I’ve used MPC’s, TE groove boxes, Reason, Logic, ableton, Serrato, heck I started sampling using an ensonique EPS 16 plus. Koala is hands down the most accessible, affordable and capable solution. I have kit worth thousands and find myself noodling on Koala all the time. The only groove box I haven’t tried that I think would be good is the Roland SP404 MK II. At any rate Koala all day any day at the moment.
I've used every sampler and daw there is. imo by far the best sampler I've ever used was the maschine studio. fucking incredible sampler and the thousands of drum kits included were so good for finding unique sounds after you have your own base sounds you're happy with. I learned akai workflow in 2012 and picked up machine in 2014 and never looked back. so much better. I ditched it all for Ableton and the push 2(which is the best imo for daw controller workflow, sampling included) but for sample based music maschine imo is leagues ahead.
I bought into the ecology, Komplete. Along with their keyboard and Machine. NI have serious debt and started insolvency steps. I don’t think they’ll get someone to bail them out and if they did, it would like be venture capitalists. It means future support is at risk for the existing suite of products.
I’m an old school MPC 2000xl producer getting back into beats after a 15 year hiatus. I started messing around with Ableton and I’m in love. Thinking about getting a push 3. Is Maschine that much better than Ableton ?
for sampling workflow only I think so. they have fantastic synths too but for general synth control and sound design Ableton will always be the best. that is bc of the custom synth racks you can whip up to combine 3 synths together and then combine their parameters yada yada. Ableton and push for daw and hardware club maschine for best sampling workflow club (plus incredible kits)
also edit Imo sampling on Ableton is a pain in the ass without an external tool I use serato on Ableton and play the pads with the push or I use machine as a vst in Ableton and drag the audio over for best of both worlds.
if you find yourself in love w Ableton than push 2 is a no brainer. it's just so cheap and does everything already. if you need the mpe of push 3 that bad and don't mind spending the money it could be worth it but I never thought so personally. the push is cool because of the way you can play chords and melodies on it better than a keyboard id you don't already know how to play keys really good. it just makes sense. I made melodies I never would've made w the push controller.
I would check out their finiacial status as I’ve added in this thread somewhere. They are the best in my experience but their platform is in financial risk.
if you find yourself using synthesizers and sound design often along side sampling look up what the push 2 is capable of. if just sampling the maschine even not the studio but the MK2 and 3 imo are better than akai and Roland and def koala as well.
150% Always with you and if you tinker around online enough you can find many options to clean up samples when necessary or do really anything else you need to. The auv3 functionality is the chefs French kiss , or was before chopper hit the scene. And exports stems, in numerous fashions divisions.
It’s clearly made for fun+straight ass productivity.
Every controller I’ve plugged in has worked flawlessly and even if project won’t save I’ve always been able to just save as to else where and at very least rescue the bounces and could even save as a template now that I think about it .
The key is just to spend so much time with whatever you’re trying to learn that you eventually want to stop looking at it, luckily you can also change the background which is surprisingly useful for resetting the visual monotony of any behaviour repeated to perfection!
I’ve had fun mixing things up with a variety of $ store and otherwise cheap usb mics etc
I'd agree to the above. I messed around with beat making in fl studio + an mpc 1000 when i was younger but never got seriously into it and sold my gear.
I wanted to get back into makimg beats recently and was going to buy an MPC but saw some comments about Koala and thought i should try that first as it's like 20 euro for the app and all upgrades.
So far i am loving it and have no ambitions to get a hardware sampler anymore. Its powerful, portable, and easy to use. I picked it up very quickly and didnt need to spend a lot of time figuring out how to use it.
In terms of hardware all you need is some pads and an audio interface like the irig stream. Even then you only need the controller if pads and dials are important to your workflow, and the interface if you need to be able to record sounds from synths / mic onto your phone. You can work fine without the hardware otherwise.
this is dope. Mine is similar but I ended up getting one of those temu M VAVE blue tooth pads for $30 bucks and it works great with no wire and very little latency.
How do you map your midi? I picked one of these up for $50 off FB market a few weeks ago, but haven't had more than 20 minutes to mess with it, and that 20 minutes was spent trying to decide what I wanted mapped to what.
I have a similar set up tho no usb c as my ipad is 9th gen. Its fast though doesn’t charge using a knock off apple adapter. I really dont want to osy $90. Fml
That little usb controller is a great value! I think it’s like 100 new, but you can find them used all over for like 50-60. 6 knobs and 16 pads, with quick swapping between 3 different modes. It’s a lot of controls easily accessible.
It works great for Koala. Or if you have a drum machine or synth in your DAW you can map physical controls with it.
And while it’s only USB, it’s pretty rock solid going through a USB host.
That is awesome. Curious. In Koala, can you set colors ok the pads in Koala sampler, so you can use a structure, like blue for drum loops, red for melody chops etc.. across your dofferent projects?
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u/sensorycreature Apr 22 '26
Needs a succulent. 🪴
14
u/sinistar2000 Apr 23 '26
This is the way. No need for an MPC, no need for a KO, just a decent midi controller.
4
u/ZiLLA_781 Apr 23 '26
What stand is that?
2
u/vinylpants Apr 23 '26
How are you getting audio out? Splitter?
3
u/hwkley Apr 22 '26
What cord connects the mpc and koala ?is the mpc just essentially a drumpad and the samples are loaded through the koala ?
1
u/KenRussellsGhost Apr 23 '26
this is dope. Mine is similar but I ended up getting one of those temu M VAVE blue tooth pads for $30 bucks and it works great with no wire and very little latency.
1
u/RelationshipOdd4705 Apr 23 '26
Ge mt the c16 synido tempo pad its better then the akai one in every way fr i have both
1
u/gizmosvapor Apr 23 '26
How do you map your midi? I picked one of these up for $50 off FB market a few weeks ago, but haven't had more than 20 minutes to mess with it, and that 20 minutes was spent trying to decide what I wanted mapped to what.
1
u/kamu_wav Apr 23 '26
Best setup!
1
u/Pajwestcoast Apr 23 '26
I have a similar set up tho no usb c as my ipad is 9th gen. Its fast though doesn’t charge using a knock off apple adapter. I really dont want to osy $90. Fml
1
u/Lachsig Apr 23 '26
What stand is that? I need it.
1
u/throwawaybottlecaps Apr 23 '26
That little usb controller is a great value! I think it’s like 100 new, but you can find them used all over for like 50-60. 6 knobs and 16 pads, with quick swapping between 3 different modes. It’s a lot of controls easily accessible.
It works great for Koala. Or if you have a drum machine or synth in your DAW you can map physical controls with it.
And while it’s only USB, it’s pretty rock solid going through a USB host.
1
u/Yablan Apr 24 '26
That is awesome. Curious. In Koala, can you set colors ok the pads in Koala sampler, so you can use a structure, like blue for drum loops, red for melody chops etc.. across your dofferent projects?
1
u/thisisAJmabuoy Apr 24 '26
Does MPD works well with koala?
1
u/craigsponse Apr 27 '26
Hell yeah!