Finally some software that Ableton may have to step up to

[3dot...]

depends..
(but generally.. not recommended..)

[dna598]

wonder who will crossgrade with live? lol! not a good idea...

its hard to get excited by this as it looks to me like a slightly more ergonomic kontakt. And i don't like kontakt for regular use anyway.

All ableton need to do is put timestretch in sampler, but even then i still think nothing competes with using racks in live.

Still, it has a nice feature set for another boring sampler plug.

[UncleAge]

I think the oscillator options and decent number of filters take it a bit past being another boring sampler (imo). Seems to be a bit like Alchemy minus the spectral/additive part but with the added plus of being able to load those 3rd party sample libraries. The modulation routing options seem pretty decent and it's possible the sample content may come in handy. In fact I wish that Alchemy had a better wave editor like that to give better visual feedback while working with samples. Even a display like simpler would be a nice touch.

What I haven't heard yet is how heavy is it on cpu with "x" number of layers or oscillators. Also keep in mind, there is a lot of other uses for vst's outside of the normal cd/album stuff. I've only done a few things in post for some indie film guys but I found Simpler, Sampler and Kontakt invaluable at the time. Hey, if nothing else, it provides a bit of competition which is always a good thing.

[kitekrazy]

I think MachFive 3 could destroy Kontakt, by the looks of it.

User interface looks really slick and intuitive. Feature set is immense: built in synth modules and that beautiful sounding granular engine - what I've wanted in Kontakt for ages. And the instruments sound amazing. Plus all the scripting, of course. And millions of FX....

Wish I had a powerful enough computer, a load of spare cash and less dongle-hatred.

Meh...It would take a long time for MachFive to catch up in libraries to challenge Kontakt.

[Machinesworking]

I think MachFive 3 could destroy Kontakt, by the looks of it.

User interface looks really slick and intuitive. Feature set is immense: built in synth modules and that beautiful sounding granular engine - what I've wanted in Kontakt for ages. And the instruments sound amazing. Plus all the scripting, of course. And millions of FX....

Wish I had a powerful enough computer, a load of spare cash and less dongle-hatred.

Meh...It would take a long time for MachFive to catch up in libraries to challenge Kontakt.

I guess it depends on how well it can read Kontact libraries?
I don't think they're trying to displace Kontact outright, more like offering an option to Kontact and Omnisphere. Hopefully they've done it right. Reports from die hard users at Motunation are mostly positive with some complaints about the new GUI.

[Rationalizer]

I think MachFive 3 could destroy Kontakt, by the looks of it.

I seriously doubt it. I mean in past couple of years Kontakt has achieved an industry standard position in the soft sampler market. Partly this is because of the lack of competition. This year both Steinberg and Motu decided to finally release their new versions but sampler wise the updates weren't anything special compared to Kontakt. And NI answered with Kontakt 5.

Anyway, in my opinion it's quite pointless to say that this or that is going to be destroyed because someone else brought a new software in the market.