KVR Audio

origami · Post by **origami** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 4:41 pm

i've been using FL Studio from the very beginning I started making music. I've read a lot about other hosts and sequencers but even though there's a lot about it, I still don't understand exactly what the difference is between a sequencer (cubase, logic...) and a virtual studio (Fl, Orion, reason...).

??

shamann · Post by **shamann** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 4:58 pm

Less difference with each passing year. Full-fledged sequencers tend to have more capabilities for dealing with outboard gear, also tend to have a lot more sequencing options (like midi scripting, staff notation, etc).

Softstudios were originally designed as a sort of all-in-one package, where you had sequencing (usually a grid style step sequencer), native sound generators and effects. As feature bloat becomes necessary to maintain/build your customer base, they've all grown to overlap quite a bit.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Tue Mar 29, 2005 10:30 pm

Until relatively recently the big difference was audio recording but now there really aren't too many.

origami · Post by **origami** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 12:58 am

I see. It's just that sometimes we users of FL or Orion seem to be considered to be in a diffrerent league (in an inferior league) to those who use Cubase, Sonar or Logic, Live being somewhat in the middle.

Not that I care, but I was just curious...

TVD · Post by **TVD** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 6:20 am

origami wrote:I see. It's just that sometimes we users of FL or Orion seem to be considered to be in a diffrerent league (in an inferior league) to those who use Cubase, Sonar or Logic, Live being somewhat in the middle.

Not that I care, but I was just curious...

And then Cakewalk release Project5 v2, the soft studio wars are going to reach a whole new level (in a marketing sense).

origami · Post by **origami** » Wed Mar 30, 2005 7:43 am

yeah project 5 sounds promising, as far as I've read.

origami · Post by **origami** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 7:14 pm

in what aspects would you consider I should use Cubase SL instead of FL? just curious

UltraJv · Post by **UltraJv** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 7:22 pm

The big difference between something like FL and Cubase is that FL mainly is geared up to laptop use and therefore dosnt expect you to have an external midi controller (Thats why its step input and editing are great) whereas Cubase is geared up to the musician who likes to play a midi keyboard controller and isnt too worried about editing. So if you like mouse and QWERTY keyboard step time input - Cubase etc arnt for you.

shamann · Post by **shamann** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 7:38 pm

origami wrote:in what aspects would you consider I should use Cubase SL instead of FL? just curious

Main one is if you're using a lot of outboard gear, Cubase has all sorts of MIDI functions and delay compensations for that sort of thing.

origami · Post by **origami** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 7:42 pm

aha
I don't use any outboard gear, though soon I'll buy a hardware synth. I'll see how it works with FL...

nightspan · Post by **nightspan** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 7:47 pm

'scuse me for jumping in here; I'm thinking about some of this same stuff, from the other side (using an old version of cubase, don't really like it, but do vstis, midi and accoustic instruments).

UltraJv, are you saying that FL doesn't allow the use of external midi controllers?

stale bread · Post by **stale bread** » Sun Apr 03, 2005 8:33 pm

i use an m-audio radium 49 keyboard controller as well as an akai mpd16 pad controller with FL5, I don't use the qwerty, and I only program beats wih the pad controller.

NPerez · Post by **NPerez** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 8:59 am

I can see why virtual studios might be seen as inferior for recording,.,but I work entirely with the piano roll & havent found a better piano roll than FL, so i still think virtual studios are the shizzle.

grillo · Post by **grillo** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 9:27 am

To me it kind of depends on the style of music you make and the workflow you're accustomed.

See i started out with trackers, and doing all out techno in the early nineties as a teenager (yeah you know it's kinda rough growing up) and with drummachines and synths and on screen editing i kinda think in term of patterns and consistent tempo and intro outro and breakdowns structure. So i think that softstudios right now give me all that i could ever need and i'm very fast working with them and don't actually encounter the 'problems' that some other people face with them.

Whereas i know of people who come from a more 'traditional' music backgrounnd, like playing instruments in bands and writing songs that absolutely can't work with patterns and thus prefer more of a 'linear' sequencing as in cubase for example.

nightspan · Post by **nightspan** » Mon Apr 04, 2005 11:29 am

(Just being lazy here I know; I should just read the FL and/or eXT docs or do their demos, since those are the main hosts I'm considering...)

Can't you do linear tracks running the length of the song, either midi or audio, in FL and eXT? Or have a one-time-only fill on one instrument at the end of the second verse?

Or does *everything* have to be a repeating pattern?

Can you repeat a 6 bar pattern over a 4 bar one?

sequencer vs virtual studio...differences?