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Hi all. I own Kontakt 5 but have noticed on the web that a number of people are saying that MachFive 3 is generally better in terms of CPU and RAM. I know this can be a fairly subjective question but can anyone comment on this? i.e. if I were to load Kontakt libraries into MachFive, which app would generally perform better: Kontakt 5 or MachFive 3?

Cheers
Gary

DETAILED INFO FOR THOSE WHO ARE INTERESTED
For those who'd like more info on my proposed usage:
I'm a sax and wind controller player (EWI4000S and WX5) and currently use MainStage as my live DAW....it does all my sax audio processing/FX/in-ears etc in addition to hosting synth plugins for my wind controllers. I run a bunch of different synths but have recently realized that Kontakt is generally the quickest and easiest to configure in terms of tweaking non-wind controller patches so they can be played with my EWI or WX5. However, I've also noticed that running multiple instances of Kontakt really chews up CPU and RAM, hence my question above re. these. I'd need MachFive to load my Kontakt libraries but if the MachFive sounds can be easily configured for wind controller, I'll use those instead. Here's what I normally tweak in Kontakt for wind controller compatibility and I'm interested if these are easy to do in MachFive 3:
1. add an amplifier modulator for CC02 and set to 100%
2. lower the velocity setting as an amplifier modulator to 0
3. add a filter frequency/cutoff for CC02 (depending on the patch) and lower any velocity setting for the filter to 0
4. maybe adjust the attack/sustain/decay to suit
5. add some delay/reverb so the patch doesn't die immediately due to the breath control.

I might be wrong but I don't think you can play libraries written for Kontakt in Mach5.
I think you need libraries written for Mach5 or something that's more open source than a library designed to be used in Kontakt.
Is Mainstage 64bit,are you using your Mac and Kontakt in 64bit?
Have you tried different settings in Kontakt,memory server etc..... Do you have enough ram, fast hard drives your sample libraries reside other than your boot drive ?

kgdrum wrote:I might be wrong but I don't think you can't play Kontakt libraries in Mach5.
I think you need libraries written for Mach5 or something that's more open source than a library designed to be used in Kontakt.

The MOTU site says that Kontakt 1/2/3/4.0 library/file formats are compatible but I've just noticed in a thread here that protected Kontakt libraries can't be used in MachFive...so I think that question is answered.

Is Mainstage 64bit,are you using your Mac and Kontakt in 64bit?

Yes, MS is 64-bit but I'm now waiting on the Korg M1 Legacy to be updated to 64-bit before I can run everything in 64. Korg told me this should happen before the end of the 2012 calendar year but I'm not going to take this to the bank! The 32-bit bridge in MainStage isn't great and I tend to get CPU spikes (resulting in audio dropout or crackles) when changing patches between the 32-bit and 64-bit synths and that won't happen when I can finally run everything in 64-bit.

Have you tried different settings in Kontakt,memory server etc.....

Mmm, to be honest I'm not 100% sure how the Kontakt memory server works...will have to read up on that. Do you have any suggestions?

Do you have enough ram, fast hard drives your sample libraries reside other than your boot drive ?

I'm running 8GB RAM and my HDD is a Samsung 830 500GB SSD so that should be fast enough.

To be honest, I'm pretty sure things will run a lot better when I can finally go 64-bit.

I'm really open to any suggestions re. Kontakt 5 and/or thoughts about MachFive 3 for the purposes I've listed above.

Your RAM is too low. 8GB between the OS, Mainstage and a loaded Kontakt isn't much. I wouldn't be surprised if you got rid of most if not all of your problems by simply adding (lots) more RAM.

Also, using a single drive, even a SSD, when using a sampler is not ideal. Add a second SSD and host the sample libraries on that. Otherwise you get a considerable hit on your performance.

If you use mostly Kontakt libraries, I'd stick with Kontakt. In your current configuration I don't think the sampler is the problem anyway.

PS: You said you're not running in 64bit? Not sure why not, AFAIK Mainstage runs in 64bit, and Kontakt5 is def 64 bit.

Anyway, in that case you don't need the memory server. Memory server is a trick by which the 64bit Kontakt can access more than 4GB of RAM when residing inside a 32bit host. I'm not a Mainstage expert, but AFAIK shouldn't apply to you.

EDIT: Since you're using a 32bit bridge in Mainstage to run your Korg, you're definitely already running Mainstage in 64bit mode. Otherwise you wouldn't need the bridge. this would also explain why the whole Memory server thing was new to you...

Yes, def start with more RAM - double at least, if not triple. And a 2nd HD, then you should be screaming.

Agreed add more ram,as much as you & your Mac can handle! $$$
I'd try to add at least another 8gigs,with 16gig of ram and a 2nd drive for samples I think you'll see dramatic improvements!
If you can add more ram,do it.
Also adding 1 dedicated hard drive preferably(SSD) via eSATA for the Samples will yield you the best results.
If you must use a bridge until your apps have all been ported to 64bit you might want to check out jBridge Mac, many people are using it successfully here for many 32bit plugs and VI's,it's only VST and it's $13 but it might be a better bridge than the Mainstage bridge,

MainStage can be run in either 32- or 64-bit mode but I'm not running in 64-bit because of the 32-bit bridge issues. I've tried a few times but the CPU spikes from the bridge make it too problematic. They're not an issue in 32-bit mode but the RAM is getting a bit low.

Unfortunately, 8GB RAM is the max for my MacBook Pro model. Re. the HDD: I didn't realize that running a 2nd HDD for samples improves performance. I might try taking out my optical drive and putting in a spare 7200rpm HDD to see what happens. I'd prefer to put in a 2nd SSD but I'm not that cashed up right now with Christmas looming.

Thanks heaps for the advice...much appreciated.

If your running in the 32bit kernel you're running into the 4gig ram limitation,in that case you should use Kontakt's Memory server but 8 gig is really minimal nowadays with most sample libraries.
If you check users signatures many have lots more ram,I'm using 24gig.
Good Luck

Yeah, I'd already noticed in your and Kubi's sigs that you guys were running heaps of RAM.....a big advantage with desktop machines but they're not very portable! I'll look into the Kontakt memory server and see how it goes until I can go completely 64-bit. Hopefully Korg will stick to their projected timeframe.

Once again, thanks for the advice. Much appreciated.

Gary

One thing you mention is multiple instances of Kontakt. You don't have to do that, you should be able to switch between banks/patches in a single instance of Kontakt. Kontakt can respond to program change messages!

Machfive is tempting me, I almost bought it this week actually, but not as much for the sample library as it's "hybrid" abilities, IE that you can build synths in it and it's a granual synthesizer with an IRCAM engine!

Also, all your live performance issues seem from your posts to be coming from 32 bit versions of your plug ins in the bit bridge in Mainstage. That makes sense because I have the slower 2.4ghz 17" from the year or so before and I can run Kontakt with Massive, Absynth, Zebra 2 all loaded into Kore and Guitar Rig without any problems really with 4GB or RAM and a 7200rpm 680GB HD.
Plus, I noticed than in many respects Mainstage was smoother at this than Kore so....

Re. multiple instances of Kontakt: I know Kontakt responds to PC but I haven't been able to get this working when Kontakt is hosted in MainStage. Michael, are you able to help me out with some advice with this? Running just one instance of Kontakt with multiple instruments loaded would make a considerable difference.