Hi everyone - first post here!

I recently bought Kontakt 2, which was supposed to be able to work with every known sample format. My EMU crapped out and it's too costly to replace.

I was going to get MOTU's MachFive until I found out it uses a hardware dongle. I've had those fail before at the most inopportune time.

The impression I'm getting from the Kontakt forum (you have to buy the damn thing before you can view the forum) is that it CAN'T successfully import AKAI samples (wtf - too esoteric?); neither can it import anything from a mixed-mode CD-ROM (in other words, a CD that contains, say, AKAI files and WAV files). Unfortunately most CD-ROMs nowadays are mixed mode. What a piece of crap.

So now I'm looking at my 100+ sample CD-ROMs and wondering if there's ANY way that I'll ever be able to use them again? I was going to try to pick up a used AKAI sampler, but they're so damn big and bulky. Carrying less stuff to gigs was the reason software synths were looking so good to me.

Any suggestions as to other software samplers?

EMU samplers second hand as AKAI are cheap now, just look around

Also, which sequencer are you using?

If you don't want to/can't use Kontakt or machfive, have a look at the sampling cd converters, they may help. Like CDextract

btw AKAI format is a pain in the… since the beginning but as no one can agree on an open standard to simplify things and we have to rely on proprietary formats no one can assure translate fully…

I have an old EMU with problems. I bought an iMac G5 so I could stop lugging around so much equipment to gigs.

I'm using DP 4.6, but Kontakt won't load any AKAI samples even in standalone format - though they claim it can all over the box. Their user forum - which I could get at once I made a purchase - note that everyone's having the same problems with import.

I was wondering if anyone knew of alternatives to MachFive and Kontakt.

CDXtract worked wonderfully! Thank you!

If anyone else wants to try it, the download through MacMusic doesn't work - the file gets unstuffed with an error and is consequently empty. But if you go to the manufacturer's site, the download is different and works fine.

However, the registration process is set up so that CDXtract will only work on the computer you downloaded to - up in my studio, it opens and closes immediately. During the download process, it takes note of your IP address and assigns your serial number to that IP address only. This may be a problem for some people like myself who keep their studio on a seperate computer from their web/e-mail computer. In the case of this software, though, you only use it to translate the files, which you can then transfer to your studio via CD-ROM or external hard drive. But when this old computer that I'm typing this on dies, I'm going to be quite stuck.

I'll tell June Bug about the link

This registration system is mad (if it's like that) as most pro computers are not logged to the net for performance and basic safety reasons (nothing must be able to come in not known of).