Home | Products | Software | MachFive 3 | Technology

MachFive — The universal sampler for creative music production

Technology

Advanced technology at its very best: turbocharging your creativity

UVI Engine XT™

The unseen Hercules that powers MachFive

The UVI engine is known worldwide for its CPU-efficient performance and incredible sound. Amazing feats of engineering magic abound, unseen, including on-the-fly upsampling and downsampling, which allow you to transparently load and play sample material with any bit depth or sample rate. Build a high-resolution sample library and use it at any sample rate that your current project calls for, without lengthy sample rate conversion operations.


Disk streaming

It's no stream: it's a fire hose

Multi-sampled instruments often consist of many gigabytes of data. How does all that data on disk turn into sound instantly when you play a key? The answer is streaming: MachFive specializes in reading thousands of samples from your hard drive seemingly all at the same time, with efficiency and performance that are the envy of the industry.



Multi-channel surround

Full immersion for your audience

Deliver the ultimate experience to your audience with multi-channel surround sound. Surround is standard fare now for movie soundtracks and special effects, and MachFive is used every day as an indispensable tool for soundtrack surround production. But surround is also being used more and more for music production, especially live tours. With support for up to 7.1 surround sound, MachFive can be your secret weapon for your surround music productions.

HD Audio

Professional high-definition audio

Do you need to work in HD? MachFive is designed to handle multi-channel high-definition audio. Best of all, you don't even need to think about the resolution of your audio: MachFive will always preserve the highest sample rate and bit depth possible. MachFive takes advantage of high definition audio interfaces, allowing you to build your sound libraries at depths up to 32 bits and sample rates up to 192kHz.



IRCAM granular synthesis

Add 'otherworldly' resonances to your
music production and sound design

Are you looking for fresh new sound vistas? You've come to the right place: MachFive 3's IRCAM granular oscillator puts cutting-edge synthesis technology at your fingertips, ready for you to explore. It's easy, fun, and the results will blow your mind. From alien landscapes to unimaginable timbres, granular synthesis will keep you entranced for hours.

IRCAM technology

The very best audio time-stretching
and pitch-shifting available

MachFive includes licensed granular synthesis, time-stretching, and pitch-shifting technology from the world-renowned IRCAM research institute in Paris, France. Granular synthesis can be seamlessly incorporated into your sound design efforts in MachFive, side by side with the other synthesis models that MachFive offers. The IRCAM algorithms produce pristine audio time-stretching and pitch-shifting results, even when applying extreme tempo changes or pitch intervals. The results are so usable at extreme values, you can use them as powerful sound design tools.



Loop Lab™

The doctor is in: surgically enhance your loops

Loop Lab is MachFive's unique slice loop editor. Modify REX, ACID, UFS and Apple Loops, or create your own by simply dropping the loop into the Loop Lab — even if the loop has not yet been sliced. Loop lab instantly maps slices, and finds or sets the tempo. Perform destructive or non-destructive sample-level editing. Apply time-stretching with no artifacts. Trigger the loop via playback from your host software, or trigger each slice from a MIDI controller. Drag audio files from Loop Lab to your desktop or audio tracks in your host sequencer. You can even drag a loop into a MIDI track, where the loop appears as MIDI notes that trigger individual slices. You can then play the loop one slice at a time to customize it or completely reconstruct/deconstruct the loop by playing the slices in a different order.




Multi-sample import

Intelligent mapping can save you hours

When you drag multiple samples into MachFive, it automatically maps them across the keyboard for you. If you use a few straightforward naming conventions to indicate the pitch and volume level for each sample, MachFive will put every single sample at exactly the note and velocity range you specify, including multiple velocity stacks on single notes. Think about it: hundreds of your samples can be fully mapped in seconds with one drag and drop operation. Sound designers never had it so good!

Drag and drop everything

Drop everything and try it…on everything

MachFive supports easy drag-and-drop importing of audio files, loops and samples. You can simply drag samples from your computer desktop or host application to the MachFive keyboard. You can even drag multiple samples in one step to map into layers or splits, chromatically, on white keys only, or even according to their pitch, which MachFive can determine automatically based on names. MachFive also lets you drag presets directly to their targets. When in doubt, try drag and drop.





Flexible modulation matrix

Twist it, turn it, make it pulsate

Almost every setting in the MachFive window can be automated, modulated or both. MachFive’s modulation architecture is open-ended and flexible, giving you an unlimited number of internal sources (LFOs and envelopes) and completely flexible external assignments. For each MachFive object, you get two filters, eight LFOs, six envelopes and a variety of additional powerful modulation and filtering features that allow you to sculpt and tweak your sounds to perfection. Making assignments is easy: just control-click. The architecture allows for unlimited modulation connections, available at every stage of the synth section. MachFive can sync everything to tempo.






