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anonymous 9 June 2002
  • Which DAW and operating system do you use and why?

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    anonymous Mon, 06/10/2002 - 23:39

    As pointed out, there's only one option and we use more than one system.

    We use two Pro Tools TDM systems and we also have
    5 Soundscapes at our radiostations.

    The Pro Tools systems has got the big number of tracks, MIDI and DSP and are used by two of the producers (I'm one).
    The Soundscapes are VERY easy to learn and user-friendly and are mostly used by the programme hosts.
    One producer prefers the Soundscape though, and I have one alongside my PT system. When I have to do some quick edits on several tracks that needs to be imported to a complex PT Session, the Soundscape does the job extremely well. Actually it can export to a Pro Tools Session!
    Also Soundscapes NEVER crash. But they don't have MIDI.

    That's the "Why?"'s.

    Best Regards,
    John Rammelt
    Producer / Composer
    RIX FM / MTG Radio

    anonymous Mon, 06/10/2002 - 23:57

    Soundscape saves cash!!!!!

    I've got 4 old soundscapes, for a total of 48 flawless tracks, and 2 new Makie soundscape 32s are on the way for another 64 flawless track. I can still run them, the new ones as well, on a Pentium 1 with 200mhz and 32 mb ram. I've been using my pentium 3 450mhz for 3 years now and I don't need to update.

    there has only been 1 hardware update added to the soundscape unit in the 7 years (Yes! 7 years!!) that I've owned them. Now that Makie has bought soundscape I'm sure there will be another generation of support that I can count on so I can continue to comfortably make my productions.

    Long live soundscape.

    P.S. I still use Cubase for midi.

    anonymous Tue, 06/11/2002 - 00:32

    hi folks.

    Well. Had a demo model of Fairlights "entry" base Dream Family system - the "Satellite"- for a week, courtesy of Fairlight. But the ratfinks took it back..(I couldn't forge the fineprint on their docket to say they'd let me keep it). So, there's gonna have to be one on my desk in the next few months, by hook or by crook. To coin a phrase, Fairlight's system "ROCKS!!!"
    BTW any pain you may feel re their entry price will immeadiately be eased by:
    a. No counselling or therapy fees re loss of a "good sound".
    b. Fairlights interface with VST based technologies - if you want to do this (I do).Wave, Wave Broadcast, Akai etc. - no problem.
    c. Once you do the costing, over a year, the world still smiles.
    d. It looks really pretty at night.
    e. I took 18 months to decide which way I was going to go, including some serious research and comparisons of other systems.
    f. They speak Australian!!!
    g. Seriously cool DAW folks.
    h. My girlfriend slept with it (check out the Fairlight Forum here on RO) - and it respected her in the morning.
    i. Yes I know I'm the Fairlight Moderator up here on RO, no I have no connection with the company...
    (yet...but the Fairlight folk I met like old cars, so do I...)
    i. Seriously, is nobody else up here into the 2002 FIFA Soccer World Cup?

    Kind regards
    Hi audiokid!
    :) :cool:

    anonymous Tue, 06/11/2002 - 19:43

    I was suprised to see that, at the point I voted, Sonar was the most widely used (my vote pushed it over ProTools ;) ). I think it's a great system. Working at Full Sail, I've had the opportunity to use quite a few programs. ProTools is great but WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY overpriced. Sonar has seemed to be the best competitor for your basic 24 track music production.

    I used WaveLab when I was producing a prerecorded radio show which worked incredibly well for that. But there's no way WaveLab could function for a 24 track session.

    I'd have to say Vegas is really close to Sonar as far as ease of use. Some things Vegas does better (ie grouping functions), but the things I felt were more important Sonar had (ie the ability to change time/key signatures and tempos, better fx system, mixer controls).

    Sincerely, your friend,
    I

    Opus2000 Tue, 06/11/2002 - 20:11

    Hmmm..well, I started off with Vision and Galaxy on an Apple IIci...back in the good ol days...
    studied Pro Tools at Berklee, also played in Cubase Deck I think it was called back then...from there I went PC based since I was out of school and no work all I could afford was a PC...went with Cakewalk for a few then became a serious Steinberg nut with Cubase...
    Now, I run Cubase, Nuendo, Reason, Wavelab and a smattering of VST instruments all on a PC. I have three machines here..one is for internet and mp3 streaming and uploading..has Wavelab and Reason on it...
    Second machine is my main machine running all the major apps listed above...also is my DV Firewire input for my video camera..
    third machine is for the System link for when my Cubase SX copy gets here so I can use that machine for extra sequencing.
    internet machine is Win2k...Audio machine is XP Pro...third machine will be XP Pro as well

