KVR Audio

circuitbentpirate · Post by **circuitbentpirate** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 1:53 am

I know this has been covered a thousand times, but one more time please....I've used FL Studio for a few years now and I love it, but I'm looking for something that is better for recording. I've tried Sonar 4, and it is ok, but I hate the mixer layout because I am so used to the FL mixer, and many of the plugins I use don't look the same. I've also tried Magix audio 7, and Kristal. Not impressed with either. When I go to school I will be using Protools, I just got the demos for Tracktion 2 and the new Ableton Live, which is the best choice?

bluedad · Post by **bluedad** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 2:03 am

Try the demo's and make up YOUR mind. You're going to get replies about a 50/50 split on either side of Traktion and Live.
Live 5 rocks, btw.

Left Headphone · Post by **Left Headphone** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 2:03 am

Sonar 4

IIRs · Post by **IIRs** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 2:07 am

bluedad wrote: Live 5 rocks.

But Tracktion rocks harder..

Lunch Money · Post by **Lunch Money** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 2:24 am

This thread has been done a bazillion times, and you'll find the same arguments all the time, and people (like me) popping in with opinions about sequencers that aren't even on your radar yet. Like eXT.

Both Live and Tracktion are completely dissimilar to Pro Tools, so don't get either of them as a 'home substitute'. Rather, get one of them BECAUSE it's different to Pro Tools. Tracktion's arrangement view will be more like Pro Tools in terms of the approach to in-line editing, but there IS no mixer, and the familiar box-o-buttons on the left of the track simply isn't there in T. The functions are, but they're presented in a different way. The pan, volume, submixing, and effects (sends AND inserts) are ALL done right in the arrangement (edit) page. I'd never go to a "fake hardware mixer" again, having done it the Tracktion way; however, some people swear by their "fake hardware mixers", so you'll have to try it for yourself before deciding.

Greg

circuitbentpirate · Post by **circuitbentpirate** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 2:31 am

I think I like the "fake hardware mixer" way because I can see what I'm doing easily. I do really like the FL mixer, sonar 4 has the surround mixer that is cool. Basicly I'm looking for a pro quality multi-track program for recording bands and instruments, while I use FL studio to write songs.

Left Headphone · Post by **Left Headphone** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 2:39 am

I do my midi composing in FLS sometimes. I use FLS for a few years before I jumped to Sonar 4. It took me a while to get use to S4. I just import my midi files from FLS into S4 and add on from there.

S4's freeze and PDC is excellent and it handels audio way better and FLS. If your are going to be working with alot of loops, get Live. If you going to work with a lot of Soft Synths and audio, get Sonar 4 or 5...

the_nihilist · Post by **the_nihilist** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 3:55 am

FL made me think in patterns and loops. Songs were generally made by piling up patterns onto one another until it sounded "done".

Cubase makes me think in movements and phrases. I can visualize and manipulate movement in songs a hell of alot better in it. For organization, it is much better than FL... Track folders, being able to name and color almost everything, the flexible routing...

I guess the best analogy would be that I made "tunes" in FL, and I make "songs" in Cubase.

But hosts are very individual things.

EDIT: Whoops. I was looking at this thread and the "FL Studio makes synthetic music?" thread at the same time. Sonar is neat, has lots of features I wish cubase would have (like cutting sound when CPU load is 100% instead of locking up my PC), but I don't like its approach to workflow.

scam_artist · Post by **scam_artist** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 4:39 am

Give a host called Podium a try too:
http://www.zynewave.com/index.htm

It's the only host I use extensively, although I own Tracktion, Live 5, energyXT...

Every host has a learning curve though, and Podium can seem confusing at first... so watch the videos on the homepage http://www.zynewave.com/index.htm
, and read through this beginners guide I wrote http://www.zynewave.com/userfiles/ScamArtist/index.htm. These days, I find Podium really easy to use and very polished and functional, and I have no problems recording into it. Only $90 too, great price. And the support is awesome

Some Podium reviews are here:
http://www.kvraudio.com/get/834.html

For the record, I love Live 5 to pieces for it's live features... but not for sequencing, arranging and mixing which I much prefer to do in podium. Cheers

haydxn · Post by **haydxn** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:42 am

there's no way our opinion will help you decide which you prefer. no host is 'better' in what it can allow you to achieve if you click with the way it works, but all hosts present a different way to achieve things.

personally, my choice is Tracktion. it's so refreshing to use it, and i come from a background of using Logic, which i abandoned in T's favour - so it's not like it's not capable! Live has a totally different way of working again; personally, i don't like it, but i think i'm the only one and i'm not going to try to convince you of anything! live is probably the least like protools, if you're going for comparisons or trying to get a sense of familiarity. protools is very sophisticated, and i'm sure you'll learn a lot from using it at school. if you have an m-audio soundcard and you like protools, you can always get the m-powered version and use it from home. personally, again, i don't really enjoy using protools that much, but it has some great features.

at the end of the day, we can't help you decide. just try the demos and see how you like working with them. Live is a very powerful machine, but it works in an entirely different way to other hosts from a sequencing standpoint. you may well feel that it's exactly how you want to work, if so, go for it! tracktion is just really slick and easy to use; audio editing and manipulation is so much quicker and easier IMO, and despite what people say, the midi editing features are good. some people do have advanced requirements which it may not meet (and fair play to them) but a lot of the moaning is unjustified, and it's most likely that you won't find a problem with it.

my choice is Tracktion. yours may well be entirely different. just please try the demos and play around with them to see if you enjoy using them - at the end of the day, that's what counts.

Caleb · Post by **Caleb** » Fri Sep 16, 2005 9:01 am

Yeah - it's all so personal really.

I would just jump out and say Sonar 4 should be really good as would Cubase. In fact, if it's mainly final arrangement and mixing you're wanting, nTrack Studio would probably be worth looking at also.

I'm just basing this on what you said about recording bands and the kind of mixers you like. I don't really know if any of these are really the solution you're looking for though.

Caleb

Which is the better host?