Giga, MachFive and Kontact Samplers? [Archive]

Styxx

07-10-2004, 10:30 AM

One of my downfalls is not having much knowledge and experience with samplers such as listed above. From what I've read they all claim superiority over the other in on way or another. If anyone could give me some insight and your experiences with one or more in comparison I would be grateful. Or, maybe there is something else out there more applicable across the board using GOS, GOSlite and GPO?
Especially, anyone have experience with MachFive - "The Universal Sampler"?
:confused:
Thanks.

Alan Lastufka

07-10-2004, 10:43 AM

Styxx,

If you want it to load GPO, Kontakt is currently your only option...

I've also ported over a lot of my GOS into Kontakt and have not run into any problems with it translating so, you are also good there.

Giga's not bad, but if you want it to seriously compare today, you'd need GS3 and I'm assuming you've seen all the stuff here with that so...

MachFive is Mac only I believe, so that's a consideration...

I have both Kontakt and Giga and only use Kontakt now, so, for what that's worth, that's where I currently stand...

KevinKauai

07-10-2004, 04:30 PM

If it's for Mac only it doesn't sound very "universal" (considering Mac has like 5% of the personal computer market)!

imho ... KevinKauai

dubaifox

07-10-2004, 04:49 PM

(considering Mac has like 5% of the personal computer market)!

True....but a MUCH HIGHER percentage in professional music studios use MAC. Pro Tools is still king even though you might not think it even exists on this forum. Pro Tools is used on a much higher percentage of Macs.

If I sound like a die hard Mac'er, I am (not) sort of...anymore..... :) Just bought my first PC a month ago and about to buy another as a dedicated sampler. (either Kontakt or Giga3)

Styxx

07-10-2004, 09:30 PM

Alan Lastufka

07-11-2004, 05:50 AM

And I quote; "Because MackFive supports every major sudio production platform on both Macintosh and Windows (MAS, VST, Ausio Units, HTDM, RTAS and DXi)" Page 82 Sweetwater progerar 2004.
However, I feel Alan has a point with GPO use with Kontakt. I guess I am just looking for the cats meow.Styxx, just because it has DXi support, which is a "Windows' platform" doesn't mean that MachFive will actually run on Windows. The above is worded funny, and probably done so to make you think it's "universal".

Subliminal Message: go with Kontakt... go with Kontakt....

I would be very surprised if it runs on windows, seeing how it's made by MOTU, the makers of Digital Performer, which is Mac only. If they were going to make anything of there's Windows compatible, it should be that seeing how there are less sequesncers on PC than there is on Mac - and more samplers for PC than there is Mac (GigaStudio anyone...?)

Subliminal Message: go with Kontakt... go with Kontakt....

But I've been wrong before, and will probably be proven so again here...

Subliminal PS: go with Kontakt... go with Kontakt.... :)

Styxx

07-11-2004, 08:04 AM

I went to bed last night and in a dream I heard a voice, "Go with kontakt, go with kontakt..." ;)

Joseph Burrell

07-11-2004, 09:12 AM

Hey! I had the same dream a few days ago and if I remember right it was Alan's voice then too.

Someone kept saying: "Go with Kontakt, go with Kontakt."

So I'm going to sell the wife and kid and do just that.

Styxx

07-11-2004, 10:04 AM

OK Alan I did it! Now, can this be used in two systems, say my home studio and my commercial studio? AND....and that's a BIG "AND." Will I be able to use this to record my own percussion samples when not at the studio? Also, does this come with coffee maker and knockwurst? I really love German Potato salad does it come with it as well? Or, at least a recipe book on how to?
Kind of excited and broke now but hey, a guy has to play! Now I can write a stylish money making popular type Beatle song! :D
Unfortunately, I'll have to wait until Mugsie and Malone knock off another McDonalds till I can afford your Acoustic Bass Guitar Library. Sacrifices always sacrifices! :cool:
On the other hand...wait, not that hand it's broken, yeah, the other hand. I can finally load GOSlite.
So, any technical suggestions for a not so witty PC user (or better yet...abuser)? :)

Joseph Burrell

07-11-2004, 10:21 AM

Yes, I think you are authorized two installations of Kontakt (someone correct me if I'm wrong.) Also, Kontakt is a full fledged sampler as well. You should be able to set it up to record your percussion samples and also turn them into usable Kontakt instruments once the process is complete.

