Playing With The Pads - Native Instruments MASCHINE MK3 Getting Started

3.2

Playing with the Pads

As soon as a Group is loaded (here the EK-TL A Kit) and the corresponding Group slot selected
(here Group slot A), this Group can be played from the pads on your controller. Each pad trig-
gers one of the Sounds included in the Group.
Play the pads to get the feel of your controller: reactivity, sensitivity to the force you ap-
►
ply while playing (called velocity), etc.
If you don't hear any sound when playing on your pads, check that none of the buttons
in the column to the left of the pads is accidentally lit (if any button is lit, press it to
disable it).
While playing, take a look at your pads. You will note the following:
▪ When you press a pad, it flashes and then stays fully lit.
▪ At any time, only one pad is fully lit. This is the pad you pressed last.
▪ All other pads are half lit to indicate that they are loaded with a Sound ready to be played.
▪ An unlit pad would indicate that it has no Sound loaded — hence, pressing it would not
have any effect.
While playing on the pads, focus now on the eight Group buttons on the left of your controller.
You will note the following:
▪ All Group buttons except button
anything.
▪ Button A is fully lit, indicating that Group A is selected. This means that the pads currently
trigger the Sounds of this Group.
▪ Group button B is dim lit in white, indicating it is the next group to be created when se-
lected.
As you can see, MASCHINE communicates in both directions: The commands you give via the
pads and buttons control the software, but the software also communicates information back
to you via the display and the LEDs.
A and B are off, indicating that they are not loaded with
Playing with the Pads
MASCHINE - Getting Started - 40
First Steps