, sending him to the hospital with major head wounds to which he would succumb to. Slowly.

Maschine saved my life because my fingers, wrist, forearm, and especially my eyeballs were ready to give up and die, leaving me with a stump for a right arm, and forcing me to learn how to control a mouse with my left hand. Which also meant that I would have to buy a new mouse. Plus it would affect my “sex” life as well, if you know what I mean.

Maschine saved my life because I was now able to make music the way it’s supposed to be – with my ears. The old days were back and now my creative juices were flowing once again, except this time I had Maschine, rather than a crappy drum machine.

Conclusion

Maschine is now the center of my home studio. I love it when I plug it in and see the lights come on, and I love it when I touch the pads. It has changed the way I make music and I could never go back to the computer. I might start sleeping with my Maschine now. I get lonely at night.

Photo provided by: Rob Groove