You could really use Maschine natively , or with any DAW . I use LogicMaschine or Maschine natively , although I also have Ableton , which I love for jammingimprovising more than anything else which is great for building upon the foundation of a track , and going off on creative tangent . I don ' t have Maschine Jam yet although my first impression is that it brings an Abletonlike workflow into Maschine whether solo , or in DAW . You don ' t need it , although it can ' t hurt from a creative perspective . I think that Ableton has done tons for organic and spontaneous creativity , and Maschine wwo Maschine Jam andor another DAW can hit that home run all day . I would tell anyone that ' s not a Logic or Ableton Pro to get good with Maschine especially for track foundations , and then go from there ! Cheers ! Edit to add to this Maschine is also buoyed by a Komplete Kontrol S 49 . it just adds so much to creativity . Also , check out the ADSR coursekontrolsseries % 26 m a schineworkflowwalkthrough 4600 media ? utmsourceNative % 20 InstrumentsutmmediumForum % 20 PostutmtermNI % 20 Maschine % 20 Forum % 20 PostutmcontentNI % 20 Maschine % 20 Forum % 20 PostutmcampaignNI % 20 Maschine % 20 Forum % 20 Post for using Komplete Kontrol with Maschine . I can ' t imagine having one without the other , and knowing the workflow for Komplete Kontrol in Maschine makes Maschine MikroMk 2 Studio and the Maschine software SO . MUCH . EASIER . TO . LEARN . Protip !