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Ask and you shall recieve.

This is as comprehensive as I could get. There may be a few stragglers that I left out. If that is the case please say so. There's Bias Peak Studio but I don't eve know if people use that. Do they? Let me know.

Please vote for all that apply.

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Aisle 6 Sat, 04/05/2014 - 03:00

Hi audiokid.
I have been a PT user since back in the ProTools 24 days and then HD when that came out and I find that for music production that does not rely on VI's, Pro Tools is a great editor and I have found it difficult to find an alternative DAW that gives me the advantages that I require. What is it about Sequoia that you love so much? DO you do Music Production, post production, Broadcast etc? Isthe audio editor as sophisticated as PT10?

Cheers,,
Scott

anonymous Sat, 04/05/2014 - 05:03

I have nothing against PT, it's an easy platform to work in; it's just that I switched over to Sonar back in the late 90's because Sonar handled midi integration better than Pro Tools did at that time.

I've used PT, Sonar, Samplitude and MixBus (although I'm not sure I would categorize MixBus as in the same category as the others because it's strictly audio) and to my ears, Samplitude sounds the best.

On that note, I think it may also be one of the clumsiest GUI's I've ever worked with, I wouldn't go so far as to call it turm-key friendly in terms of "boot it up and go". (Chris may disagree).

That all being said, I'm still using Sonar (vers 7.2 / x64 and x32) the most as my main DAW for clients - mainly because I've used it for so long now that I know it blindfolded, and when you're working with a client who is paying you by the hour, you can't continually be turning to the online help section or searching for and trying to remember where the hell the quantize, slip, nudge or audio gain functions are...

For straight audio, I like MixBus. It's very reminiscent of mixing on an older analog desk, and it's got a nice layout in that regard. But, it has no midi integration at all.

I DO NOT believe that "all DAW's sound the same". As of this writing, I'm comfortable calling Samplitude the best sounding DAW I've used. I don't know if it's the routing, the code, the math, or whatever, but to my ears it's much cleaner sounding, less "phasey", for lack of a better term.

I'm starting to lean away from having masses of processor plugs in projects anyway, because I think that they tend to leave artifacts, and as more plugs are stacked, things seem to get muddier and less transparent.
That being said, I've loaded the same number and types of plugs in Samplitude as I have in Sonar, and Samplitude handles the processing much better sonically.

I do wish it was easier to get around though, it seems "clunky" to me. I suppose that would disappear with time, like any other platform, as you grow more used to it.

IMHO of course

hueseph Sat, 04/05/2014 - 08:22

I've been advocating Sonar for a while but after going through a session with a live sound engineer and him asking me simple routing and consolidating questions, I realized how easy Pro Tools is to use. I still love to bash Pro Tools. It pisses me off how incredibly slow they've been to adopt simple things like ADC for standard PT users. And just how much of a dog PT has been in the past. I hate their business model and how they treat their customers. They charge you for everything. I'm surprised their support line isn't a 1-900 number. Still, hands down, Pro Tools is the easiest editor to work in. Maybe I will upgrade to 11 finally.

There is no perfect DAW. If I could get the editing features of Sonar with the robust package and midi implementation of Sonar, I would be happy. It isn't going to happen.

Samplitude is nice. The routing is decent but there are days when it just won't boot and I have to do an uninstall, clean the registry and reinstall. It's a major pain.

I still use Acid Pro for loop editing and for working with audio montage for pseudo-mastering.

Aisle 6 Sat, 04/05/2014 - 15:10

I agree that from my limited experience with various DAWS, as I have been on PT for well over a decade, that PT seems to be the simplest editor and given that I really care little for the DAW I use, I just want simple and seamless.

I have tried Reaper and it shows potential but is not there yet. I have also been fiddling with Mixbus, which I find really exciting, but no where near a full featured DAW. So I remain on PT for better or worse.

anonymous Sat, 05/17/2014 - 04:53

I was under the impression that FL Studio catered more to the samples and loops crowd; perhaps that's not what they do any more. I dunno. It's hard to keep up.

In any case, since I do very little - if any - of that kind of production, it's not of much interest to me. For familiarity and knowing immediately where commands and tools are, Sonar ( 7 PE) is still my go-to, simply because I've been working with it for so long now that I can pretty much get around it with my eyes closed - BUT - Eventually, I'm sure that Samplitude is going to end up winning that battle. I'm still getting used to its layout and nomenclature, but I think it sounds better than Sonar does.

I'll continue to work within Sonar 7 PE for the time being, because my clients are on the clock and it's not their responsibility to pay for my education of Samplitude. But, I'm getting more and more familiar with Samp in my spare time, and I can definitely see a time in the not so distant future where it will become my main platform.

FWIW.

Josh Conley Sat, 05/17/2014 - 11:56

i suppose that was the case many many moons ago when i bought it at fruity loops 3.5.6 lol..
It does everything i want it to do simply and quickly, modulation and routing are available for every parameter except transport controls, menus are all mostly 1 layer deep.
i laugh when i hear other users demand mix controls on their plugins because i can do that 3 differents ways aside from the fixed mix knobs it has on every effect insert, i can pencil in an envelope for any parameter, you can develop any LFO you can come up with an equation for.... anything i can think of.
as an electronic musician (read: knob tweaker) branching out into recording a little bit it's perfect.

and now theyre working on this visual modular environment thingy because i guess the current environ isnt flexible enough ;)