Mayou

I would like to load 5 buffers with 5 different samples and start them together. I would also like to control their volumes individually.

Is there a better way than my patch above ? (groove better ? only one play with setbuffer ? any ideas ?) :

I would like to load 5 buffers with 5 different samples and start them together. I would also like to control their volumes individually.
Is there a better way than my patch above ? (groove better ? only one play with setbuffer ? any ideas ?) : 

5-audio-tracks

There's nothing wrong with that approach in general. Using five separate plays is a good idea, and as long as the samples don't all have the same length, also five different lines, i.e. like you did it. The only thing I would change is add a [float] after the float number box that holds the duration of a sound (i.e.: info~ -> float number box -> [float] -> (0, $1 $1)). That way you can attach one bang to all those [float]s in order to start all samples at the same time. That gives you a better control than trying to do this by turning the dac~ on and off. (Additionally, you may want to attach the message "0" to every one of your lines as well, so you can turn them all off like that. Again: That's a cleaner solution than simply cutting off the dac~.)

Whether to use groove~ or play~: Well, groove~ is supposed to sound better because apparently it works in higher precision. I never really did extensive testing on that though. Use whatever you feel comfortable with.

I started a thread recently on this topic (groove/play/wave), which generated many helpful insights:

https://cycling74.com/forums/make-play-work-like-groove

5 audio tracks