Mach V versus Kontakt

[Kubi]

Originally posted by Mark Schmieder:
The info on having to do the handshake each session was from a sales agent at Guitar Centre who said he finally gave up on it as a result.

Yes, well, that figures. Guitar Center. No need to say more.

Originally posted by Mark Schmieder:
I like what I saw of Mosaic but it seems to be a dead product. I'm trying to get a last-minute badge for Summer NAMM, and if I go (the air ticket is a non-issue as I have a Southwest Airlines frequent flyer award that I can use), I'll ask MOTU if they plan to keep the product alive and port to OS X.

They'll laugh you our of the booth. Mosaic was a very promising software, but it's dead, kaput, finito, gone. Can't say I blame them, considering how illiterate musicians have become, and how small that market must be now. Guess it would be suicidal to try and compete with Sibelius & Finale.

Originally posted by Mark Schmieder:
Yikes, I guess you're referring to Dynamic Parts, which is a feature I just assumed was present in all notation products as a matter of course!

One would think so, wouldn't one. Until Sibelius caught up now with v4, Mosaic was the only one that had this fully implemented.

Anyway, I guess this exchange on scoring programs could be seen as hijacking, so I'll leave it at this now.

BTW, when qo refers to libraries for Kontakt vs MachFive, I'm sure he doesn't mean the ones that ship with the sampler, but what's available as commercial libraries. Don't get caught up in the "u can import everything" hype. While it's technically true, practically it's a whole different matter. I'm seriously thinking of buying Kontakt so I can buy and use VSL libraries.

<small>[ July 08, 2005, 12:42 PM: Message edited by: Kubi ]</small>

[mhschmieder]

OK, I apologise for getting off topic, even though from my point of view how well a sampler integrates with notation software is very much on topic. I guess it depends on whether you write in your head first, then on paper, then record, or the other way around. I do both, but primarily the former, so notation software may end up driving my choice of soft sampler.

Now I must show my naivete on the question of importing sample libraries. My impression was that this would be fairly easy and transparent for both products (Mach Five and Kontakt 2). When you say that Mach Five will not import VSL (is that "Vienna String Library"?) do you mean in its native format or in any form? And what about Garriton Personal Orchestra? Can anyone verify that it imports well into Mach Five? I'm also interested in MOTU Symphonic Instrument, but it doesn't seem to be out yet as MOTU doesn't even have a page for it yet.

I'm going to Summer NAMM, having scheduled my badge, air ticket, hotel, and car on Thursday night. So I guess I can just ask these questions at the vendor booths, but of course the diversity of experiences of people in a user forum is the best source for integration and dependency issues vs. strict feature lists.

[Kubi]

Sample libraries come in formats, like text documents. If you get a file in MS Word format, it'll open in MS Word. If you get a file in another format, MS Word says it can open it with all formatting intact. Well, that's sometimes not true.

Same with sample libraries. VSL comes in GIGA, EXS and Kontakt formats (Kontakt is relatively new addition.) Which means when you buy a VSL library, you are not "importing" it into Kontakt at all, you're just opening it. MachFive uses UVI conversion to import the library, and convert it into a MachFive preset, which you then can open. If the library is fairly complex, that conversion can be flawed, mostly due to the fact that MachFive does not feature key switches (yet). But also due to the fact that some libraries use naming conventions that the UVI engine doesn't follow correctly, so it may load the wrong samples into a preset. (This just happened to me when I bought a Kontakt library, PMI Baroque Organ, thinking I could easily convert it into MachFive. I used a coupon, that's why I felt adventurous, but the experiment failed. Other Kontakt libraries were imported without a hitch, though.) Etc. etc.

Now, SOME libraries come with their own players. (GPO is one of them, I believe, but I'm not sure.) For those, you don't need your own copy of MachFive OR Kontakt. But for instance, libraries that come with a Native Instruments player built in (like EWQLSO) can be opened in Kontakt for some more advanced modulation and editing features, but cannot be converted at all, since the built-in player is part of the copy protection mechanism.

Hope this makes this a bit clearer.

MachFive excels at importing SampleCell (which is why I bought it, SampleCell used to be my sampler, so I have an extensive library) and is very good with GIGA files, except for key switching, of course. It does Kontakt ok, with the above mentioned caveats. It doesn't do a very good job with AKAI, which mostly sound weird after the process.

But mostly, it is a very good SAMPLER, which is what I use it for at least half the time, if not more. As in, I roll my own.

<small>[ July 10, 2005, 01:44 PM: Message edited by: Kubi ]</small>

[mhschmieder]

Thanks, that not only makes things clearer, but also makes the product positioning of Symphonic Instrument a bit easier to comprehend as well (MOTU says it can stand alone, or open from within MachFive for more intense editing). I guess that makes it the equivalent of the (acronym I can't remember) East Wind library. So I suppose overall this trend may continue and is not a good basis for deciding on a sampler, even if it ends up being a frustration later on if one purchases a library that has a built-in sampler.

[spirit]

Disks that are "Samplecell 1 (ONE)" format won't translate into Mach V by Disk or by Bank.
This format includes common disks like "Clearmountain Drums". They don't translate into Kontakt 1 either (though it seems they will translate to Kontakt with the right version of Chicken systems "Translator" on a folder by folder basis). Does Kontakt 2 import SampleCell 1 disks in actuality ( not just claims)?

[mess]

Originally posted by sdfalk:
Right now DP doesn't support multiple outs in the Audio Unit format, Logic does.

Huh? DP4.6 totally supports multiple outs from AU plug-ins. I've been using it with BFD, Kontakt, Virus PowerCore, Stylus RMX, etc.

http://www.motu.com/products/software/dp/features46/multiple-outputs.html/en

[joeman]

Does anyone's been able to UVIextract Garritan's GPO samples into MachFive, in specific?

[sdfalk]

Huh? DP4.6 totally supports multiple outs from AU plug-ins. I've been using it with BFD, Kontakt, Virus PowerCore, Stylus RMX, etc.


That was posted before DP 4.6 came out.