ready to go sounds and template for Mach 5?

[soundscore]

I just started with M5 (cool he just abbreviated Mach 5 - first step away frm virgin noob) and have imported a few of my akai samples and want to ask the obvious.

Who sells ready to go M5 sounds and samples? It would seem a crime to get Plugsound for exactly that reason. I have a loaded roland 2080 I would like to not have to use, but the supplied sounds, and even my adds from my basic AKAI S5000 library dont even scratch the surface.

Should I have bought MX4? Is that the one from MOTU that has this?

thx in advance.

JUD

[Frodo]

It's hard to say whether you *should have* gotten MX4 because it serves a different musical purpose besides the technical compatibility considerations. MX4 is a mockup of an analog synth. MachFive is a sampler and sample playback instrument with surround sampling capabilities.

As for MachFive, Project SAM has released some MachFive-compatible samples-- Project SAM is an AMAZING sample collection, and arguably the highest quality of samples showing native M5 support. What's interesting is that their M5 releases appeared without any further word from MOTU, which is in some way encouraging, I suppose. Then again, sample libraries continued to support Roland format even when the death of the hardware sampler was upon us.

But MachFive format is not widely supported (at least not yet). Besides some of the things Plugsound has alluded to and MOTU's own handful of starter sounds, the best thing to do is to scour sites like ilio.com and soundsonline.com for collections that clearly state MachFive support.

Bear in mind that you will see GIGA, EXS24, Halion, and Kontakt reigning supreme among third party developers. M5 will be scarce.

The other thing to do is to keep tabs of what sample collections other M5 users have successfully imported, and to take note which of those collections you would be able to use.

The irony with all of this is that M5 is touted to be a true universal sampler, which would otherwise render sample formats moot. Sadly, the conversion features in v1 are only 100% reliable with some sample collections but not all, for whatever reason.

Part of the problem with MachFive rests in the fact that version 2 is two years late in coming with nothing official being said about from MOTU. That generates an understandable sense of insecurity among M5 supporters-- and developers, for that matter. How well M5 will ever be supported by third-party developers remains to be seen. For those building their own custom sample libraries from scratch, even version 1 of M5 shines.

Parting thought:

NAMM is coming up this month, which marks 24 months to the week M5v2 was announced. No doubt MOTU will be bombarded by continuing questions about why version 2 is AWOL. There may be more to talk about by the end of the month.

[soundscore]

FRODO > thanks for writing. Maybe I should just jump to Kontakt or plugsound. I don't have much of a learning curve at all into Mach 5, just installed it, in fact. Would be the loss of an investment, but time is worth more than money.

Is there a better one between the 2?

Does either of these function as a loop browser for Apple Loops? That seems to be one of the only BIG things missing in DP.

thx again.

JUD

[Frodo]

M5 is pretty easy to use pretty quickly... K2 is a bit more involved, but I don't think it's at all complicated to sort out.

I'm not sure about the Apple Loops thingy because I've never used them.

Better? Hmm.

Comparing one version 1 to the other, I'd probably give the nod to MachFive. But Kontakt is on version 2 while M5v2 promises to be the bees knees, although AWOL. I like the M5 concept and all it promises, if only we knew when it would be released.

It's a little unfair to put M5v1 against K2, but if you are in need right now, I'd have to give the nod to K2 for it's enormous third-party native support alone.

I still use M5v1, but I plan to go much further with K2 in ways I cannot with M5. As mentioned, I've get several Native Instruments VIs which are quite friendly with Kontakt. But I still plan to get M5v2 if/when it's released. They feel like different instruments in this regard, and in my case having both is much less of a redundancy than it might be for others.

BTW, there is a free Kontakt 2 demo version you can try (how 'bout that?) Just scroll down to the left side to DEMO VERSIONS where you will see links for both Mac and PC.

http://www.native-instruments.com/index ... kontakt_us

To be fair to M5, I'd started a thread to get opinions on M5 before I bought it and had always considered having both M5 and K2. The thread turned into quite a lengthy discussion which you might find interesting. Lots of users chimed in about M5 and K2-- and opinions are as varied as they are informative.

http://www.motunation.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10910

[iMAS]

Who sells ready to go M5 sounds and samples?

Check out these libraries. A lot of them are in M5 format.
http://www.ultimatesoundbank.com/soundscan.html