What do you guys think of MachFive?

[MikeInBoston]

How does it compare to Kontact?

Are the sounds really good?

How about the orchestral sounds? Does it include a realistic and complete selection, with all the major articulations? Are they better than Motu's Symphonic Instrument?

Thanks,

Mike

[MIDI Life Crisis]

It's a different beast. Not just a playback but incredibly powerful sampler. Check out the MOTU you tubes on it. I have both and use both. Depends on what I need when.

[dix]

I prefer MachFive's GUI by a long shot, but If you're only after libraries I'd recommend Kontakt. I use MachFive3 more for sampling and Kontakt more for libraries. M5 has some nice libraries, but there's wayyy more available for Kontakt - for better or worse it's becoming the standard for library authoring.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Totally agree, but if your customizing samples and doing sound design, it's MachFive by a mile. Again, I need both. The third party instruments for Kontakt are fantastic and often inexpensive.

[MikeInBoston]

Thanks for your input, guys. Yeah, I guess I'll hold off then. I'm more after great sounds and libraries than sampling my own, although I almost always tweak a few parameters to get the sound just right.

By the way, what are your favorite orchestral libraries? The best thing I have so far is Project Sam's Orchestral Essentials (which has wonderful ensemble sounds). I'd love to get Symphobia 1 and 2, but I just can't afford them. I also have Motu's Symphonic Instrument, but I think it's pretty lackluster.

Thanks,

Mike

[dix]

Your impression of SI seems to be the consensus. I have EWQLS and Symphobia. Both are quite good IMO - and very different from one another. I'd love to have the other SAM libraries, but yeah, they're pricey.