MachFive and GigaSampler

[tedwards0118]

I use DP5.2 and a dual 1.8 G5 with OS 10.3.9. I usually record acoustic music (bluegrass) guitar, mandolin, banjo, vocals. I am interested in using sampled upright bass and ran across this collection:

Dan Dean Giga Bass Collection (GigaSampler)
dandeanpro.com
The demo at this web site sounds incredible.

If I buy a MachFive, will it be compatible with this collection? I am a real novice when it comes to sampling technology so I have a lot to research and learn. I really just want an easy way to add acoustic bass to the mix and sound absolutely realistic.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Terry

[Kubi]

Many Gigasampler Presets use keyswitching, where you can use a key outside the range of the instrument to switch between sample sets (i.e. soft pizz vs. hard pizz vs. slap). Which makes it very easy to play very musically (left hand switches samples, right hand plays music.) MachFive currently does not support key switching and so does not import the Gigapresets that use it correctly. MachFive v2 (due out any minute now...) supposedly will.

Other than this fairly important issue, Giga imports have usually worked for me. Go to http://www.herman-witkam.com/raw/ and dowload a few to test for yourself. You have to e-mail Herman for a password.

[chrispick]

Originally posted by Kubi:
Many Gigasampler Presets use keyswitching, where you can use a key outside the range of the instrument to switch between sample sets (i.e. soft pizz vs. hard pizz vs. slap). Which makes it very easy to play very musically (left hand switches samples, right hand plays music.) MachFive currently does not support key switching and so does not import the Gigapresets that use it correctly. MachFive v2 (due out any minute now...) supposedly will.

Other than this fairly important issue, Giga imports have usually worked for me. Go to http://www.herman-witkam.com/raw/ and dowload a few to test for yourself. You have to e-mail Herman for a password.

I concur with all the above, but add that MachFive generally will import and play all alternate samples, even if it can't assign keyswitching to enable more player efficient. The exception, however, I believe is for samples created specifically for the latest version of Gigasampler (GigaStudio 3). I think these specialty samples can only be played in the latest Gigasampler.

<small>[ July 21, 2005, 10:44 AM: Message edited by: heavypick ]</small>

[tedwards0118]

Thanks for the response and info.

I will be using a Roland guitar synth on my stratocaster to play the bass lines and create a MIDI track in DP5.2.

How does MachFive work then as a virtual instrument? I've never seen it demo'd so I don't have a clue. And, is there a better way to get a high quality bass sample on your tracks? I don't want to spend money on Machfive if I don't have to.

Thanks,

Terry

[chrispick]

Originally posted by Terry:
Thanks for the response and info.

I will be using a Roland guitar synth on my stratocaster to play the bass lines and create a MIDI track in DP5.2.

How does MachFive work then as a virtual instrument? I've never seen it demo'd so I don't have a clue. And, is there a better way to get a high quality bass sample on your tracks? I don't want to spend money on Machfive if I don't have to.

Thanks,

Terry

MachFive works like you suspect: You'll lay down MIDI info, load up your bass sample in M5, then assign the MIDI track to the M5 channel. The MIDI will trigger the bass sounds.

I think the best way to get bass guitar sound in DP is to record bass via a D.I. Some folks recommend simultaneously recording the bass amp cab to have some amp color to mix it. If you're a guitar player, you can probably hack out some bass lines.

I do, however, use bass guitar samples from time to time. I use some Akai bass samples I've gathered over time that I've converted to MachFive format. As stated above, I just key in a MIDI track assigned to the bass samples in M5. Works well.

[tedwards0118]

Thanks, heavypick. Using Machfive sounds fairly straight forward. I do play some bass but doing in the MIDI format lets me assign upright bass, for example, and other types of basses I don't have access to.

Now to try and justify the expense! Hmmm... for the price of a new cheap bass guitar I could buy a Machfive and some samples of many different basses! I got to work on my delivery to convince my wife.

Terry

[croftish]

Or you could always try Spectrasonics Trilogy, which is a dedicated bass virtual instrument.
It's very good

[tedwards0118]

I looked at Spectrasonic web site demo's.

Trilogy is awesome! The most natural sounding bass I've heard yet from a virtual instrument.

Thanks for the tip croftish!

Terry