Sampler Vs Virtual, Opinions: MachFive; Spectrasonics; other Options

[trip]

Looking for high-end bass, percussion, and orchestral sounds. Has anyone used MOTU MachFive? or Spectrasonics? I'm using G4 OS X 10.2.6 and Digital Performer. Opinions appreciated.
Newbie.

[boze]

i haven't used MachFive, but the spectrasonics apps are a really nice product IMO. they seem to have targeted ease-of-use and made the whole instrument line as simple to use as rack instruments in Reason. They might not be the right place to go for orchestral samps, but the Trilogy bass instrument sounds great and has a quickly accessible and sensibly varied sample library.

and amen with that stuff synthetic was saying about using soft samplers over hw. i can definitely see the upside of a UAD for dedicated fx power, but modern comps are more than capable of outdoing most of todays hw synths and samplers in terms of value. not saying hw doesn't have it's place, but two or three hundred bucks, i see little that can compare.

this looks like a good value: http://www.zzounds.com/item--YAMA3000T
but even when you read that Paul White dude who runs the Sound on Sound magazine you get the impression that for even the most serious studios, samplers and hw synths end up being used for a few favorite banks or patches. i think hw money is better spent on good monitors or mics.