Mach 5 or Sampletank

[Christoph1123]

I'm ready to buy a synth/sampler for RTAS Pro Tools LE 5.2.1 OS 9 for percussion, bass (acoustic and electronic), strings, piano, drums (acoustic/electronic)..............

Any opinions on the Mach 5 or Sampletank from any users here? Which one is cooler, better features? I, also, do have a few AKAI/Audio sample CD's I'd like to convert in it as well, as I know Sampletank can do.

Thanks alot!

Genuinely, Chris

[Heritage]

As soon as Mach5 is out, I'm sure we will all let you know!
It does look good on paper.

[ronev]

Kontakt from www.nativeinstruments.de

[Son of David]

MOTU says Machfive will be available "the end of July". Of course, they also said it would be available on these dates as well:

"Mid-April"
"Early May"
"End of May"
"Early June"
"End of June"
"Mid-July"

Sooooo, don't hold your breath - but hopefully we'll see it in a few days.

[dcornutt]

MachV is going out this week. (according to motu). This was confirmed by someone who had it backordered who got a call from dealer.

Comes with 4 gigs of sounds and "ilok".

I would guess it might take them a few weeks to get caught up with backorders...but if you hit the right store and the right time..you might snag a copy early.

I think the ilok thing is gonna throw a few people though. (if that turns out to be accurate)

If you are already using ilok..no biggie. But, if you aren't...hope you have an open USB port.

Or plan a USB hub purchase to go with it.

[dcornutt]

If you use Logic, and want to use MachV , your gonna need space for 2 dongles.

Best get a USB hub in that case.

[lenf]

This afternoon a MOTU dealer posted a note on the MOTU-Mac list that he'd talked to MOTU yesterday (7/29) and they said Mach would be shipping in about two weeks.

So, I guess one has to add End of July and Middle of August to the growing list of ship dates. ;-)

At this rate, one might consider that Mach Five would make a great Christmas gift...

[birdFEEDER]

I've got one for you:
Reason.

But it NOW and don't look back, trust me, you'll love the sampler and "drum machine" and everything else included. It really is great bang for the buck. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Darin Donovan]

I have found Sampletank to be pretty cool, but it looks like it will be more of a "real" sampler when they release version 2--apparently, there will be time-stretch and pitch change capabilities, as well as the ability to import wav and other sound files to use as samples. Supposedly you can now import/convert Akai files for Sampletank with a utility available on their site, but I haven't ever been able to get it to work. They do, however, have a free version with a limited number of instruments on their site. You might give that a shot, just to get the feel of it.

I hear you about the oft-repeated release dates on Mach 5, but Sampletank 2 has em beat: they recently "announced" the product, but still haven't "released" it. Marketing, marketing, marketing...sheesh!

Finally, you might consider Reason as an alternative. Many folks here swear by it. I find it to be a great program with a lot of flexibility. It can be used in various ways to play back samples of your own generation, particularly if you have access to Recycle, propellerheads' beat slicer.

Good luck!
[img]images/icons/cool.gif[/img]
Monster of Love

City of Industry

[Carl Z]

I bought Sample Tank LE with the Sonic Synth sound set and it's been a great sample playback device. I will probably get the Mach 5 instead of upgrading ST but for dialing in decent presets it's great.

I think MOTU s*cks for they're relase dates. They're just trying to keep you from buying something else. It took them a year to bring out DP3.

Even if the MAch 5 was released tomorrow, the people who have it on back order will get it first.

Any ways - the ST combo I bought was about 2 bills. I've definitly gotten my money's worth from that purchase. For some reason I'm not crazy about the makers of ST but it was a good purchase.

Hope this helps.

Carl