:D

Greetings Adversity,

The best advice I can offer you is to go [[url=http://[/URL]="http://www.ableton…"]here[/]="http://www.ableton…"]here[/], download the demo and see for yourself whether or not it meets your needs.

You (one) can make/record Hip Hop beats (or any other genre of music) using any software (Logic, Cubase, Sonar, Samplitude, PT (LE or otherwise), etc.). All that matters is what you're (one is) comfortable with and what your choice of OS (OSX, WinXP, Linux) is.

HTH

As Spy said.

the little difference is that Ableton is developed mainly as a live tool / instrument, that said it's funtionality and power is great to use it purely in the studio for production as well, one thing about Ableton is that it's stability is probably unbeatable under all audio apps.

if you are looking into recording a lot of instruments in a more "traditional" way oposed to programing mainly midi beats i would probably go for an "classic" apps like cubase, samplitude, DP or logic...

but if you mainly program and just record the one or other live instrument or a vocal additional, and you want to perform your stuff live as well or parts of it, let's say the beats via laptop plus live MC (or having the easy option without a lot of hussle!!)
then live is the way to go!! it's a brilliant apps, more and more people start to use in the studio as an writing / production tool only as well...

ok im kinda getting it i think. So that means that soft synth workstations such as Project 5 don't make synth sounds, they only record, loop, and/or edit the sounds recorded onto it?

Live is an interesting piece software. It can easily be used as your primary multitrack recorder, softsynth,etc., and with v5 they added more DAW type features. Definately check out the demo. I am still checking out different software to use as my main DAW software, I have been trying Live, PT(M-Powered) and Logic, and I really like Live. I think I am going to have to buy them all.

I believe Project 5 does have synth sounds, I think what sets Live apart from the other DAWs is the real-time "clip" based recording and playback system... in traditional DAWs to record different parts you'd set different measure ranges and punch-in/out points (say from measure 1 to 8, then 9 to 12, etc.), more like a multi-track tape deck. Then when done you play it back and it just plays everything where it was originally recorded.

In Live you can basically record any number of clips on each track and then also control what order they are played back (if one clip is playing, and you click on another one in the same track, it will start playing the second one when the first one is done, or at the next beat or measure if you wish). This way you can mix and match any clips from all your tracks and basically arrange a song on the fly. Very powerful... with a foot based MIDI controller you can assign things to pedals (switching tracks, switching clips, recording, playing, etc.) and basically build up a whole song while you are playing your instrument(s).

oh i see wat its about. i read on PH's REASON and it says it has its own sequencer. im thinking that that's what im looking for. Also maybe the M-Audio Key Rig, Cakewalk Dimension Pro, and Fxpansion GURU. They "look" like goos software. But i guess im gonna have to try it out for myself. Thanks for all the help, and iss u still have more advice and/or suggestions then i'd really appreciate it.
But im only 15 and on a budget so dont tell me about a $500 dollar software, lol. my limit for anything is $400. as soon as i turn 16 ima try to get a job and save up as much as possible.