Time for an upgrade (or rebuild) of my recording setup

Pinkycramps

Pinkycramps

Experienced
Sigh... My recording gear has gotten old, and it's time for a do over.

I have a Gateway Laptop. An old one. It's still kicking... I'm on it right now, but it's from 2000something. 2006 I think? Yup. 8 years and still going with Windows Vista. Never crashes... but a little boggy these days.

Sonar Producer 8. Ya, that's pretty old. I have a Motu MK3 interface. I don't like it much, but it sounds pretty good. It's firewire. They don't even make that anymore.

So... New laptop and new software are imminent. And.... I'm moving to Apple.
Apple ... Why?
A. Hate Windows 8 with a purple passion.
B. Hate Windows 8... well.. you get it.
C. I've never had one, but love ipads, iphones, Apple TV, and the whole Apple world... so... seems like a good move.

BUT... Sonar never has supported Apple (or vice-versa). So I need a new DAW. No biggie, since my Sonar is older than dirt anyway. But it's still pretty powerful, and I could upgrade to X3 for like $133.

What would YOU do if you were going to get a new system from scratch? Figure... no more than $3k? or... at least not much more...
 
Come on now, Spend my money!

Forget the computer part. I'm going Apple. My mind is made up on that. Just focus on the DAW. If you were going to buy a new DAW tomorrow (for an Apple Macbook Pro)... which one would you get?
And yes... I'm going to do LOTS of research, and NO... I won't just go out and buy what someone says in the forum, but.... I am very interested in what this community thinks and why. I DID read the DAW post on here... but not much reason or detail in it. It's just what people have now... I want to know what you think is the BEST DAW going.

Here is a little criteria...
I want to record mostly rock and guitar music (Duh). So... something like Reason or Fruity Loops is not really my thing.
I'm not too into beat making and synth stuff... but would like to be able to add some synth instruments easily to tracks. (Sonar was great for that).
Ease of use would be high on my list of wants... don't want a huge learning curve if I can help it...

I'm looking at Pro Tools (is it still the boss?), Logic Pro X, maybe Ableton...
Thought about Sonar X3 since it's familar, but not sure about running a windows emulator in a Mac. Just sounds like a hassle to me, or like asking for trouble.

Anyone?
Pros? Cons?
 
I have to agree Logic Pro X all the way. I actually go direct in via usb and it's fantastic.
 
Well personally I would go with Cubase, but that is largely because I have used it for many years and I know it well.

For the price you really can't go past Reaper. Small investment, so if it doesn't work out and you have to try a different DAW you are out, what, $35?

Oh, and if you want to be swapping sessions out with pro studios, Pro Tools is still the boss (in the U.S. at least), but otherwise...

Enjoy the Mac, I certainly do :)
 
Pinkycramps said:
Here is a little criteria...
I want to record mostly rock and guitar music (Duh). So... something like Reason or Fruity Loops is not really my thing.
I'm not too into beat making and synth stuff... but would like to be able to add some synth instruments easily to tracks. (Sonar was great for that).
Ease of use would be high on my list of wants... don't want a huge learning curve if I can help it...
Click to expand...

I switched from Ableton to Logic Pro X, no need for beat making synth stuff either. It has all for your recording needs and it is easy to use.

There are many great video tutorials out there too.
In my opinion best value for money..
 
Well like Rook, I'd go with Cubase. I bought a new laptop a few weeks back with Win7 on it and am happily running Cubase on that. But then, I've used Cubase for years since the ol' Cubase VST and SX days.

Somewhat cheaper (as far as the software goes) would of course be Logic. Never used it myself, so I dunno if I'd take to it. As far as being able to record some tracks and maybe add in a synth here 'n' there... that's pretty easy basic stuff to pick up in Cubase, and I imagine it's just as easy in Logic. Or Reaper even. The differences between them all really starts to show more when you're going deeper into things, with what suits you in terms of the project view and how you can arrange and group things 'n' whatnot, editing capabilities and how they're done in whichever particular DAW, access to things you commonly use (or how much you can customise things to suit you), the layout and functionality of the mixer, etc.
 
You'll get GarageBand for free on the Mac. It is capable for a start, then you can upgrade to Logic Pro X.

I'd go for RAM over CPU on the laptop, if you need to make a trade-off. Definitely SSD for storage - so much faster.

