Hi Robert,
what you are talking about is just what I was thinking.
I have the exact same problem you mention on 2 pads, number 9 and 11.
If I set the pad sensitivity to maximum, they get mostly stuck. If I set it to 80% pad 11 gets stuck now and then (not often), if I set it to 60% everything is working.
I bought my unit 2 months ago at Thomann. As I find this unacceptable and I will contact them to get the unit exchanged.
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Yes, a return is absolutely the right thing to do in this case! The pads should just respond well and not get stuck. There seem to be way more units out there that have no issues at all than that there are broken units so you’ll probably just get a good one in return.
I have exact same issue with certain pads missfiring. (especially PAD 15) Using latest firmware. It’s a shame, because I just got my brand new Maschine Mikro mk3 today. Guess it’s going back.
Sorry to hear this. Exchanging the device will probably solve the problem. Please let me know if it did, because info like that can really help me in determining my recommendations. If there are too many complaint I might change them. As of now, there seem to be mostly happy users though, so yeah… bad luck probably. Don’t give up!
Bought this controller recently. First of all I noticed that snare is somewhat muted (is played quietly) when played simultaneously with hi hat. So i decided to check velocity levels in Ableton Live Lite. Here are my observations.
Initial setup
- press action is disabled in Controller Editor
- sensitivity set to maximum in Controller Editor
- empty MIDI track is created without any plugins - we will record raw MIDI info
Sorry, as a newcomer I’m limited to 1 image attachment, so post formatting is a bit weird.
I chose a simple basic beat patten like this https://questforgroove.com/wp-content/uploads/diagrams/grooving-improving/section3-l2r-1.svg
I played this pattern for 8 bars and left snare midi notes only.
Results
- Sensitivity of a single PAD #7 played as a single note is consistent.
- There are double triggerings and inconsistent velocity values when PAD #7 is played simultaneously with #11. There are no such issues when same pattern is played on MPD218.
- Velocity values are inconsistent when PAD #7 is played simultaneously with #8 at max velocity. There are no such issues when same pattern is played on MPD218.
@Robert_Mathijs is it similar to issues that others have in this thread?
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I did experience similar issues throughout the years, but they were not exactly as you describe. The first time I noticed something was with the big maschine mk3 and hitting the ride cymbal pad (i think that’s pad 12) and the snare on pad 7 at the same time. When the device was just released, this lead to weird , softer velocities. However, a firmware update fixed all of that. Now I never have problems with the big maschine.
On the mikro mk3 I also noticed the same thing especially with pads 12 and 7, but this also seemed to go away after a firmware update. There might still be small differences between hitting a single pad and multiple pads at the same time, but on both my mikro’s I did not notice anything particularly bad.
Double triggering if it’s super soft is also something to be expected, as long as it doesn’t happen every time. I do see those super soft notes in my midi data sometimes even though I don’t hear them while playing.
I think the best way to proceed is this:
- Update all firmware.
- Experiment with sensitivity settings between 70% and 100% and see if you find a good spot where all pads respond well but also not/ hardly double trigger.
- If you cannot find that sweet spot I would see if you can get another maschine mikro. Most people really don’t seem to have too many problems with them and there are some bad units out there (as with every pad controller). I don’t think you need to settle for mediocre. There are a lot of great maschine mikro’s.
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Darn, I’ve hit the same thing and I haven’t had this thing for even a month! I get sporadic non-triggering (many times even if I’m hitting the pad quite hard) as well as double triggers when I’m not even hitting it very softly. I can’t really do the lessons that involve dynamics anymore. I guess I’ll try a replacement since I’m still within amazon’s return window.
Wondering if I should bite the bullet and get the full maschine mk3, but I’m just not sure I’d really use the other hardware features since I mostly like working with the mouse. If it were actually a standalone maybe it would be worth it, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it just to get slightly better pads.
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Yes get a replacement! This should not be happening. When you get the replacement, make sure to do the steps above with updating firmware and adjusting the sensitivity. Then let us / me know how things went.
If the replacement unit also fails, I might need to buy myself another mikro to see if the quality went down in the past year.
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Wow, same exact problems with the new one. Makes me think it’s a software issue, but I have no idea where to begin. Obviously, I just installed everything within the last few weeks, so I’m assuming I’m up to date. I don’t see any prompts to update whenever I launch the software. Perhaps I’ll try reaching out to support before returning this one…
Edit: Also tried in midi mode with ableton and had the same issues, so I’m thinking it’s at least not related to the Maschine 2.0 software.
