Need Honest Opinion

[dgrussell]

I have a lot of older sample libraries. I would love to use them on my Mac. Most of the libraries are Giga, Roland S760 and Kurzweil. How well does Mach 5 load these sounds. If Mach 5 were to load them all properly, I would buy it today. But reading many of the posts, it seems there have been issues. I really dont want to spend the money if the conversions are spotty. Unfortunately there is no demo to at least test a few patches to see what it does. I am also concerned that it seems that Mach 5 hasnt been updated in 2 years! Im also wary of paying full price for a program if it has been orphaned.

Thanks for your thoughts!

David

[Fess]

Hey man, you'll be waiting till the cows come home to get a response from anyone here...they like to read, but seem too lazy to help anyone out. I own MachFive and I can tell you this: In Win XP 32 bit with SP3 it works about 60% of the time, but is FAR from stable. Since it runs optimally with 8 GB of RAM (it's in the manual), guess what? You're left with about 2 GBs of RAM if your lucky, and it's a CPU hog as well. I have a Core i7 and when MachFive is launched as a VST the meter jumps up a few notches. Kontakt doesn't do that, nor does Maschine or Independence Pro...actually, I can open all three of those VSTs and they barely move the meter. Hmmmm, mayyyybe because the programmers of the aforementioned software instruments actually UPDATE their software! Don't even try going to a 64 bit OS...you'll waste A LOT of time trying to get it to just launch as a standalone. I've emailed the 'to heck-support' guys/girls/morons at MOTU and they don't give a •••• about me, you or anyone else. Like you said, they haven't updated Mach 2005 (what it should be called) in 2 years or more. PATHETIC. It's pretty bad when a little company like SONiVOX makes software that works FLAWLESSLY with 32 bit and 64 bit OS'-ANY of them, and MOTU seem like a bunch of programming retards. Personally, if I were you, I'd stay away-FAR away from Mach 1995. Oh, and it's glitchy as hell with a Mac too, so either way, STAY AWAY man. I got caught up in the hype of Mach Five; don't let it happen to you. In theory it's an amazing piece of software, but in reality, it's an amazing disappointment.

[dgrussell]

Thank you Fess. That is valuable info. I am just in need of an app that will read Roland S760 samples..... perfectly. I tried Kontakt but it rarely brought them in properly.

It sounds like there are a lot of bugs in Mach 5 and since its been 2 years since an update, fixes are probably unlikely.

Anyone with a similar or different experience?

David

[sdfalk]

Hmmm

Though MachFive has been seemingly abandoned, and I myself am a bit ticked at that,
I wouldn't say it's useless and unstable.
I'm running it on DP7.01 on a previous gen 8 core mac with 6gb of ram, and it runs
fine.
To say it requires 8gb of ram to run optimally is just ridiculous.
Motu tech support did respond to my issues with it, and I can say the plugin
version runs well and hasn't caused me any grief.
Having said all that, I would likely have to give the nod to Kontakt, because it's
obviously been supported, and supported well.
I haven't really noticed much of a difference in CPU hit between the two either.
I'm still using it, because it runs well in plugin mode and I much prefer the interface
to Kontakt's...and I bought it.
If Motu updates it, great..if not, then I'll move on permanently to Kontakt.

PS

Fess. I've got the same manual..1gb is the minimum and 4gb is highly recommended.
page 18...you got the opinion part right at least...

[James Steele]

Hey man, you'll be waiting till the cows come home to get a response from anyone here...they like to read, but seem too lazy to help anyone out. I own MachFive and I can tell you this: In Win XP 32 bit with SP3 it works about 60% of the time, but is FAR from stable. Since it runs optimally with 8 GB of RAM (it's in the manual), guess what? You're left with about 2 GBs of RAM if your lucky, and it's a CPU hog as well. I have a Core i7 and when MachFive is launched as a VST the meter jumps up a few notches. Kontakt doesn't do that, nor does Maschine or Independence Pro...actually, I can open all three of those VSTs and they barely move the meter. Hmmmm, mayyyybe because the programmers of the aforementioned software instruments actually UPDATE their software! Don't even try going to a 64 bit OS...you'll waste A LOT of time trying to get it to just launch as a standalone. I've emailed the 'to heck-support' guys/girls/morons at MOTU and they don't give a •••• about me, you or anyone else. Like you said, they haven't updated Mach 2005 (what it should be called) in 2 years or more. PATHETIC. It's pretty bad when a little company like SONiVOX makes software that works FLAWLESSLY with 32 bit and 64 bit OS'-ANY of them, and MOTU seem like a bunch of programming retards. Personally, if I were you, I'd stay away-FAR away from Mach 1995. Oh, and it's glitchy as hell with a Mac too, so either way, STAY AWAY man. I got caught up in the hype of Mach Five; don't let it happen to you. In theory it's an amazing piece of software, but in reality, it's an amazing disappointment.

