a few questions...

[dp]

New member here - long time DP user.

I don't own Mach 5 yet and I'm trying to find out if it will work for me before I buy it. So here's some background.

I have a multi-computer setup - 2 PCs running Gigastudio,1 PC for VI's, 1 G5 running DP for sequencing, and 1 G5 running Pro Tools for mixing and recording audio. I slave the PT box to the DP box to print my mixes. Like many others I was dismayed to learn of the demise of Gigastudio and am contemplating my next move going forward. Gigastudio still works of course but I know that eventually continuing to hang my livlehood on an obsolete format may bite me so I'm looking at my options.

I have an extensive Giga library that's been built up over many years so whatever I go to would have to play that well. I have had Kontakt for many years but never used it much, so I am looking at that of course. It seems very powerful but I never liked the interface and the library would have to be converted which I have tried but has been problematic. Plus I have not had good luck with NI tech support. When I read that Mach 5 can read other formats without having to convert them - that seems great! My question is though - from someone who's actually done this, how well does it really work? Like many others, I have the usual bunch of sounds, including Sonic Implants (or Sonivox) and VSL. I rely heavily on SI for my orchestral stuff and make extensive use of the controller #1 implementation. I really wonder if this will work the same as it did on Giga - and do they sound the same.

I guess I would use Mach 5 in standalone mode on my main PC which is an Intel Core 2 Quad 2.4 GHz with 8 gigs of ram running Windows XP Professional x64 edition. I wonder how many instances I can run or even need to run to bring up the same large palettes I can on Giga.

Anyway that's a lot of info and I thank anyone wha has taken the time to read this. I'm sure there are others who could benefit from any help with these issues. Thanks in advance for your help.

Danny

[billf]

I don't have Giga, but I do have a bunch of Kurzweil sample libraries, as well as exs stuff, and MachFive handles those quite well.

[dp]

Thanks Bill