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Ok… damn, that’s not very promising. One more thing that could be happening on a windows machine is that controller editor has to be run as administrator in order to remember your settings. Sometimes people forget to do this, so they run the controller editor, change the sensitivity and then close it off after which the sensitivity in midi mode at least gets reset.
But it’s easy to test if this was the case since you just open up controller editor and see if the sensitivity is still where you left it 
If it’s still there you did everything perfectly.
I guess I’m gonna buy myself another Maschine mikro to do another test. Sure hope Native Instruments is not dropping the ball on us.
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Hey I recorded a little video for you! I messed around with my mikro and noticed that the more sensitive settings lead to worse results and the least sensitive setting actually gave me very responsive, reliable pads… insanity.
Here’s the video: Maschine mikro sensitivity weirdness. - YouTube
Yeah, unfortunately not much success there. Here’s a video (which I’m also sending to support): November 1, 2021 - YouTube
The weird thing with the old pad was it was a pretty sudden degradation. I had gotten a pretty good feel for what would trigger and what wouldn’t. It almost seems like it started malfunctioning once I started doing the lessons that integrated the double-tap, which makes me think it’s perhaps the double-trigger prevention thing. But this new one I ordered is even worse than the previous one right out of the box.
Ok, well I think i have to go and look into this soon by buying another Mikro and seeing how that one responds. Doesn’t mean a whole lot, except that if it works fine for me, it means there’s still good ones out there
I think you can now try two things:
- Buy a big maschine mk3
- Buy another mikro mk3 at a different store. Maybe the ones you got now are from the same “batch”… so made on the same day in the same factory and maybe just getting one from sweetwater or something will solve that problem.
I will order another mikro soon just to see what I’m getting and if it’s any good. Fingers crossed…
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Alrighty. Support basically watched the video and said: wow, that’s messed up. So I’m just going to return it.
After watching some more of Rob’s videos on the launchpad, I decided to try out the launchpad X. I bought a midi keyboard that came with an Ableton Live Lite serial, so I had been playing with that while trying to figure out what to do with my Maschine MIkro Mk 3. Long story short, I loved it. The interface was intuitive and the automation is actually sane. I decided the launchpad’s integration with ableton would be nice, and the slim design would be nice for my desktop. I wasn’t using most of the hardware stuff on the mk3 anyway.
So far, the pads are plenty sensitive. I’m really liking it. I had a bit of an issue when I first plugged it in whereby the software stopped playing sound and started lagging like crazy. I was getting pretty bummed out, but a restart fixed it. There was also latency which really messed with me, since my drum hits were probably happening a good 100ms after I pressed the button. Thankfully changing to ASIO drivers fixed that. Now this puppy screams
So yeah, it’s a shame the maschine didn’t work out for me, but I suppose it could be a blessing in disguise. I don’t think I would have tried out Ableton otherwise, and I’m in love so far. I’ll report back later how I find it. I did like the larger pads of the mk3 mikro, but oh well.
Glad I can finally get back to my quest for groove lessons!
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Phew, I’m so glad you’re finally able to get started. These controller issues can be so frustrating and discouraging and it’s the one aspect of finger drumming that I cannot really control myself. Well… I can if I developed my own controller but that’s not really in the cards for me at the moment
Latency is a huge factor in being able to play well so I’m happy that got resolved as well. Werote an article / recorded a video about that years ago, also adressing stuff beyond the asio drivers. Might be interesting if you really want to squeeze out every millisecond: 5 ways latency will mess up your groove - The Quest for Groove
Have fun playing, and let me/us know if you get stuck.
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Ordered another Maschine Mikro mk3 - no luck, same problems with low velocity on pad 7 when played simultaneously with pad 11.
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I just ordered a brand new Maschine Mikro mk3 from Thomann. I’m curious to see how it performs. If it works well, depending on where you are located I might be able to ship it over to you. I’ll pay for shipping, as long as the costs are reasonable. My guess is that depends on where I’d have to send it. Sometimes there are import taxes and other expensive stuff and then it becomes a bit too much, but otherwise I’ll just send it over.
It would be a nice test because if it works fine for me and then when I send it to you it has problems again, we’ll be a little closer to the source of the problem which, in the case of the device working well for me and not for you, might turn out not be 100% hardware related.
If the device works for you, you can simply transfer me the price you would have paid for the mikro and keep it.
But the first step is for me to test out this new unit I just ordered. If it also has a problem, the finger drumming community has a problem
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Update: I got my new Maschine mikro mk3 in today and at first glance it seems to work perfectly. I specifically hit the hi hat and the snare at the same time, no weird velocity issues!
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