NEW DAW

I've done PT, Logic and Ableton Live 8 and my favorite has been Ableton. I liked Logic WAY more than PT but with Ableton I can make music quickly and easily and it is great for live performance. My live mixing board is now Ableton on the Mac, so that way I can use all kinds of plug ins, play keys through a virtual synth and easily trigger sounds with an Akai controller.
 
The Dark Horse: Samplitude 64 bit. Crazy powerful. The plug-ins that it comes with are alone worth it. There's even an amazing convolution reverb that's amazing. PC only. Not cheap. But the best. Best sounding too. Don't let folks tell you that two DAWs eunning the same bit size and sampling freq will 'sound the same'. a) there's more than one way to write summing algorithms, eq algorithms, reverbs etc. b) Samplitude was one of the first to use large bit sizes for internal math. They led the industry, and still do.

Also: Samplitude is object oriented (again, they were the first). so, you can eq a track, do levels and fx on it etc., but you can also do all those things and much more (pans, fades, all the stuff you'd do on a track) on each object in a track. So, I just recorded 5 separate flute parts on a track, gave each one different fade ins/outs (different, totally adjustable fade curves of course), and affected their levels, while controlling overall levels at the track level (using touch-activated flying faders automation with my Mackie control), and then fine-tuning the level and fader automation in Latch mode.

Samplitude is much better known in Europe than here. The Hugely popular Vienna symphony sample package was mastered in Samplitude (it started as a mastering package, but is great for audo and midi tracking and mixing - but you can, of course, create a standard CD from within it, with CD text too). Many classical orchestras record with it, and many film scores too.

I recently did some 'session' work at home for a producer working in a major studio. He, the engineers, the artist, all were amazed at the sound quality (ISA828 premaps and Apogeee Rosetta 8 Converters are also responsible for that, as are my Genelec monitors: every piece counts).

Can't be beat, but it ain't cheap. I hear that a mac version is coming out soon, but I can't say if it's true.
 
Thank you all very much. I have not been in this market for a long time, so I have never heard half the names you have mentioned. Just based on this thread, it sounds like Studio one has the vote to check first, but I am intrigued by this amplitude 64, as well.

Please feel free to run this thread into the ground if you have any more input. Thanks for your help.

I will start checking these things out.

JD
 
funny_polymath said:
The Dark Horse: Samplitude 64 bit. Crazy powerful. The plug-ins that it comes with are alone worth it. There's even an amazing convolution reverb that's amazing. PC only. Not cheap. But the best. Best sounding too. Don't let folks tell you that two DAWs eunning the same bit size and sampling freq will 'sound the same'. a) there's more than one way to write summing algorithms, eq algorithms, reverbs etc. b) Samplitude was one of the first to use large bit sizes for internal math. They led the industry, and still do.

Also: Samplitude is object oriented (again, they were the first). so, you can eq a track, do levels and fx on it etc., but you can also do all those things and much more (pans, fades, all the stuff you'd do on a track) on each object in a track. So, I just recorded 5 separate flute parts on a track, gave each one different fade ins/outs (different, totally adjustable fade curves of course), and affected their levels, while controlling overall levels at the track level (using touch-activated flying faders automation with my Mackie control), and then fine-tuning the level and fader automation in Latch mode.

Samplitude is much better known in Europe than here. The Hugely popular Vienna symphony sample package was mastered in Samplitude (it started as a mastering package, but is great for audo and midi tracking and mixing - but you can, of course, create a standard CD from within it, with CD text too). Many classical orchestras record with it, and many film scores too.

I recently did some 'session' work at home for a producer working in a major studio. He, the engineers, the artist, all were amazed at the sound quality (ISA828 premaps and Apogeee Rosetta 8 Converters are also responsible for that, as are my Genelec monitors: every piece counts).

Can't be beat, but it ain't cheap. I hear that a mac version is coming out soon, but I can't say if it's true.
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I just had a look at this. I've never used it, but am seriously intrigued. I'm thinking of going back to PC fully as I'm uneasy with the turn Apple has taken with its software (Final Cut Pro X), and this looks like just the ticket! Thanks! :)
 
I forgot to mention, if you get the Samplitude X suite, you also get a VERY GOOD sampler ('Independence') with a LOT of samples! And Samplitude comes with quite a few more built-in instruments, including a drum set, that, had I known it was going to be in my upgrade, would have kept me from spending money on Addictive Drums. AD is still better, the 'LUCID', is totally usable, and the price is right! If you don't have an Axe, their Vandal plug in is one of the better modeling plug ins, and the list goes on and on - all their stuff sounds great and is of the highest caliber - from the multi-band dynamics processor to the fantastic Noise Removal.
 