Glitchy as hell? Give me a break! Do you know what you're talking about. And I'm going to give you a warning, but you tone down your 'tude here and calling people MORONS or I'll bounce you right out of here. There's no need.

Oh and to the original poster, be careful of forum "experts" who come up with clever phrases like "Mach 1995" and act like they know a whole lot when in fact, it's dubious. Mach Five hasn't had a lot of updates, but to say that it is "glitchy as hell" is just plain wrong.

[jeffthall]

But it is glitchy as hell, and worse sometimes, and hasn't had an upgrade in 4 years. The facts are the facts.

[sdfalk]

But it is glitchy as hell, and worse sometimes, and hasn't had an upgrade in 4 years. The facts are the facts.

its not glitchy as hell so no..that's not a fact..
that would be a falsehood, a fabrication. a..
what's the word i'm looking for...
as for the update part, it's been a little over 2.
Not good either, but again...not 4.
Again..not a fact.

[James Steele]

But it is glitchy as hell, and worse sometimes, and hasn't had an upgrade in 4 years. The facts are the facts.

Have your system looked at. It has problems. Maybe because it's a PT setup and that's where these issues occur. So, original poster: are you running PT? No? Fine... Mach Five 2 runs pretty good actually on native systems like mine.

[zed]

Hey man, you'll be waiting till the cows come home to get a response from anyone here...they like to read, but seem too lazy to help anyone out.

Wow... you must be living in a very different world than the rest of us.

I've emailed the 'to heck-support' guys/girls/morons at MOTU and they don't give a •••• about me, you or anyone else...and MOTU seem like a bunch of programming retards.

I wonder if your experience might have something to do with your attitude? Are you aware that each of us basically programs and attracts our own realities? If yours isn't what you want it to be, then maybe you've got a few programming glitches of your own.

[jeffthall]

OK, I got the update time wrong, but it is glitchy, MOTU has acknowledged this. My system is Protools 8 on a Mac Pro with 16 gigs of ram. I run many VI's. They all run flawlessly, except MachFive. I'm not here to argue this point. Many people are frustrated with this issue, and MOTU has not stepped up. Again, MOTU admits to the problems, so I don't really think it's up for debate.

[sdfalk]

OK, I got the update time wrong, but it is glitchy, MOTU has acknowledged this. My system is Protools 8 on a Mac Pro with 16 gigs of ram. I run many VI's. They all run flawlessly, except MachFive. I'm not here to argue this point. Many people are frustrated with this issue, and MOTU has not stepped up. Again, MOTU admits to the problems, so I don't really think it's up for debate.

Okay..
fair enough.
Now that you Followed it up with that then rather then just MachFive is glitchy..
The rest of us on DP (and Logic) aren't experiencing any issues of note.
That to is not up for debate.

[James Steele]

OK, I got the update time wrong, but it is glitchy, MOTU has acknowledged this. My system is Protools 8 on a Mac Pro with 16 gigs of ram. I run many VI's. They all run flawlessly, except MachFive. I'm not here to argue this point. Many people are frustrated with this issue, and MOTU has not stepped up. Again, MOTU admits to the problems, so I don't really think it's up for debate.

So then the issue is with the RTAS version then? Not familiar with Pro Tools. Might be more useful to tell the original poster that you are having issues with it in Pro Tools?

Not to self: call MOTU and ask if they would acknowledge reports of "general glitchiness."

[jantoman]

Ok, I'll try to be as honest as I can...

I really like MF2: IMHO, it's been a huge improvement to MF1. The ability to directly read Akai CDs is a great feature, though sometimes the conversion isn't perfect, and it's better to save programs and samples in MF2 native format after tweaking parameters. Other formats can be read with minor glitches, i.e. EXS split stereo keygroups panned to center. It works great in DP, of course, but the fact that hasn't been updated in years makes me worry: I'm planning to check Kontakt 4 player, just in case (otherwise, I found out that some Kontakt libraries can't be read by MF2).

There are some things that don't work: I opened a topic about CM shortcuts, but I found other bugs (i.e. selecting, copying and pasting keygroups). And I really miss a serious database tool...

I hope MOTU staff will put some efforts to improve MF2, now that DP7 is done; it's about time. I stick with it because I'm used to, but honestly I can't recommend it to everyone.