Sequoia vs Pro Tools

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 2:45 pm

Cucco wrote:

Anyway - if you've got the $3K to drop, I can't imagine a better DAW.

And if you don't have $3k to drop, you can get 95% of the features at 1/3 the price (or less...) by purchasing Samplitude, Sequoia's little brother.

There are lots of versions of Samplitude, so let me try to sort through the confusion. The current released version is Samplitude 10 (10.21 is the current maintenance release and is considered quite stable). Version 11 has been announced and is shipping in Germany, but the English version won't be available until the end of the summer. Anyone who purchases version 10 now will get a free upgrade.

Priced from highest to lowest:

Sequoia

This is the most advanced version, used by classical music producers, mastering engineers, and large media production organizations with multiple licenses. It's very expensive, but I bought it because it's the only version that supports the "four point cut" editing model used in classical music editing, along with an extended crossfade editor. I think radio producers use the "clipstore" feature a lot, but you can do the same thing manually if you label and file your audio carefully. It also has some noise and click elimination tools aimed at vinyl remastering.

Samplitude Pro

This has nearly everything in Sequoia at one third the cost. It's still expensive, but there is a half-price competitive upgrade available ($499) if you own a legitimate version of another DAW. Samplitude Pro supports 5.1 surround production and its convolutional room simulations can be auditioned in real time. Elastic Audio allows adjusting the duration of pre-recorded material. Samplitude Pro is dongle-protected.

Samplitude ("Classic")

This is probably all a lot of people really need. It supports 64 tracks (128 in the next release), still has Spectral Cleaning, and a stripped-down version of Elastic Audio. You don't get real time convolution or the very fancy simulated optical compressor. Samplitude Classic uses traditional software copy protection, but you can buy a dongle if you need to run it on different machines at different times. Crossgrade pricing for Classic is available ($299) but harder to find.

Samplitude DLV

This is a web-purchase version, basically the same as Classic with some MIDI and room simulation libraries stripped out to make it a smaller download. It is cheaper than boxed versions, but priced only in Euros and not much of a bargain if you're eligible for a crossgrade. There's a free 30-day trial period, however. That's a good way to try Samplitude on a project before committing real money. Don't try to learn it from the manual, though! Check out the tutorial videos on the Samplitude web site.

Samplitude Master

Don't buy this. It was aimed at consumers doing vinyl transfers and is being discontinued.

David L. Rick
Seventh String Recording

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 2:51 pm

Thanks David, I'm looking into getting one of these versions now.

I haven't read anything on midi functions. I'm assuming in this day and age, it has midi or a third party add-on? If not, what would someone do for midi programming and editing?

Posted: Mon Jul 06, 2009 3:08 pm

I'll add one thing to David's comprehensive post... Sequoia also has the most advanced tools for Post Production as well.

For example, better video support, more surround options (Samp is only 5.1), version 11 will have AAF and OMF (Samp can support it as a paid add-on), better time code support, better MMC support...

Samp and Sequoia do have MIDI sequencing as well. Version 11 adds a lot of functionality there including some new instrument features and new amp sim features (Vandal).

I have looked around a great deal at the competition. For my work, Sequoia is still the best bet for my post work, although for my recording, I'm using Pro Tools almost exclusively these days. With my large track count recordings, I find PTHD to be the most stable thing out there. Still not a fan of the sound or the edit model, but I use what my clients pay me to use and in LA, that means Pro Tools.

The other good thing to know about the MAGIX products is that there are upgrade paths from all versions to the higher end versions. If you buy Samp pro and want Sequoia's features, you can upgrade easily without loosing money from an extra purchase.

--Ben

Posted: Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:59 pm

Well, I think that I've finally found a rival to Pro Tools. I have Sequoia 11 on order. I'm told Sequoia 11 be released Sept 2009. I will keep my Pro Tools for marketing, and begin mastering Sequoia 11. Their youtube video's look like this system is a beast.

Ya!

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 8:53 am

A small heads-up for the tutorial videos. There has been quite a few additions lately.

http://www.samplitude.com/eng/seq/tutorial_videos.html

// Gunnar

Posted: Sun Jul 12, 2009 11:39 pm

Awesome link. Thanks for that!

Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:08 am

I'm curious to see how you like Sequoia V11. I had V8, then skipped V9 altogether and went straight to V10 for Samp & Sequoia. I like them both a lot; Samp on some workstations, and Sequoia for the big stuf.

And of course, there's Windows 7 coming out, followed by the inevitable V11.0x, and so on. Wink

You're in good company here for Samp/Seq., I doubt you'll find better Tech support than the folks here. Thumbs Up

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