are you a host whore?

[hoffy]

I use heaps of hosts, but I only use one host for the task of sequencing and mixing- and that would be Cubase or Pro Tools depending on where I am, and who i am working with.

all the others i use- FL, Audiomulch, Audition and Melodyne are glorified synths and effects =)

I'd be happy with just SX =)

[mahtazz]

Hey.. I gots a question..

Why is it that I see EnergyXT in everyone's list? What's so awesome about eXT?

I think I tried it once.. but I suppose didn't give it much patience.. prolly cause it looks pretty incapable of doing anything good..

anyway.. thx

Battleguard

It's sure that energyXT has changed very much since you tried it ...

[ouroboros]

Nope. Only have one that I bought, one that I use: FL Studio. (I still have some free trackers around, but I don't use 'em much anymore).

[John Vulich]

I make Dark/Ambient/Experimental/Ethnic/Industrial music and various permutations of all those genres. I tend to work a lot with mangling samples from sound FX, enviromental and ethnic CDs. I don't do a whole lot of sequencing except to generate short riffs, drones and sound beds, usually using random patches made with Reaktor ensembles. I generally render all synth parts to audio and then edit the loops to crossfade smoothly in a wave editor. I rarely keep any MIDI tracks around after rendering. I'll then work on the composition using these rendered loops.

Live 5 - Live has been my main Sequencer/DAW since version 3. A clean, simple and forward thinking interface. Compared to the big old dinosaurs like Cubase, Logic and Sonar, this seems like the future of interface design and ergonomics.

Tracktion 2 - Tried version 1 out, a while back, and found it a bit lacking. Took the plunge with v2 so I'm still getting accustomed with it. Still needs a bit of work but, like Ableton Live, I like it's clean uncluttered interface a lot.

Reason 2.5 - I like Reason a lot but really don't use it much these days. Hoping there is a 3.5 update that breathes some new life into it. 3.0 just didn't cut it for me.

[tetraplan]

AudioMulch - Seems to think the way I do. That's very cool, if a bit scary.

Sonar - For jobs, mixing, mastering and the odd traditional bit.

EnergyXT - Got it a while ago but haven't used it yet.

Groet, Erik

[headquest]

I was happily married to Cubase for some years, even after Reason - our Sweedish au-pair - moved in.

SHe became cranky however, so I left for a younger model - Tracktion.

We were together for a year and a half, but neither of us was faithful. I was having dirty weekends with Ableton Live and Adobe Audition;... she was increasingly spending all her time with Lunch Money.

So now I'm in a happier and much more stable relationship with Ableton Live 5, who is very happy for Reason to still come party together

I should also try to get back on speaking terms with Cubase, simply for the sake of the kids.

[TeeLangSun]

I prefer to beocme proficeint at one and then it is there for any method of music making I decide to do at the time.

Kan't agree more.
Using just SX is fine for me.

Yep, me too. And as soon as I figure out which one that is, I'll settle down.

Currently I have:

Cubase. SL system 4, and SX3. - I like it for it's "completeness", but dislike it for it "driving a bus" feel.

Orion Platinum - This a program that I like a lot because I like the way it works, but stability issues and general lack of refinement have caused me to have a love/hate relationship with it for years. I'll give the next update a serious looking over before deciding if I'm willing to pay for another update.

Reason - I've used this one also since version 1 right through version 3. I'm still updating, but not using it almost at all. I'm not sure why. Probably, I'm not gonna update to version 4. I was hoping that I might learn to like Rewire and use Reason as a "rack of instruments". Didn't work out that way.

FL Studio - Very very strong program. Solid stability, massive featureset which is what I like to see. When I reach for a soft studio, it's either Orion or FL. I find that FL has the tools I need, but Orion has the workflow.

I've downloaded and tried out Live and Tracktion but I can't seem to get into the "one window does it all" concept. I actually bought P5v2, but not because I even intended to sequence anything in it. I bought it for the Dimension Synth/sampler because people were saying it was so incredible. That didn't work out either.

My current focus is on Orion Platinum and SX3.

[Ixox]

Trackion 2 only... Seems to have all what i need.
Would be perfect if it worked well with EWQLSO Gold.

[CorrosiveGod]

Logic 5.5.1 for PC-- sequencing, EXS24mkii (don't like halion), ES1, ES2, and automation.

Cubase SX 3-- for plugins that will not work correctly in Logic 5.5.1, any audio produced in Cubase is dumped into Logic, and automation is added to it. Nudeno/Cubase's automation is awful compared to Logic.

Sonar 4-- Used for a short time, then never used again due to lack of native VST support.

FL Studio/Orion -- ok, not something i would use.

[Meffy]

Sonar 3 -- main sequencer for traditional music and when I need a notation view

Live 4 -- when audio manipulation is the focus or to take advantage of some of Ableton's plug-ins

Brainspawn Forte 1.5 -- when I don't need a sequencer or recorder

Tracktion 1 -- got it because it was free, mostly for testing plug-ins

Reason 3 -- if you count it as a host; love it and use it a lot, but usually Rewired to Sonar or Live

Might buy eXT in the not-too-distant future if it will handle a certain plug-in that I'm testing.

[ceenda]

Tracktion 2 -- Main workhorse. The whole interface seems very 'immediate', but I still find manual editing of MIDI data a bit fiddly (even with the new MIDI editor improvements).

EnergyXT -- I'd be using eXT as a main sequencer if it was a bit more flexible with display of non-4/4 data (even including things like correct metronome emphasis for non-4/4). I love the whole eXT paradigm, though I agree with the current concensus that eXT needs to refine in terms of usability and bugfixing for a bit.

FLStudio -- No doubt in my mind that it is an excellent host, and I'm very glad I chose it as my first main host. However, I never really got into the whole pattern playlist style of working (which is great for some styles but not others). Still love using it as a scratchpad for ideas.

I'm going to look into Ableton Live again, though. I demoed it for a while and didn't really 'get it'. I feel like I'm not fulling understanding why people rave about it so much, but I'd like to try it more and see if something clicks.

Orion -- I did, in fact, like Orion a lot. But I kept getting bad crashes, despite installing on a clean XP install etc. So I ended up selling it. Maybe I'll look into it again in a couple of years time and see what's going on.

[DavenH]

Nope!

[griels]

Me either... SX3 is pretty much my sequencer of choice, but I have used EnergyXT for collaboration and as a subhost for complex routings/testing plugins. Also played with Tracktion, but find the MIDI a bit limited for my needs, so I've never really done a project with the Tracktion 1 NFR I have. But I must say there's a lot to love about it. I'm just thoroughly entrenched in the Cubase way of working (plus I love the drum editor and haven't found a replacement I like yet).

[bmanic]

FL Studio all the way.. still. Been a user since version 1.2 but if jorgen does some heavy polishing of energy XT (read: make it more streamlined with better workflow) and adds PDC then I'll jump ship for sure. Cubase SX 3 is also very tempting but somehow I do not like the long loading times, the still quite messy mixer (too much graphics imo!) and the heavy CPU usage due to VST effects being processed all the time, even when not playing the song!!

- bManic

[soulata]

Cubase SL 3 - for mixing, editing and studio compatibility

Tracktion 2 - Ideas, jingles, tracking (easy exporting of tracks is a godsend)

Live Lite 4 - Just got it (comes bundled with Xboards), I just might upgrade to Live 5 - should I?