3. Differences from Maschine
What works the same, what works differently, what isn't there yet, and what happens to your files.
What works the same
Most of Maschine is there and works as NI’s manual describes:
- the Ideas view (scenes and patterns) and the Song view (sections);
- groups of 16 sounds, the pattern editor and piano roll, with velocity, probability and MIDI controller lanes;
- the Sampler, sampling, slicing and time-stretching;
- the drum synths, Bass Synth, Poly Synth, the effects and the Perform FX;
- Note Repeat and the Arpeggiator, scales and chords, Euclidean patterns;
- Lock snapshots, Macros, automation recorded from the knobs;
- the Browser (F4), with your Maschine library if Maschine 3 is installed;
- Maschine’s keyboard shortcuts, including Take and Step undo.
DECKARD’s versions of Maschine’s instruments and effects are its own sound engines, written to behave like Maschine’s. They’re close, but not identical.
What works differently
| In Maschine | In DECKARD |
|---|---|
| AUTO on the MK3 writes automation while you hold it. | AUTO is a switch: press it once to start writing, again to stop. |
| The controller screens look the way NI drew them. | The screens are drawn by DECKARD and can be themed. |
| The controller’s behaviour is built in. | Each page is an editable script: Controller ▸ Open Controller Scripts Folder. |
| Pad pressure only shapes Note Repeat. | Each sound’s Pad Touch setting can record pressure as aftertouch or a CC. See Expressive recording. |
| A plug-in’s extra outputs reach the mixer by routing them into other sounds’ audio inputs. | Each extra output gets its own mixer strip. See Multi-output plug-ins. |
| Plug-ins run on macOS and Windows. | Plug-ins run on macOS, Windows and Linux. DECKARD loads VST3 plug-ins, VST2 plug-ins that have a VST3 version, and Audio Units on macOS. On Linux, Windows plug-ins run through Wine and yabridge (Preferences ▸ Plug-ins ▸ Windows plug-ins). |
| Edit ▸ Undo steps back one at a time. | Edit ▸ Undo History also jumps back up to 30 steps at once. |
Not there yet
These parts of Maschine aren’t in DECKARD yet:
- Aux sends in the mixer, and internal audio inputs between channels.
- Recording audio onto a track while the song plays (sampling works).
- Some context-menu items: Rename, Clear, Double and Color on patterns, scenes and sections.
- Editing a clip’s notes, and the MK3’s clip pages.
- MIDI mode (the MK3 as a plain MIDI controller), the footswitch input, NKS and the light guide.
- Running DECKARD as a plug-in inside a DAW.
Files and Maschine
- DECKARD reads and writes Maschine projects, groups, sounds and presets. Projects it saves open in Maschine 3, and files it doesn’t change are written back byte for byte.
- What DECKARD adds is saved in an extra block inside the
.mxprj: note expression, LFOs and envelopes, mod-matrix routes, CC routes and extra-output strips. Maschine skips the block, so the project still opens there. - Replicant and Plaits are saved like plug-ins. Maschine reports them as missing plug-ins and can’t play them, but keeps their settings when it saves.