Acid user looking to switch... Cubase or Samplitude ?

[Cabinfever]

hmmm.... lots of ex-acid users around. no wonder the sony acid forum is so dead. its really very sad how that app was mangled and destroyed. if you go back to acidpro 3 and then think where that app *could* have gone ....

[Jostein]

I still think Acid has its mission! But I rarely use it as the sole creative package - Cubase SX 3 is IMHO a far better sequecer and work environment - but I really enjoy the combo! Acid is instant fun - and extremely easy to use - no hassle at all!

Cheers,
Jostein

[cloudspine]

I'm still using SF's Acid Pro 4.0, but have been considering migrating to something else ever since Sony took over.

The one thing that caught my attention in the Host section here at KVR is Sonar, but I also remember a lot of users on the Acid forum talking about moving to Live...

I tried Cubase 2 at a friend's house once, and hated it. It seemed so damn complicated... What's the deal with that?

But then again, Acid Pro 4 still works for me...

[BC]

I still use ACID5 a fair bit. But my primary audio-recording, MIDI and mixing tool is SONAR.

But Project5v2 is on it's way to me now ......

[Zacchino]

Nice to see all these acid refugee's opinion !

So I guess I'll dig in Sonar, but I still hesitate because it still doesn't have native VSTfx support, inplace midi editor, mouswheel zoom and good song arrangement tool...

So my last question is : for the long run, whatever time the learning curve takes, Sonar or Cubase SX3 ?

The fact is that I've never seen any Cubase SX3 friendly post yet...

[riley4reason]

I would use my AP5 more often if the audio record input was part of the mixer, that stupid popup gui that blocks everything while you are recording is just stooooopid.
I use Live 4 all the time and use AP5 to test VSTis when they don't work in Live, that way I can whine to the Abes and say "it works in AP5 wah wah wah"
That's what I use Acid for.
Riley

[isdjan]

I am leaning towards either project 5 or pro tools.

Now, isn't that almost an oxymoron?
It's almost as saying I'd be leaning towards either a candlelight dinner or a new tennis racket.

i personally am leaning towards either a mac or a pc.

[Stupid American Pig]

Nice to see all these acid refugee's opinion !

So I guess I'll dig in Sonar, but I still hesitate because it still doesn't have native VSTfx support, inplace midi editor, mouswheel zoom and good song arrangement tool...

So my last question is : for the long run, whatever time the learning curve takes, Sonar or Cubase SX3 ?

The fact is that I've never seen any Cubase SX3 friendly post yet...

about the native vst support- every application except for cubase uses a wrapper for vsts, sonar just makes it external to the application. I have no problem using any vsts I want in sonar...

[cloudspine]

...if the audio record input was part of the mixer, that stupid popup gui that blocks everything while you are recording is just stooooopid...

IMO, that's the single most annoying thing in Acid Pro 4...

[headquest]

hmmm ableton...

i tried that a lot of times and came very close to buying. a few things made me decide not to. they included a bad cpu hit

I was one of the people here who shouted loadly about that CPU hit, and felt it was being overlooked...

...but I'm pleased to say that since v4.1.1 it seems to now be under control again at last.

I think the v4 update came out perhaps too soon, and before all the issuies of adding MIDI editing and VSTi support had been properly ironed out... hence the several bug-fix patches since then.

But Live at 4.1.2 is a fantastic program, and I have now been able to claim it as my main host.

rumours of poor rendering (i couldn't test it using the demo of course)

no issues there for me. I've not seen users complaining about this on the Ableton forums...?

so-so pitch shift results, so-so midi capabilities.

If you don't need a list editor or notation, I think Live 4's take on MIDI is great. I find the little things very useful, such as the option to "fold" a track and just see the specific pitches you have used in your edit. Very easy to navigate like that!

but the real decider for me was that while it was great for jamming and creating little looped chunks, it didn't seem to be very friendly when it came to song construction. as an acid user i liked seeing the whole song laid out, and while live can do that, the app is far more focussed on the clip arranging view.

I think that depends how you choose to work. The arrange view is extreemly powerful and has great automation of every parameter, for example.

If you liked Live before I suggest you have another look... it is getting better all the time

As for Project5 I downloaded the demo, and it seems to have quite a lot going for it features wise. It also seems pretty easy to use, although I noticed one or two bits of odd behavior...

Overall, P5 seems rather sterile though. It's early days of course, but I can't see myself getting so musically inspired working in P5 in quite the same way as I do in Live 4.

[deastman]

Nice to see all these acid refugee's opinion !

So I guess I'll dig in Sonar, but I still hesitate because it still doesn't have native VSTfx support, inplace midi editor, mouswheel zoom and good song arrangement tool...

So my last question is : for the long run, whatever time the learning curve takes, Sonar or Cubase SX3 ?

The fact is that I've never seen any Cubase SX3 friendly post yet...

The ONLY things I like better about Cubase/Nuendo over Sonar is
1. Native VST support
2. More flexible signal routing

To me, these two things are not enough to compensate for the far more convoluted interface, and Sonar is much closer to Acid when it comes to sequencing audio in the timeline.

[bduffy]

The fact is that I've never seen any Cubase SX3 friendly post yet...

Well I didn't mean to put down SX 3, I'm confused by what you want...you seem to really be turned off by the Steinberg workflow, so I was reluctant to recommend it. But here is where I am now:

I used to use Sonar+ACID. Now I only need to use SX 3. I find absolutely nothing slower about workflow in SX 3 - quite the opposite. In fact, on the rare occasion that I have to go back to Sonar/ACID, I find them slow and cumbersome. The truth is that you get fast over time with a DAW, not in one day using a demo, and you have to keep that in mind. You CAN learn new tricks!

If someone tried to force me to go back to Sonar/ACID, I would kill them, their children and their childrens' children. That's how much I love SX 3. I can't imagine using anything else, especially with the Audio Warp features! It makes writing remixes a dream; far more than ACID or Sonar. I only recommend Sonar because the native Windows environment would be more familiar.

There, I said it.

[headquest]

Crumbs! You can't get a more Cubase SX friendly post than that...

[zai]

I haven't had a chance to read through all the posts yet...but if I can make a suggestion, you might want to check out Live 4 or Reason 3.0.

Zai

[No name]

I am leaning towards either project 5 or pro tools.

Now, isn't that almost an oxymoron?
It's almost as saying I'd be leaning towards either a candlelight dinner or a new tennis racket.

i personally am leaning towards either a mac or a pc.