MOTUnation.com

I think I've found a feature that's not being included in Motu's marketing drive - and the manual doesn't refer to it:

MachFive will perform a similar function to the Roland "Variphrase" range of hardware (and software - in Sonar if I remember correctly) processors. This is basically where you can re-pitch samples on-the-fly via MIDI as they play without changing their duration - it's great for creating harmonies on vocals, for instance. In MachFive 2, all you do is load a phrase into Looplab, select stretch mode and then hit the Part "Mono" key. As long as you play legato, the sample doesn't retrigger when you play a new key, but the pitch changes. Glide time works to make it more musical, too. To be fair, maybe the stretching isn't quite as harmonically corrected as the Variphrase algorithms - but maybe I've not tweaked enough yet.

Anyone with K2, Independence, Structure, etc - is this unique to M5 or just what samplers do these days?

Perhaps it's just using DP/MOTU's Pure DSP algorithm, as I believe Model 12 does as an option to good effect.

Wouldn't it be cool though if there were some new-fangled funniness goin' on under the hood that'll crop up in DP as part of a seamless, drag-and-drop-and-don't-even-engage-your-brain type of tempo/pitch manipulation?

I for one am embarrassingly incompetent when it comes to DP's seemingly convoluted routes to controlling these characteristics, effective though they may be.