BigD1977 said:
Confusing ProTools with Cubase, maybe?
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No, I'm not confusing the two. My sentence was pretty confusing though. :)

RTAS works fine, but the problem I have is that it doesn't work with any other DAW and while their approval process theoretically means they hold developers to higher standards, it really is about money and ensuring that they get you for the long haul. I've had the "luxury" of working with AVID for over 20 years and most of that being in the video side of the house. If you want good support and pretty decent performance they are not a bad way to go. But it costs and once you buy into them you have to make some serious decisions the further down the road you go. Their products are so proprietary that once you get invested into one aspect and want to add a capability you have to decide whether you want to change platforms completely and retool your system or buy into their version at what is usually much higher premium.

AVID's greatest advantage in the past was their integration with their hardware. They could do things that no one else could because of processing power limitations and especially in the video side of things it was just a big messy beast to deal with. Modern processors, more companies becoming bigger players, better architecture, etc., there just isn't the separation between them and others anymore.

I'm not bashing AVID; I've had a pretty good working relationship with them in the past. Support has always been professional and usually very helpful, but it came at a premium of about 2-5X the cost of the competition. This stuff isn't a mystery anymore and what we can do on a laptop today took a rack of computers, external converters and RAID storage.
 
I keep wanting to ween myself off of ProTools but have not made the leap yet.

I'm slowing saving for my next DAW system. I like to buy turnkey, with the interface, computer, software, plugs etc. all at once. That should make it easier to leave PT, but I'm still worried about getting work done on a new DAW.
 
I've been happily using Reaper for years, but most recently I started migrating to Logic. I haven't been able to fully explore this DAW, but I think that from a writing perspective Logic wins from Reaper. There are many build in sounds, which will definitely boost your creativity.
 
I use samplitude (32 bit though). My experience:

-Pretty stable, especially compared to past Daw's
-Object oriented design - I couldn't live without this anymore
-Oboard Reverb is killer. Onboard Eq is great. Other effects are good too.
-Wasn't the easiest to learn, manual sux.

I'm glad I invested in it. Very robust, good midi implementation (for my needs). Totally underrated.
 
+1 for StudioOne Pro. I have PT 10, Cubase 6.5, Reason, yadda yadda. I have found StudioOne to be by far the easiest., most comfortable, and most reliable DAW. Leave Pro Tools on the shelf. I had rotten luck with it locking up in the middle of sessions. And if it does, it requires a reboot to clear. That along drove me running away.

I will admit to owning a StudioLive board, which makes StudioOne a no brainer, but I do love the simplicity and rock solid reliability.

Joe
 
shasha said:
No, I'm not confusing the two. My sentence was pretty confusing though. :)

RTAS works fine, but the problem I have is that it doesn't work with any other DAW and while their approval process theoretically means they hold developers to higher standards, it really is about money and ensuring that they get you for the long haul. I've had the "luxury" of working with AVID for over 20 years and most of that being in the video side of the house. If you want good support and pretty decent performance they are not a bad way to go. But it costs and once you buy into them you have to make some serious decisions the further down the road you go. Their products are so proprietary that once you get invested into one aspect and want to add a capability you have to decide whether you want to change platforms completely and retool your system or buy into their version at what is usually much higher premium.

AVID's greatest advantage in the past was their integration with their hardware. They could do things that no one else could because of processing power limitations and especially in the video side of things it was just a big messy beast to deal with. Modern processors, more companies becoming bigger players, better architecture, etc., there just isn't the separation between them and others anymore.

I'm not bashing AVID; I've had a pretty good working relationship with them in the past. Support has always been professional and usually very helpful, but it came at a premium of about 2-5X the cost of the competition. This stuff isn't a mystery anymore and what we can do on a laptop today took a rack of computers, external converters and RAID storage.
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I completely agree on all points...... but AIGrenadines question was about cubase vs. studioone..... or maybe he was confusing PT and cubase..... or .... oh I don't know! I'm confusing myself! :D:D
 
I hear very good things about Studio One Pro, but it depends on your budget. I use Logic Express 9 and I love it. You should be able to use SD 2.0 as a plugin in any of the DAW programs. If you have trouble with it, there's plenty of youtube tutorials on how to use them.
 
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