    I do want to look into having a couple of those Apple XServe machines to completely take all data...the fact that you can stack 42 of those puppies and have it run all platforms is a major factor...
    OS X is "supposed" to be really hot and especially for internet..the reason I would go that route is being safe from Virus...aint no such thing in the Apple land...the one thing that truly pisses me off about the windows land is that people with too much time on their hands feel it's cool to spread havok amongst general users for no reason
    Well, that's my input
    Opus

    anonymous Tue, 06/11/2002 - 21:08

    I'm with Vince Nelson and Kn1ghtman. I too am a loyal user of sonar xl 2.0. My system is on a 800mHz PIII with 896MB of ram; matrox g450 dual display 32mb 4x agp(two screens are better than one); echo gina24/96. Though I also have cubase, and nuendo, they are hardly ever used. Reason being is that I only have them to be compatible with other studios that I work with that don't have sonar. I think sonar is the best thing i ever used, and best priced and I use it for all my musical needs except suround. I have to say that I would most likely use nuendo for that(or minnetonka if i can find it).

    anonymous Wed, 06/12/2002 - 03:51

    as far as DAW's are concerned i started off with the Yamaha DSP Factory running(more or less) on a 500Mgz P2 using Cakewalk Pro 7/8/9. I've been a Cakewalk user as far back as the Yamaha C1 (who remembers this?), which I used primarily for MIDI. I think I still have my original Cakewalk version 1 or 2 install floppies somewhere. Anyhue (an Opus-ism), now I run the Delta Omni Studio with SONAR 2.0 on an ANUS(thanks Opus) 1.8Ghz PC. I've barely had time to boot it up since the build but so far it's been a love fest. i had friends who were mac/apple junkies and i use to droool over some of the things they could do but they had cash flow i didn't. i'm kinda glad the way it turned out actually. i ended up with a good system with money left over to spend on other things like therapy, sedatives, forums(well spent),,,,

    Opus2000 Wed, 06/12/2002 - 06:48

    It seems there are quite a bit of Sonar users which surprises me do to the lack of VST support and certain synchronization issues..
    Sonar users..what latency do you get? What audio cards do you use with it? How about sync? DO you ever use it and if you did how easy was it to configure? Curious to know
    Opus

    themidiroom Wed, 06/12/2002 - 08:07

    I'm using Sonar 1.31 (haven't upgraded to 2.0 as of yet)
    For the most part, it works flawlessly. It's running on a dual Athlon MP2000+ Windows 2000, 1GB of RAM and I use a Gina 24 sound card. The system is extremely stable and very low latency.
    I can successfully mix a 50 track project with an eq and compressor on each track, a few limiters on the mains, and at least a couple reverbs here and there.

    anonymous Wed, 06/12/2002 - 10:27

    My primary DAW system is Samplitude Producer 2496. (WHAT? not Pro Tools, you ask?). No offense to PT users out there (it's a great program), but I think Samp2496 is at least on par with Pro Tools (in fact, Pro Tools has only recently caught up to it, audio resolution-wise) and it runs completely native, which makes is MUCH more cost effective than PT. In addition to it's already excellent assortment of built-in effects, I augment it with the usual host of Direct-X and VST plugins (Waves, Blue, DSP/FX, HyperPrism, TCWorks, Steinberg, yadayadayada). I'm good to go for any type of work from simple editing, to CD mastering, to full blown movie soundtrack/Sound Design/Foley/Mix work - including 5.1 surround. A very powerful and versatile tool, indeed!

    Kev Wed, 06/12/2002 - 11:44

    Sorry for the late reply but I don't hang here often, usually over the other side or well ... umm lurking else where with old friends. :eek:

    More than one 001 system on loan to musicians to get their projects started.

    One 001 system in another room of the house for Muso's to go and use so they can argue about parts and arangements while I get some work done. This machine also has FCP in it.

    I have an MBox ordered but am waiting for the 5.3 ver. to be shipped with it.

    There is even a PTfree system out with a friend who is writing some Midi stuff as backing and click tracks for his new project.

