Pretty sure Maschine is not a DAW. I believe people use Maschine as a drum sequencer either within their DAW, or drag their MIDI from Maschine into their DAW of choice.Native Instruments has some great HD videos on their website for pretty much everything they offer. I would check that out.
I just started using Logic and it comes with Ultrabeat as a drum sequencer. I did not read good things about it and it seemed that most people were using other plug-ins or hardware like Maschine. But, after watching hours of tutorials on Ultrabeat alone, it is an absolutely incredible piece of software. I think it is rather intimidating, but I’m glad I rolled up my sleeves and learned it inside and out.
And I think that’s just the thing with all of this production stuff. Decide on your software, learn all you can, because in the end, they all pretty much do the same things.
I spend half my time making music, and the other half reading the 1500 page manual for Logic or watching tutorials for which I bought a subscription to learn everything.
I think both Ableton and FL Studio are very capable. In the end, I went with Logic because, I use Mac, and I got everything, software, 10 synths, a sampler, and Ultrabeat, along with 50GB of sounds and loops for $199. The price for Live 9 Suite is a bit of an investment. I’m happy with my choice, and will be busy for a couple years learning all that Logic has to offer.
The only thing I would mention, and this may not even matter. Ableton Live is without a doubt the most prevalent DAW. It is much easier to find books, tutorials (free and paid for), courses online and in person, and of course it is also meant to perform with if that’s your thing.
Good Luck. I thought getting started on the DDJ thing was a bit of a rabbit hole, but production has sucked me in even harder. It’s addicting and I sleep very little. I have to put the wife and kids to bed each night before I start. Shit, it’s 0130 right now and I have to leave for work in 5 hours. I need to go back and adjust the automation on my bass line first though………