Mach 5 or Other Sampler

[croyal]

Hello All.

I'm looking to add to my synth arsenal by getting Mach 5. I'm not sure of getting a soft sampler because my previous one (in OS 9) wasn't very easy to use. More recently the Kontact engine has been running the samples I use for Finale and sometimes DP5. But I only use Kontact sporadically for Orch samples. So, I'm not hurting; but I want to get something I can really lean/ depend on.

Is Mach 5 vs. 2 that beast I need for regular productions? I have hardware synths and samplers as well, but I think a DEPENDABLE soft sampler is in the cards. No MOTU bashing please, just your honest feeling on usability and any comparisons to other samplers sample libraries would be appreciated.

Thanks much.

Chris

[Shooshie]

I honestly can't tell you, Chris. I haven't used other samplers except hardware samplers like my Kurzweil 2600, and of course, by comparison to that, MachFive2 is lightyears ahead. Of course, I've got dedicated sample libraries like Ivory, MSI, Akoustik Piano, and such, but I don't really compare them with MachFive2. Different beasts.

I can say this much; I've had MachFive2 for about 2 weeks or maybe a bit more, now, and it's so much better than MachFive (1) that I'm jumping for joy. Maybe I'd leap over the moon if I had Kontakt2; I have no idea, as I haven't even looked at its manual much less used it. (nor do I even own it) But M5.2 is, in my opinion, a very capable, very able, very easy-to-use sampler/loop editor/converter/sound processor. I'm probably going to use it instead of MOTU Symphonic Instrument, using the same sound library, simply because of the increased flexibility of it over the MSI interface.

Furthermore, because MachFive2 reads original disks, rather than having to convert them (which used to take hours in MachFive1) I have resurrected all my old sample disks. I've realized why most of them aren't among my favorites; there's a lot of bad stuff on them. But nearly every disk has one instrument that I like, and that's enough to make it worthwhile. I'm still lacking a good solo version of each of the strings, but I have my woodwinds and brass pretty well taken care of, and drums galore. There are thousands of guitars and basses in my libraries, and endless pads and atmospheric sounds.

The ability to use Apple Loops from Garageband and Soundtrack was a huge and unexpected surprise. They work very well, and I'm happy with the implementation in general. Occasionally I come across a loop in which you can hear the slices, but MachFive2 version 2.01 seemed to fix most of that. (or else I just accidentally happened upon the right way to do loops)

I'm stoked. If you have any specific quesitons, I'm happy to answer them. I've heard of lots of people having crashes. I'm not among them. It hasn't actually crashed on me yet, though I force-quit it a couple of times early on while waiting for streaming samples to load in RAM instead. Maybe it hung up; I don't know, but it hasn't happened since.

If I had Waves plugins that were compatible with DP 5.12, I'd be ready to pull the plug on all upgrades, and just coast into the sunset with the exact setup I have, plus some added instruments from time to time. That's how much I like MachFive2. It completes DP for me. (well, along with Waves)

I'm using a MacPro 2.66 GHz Dual-Dualcore, and everything is snappy. I hope your experience can/will be as good as mine. Samples aren't the answer to everything, I know, but for what they are worth, MachFive2 is the best solution I've found yet.

Shooshie

[Shooshie]

One more thing: the learning curve is actually pretty steep. I'm past most of the hard stuff, I think, but there are parts of it that I just had to absorb slowly, because they simply didn't make sense the first few times around. I was sure I was missing something before I realized that the main DSP filters did not have a collective graphic interface. You just set them using the main panel controls and use your ears to get the most out of them. But all the other filters and effects have very fine graphic interfaces as we are accustomed to in all our plugins nowadays. That includes at least 16 possible plugins for each sample, off the top of my head, not including the initial 2 DSP filters. This app is deep, completely automatable and/or controllable from external MIDI faders and CC controllers. There's a lot to it, really, and though there is a lot to learn, it's not complicated in the sense that you have to figure it out over and over again. It's just learning where things are, how to reach them, and how to change them. (and what's available)

That's all...


