Routine: Polyphonic Kontrol (Traktor + Maschine) with José Cabello

José Cabello is back with a new addition to his Téchnica Futura series. Today, José is sharing with us a routine that explores the relationship between Traktor and Maschine. In this routine, he is using a Traktor Kontrol D2 and a Midi Fighter Twister to combine Midi Mode and Pad Link to create an advance polyphonic routine. Read on to see how José is able to achieve this effect using an advanced mapping technique.

Creating Polyphonic Kontrol

Let’s start breaking down this performance by talking about Midi Mode, a feature available on Native Instrument controllers. Midi Mode allows a Native Instruments controller to send pure MIDI and control a third-party application. José is using his Kontrol D2 in Midi Mode to use Maschine within Traktor.

Once inside of the Maschine software, (via using the Controller Editor program), José is able to send notes (instead of CC’s) from the Kontrol D2’s pads into Maschine. This creates a “Flat Note” scale, jumping through four octaves using the Shift and Deck buttons. When Maschine receives these messages, he uses Pad Link to play two instruments at the same time. In the video, he’s using Monark (Monophonic) and two FM8 layers (Polyphonic), along with some cool sidechain effects.

Within Traktor, José is able to use the Step Sequencer functionality on two Remix Decks to control to two drum patterns. The Kontrol D2 handles the primary drums (Kick, Hi-Hat, etc.) while the Midi Fighter Twister controls the secondary drums. This allows José to use Traktor for the beat and Maschine for the melodic components of his routine.

Through this advanced mapping technique, he is able to achieve a complex workflow with only two controllers. More importantly, the technique José demonstrates isn’t exclusive to the Kontrol D2. This combination of Midi Mode and Pad Link is possible with any Native Instruments Kontrol unit.

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