Envelopes

The graceful way to shape your sounds

MachFive provides standard AHD and DAHDSR envelopes. But it also provides multi-envelopes with unlimited control points so you can sculpt the perfect envelope shape. They can sync to tempo, too.





Step envelope

Make it pulse, gurgle, and syncopate

The Step envelope is the most rhythmic envelope in MachFive. It applies discrete steps to whatever it is modulating: pitch, cutoff frequency, resonance, or anything you want. Sync to tempo and make it burn.




Mappers

The key to refining automation control

Mappers let you control how automation will affect what it is automating. In effect, you are shaping your automation control. This refined level of control can become absolutely crucial, depending on the target.

One-click automation

Get your hands on it…with one click

Want to control a paramater, such as filter cutoff, from your MIDI controller? Option-click or Alt-click to assign it. It's that simple. Or use one of MachFive’s powerful Macros. Then 'shape' the control with a mapper.


Layer rules

Rule your sample layers with an iron fist — or a deft hand

When working with multiple sample layers in an instrument preset, you need to be able to add dynamic and expressive behaviors for switching between layers. Enter Layer Rules. Use key switches, pitch bend, note speed or duration, legato, and other performance characteristics to craft expressive layer switching in seconds. Create as many rules and sub-rules as you wish. Layer rules are more advanced than simple key switches, but much easier than the ultimate flexibility of event processors (scripts).

Scripting engine

Introducing the 4th dimension in sound design

Scripting adds a whole new dimension to music production and sound design by allowing presets to dynamically respond to MIDI performance characteristics, such as note intervals, chords, and controller data. The result? An unprecedented level of musical expression and nuance. MachFive's Telecaster, J-Bass and The Upright instruments are excellent examples. Depending on what you play, they can strum a chord, bend a note, slide up the fret board, hammer onto a string, mute a string, and many other gestures. MachFive's scripting engine is based on an industry standard programming language, allowing sound designers — or anyone with modest programming chops — to build their own scripted instruments. Custom scripts are loaded into MachFive as Event Processors, which are accessed in MachFive's Event Rack, which works just like MachFive's intuitive Effects Rack.





Event Rack

Just like effects, it's an entire rack full of dynamic musical expression



The Event Rack holds event processors, which are “MIDI effects” modules used just like audio effects: they can be applied to programs, parts, and layers. Event Processors receive an incoming MIDI data stream, analyze it, and — based on a prescribed set of actions — produce altered MIDI output. For example, MIDI chords played as input can be arpeggiated as output. Event processors can range from very simple tasks, such as inverting notes around a center pitch, to incredibly advanced, elaborate processes, such as nuanced strumming techniques for jazz rhythm guitar. Event processors can produce output that barely resembles the input, with virtually no limit to the ways incoming data can be transformed.



Arpeggiator

So many notes with so little effort

Use MachFive's Arpeggiator as a pattern gate, arpeggiator, or even an advanced rhythmic processor for your live MIDI performance or sequenced MIDI tracks. Many presets are provided to get you started, divided into three categories: arpeggiator (for classic arpeggiation), chords (for multi-note arpeggiation), and mono (for percussive effects and bass lines). Quickly dial up driving, nuanced patterns using the graphic step-editor. You've never had so much fun producing this many notes with so little effort.




Script processors

Where the rubber meets the road for MachFive's scripting engine

Script Processors perform advanced, customized transformations and analysis of a MIDI data stream. In short, they perform miracles of MIDI transformation. Many useful presets are provided (see below). Got programming chops? Create and load your own scripts, with standard and custom user interface elements, using MachFiveScript™, a scripting language based on the industry-standard Lua programming language (www.lua.org), and a MachFive-specific API. Lua is a simple yet efficient and powerful scripting language used in many video games.

Chord Recognition

Displays the detected chord for the currently held notes.

Chorder

Creates chords from a single note, adding up to six additional notes.

Ensemble

Creates unison notes for each note using detune, pan & delay.

Invert Pitch

Chromatically inverts notes around a center pitch that you choose.

Legato

Simulates legato articulations between overlapping notes.

Mod Wheel Glissando

Lets you strum chords up and down using your mod wheel.

Portamento

Simulates portamento pitch bend between overlapping notes.

Program Change Switcher

Change sounds from your controller with MIDI program changes.

Shepard

Produces the classic "endless rising / dropping" pitch effect.

Step Line

Bass line step editor for programming killer bass parts quickly.

Strum

Adds time between notes to make chords sound more natural.

Timbre Shifting

Creates timbral change with note transpose plus pitch bend offset.

Tonal Harmonizer

Harmonizes each note of a scale with a chord from the same scale.

Tremolo

Simulates a standard tremolo effect with rate control.

Unison

Multiplies a single part into multiple parts, using detune only.

Vibrato

Simulates standard vibrato with frequency and depth controls.

Virtual Pitch

Adds calculated, 'virtual root' notes an octave below a played chord.



Navigation