I am in the process of crossgrading from Sonar to Samplitude 7.xx. I hear good things about the 'sound ' of Samplitude and was: 1.] wondering what peoples opinions are regarding percieved differences in sound quality from one audio software to another, and 2.] do the algorythms in the audio software affect the quality of sound produced by plugin fx?
I realize that everyone needs to use their own ears and that it all seems to be a matter of taste and sounds one wants to hear or achieve but was wondering what opinions or 'facts' might come up regarding this topic. I run most things through a Lynx card and have some decent preamp/mic gear as well. This question regards only the audio software - I know that a better signal chain will get a better sound.
I like Sonar 3 a lot [and will still use it some] but was attracted to Samp. 7 because - a.] simultaneous use of multiple soundcards is possible, b.] high quality CD burning, c.] everything is contained in one package and is of high quality, and last, but not least, d.] someone else is paying for it. I'm sure that I will find other good reasons to be glad I have it.
I look forward to any replies to the questions in the first paragraph of this post. Thanks.
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Howdy neighbor! It is indeed hard to find any kind of benchmark
Howdy neighbor!
It is indeed hard to find any kind of benchmark in regards to DAW sound quality. I read comments on how Nuendo is better sounding than SX, how this is better sounding than that, on and on...
Sound on Sound has a review of Samplitude 7 and says many favorable things about it but fails to mention sound quality at all. Everything is about features and ease of use - important in their own right, of course.
I must say I will enjoy having Samplitude nonetheless, though I wouldn't want to do without some of Sonar's features. Today I looped a 2 minute tune that will play as background music for my daughter's science fair exhibit at her school. I simply enabled looping and dragged the thing out until it filled an entire cd - took about 30 seconds. I do similar things for jazz students who want to practice soloing as well. Looped music is generally not my main interest though.
Take care :D
bap,I am in the process of crossgrading from Sonar to Samplitude
bap,
I'm beginning to think that such things affect the sound a great deal, but go unnoticed in the short term due to a lack of accurate A/B listening. So many other circumstances change along with changing systems that it's hard to hear the differences right away, even though the differences may be huge, while one is chalking it up to mic placement, room sound, or preamp choice/settings instead...until one finally sees the trend develop over time that rules everything else out. That could count for a lot of time and a lot of struggling.
I am also interested in Samplitude, as the crossgrade from DP is a good deal and the marketing hype says it sounds like the best analog console ever! :P :roll: :oops: Still, it looks like a great bang for the buck, especially as a crossgrade.
Well I'd like to hear it, anyway. But I've got to ditch my Mac for a PC to do that.
I'm also a little frustrated to see how the interaction between software and hardware seem to interact to create different 'sounds'. I wish there was a proven, truly sweet sounding DAW package, plug-ins, mixing and all, from the A/D forward to call a benchmark.
Still feels like I'm part of a high stakes crap shoot.
Sorry for the rant :D
Dean