Do you need an interface, or just using the Axe?

Disclaimer - Apple used to sign my paychecks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Ha ha! Deja vu on this thread! I use Cubase 7.5 on my Mac because I've always had it since v2, and the studio I do stuff for also uses it which just makes it handy when sharing projects. I think the majority of Mac users go with Logic, but tbh I think nowadays you get the same results out of any of the top brands.

You need to try get demo versions (if possible) and play with them to decide for yourself. Ultimately it comes down to your preference of the user interface and the tools available. The quality is pretty much down to your hardware and skills.

An advantage of Cubase is that it comes with a lot of plugins out of the box. Some of them work perfectly fine, and others you might want to upgrade to a better quality one, but that's again your choice.
 
In your shoes I'd get a MacBook Pro 15" 2,5GHz (and perhaps upgrade the processor to the 2,8 GHz i7) - it's a monster of a computer and will serve you for years.
I'd go with Logic Pro X - great DAW, easy to use, come with a sleeve of very capable plug-ins.
Logic Pro X files are 100% transferable to Pro Tools, so you can go with Logic and still work with studios using Pro Tools.
 
Having used Logic, Studio One, and now Pro Tools I would highly recommend Logic Pro X in your situation. You get everything you need under one hood (plugin instruments, effects, etc.) and it's well supported by Apple. If I didn't have to use Pro Tools for school I would still be using Logic all the way.
 
fractalz said:
You'll get GarageBand for free on the Mac. It is capable for a start, then you can upgrade to Logic Pro X.

I'd go for RAM over CPU on the laptop, if you need to make a trade-off. Definitely SSD for storage - so much faster.

Do you need an interface, or just using the Axe?

Disclaimer - Apple used to sign my paychecks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
''Used to'' can mean a plethora of things... ;)
Still. It seems you're still pro-Apple. :D

SSD and RAM are solid recommendations.
 
I will give my +1 to Logic X, especially since its only $200.

SSD - been using in all my PC's & Macbook and will never go back. ever. So yes, get ssd (which you will get regardless if you're getting a retina Macbook)
Ram - I have 16gb, haven't had issues with sample loading and I can get away with running Superior drummer + a couple of sample based sythns, but never needed more than 4gb ram for all samples.

The motu is ok, if you want to upgrade everything maybe look into interfaces? I went with RME UFX by Cliff's recommendation, and I love it, especially since it can record direct to USB (offloads cpu load from laptop when recording).

Also if you require synth software like a drummer or something like that you can factor that in.

I think I might have overspent your money... sorry :)
 
Ok, Thanks guys. Now we're getting somewhere.
I spent last night on various forums and reviews on the interwebz, and on the surface Logic Pro X is very appealing to me. The point that was raised about swapping files with studios is an important one! It's the one reason I was/am considering Pro Tools. I just don't want to deal with Avid and all of their silliness. Logic seems a great choice since I can buy it with my Mac preloaded, and at $200 it's a relative bargain. Yet... something tells me I'm going to be missing Sonar. That program has a lot of power that I am just doubtful I am going to see in Logic, but maybe I'll be surprised.

Right now I'm thinking:
Macbook Pro 15" Retina.
Logic Pro X
EX Drummer 2
and eventually a new interface
 
Pinkycramps said:
Ok, Thanks guys. Now we're getting somewhere.
I spent last night on various forums and reviews on the interwebz, and on the surface Logic Pro X is very appealing to me. The point that was raised about swapping files with studios is an important one! It's the one reason I was/am considering Pro Tools. I just don't want to deal with Avid and all of their silliness. Logic seems a great choice since I can buy it with my Mac preloaded, and at $200 it's a relative bargain. Yet... something tells me I'm going to be missing Sonar. That program has a lot of power that I am just doubtful I am going to see in Logic, but maybe I'll be surprised.

Right now I'm thinking:
Macbook Pro 15" Retina.
Logic Pro X
EX Drummer 2
and eventually a new interface
Click to expand...

MBP 15" Retina is the one you want for sure as it has quad cores.
Logic Pro X is a truely Pro DAW, it'll give you all you need.
I'd wait with EX Drummer 2, Logic Pro X has a very powerful drummer feature, I haven't used my old faitfull SSD 4 for the last few projects as the drummer in Logic Pro X is so easy to get great results from
 
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