I'm not a Live user, but part of the reason I'm not is that it's looked for the last 2 years that they were taking it places that didn't interest me. If they've simplified the way things work in Live 5, I'll definitely check out the demo again.headquest wrote:Sorry but I disagree with your assessment there Steve. (are you a Live user yourself?)
But you misinterpret me. I'm not implying Live sucks for the changes, but that its priorities aren't what they used to be, and that it hasn't necessarily expanded/improved on what it originally did well, only added/improved on other features. You said so yourself, that the new version "genuinely turns Live into a DAW that for some of us meets all our needs in one phenomenal program." When Live was created/first released, it wasn't meant to fulfill all your needs. Wasn't designed that way and wasn't advertised that way. The role Live has come to fill doesn't sound a lot different than roles filled by Logic/Cubase/Sonar/etc. Sure it does things differently, better for some users, but it now has a lot of the same end goals.
I use Audiomulch, have since it was released (or nearly so at least). One of the frequent feature requests over the years has been MIDI note sequencing. People wanted explicit MIDI paths (which wouldn't be a terrible thing) and MIDI sequencers, much like what's in EnergyXT now. I'm glad Ross resisted though, as Mulch is designed for specific functions, and has a lot of ways to let you do it effectively. And luckily EnergyXT has taken up a lot of the slack in MIDI areas.
One thread that crops on the EnergyXT forum every now and again is people questioning the fast and furious list of feature requests, which would ultimately make EnergyXT just like everything else. Again, slightly different method, but same end result.
The argument could be made you want one application to do it all, because you don't want to buy lots of other applications. But evidence to the contrary, people here don't seem to have issues with buying a license for multiple apps if it suits their needs. The one thing that I might be missing is other people's aversion to workarounds, as personally I like workarounds. The most creative stuff I've done was a result of making do with what's available and figuring out how I can get it do something unexpected. But from my perspective, there already are a lot of things out there that do everything in one package.
So far I like Rurik's idea best, it would be great to see a quality MIDI/audio sequencer like Muzys given away for free. We're generally either fairly privileged or fairly dedicated to using software here, but for those that aren't in our position, it would be great for them to have easy/free/legal access to quality tools, and that appear to them as quality tools from the outset.
I can't see Muzys making a re-entry in to the market, or even Muzys - the next generation. So far the only people who've said they'd get it are the same ones who had it, and they've mostly admitted to moving on to another application already. If it stopped in the past because the user base was too small, it doesn't sound to me like its future will be much different.
Unless Jo decides to make it a different beast entirely, something that would surprise us, and that would appeal to more users than just a niche group of people who haven't found their ideal sequencing tool yet.