    Things will get so much easier when LE gets 32 tracks.

    anonymous Wed, 06/12/2002 - 13:02

    yo opus: haven't had one prob yet (using sonar)since i did a clean install and i'm still on an 800mhz pc. but i am still looking for a control surface that i want to go with, have any suggestions(must have automation)? oh as far as sound cards go, i'm using echo products (gina24, the best for the buck) the only sync prob i ever got using any cakewalk product was trying to sync a roland vs880. though we did sync it (very easily too) BUT for some reason it never SYNC'S PROPERLY and i've tried looking everywhere to try to find a solution and no luck. this was done at another home studio trying to incorporate one, didn't want to try to do it on mine.

    Henchman Wed, 06/12/2002 - 22:29

    Originally posted by audiokid:
    Henchman, what's the cost for the system, can you break it down a bit? Fairlight sounds very good. I've always liked their keyboards so I can imagine the recorder is the same quality.

    Depends on what you want. A new 48 channel Dream sattleite will run about 60k CDN. But tah inckludes all the I/O for 48 channels.

    You can get some good eals on MFX3plus machines. Usually starting around 10k US. But we just picked up a used one from a Repo sale in the US for $1800,- US.

    anonymous Thu, 06/13/2002 - 00:15

    Originally posted by Henchman:

    Originally posted by audiokid:
    Henchman, what's the cost for the system, can you break it down a bit? Fairlight sounds very good. I've always liked their keyboards so I can imagine the recorder is the same quality.

    Depends on what you want. A new 48 channel Dream sattleite will run about 60k CDN. But tah inckludes all the I/O for 48 channels.

    You can get some good eals on MFX3plus machines. Usually starting around 10k US. But we just picked up a used one from a Repo sale in the US for $1800,- US.A new 48 channel Dream sattelite will run about 60k CDN. But that inckludes all the I/O for 48 channels.

    Hmm think about that folks. If you want, that's 48 channels of very high quality analog I/O's included in the price.

    Or a mix of analog and digital 96kHz. Not your average MOTU, Digi, or Apogee deal.

    PS Henchman, what can I say...damn. MFX envy!!! :cool:

    anonymous Thu, 06/13/2002 - 03:31

    originally posted by Opus2000

    Well, since Sonar is cheaper than most applications it will tend to be the most popular..

    in my case i started using Cakewalk over 10 years ago as i said primarily for midi and as a registered user the upgrade price was just too good to ignore. lately i've been tempted to leave the Cakewalk/SONAR club but when i begin to think about the cost and learning curve and then they come out with a new release or upgrade and....i just installed 2.0

    as far as latency, i just got mine down to 2.7 but i really have not had the time to put it to the test. based on the readings i'm getting i think i'll be able to get it below 2 and still get an acceptable track/plugin count. i might be dreaming, but hell i do that all the time..we'll see.

    Jim Chapdelaine Thu, 06/20/2002 - 15:01

    I also use 2 systems.
    PTHD3 for the muscle and daily grind.
    (And because people say 'do you have pro tools?)
    But ONLY with Apogees as a front end (don't ask)

    I also use Nuendo for fun and because in 2 years it will be as prevalent as Pro Tools so you may as well learn it now. BTW - Nuendo already supports
    384k sample rates at 32 bits and has been tested with 512 stereo interleaved tracks. You know,
    in case you want to comp vocals for the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

    anonymous Sat, 06/22/2002 - 01:34

    Running Sonar 2.0 with 2 Aark24s, 2 ADAT XT20s and a BRC. I use the Aardvarks for house clock and the BRC as the SMPTE master. I don't usually have to deal with much MIDI stuff, but it seems to sync fine. Soft synth latency is poor, but I never use them anyway. This is because of the Aark24 MMC drivers, not Sonar. Aardvark recently put out drivers for XP/W2k, if you really need low latency.

    PC is 1.6GHz P4, 1/2Gb Rimm, IDE Raid controller, etc. I've yet to use enough tracks to cause any glitches. I ran a 128 track test once (24bit/48kHz), just to see and it ran great. If that's not enough, what is?

    ADAT sync is at least frame accurate, but probably not sample accurate. Using a house clock smooths out any potential problems there. Optical transfer works great between Aark24s and ADATs.

    I worked with 2" tape for years and then on Pro Tools (with Aardvark clocks). Pro Tools is great, but overpriced. My current setup lets me do everything I cared about in Pro Tools and cost a fraction of the price. Sound quality is excellent and my clients are happy. Hard to beat in my opinion. I'd rather spend the extra money on cool mics anyway.

    Ian

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