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A leading soundware developer goes exclusive with MachFive 3

MachFive 3 offers an impressive selection of new and enhanced tools, providing users with unprecedented sonic flexibility and power. Some of the new features include a massive 45 GB sound library, a new synth engine offering 12 types of synthesis, time-stretching and pitch-shifting technology licensed from the IRCAM research institute, and convolution reverb. But it's not just the user who benefits from this ground-up rebuild of MOTU's hugely successful sampler.

MachFive 3 is a much friendlier and more powerful environment for sound-library developers, too. Its new scripting engine provides them with a powerful set of open development tools to work with, based on an industry-standard scripting language originally written for the gaming industry. These tools let developers create incredibly advanced scripted instruments and sounds.

Acousticsamples.net is the first leading soundware company to master MachFive 3's advanced development tools. Its CEO, Arnaud Sicard, recently announced that he's decided to develop exclusively with MachFive 3 for all of the company's titles. Acousticsamples.net figured prominently in MachFive 3's prodigious factory library, creating sampled instruments such as Telematic, a sampled Telecaster; Mark79, a Rhodes-style electric piano, and The Upright, a stunning acoustic bass instrument, among others.

MOTU asked Arnaud to describe why he decided to develop exclusively with MachFive 3. Here's what he had to say:

We started developing sample libraries when MachFive 3 was still in beta. From the beginning, both the sampler and the scripting engine have been very pleasant to use, and it has quickly become hard to use other samplers.

MachFive 3‘s engine is quite versatile, and allows a large number of controls at the sample level, which is something that we weren't used to. There is no other sampler that's as flexible. Any parameter can be modulated by another, at any level, and it can be done with a simple right click!

There are also built-in, high-quality effects that can be totally automated using MachFive 3's script engine, which allows our products to be complete with no add-ons.

The script engine is one of the most impressive aspects of MachFive 3. Having a real language to code with came as a relief, because we could finally use our preferred editors. The scripting offers everything that you need to build complex graphical interfaces with the support of images and all kinds of widgets. You also have a total control over the running voices, thanks to the complete library of built-in functions.

Included instruments in MachFive 3

Thanks to these functions, building scripts is now easier than ever; there's no need to write code for all potential situations. You just create a function with arguments and reuse it later. We even created a small library of custom functions that can be used in every project. Having the functions reduces the scripts' length a great deal, even in scripts with plentiful features.

All of that extends the possibilities for new-instrument behaviors. Take, for instance, the Telematic. It includes a guitar-chord library that is used as a database! That's just one example, but we have some other projects that we're sure people will love.

And we haven't yet mentioned the new features in MachFive 3 that no other sampler has ever had, including synthesis and advanced sound modules like granular, or the IRCAM time-stretching, which provides all kinds of new ideas for future development.

So, the engine, the scripting, the effects; all these possibilities made us want to use only MachFive 3's engine for all of our products (see highlights below). Supporting different formats was a hard task. There were inconsistencies between formats, and limitations with the other engines. But MachFive 3 has the answer to all of these problems. It's rock solid, works on all platforms, is easy to use, and has the most advanced script engine in the world. Licensing with UVI gave us the opportunity to make all of our libraries available to everybody, maintain compatibility with MachFive 3, and create our own player. 

Somebody had to test that new platform, and I'm glad we did it. It was the best move our company could have made!

 

MachFive 3-compatible offerings from acousticsamples.net

Here are just a few of the products offered by acoustisamples.net that can be opened and used directly in MachFive 3:

Wurlie

Wurlie is a 64-key Wurlitzer 206A piano (dubbed a "Student Electronic Piano" by the company) with a built-in amp and cabinet. This instrument was recorded both from the direct output and from a pair of microphones right above the keys next to where the head of a player would be. Special features include multiple releases and a unique sympathetic resonance system (both pedal up and down).

KAWAI-EX PRO

A sampled reproduction of the 9-foot KAWAI EX concert grand piano that resides in the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. The instrument was stereo-miked from three different positions, close (inside of the piano), player (above the head of the pianist) and rim (at the position of the singer), which can be mixed to taste by the user.

OLDBLACKGRAND

This instrument gives you the lush sounds of a 1928 Pleyel Grand Piano, recorded with tube mics through a Studer console. Like the Kawai EX Pro, it offers three mixable mic positions.

VIBYSM

A sampled version of a 3.5-octave Musser concert vibraphone, recorded with an ORTF stereo configuration. Vibsym realistically conveys the richness and dynamic range of the original instrument.

DRUMTASTEJAZZ

Sampled from a Sonor jazz kit, the DrumTasteJazz instrument provides numerous options such as stereo or mono overheads, convolution reverb, and an advanced hi-hat controller.

B-PIAN

This sampled upright is intended for situations where you need a slightly out-of-tune, imperfect-sounding piano. According to the developer, this piano instrument was conceived after watching a movie scene in which someone was playing an old upright on screen, but the sound was clearly from a 9-foot grand.

BASSYSM-J

A sampled Music Man Stingray bass that offers multiple playing modes—legato, hammer-ons, slides, and sustains—as well as cabinet simulation, and parametric EQ.