There is a lot of overlap and Maschine does many of the same things a standard DAW does but the core nature of the product is different. So there we have other roles such as midi composition and video thrown into the mix. Other midi sequencers then adapted to take on this primary role to compete. It basically replaced a mixing desk and a multitrack tape. And it's primary function was to record edit and mix multitrack audio in digital format. It was Protools specifically that was the primary model in the industry of what a DAW is. However, the primary function of what was called a DAW is a digital audio tape recorder, editor and mixer with random access. The term DAW can be interpreted to mean various things and technically, Maschine could fit into that. Regardless of configuration, modern DAWs have a central interface that allows the user to alter and mix multiple recordings and tracks into a final produced piece.

DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software program on a laptop, to an integrated stand-alone unit, all the way to a highly complex configuration of numerous components controlled by a central computer. A DAW doesn't have that limitation since Audio is not tied to an event it is recorded and played back in a tape like fashion (from end to end) and is represented as such in the UI.Ī digital audio workstation ( DAW) is an electric or electronic device, or computer software application for recording, editing and producing audio files. You can only play back from the beginning since a traditional sampler will always play back from wherever the start point of the chop is. There is no way to fot example jump to the end of a recorded sample and play back from there. Maschine's emphasis is on sampling regardless of how you can use that feature or warp it into bastardized DAW functionality. All of it has to do with how the data is represented in the software and how you can manipulate that data. A DAW has avery specific definition nowadays and just recording audio is at the bottom of the criteria of what a Daw is but it's a very important part.

Just recording audio alone (in Maschine's case sampling) doesn't make it a DAW. The traditional definition of a DAW is recording audio in a tape like fashion or continuous fashion.

Maschine daw