Shooshie

[spitfire31]

In my view, Kontakt 2 has revolutionized (an expression I don't use lightly) the state of the art of sample-based instruments thanks to its highly sophisticated scripting engine.

While it's true that we'll probably see fewer sample based libraries that aren't coded into a particular 'player' or other, there are some libraries that are heavily dependent on K2 intelligent scripting and have reached a level of realtime playability that is just mindblowing.

Bela D's Anthology:Celtic Wind and Anthology:Spiritual Wind are good examples.

Of course a major consideration is what you're going to use the sampler for. I don't own M5 2 and don't plan to get it, but apparently it's very capable. As for myself, I'll stay with K2 for reasons outlined above.

Best,

Joachim

[nk_e]

FWIW: I own them both. IMHO M5v2 exposes it's capabilities more immediately to the user thus empowering the user more quickly than K2.

I find the difference between Kontakt and Mach5v2 to be analogous to the diff between DP and Logic:

Both are really powerful.

K2 has it's scripting engine -- Logic has the environment. Both really powerful and both have no direct (or at least weak) equivalents in M5v2 and DP respectively.

However, M5v2 has a great workflow and is alot easier to grok. (DP has a great workflow and is easier to grok also IMHO.)

So K2 may be "more powerful" as far as more esoteric sound design capabilities, but M5v2 is arguably a more "productive" system if you are not focussed on more esoteric sound design issues.

I am NOT saying that M5v2 is a lightweight in that regard btw! You can get a helluva lot done with it for sound design too.

Hope that makes sense.

GN

[croyal]

...If I had Waves plugins that were compatible with DP 5.12, I'd be ready to pull the plug on all upgrades, and just coast into the sunset with the exact setup I have, plus some added instruments from time to time. That's how much I like MachFive2. It completes DP for me. (well, along with Waves)...
Shooshie

Thanks for the response. FWIW I still use Wave Renaissance and Mastering Bundles vs. 4x(!!!) with DP 5.12 and they all work wonderfully. The only issue when editing within a plug window. The decimal key doesn't invoke the main transport counter for editing location; it only changes a parameter in the current plug window- until you click outside the window. It's no PITA to click in the counter - and I saved on Waves updates. YMMV since I'm on a PPC machine and yours appears to be Intel.

Chris

[madboy]

Hello All.

I'm looking to add to my synth arsenal by getting Mach 5. I'm not sure of getting a soft sampler because my previous one (in OS 9) wasn't very easy to use. More recently the Kontact engine has been running the samples I use for Finale and sometimes DP5. But I only use Kontact sporadically for Orch samples. So, I'm not hurting; but I want to get something I can really lean/ depend on.

Is Mach 5 vs. 2 that beast I need for regular productions? I have hardware synths and samplers as well, but I think a DEPENDABLE soft sampler is in the cards. No MOTU bashing please, just your honest feeling on usability and any comparisons to other samplers sample libraries would be appreciated.

Thanks much.

Chris

I've got MachFive 2 & Kontakt 2. They sound diffrent from each other. They compliment each other well.
So far MF 2 has been stable and I'm happy with it.

[ToolFool]

This may sound odd. But in the past i have invested in both Machfive 1 and Kontakt 2 primarily for a solid sampler with a nice big library of 'across the board' sounds (SINGLE LIBRARY ALWAYS SEEMED TO BE TOO PRICEY)
I'm now considering paying for my M5 2.0 upgrade (no i am not eligible for the freebie), and wondered if the sounds contain good saxophone and brass samples that would be suited to jazz.
I find the sounds in Garritan JABB large but a little tinny.
I could not get a full list of sounds from MOTU, to see what i would be getting before i paid for it.
Can anyone advise?

[Shooshie]

I don't recall a good saxophone; in fact, there is no sax that I can remember. The brass are ok. Other woodwinds are good.