Anyone used BOTH Protools by Avid AND Studio One by Presonus?

bwanagary

bwanagary

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I am (was) a Sonar user and I'm hoping that next year I can start recording again. I have Mac computers and some Presonus gear that I just love but I haven't used the Studio One DAW. If anyone has used both could you share your likes/dislikes? I will be moving away from Sonar so either way I will have to learn a new DAW.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks
-G
 
G'day bwanagary,

I've moved away from Avid - Not because their products are not worthy, but because they release a product, then leave it alone. Look at the history of consoles, software, and interfaces... they release... and have very little support. Like the opposite of Cliff and the team at Fractal. Personally I have gone for Cubase - but that's my choice. Unless you go for Reaper, you're signing up for a ride with a business. Please keep us posted on your thoughts and decisions.

Pauly


bwanagary said:
I am (was) a Sonar user and I'm hoping that next year I can start recording again. I have Mac computers and some Presonus gear that I just love but I haven't used the Studio One DAW. If anyone has used both could you share your likes/dislikes? I will be moving away from Sonar so either way I will have to learn a new DAW.

Any insight would be much appreciated.

Thanks
-G
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I have Studio One v2 and liked it better than the other DAW's I've looked at. It annoys me less than the others :) V3 hit yesterday and looks really nice from the screen shots. I will eventually upgrade.
 
Thanks for the replies gents. I'm playing with Studio One. Coming from Sonar it's not terribly intuitive. Sometimes NO experience is preferable to DIFFERENT experience :) It's going take some time to learn my way around but it looks pretty powerful.
 
Download/install Reaper. Never worry about what software you use again. I ditched PT9/10, Sonar Producer, and Acid Pro 7 after I found Reaper.

Thank me later. :)
 
From what I see so far they each have their pros and cons. My needs are very simple (for now) and any of these alternatives will be overkill actually. I even did a quick recording with GarageBand on the Mac. So far the most intuitive for me is Reaper. But there's plenty of knowledge I need to acquire and I dare say that as that grows and my expertise level and needs increase I may switch DAWs again. Sonar (aka Cakewalk) comes from a MIDI heritage and I think that's why it is a little less audio recording/production-friendly than some of the other products. But that could just be my ignorance for now.
 
Love Studio One, especially "Project" for mastering...quick, simple, easy-to-use with amazing results. I just upgraded to V3.
 
I'm not familiar with either program you mention but I wonder why not try Logic for your Mac? They are made for each other. I used Sonar since it's early Cakewalk days almost 20 years ago. However I switched to Logic around 2010 and never looked back. Garageband and Logic are apples and oranges.

I am curios though EJ James why you like Reaper and if you have ever used Logic? I've always heard decent stuff about it.
 
All great feedback guys - thanks!

So far, life really sucks. They are all excellent but each has slightly different strengths. Leading me to conclude that this is not an "ether-or" situation ;-). I'll probably be stuck learning more than one. Because I use the Presonus StudioLive mixers for live performances there's some synergy and preexisting knowledge of the paradigm and applications. I haven't yet found anything that you can do with the other DAWs that you can't with Studio One v3. That being said, From 0 to Render is quicker for simple projects with Logic and Reaper. At least from what I've seen so far.

Ugh. Anyway, I'll keep dabbling and I think I'll do a small project (the same one) in each of the DAWs later this year when I have more time (ha ha ha!) and then decide. For now, ease of use and moderate learning curve are most important. Next year and beyond, quality and power rule.
-G
 
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Update: I decided to do a little research to find which DAW skills would be the most "marketable", especially in the Nashville area, to weight my decision. I researched about 12 or 13 studios in the Nashville area. Two of them were pure analog. The only DAW in any of the digital studios was Pro Tools. So, I thought well that's that then. But, being OCD, I repeated the effort to research what the LA (Burbank) studios were using for a DAW. I only checked five this time - all Pro Tools. I guess people who know much, much more than I'll ever know all seem to make the same choice. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck ... well, you know.

So I think this implies that Pro Tools is the most "complete/versatile" DAW for professional recording and mastering. That doesn't mean it is the best suited for small scale recording or songwriting. Jury is still out.
-G

P.S. One more thing ... the LA studios have a staggering amount of gear in them!
 
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mwd said:
I am curios though EJ James why you like Reaper and if you have ever used Logic? I've always heard decent stuff about it.
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Primarily because it solved every single problem I ever had with VST's and other effects I'd encountered using Sonar and Acid. Sorry, never used Logic.

I jumped on the Pro Tools bandwagon when I wanted to be more compatible with a couple of internet jam buddies, but soon realized the learning curve was a tad too steep and it didn't support any of my existing plugins. I went back to Acid Pro 7 for a bit, but soon got tired of having to make concessions for some of my favorite VST's (Addictive Drums and a couple of others at the time). Several associates on a local music forum had been talking about Reaper for several months and I finally decided to give it a try. I found it very intuitive and I was up and running in a matter of an hour or two at the most. It hosts Addictive Drums (and now EZ Drummer 2) along with a ton of other effects and instruments I use without any issues.

Let's not forget the cost too. $60 for a personal license is pocket change compared to some of the other DAW's on the market, and it's just as functional (if not more) than most of those.

Everyone is different. I've recommended it to some folks who absolutely hated it, but they never could really explain why. It's got a liberal trial period, so anyone who's even slightly curious should at least give it a try.

YMMV, so good luck.
 
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