Don't feel bad, I've compiled a list of the things I want and its like a mile wide. This music thing is terrible, it's like some kind of money pit addiction. I keep throwing money in, and nothing comes out! Terrible.

Also, I'm pretty sure GOSlite loads into Kontakt pretty well and if you have issues Gary or one of these top notch forum users will help get you going. ;)

Rico

07-16-2004, 12:43 AM

As I understand it, Mach5 is supposed to be available for both Mac and Windows. I just checked the MOTU site, and there it says "Now shipping for Windows"...

Regards,
Rico

88chopin

07-16-2004, 01:19 AM

I've been needing a sampler for quite a while and I would like to use GPO and other multisamples without having to worry about RAM at all. I need a sampler that reads directly from the hard drive. Those DO exist, right? My top choice for the moment is MachFive. Also, I would like to be able to record and edit audio directly into the VST sampler (like samplers are supposed to do), do any of these samplers out there do what I need them to do? Honestly, I'm trying to avoid GigaStudio because it isn't a plugin AND it only imports Giga format, right?
Can anyone help me out as well"
Thanks

88chopin

07-16-2004, 01:24 AM

Also... I'm working on a Windows XP comp. 768 RAM (only enough room for 1 gig) and 2.4gHz Pentium. I'm using Cubase SX 2.0 to sequence but am about to buy Sibelius or Finale (I'm still deciding).

Per Lichtman

07-16-2004, 02:02 AM

88Chopin, here are responses to your questions.

1) All the software sequencers that hard drive based STILL use RAM to cache small amounts of the samples from the hard drive to make it possible to work with very low latency. If the hard drive had to search for the start of every sample every time, it would not give the performance we have come to expect.

2) The best sampler for recording your own samples right now is the EmulatorX from EMU. Unfortunately, it's of limited utility regarding commercial sample libraries etc. If Tascam does finally ship GS3 at some point, it's supposed to be able to offer a fair amount in this area. I'm ignorant when it comes to Kontakt, Halion and Mach V on this point however.

Good luck.

Alan Lastufka

07-16-2004, 10:39 AM

Styxx,

Mr. Burrell is correct, you get two installs per Kontakt purchase and can "kontakt" Native Instruments for more if need be... :)

Styxx

07-16-2004, 10:57 AM

Oooo, Cool! One for me, one for my partner, one for the studio, and one for the little one who cried wee wee wee all the way home! :D :D

Karl Garrett

07-16-2004, 12:35 PM

For what itÕs worth, I have a friend that runs MachFive on a PC with no problems. MOTU is a relatively small company. I would be surprised if they employ more than thirty or forty people, including the cleaning staff. DP is such a complex program and it was created and developed on a Mac platform. It would be a huge undertaking to rewrite this for the PC world. A DAW isnÕt just something that one can run through a code converter and have instant platform change. I doubt seriously that MOTU will ever release a PC version of DP. Keeping up with Apples constant revision of its OS and creating new features is probably about all a company of MOTUÕs size can do.

So whatÕs a company to do in order to enrich its product line? Buy software that another company has produced, but perhaps doesnÕt have the marketing power that and established company like MOTU may have. All they have to do is to clean up the interface, fix some bugs, perhaps add a few features and they have a sellable product. If the programÕs engine is cross platform, then they have a Mac and PC product. ItÕs only hearsay, but I have read that that is what MOTU has done with MachFive.

Now that Apple has swallowed Logic, and with their deep pockets, can bundle packages at bargain prices to lure new users into the Logic camp, MOTU has a real fight on their hands. But in my opinion, MOTU has been the most creative company, next to GaryÕs, around, and I donÕt think that they are about to stop that.

