Recording Software

[kouly]

Quote:Quote:Well... I eat, live and breathe Pro Tools... but...If I had it all to do over again, and was using my own money I would buy the baddest Mac I could afford and go with Logic Pro. IMHO it's the best bang for the buck out there. For $1,000 bucks, you can't match the features and tools, and for midi it's pretty much king of the hill. Yes, I use Logic. It is a beautiful piece of work. Apparently difficult for many people. I have learned maybe 1/10 of it's awesome power. But my pedestal is cracked and my tower is leaning like pizza.Mr Apple, who bought the nice logic program and all their staff from it's makers(emagic), seems to have decided that Logic shall be outmoded soon, to be replaced by what - no one knows. Don't ya just love big corporations? So I'd love to recommend Logic, but I have no idea what is going to happen with it in the next few years. Logic users are pretty fanatical, tho. They'll keep it around for a while yet. As Aub said, Logic is fabulous for midi-minded nerds like myself. I haven't learned any other programs since I dumped my Atari with Edit tracks or whatever it was called. In fact I still have my little JL Cooper box that connected my Atari to a 4 track cassette, then a 1/2" 8 track and all the way to my 16 track(which now lies abandoned in another buddies flooded basement). So if there is anything worth learning, it's ProTools. There are so many studios around the world that it's used in. Kinda like Taxi. Or Windows I guess. There is no real reason to use a different product when almost everyone with credibility uses ProTools. I hear lots of great stuff about Sonar. But just not as many people use it, or transfer files with it from studio to studio. Some day I'll have to learn ProTools as well... steve I think everyone should use Pro Tools, really, you must. For your own sanity. Logic is way too powerful. You know what they say about power don't you? It is full of bugs you know.You don't see them until you are doing something really important. I have to get the Raid out everytime I use it. It eats up all my CPU and never puts the seat down. I just don't know why I put up with it anymore. Then it plays the most beautiful music and I just forget why I am mad. Make no mistake though it is evil. Beware of the dongle. It has all the power. Once you plug it in, you can't escape. Be afraid, very afraid. I was taking a walk the other day when I saw this little bird sitting in a Apple tree. He told me "There is no Logic in letting Logic die. It will be here soon." So I went home and thought I really have to stop working so hard. But I think it might be true, a little bird told me. Got to go, it is calling.

[sgs4u]

Chicken or egg question.Did Logic make Kouly and I so wacked, or are we attracted to Logic because we already are wacked?Help me, please...

[mikehelms]

you folks are so damn funny and informative on these posts I can't stop reading or laughing... and i cant get any recording done...thanks?!!!Michael

[mikehelms]

you folks are so damn funny and informative on these posts... I can't stop reading or laughing... and i cant get any recording done...thanks?!!!Michael

[thestudioaz]

Not to be a complete buzzkill but I haven't noticed anyone touting the virtues of Cubase SX yet...... Hmmmm. Curious.I've never had a problem with it, it's got every feature that the big guns carry and for me it's easy to use. Of course I had to upgrade my PC to 256 Gigs of Ram and triple quad core Zeon Processors with a freon cooling system to handle the workload.... I'm thinking about getting one of those outboard "black box" processors to handle all the plug-ins and VST's. Other than that, Cubase SX really is a decent platform, lol! I've pretty much convinced myself I'll be sticking with it until I can afford a Pro-Tools HD system. The LE systems are just too processor intensive, same as Cubase. And who knows what would happen if I decided to play spider solitaire with it open. Don't even wanna go there.All joking aside (well, never really), I like Cubase SX3. I've been using it for years and I like the ease of use and the layout of the program. The midi editing lanes are decent, and the scoring function is handy to have, even if it is a bit dated. The only drawback is the power issue. It loves to suck every last ounce of Ram and processor power. Especially when you start using alot of heavy time based efx like reverbs, delays, etc etc. Freezing the tracks only works to a point, than you have to mixdown the individual tracks and bring them back in clean.

[zink]

Quote:Quote:I do remember discussing my DAW before, but here it is again.The Abacatron 3000.Somehow that just doesnn't add up ZinK.LOL. You summed it up well Ed.

[mixopenta]

I recently bought Cubase 4. Had a lot of problems installing. Was aspiring for Logic, but then again, I would need to buy a new computer as well... (Mac-PC, PC-Mac...)?Still having problems. Can't run solitaire, or Cubase will crash and refuse to be restarted. Need to delete some prefs files before I can open it again. (oops, sorry, that was almost Mac language)... I noticed that Cubase SX takes 1Mb of RAM per track, whereas C4 takes up as much as 3Mb. My computer might be a little low on power for this job...might need to buy a new computer anyway.. Decided on Cubase because I was working with the stone-age midi sequencing version 10 years ago. Hoped that the learning curve was more to my advantage.

[jeffe]

Learning the more up to date software packages takes an age, because of all the bells and whistles. They also allow you to do the same things in many different ways.Once you've settled in you tend to find that your development process is actually quicker (Once you've learned a proportion of the many shortcuts). I've flitted over several development software packages, and they all seem quite similar in what they offer. The one I've used the most is Cakewalk on a PC.I've seen more Macs that PC's in studios though!

[mixopenta]

As an answer to the original post, I'm using Cubase 4. I just can't wrap my head around Cakewalk or Sonar for some reason. I don't know why that is.Ten years ago I was provided with a copy each of Cubase GS and Cakewalk to try out before purchase. Prior to that, I had experience in hardware sequencing only . I decided I liked Cubase better, because it seemed more Logic (no pun intended) to me at the time. I never did any upgrades to the system, just ran it on Windows 3.11 until 2001 (yeah you read that right) I'm not a computer fan, and I hate software for being the necessary evil for the convenience it brings. It should be noted that analog tape was my preference until 3 years ago. (I still have that big stove of a machine tucked away in a corner).Well, 3 years ago I was able to get my hands on a PC running on XP, and again a version of Cakewalk, Sonar, and Cool edit. The same happens again, I'm not getting the UI of Cakewalk, or Sonar (I can't even tell the difference between them) I had two icons, one named Cakewalk and the other Sonar but when I started these applications they looked exactly the same... Anyway, I decided against using sequencing, so I went for Cooledit just recording "live", as I would on tape, with the benefit of easy editing, re-structuring etc... despite that SW is a pain in the a**, it has a major advantage over analog tape when it comes to editing tasks. In January 07, I sold a lot of my old studio gear, and bought a decent MOTU interface, a more neatly sized console, and Cubase 4. Now it's back to the old "trying-to-figure-out-where-the-heck-the-function-I-need-right-now-menu-is", and "Why-doesn't-this-lever-move-when-I-try-to-ride-it), as opposed to making music.Apart from that, I'm pretty content with Cubase 4 so far

[mixopenta]

Hm,I just read my post again and wanted to make clear I'm not bashing any particular SW. The applications mentioned are just those I have had my eyes on. And some of them I wouldn't pass any judgment upon, as I don't know my way around them.What I want to say is that I think that all SW ultimately does the same thing, it's just about what appears as most logical to each individual.This is apart from the hassles of transferring sessions between different systems... in which case additional parameters comes into play...