So after all that, MachFive has a wonderfully elegant interface that is easy to use, and converts samples as a rule, flawlessly. Having said all that, if I were you Styxx, I would buy Kontakt. Oh, you already did? Well feel free to disregard all the above. Oh you already did. Good! :D

Karl

DPDAN

07-16-2004, 07:59 PM

click

Houston Haynes

07-16-2004, 10:01 PM

I have HALion 3, Kontakt 1.5.3 and GigaStudio 160 v2.54 - and can say that for your requirements, Kontakt is a very good choice. However - I just started playing with HAL3 last night, and was getting amazing playback results with .2 seconds of sample pre-load. I'm talking about streaming well past 200 voices without so much as a hiccup. So, I believe that the sampler playing field has leveled considerably since GigaStudio went on a two-year-plus development hiatus... it will be interesting to see how things shape up when "the giant" awakes.

Styxx

07-17-2004, 03:41 PM

It was also the consideration of price. This is for my home studio. For the commercial studio we'll dabble in others. Hal3 just hit the market right? So much out there it boggles the mind. :confused:

rjt

07-24-2004, 08:57 AM

Styxx,

If you want it to load GPO, Kontakt is currently your only option...

If MACH5 reads Kontakt format, wouldn't that load GPO as well?

Thanks

Styxx

07-24-2004, 12:41 PM

Well, after deciding to go with full kontact, receiving the software, installing, going through registration nightmare, finding out it is the wrong version, and now going through download after download to try and correct the this mix-up, I am not so sure it was money spent well. Even after an NI sales rep has been most helpful in an attempt to send me the right software via download, I still have no way to use GOS lite or GPO for that matter. It's like buying a vehicle with no tires. The damn thing is as about as useful as a screen door in a submarine!
What a fiasco! :eek:

Haydn

07-24-2004, 06:30 PM

rjt,

No, Mach5 won't read GPO files. There is more than one type of Kontakt file. GPO uses a monolithic file format. The .wav files are stored in one big file that only Kontakt can read. Normal non-monolithic Kontakt files have standard .wav files for each sample that you can see if you look in Windows Explorer.

rjt

07-24-2004, 11:11 PM

Hayden... thanks very much for the reply. That clears up a lot.

Styxx... for what it is worth... I have the full version of Kontakt and it reads GPO just fine. When you sort out the problems, I think you will be pleased.

Take Care

Styxx

07-25-2004, 03:55 PM

Styxx

07-27-2004, 07:19 AM

Finally have the full 1.5.3 version of Kontakt. I did a giga conversion but where did the files go?
Oh where oh where did the giga files go?
Oh where oh where can they be?
I converted them all
to my kontakt sampler
Oh where oh where can they be?

What a pain in the ACE! :mad:

dhurst

01-06-2005, 11:14 AM

StrangeCat

01-06-2005, 02:53 PM

I would wait till after winter Namm to make a Choice, as Kontakt2 is supposed to be showcased there^_* Also everyone in Asia uses a Mac in the studio, and most big name professional studios use a mac(protools, pro-logic)
Sonar is starting to change things and Cubase SX...Anywayz you might want to wait and see what Kontakt 2 is all about.

Karl Garrett

01-06-2005, 03:04 PM

Don't know if this subject is anything more than a recurring nag, but . . . having just installed GPO on a G4 (800Mhz, 1gig ram), and with the Kontact player seeming a bit buggy, AND now that MachFive supports streaming, can I convert the GPO samples into MachFive? (Using DP4.1).

any replies would be appreciated
dhurst@digitalpath.net

The short answer is no.

I have not found the Kontakt player buggy. The only problem is that it does place a load on the processor. I think this will be a problem with the Mac you are using.

But honestly, all the virtual instruments that I have installed on my Mac including MachFive, place a load on the CPU.

The ability of a sample player to stream is, in my opinion somewhat overrated. If you can't get a faster computer, you will have to convert midi to audio very quickly in your creative process. This takes a little longer, but unless you are up against deadlines and such i'’s not so bad.

By the way welcome to the forum. Hope you get GPO up and running quickly and share some of your music with us.

Karl

kitekrazy

01-08-2005, 12:32 PM

I use VSampler for many things. It reads many formats. I've found it easier for creating new instruments from samples. It also has a function to find the best loop points for creating instruments.
It's a very under rated sampler.

ZeroZero

01-09-2005, 03:36 PM

I used Halion 3 for a good while and it was ridden with bugs - breeding them everywhere - twenty minutes without crash was good. I stayed with it for first fix, then the second, then the third (where things got almost beartably good) and just gave up - IMO it needs to be completely rethought. But having said this it does have soem very powerful features and if you can put up with an interface which is neither intuitive nor functional and bugs which Steinberg say they fix but don't, then go with H3
Just my opinion.

ZeroZero

01-09-2005, 04:29 PM

Halion 3 Some example posts from their forum:

Posted: Sun Jan 09, 2005 2:25 pm Post subject: it's a joke right???

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I just installed the maintnance update of hal3 and ALL my programs are gone.. i open an sx3 project with all the carefully multilayered, adjusted samples and they're simply not there... please help ASAP, months of work are gone

06 jan 05
When I bought Hal 1, I immediately found the following bug, and reported it before Hal2 was released.
I was told, by Pink, that it had been put in the bugbase.
Now, in 3.1, it's still there..

You get the picture...

Tom Hopkins

01-09-2005, 07:30 PM

ZeroZero,

If you are on WindowsXP and haven't disabled System Restore you should be able to retreat to a time before your installation of the update. Worth a try. You are keeping data backups of everything you do aren't you? I burn data to DVD as my backup medium. It's old advice but absolutely essential to avoid disasters like this. Anyway, I had a similar problem with the installation of HALion3, but the installation only killed one thing: the full version of Kontakt. I retreated to the moment before the HALion3 installation (I always create a restore point just before doing an installation of any new software) and all was well again. Except HALion was no longer installed, of course!

Tom

ZeroZero

01-10-2005, 12:30 AM

Thanks for the advice Tom, I have H3 installed succesfully but after months with numerous problems I just try to avoid using it.

bmonroney

01-10-2005, 02:59 AM

Just to clear up and/or amplify a few things others have stated here:

-MOTU's Mach 5 is based on the UVI sampling engine developed by the French company Ultimate Sound Bank, customized and marketed as a MOTU product. USB makes some great virtual instrument products themselves (Plugsound series, UltraFocus, etc.), and the UVI engine is used by several other companies such as Spectrasonics.

-I would also point out that MOTU is as much a hardware company as it is a software company, and all of their audio and MIDI hardware has been cross-platform for a number of years, with solid Windows driver support.

-Other than GPO itself, only the full version of Kontakt can play or edit the GPO library. The sample archive is copy-protected and cannot be exported from Kontakt into other formats. This is true of all Kontakt-, Intakt- and Kompakt- based virtual instruments, such as those by East-West.

-GPO on an 800MHz G4 Mac is not going to be a very satisying experience. Definitely turn off DFD (disk-streaming), and limit your polyphony where possible. Don't expect to run a full orchestra - maybe only a handful of voices.

-Most software sampler instruments do not "record" samples because it's simply not necessary. They are generally running in or alongside a full-featured audio recording and editing environment already. To create a sampler patch you simply drag or import audio files you have recorded and edited in your DAW of choice. For example, I have been using DSP-Quattro (Mac) for sample editing, before that it was Peak, and sometimes I'll pull bits of audio straight out of a DP project in order to mangle it in Kontakt.

hope that clarifies some things...

brian

SPF

01-18-2005, 09:22 AM

I've also ported over a lot of my GOS into Kontakt and have not run into any problems with it translating so, you are also good there.

Alan,

I'd like to do the same. How did you port the keyswitching, up/down bowing alternation, and legato mode patch functionality? Don't these rely on MeastroTools, or do only some of them?

Also, are you using the Kontakt import function or do you use ChickenSys Translator? I can't seem to get Translator to do a batch conversion on the whole shootin' match. Can't remember the specific issues with the last time I tried.

Thanks for any advice.

-SPF