Live5 vs reason vs fruityloops vs project 5
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- KVRAF
- 10171 posts since 2 Jan, 2005 from somewhere in the woods
Every daw is missing something. Try....and buy! 
"It dreamed itself along"
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- KVRist
- 319 posts since 15 Feb, 2005 from Sandy Eggo
Each has their pros and cons. In a perfect world, we could pick and choose the best features like a Chinese menu. As suggested, try the demos.
Don't have Live so can't comment on that.
Reason Pros:
- by far the most stable and CPU-efficient host IMHO. Great for laptop use.
- Hardware rack metaphor is nice for those crossing over into the soft-synth world from hardware
- Unlimited audio routing using intuitive virtual cables
- Sane and fair copy protection
Reason Cons:
- God-awful sequencer and arranger. The worst of any host that I've used.
- Closed, proprietary system. Only expansion is limited to refills and REX loops.
- Hardware rack metaphor not always intuitive to those coming from a DAW environment.
- Virtual cables are creepy when they swing back and forth (easy to shut off though)
FL Studio Pros
- fairly stable and efficient (once you get away from the .0 releases)
- inexpensive to start, yet allows you to build up individual IL plugs
- Both VST and DX support
- Nice automation possibilities with envelopes
- Sane and fair copy protection
- Best upgrade policy out there - free!
FL Studio Cons
- arranger pane is limiting (at least to me)
- handling of multi-output plugs is horrid
- on-line forums are downright childish and most developer input seems condescending
P5 Pros:
- Hands down the best sequencer and arranger pane
- Very intuitive and easy workflow
- Both VST and DX support
- Includes many top-notch synths and effects (including the original Dimension)
- $99 upgrade option for Dimension Pro
- Better Rewire implementation than FL Studio, though still has a way to go
- Awesome Arpeggiator (but wish we could actually see and edit the patterns)
- Groove Matrix (similar to Live's arranger pane) is good for live performance.
- Better multi-output implementation than FL Studio, although could still stand much improvement
- Sane and fair copy protection
- Attractive upgrade pricing
- Great company forums including lots of helpful and engaging developer interaction
P5 Cons:
- VST wrapper can be troublesome, though is updated regularly
- Not the most CPU-friendly host on the planet
- MIDI implementation is kludgey (i.e. Note-off not always transmitted when stopping transport)
- Other than VST wrapper releases, development is glacial
- Automation is ghastly - no envelopes or curves. No fade-in or fade-out curves possible in arranger, must automate plug-in output control (via linear or hand-drawn) to accomplish.
- Audio routing is limited to 4 aux busses
Don't have Live so can't comment on that.
Reason Pros:
- by far the most stable and CPU-efficient host IMHO. Great for laptop use.
- Hardware rack metaphor is nice for those crossing over into the soft-synth world from hardware
- Unlimited audio routing using intuitive virtual cables
- Sane and fair copy protection
Reason Cons:
- God-awful sequencer and arranger. The worst of any host that I've used.
- Closed, proprietary system. Only expansion is limited to refills and REX loops.
- Hardware rack metaphor not always intuitive to those coming from a DAW environment.
- Virtual cables are creepy when they swing back and forth (easy to shut off though)
FL Studio Pros
- fairly stable and efficient (once you get away from the .0 releases)
- inexpensive to start, yet allows you to build up individual IL plugs
- Both VST and DX support
- Nice automation possibilities with envelopes
- Sane and fair copy protection
- Best upgrade policy out there - free!
FL Studio Cons
- arranger pane is limiting (at least to me)
- handling of multi-output plugs is horrid
- on-line forums are downright childish and most developer input seems condescending
P5 Pros:
- Hands down the best sequencer and arranger pane
- Very intuitive and easy workflow
- Both VST and DX support
- Includes many top-notch synths and effects (including the original Dimension)
- $99 upgrade option for Dimension Pro
- Better Rewire implementation than FL Studio, though still has a way to go
- Awesome Arpeggiator (but wish we could actually see and edit the patterns)
- Groove Matrix (similar to Live's arranger pane) is good for live performance.
- Better multi-output implementation than FL Studio, although could still stand much improvement
- Sane and fair copy protection
- Attractive upgrade pricing
- Great company forums including lots of helpful and engaging developer interaction
P5 Cons:
- VST wrapper can be troublesome, though is updated regularly
- Not the most CPU-friendly host on the planet
- MIDI implementation is kludgey (i.e. Note-off not always transmitted when stopping transport)
- Other than VST wrapper releases, development is glacial
- Automation is ghastly - no envelopes or curves. No fade-in or fade-out curves possible in arranger, must automate plug-in output control (via linear or hand-drawn) to accomplish.
- Audio routing is limited to 4 aux busses
Drum machines are people too.
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- KVRAF
- 7489 posts since 6 Jul, 2004
I think it is very personal and really depends on which you "click" with as a musician. That's why you should demo them all (although get a professional registry cleaning tool to sort out your registry after running the P5 demo 
)
In my case I think that:
* Live and Reason are both absolutely stunning... I could rabbit on about that at great length, but take it for what it is - my personal experience and preference.
* FL is a powerful tool but has some weak spots and looks toyish, so is often not taken as seriously as it deserves. It's awkward for audio multitracking though... to put it mildly!
* P5 is shockingly bad considering it comes from the same company as the excellent Sonar sequencer. It contains some of the worst virtual instruments I have ever heard
.
But like I said, those are merely my persoanl views.
)In my case I think that:
* Live and Reason are both absolutely stunning... I could rabbit on about that at great length, but take it for what it is - my personal experience and preference.
* FL is a powerful tool but has some weak spots and looks toyish, so is often not taken as seriously as it deserves. It's awkward for audio multitracking though... to put it mildly!
* P5 is shockingly bad considering it comes from the same company as the excellent Sonar sequencer. It contains some of the worst virtual instruments I have ever heard
.But like I said, those are merely my persoanl views.
Last edited by headquest on Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:38 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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- KVRAF
- 2875 posts since 28 Jan, 2004 from Da Nang, Vietnam
Live and Reason together make a great combo.
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- KVRAF
- 10597 posts since 13 Jun, 2004 from Alberto Balsam
horses for courses. I use FL Studio but would get along fine with any of those (though I dont really like project 5).
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- KVRAF
- 4822 posts since 14 Mar, 2002 from Somewhere else, on principle
I use Live... but you just aren't going to get a definitive answer here. You're gonna have to try them out for yourself.jshonuff wrote:Just trying to see which one you use the most for your production.
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- KVRAF
- 3617 posts since 26 Sep, 2003 from Bradford - The Armpit of Britain
Yeah you have to see which one 'clicks' for you.
I settled on Live & Reason - although I don't even use reason anymore - I found that I preferred sticking with Live, but that's my personal thing, not knocking reason at all - I could sell it, but I prefer to keep things around just in case at some point in the future I get the feel for tehmagain.
I settled on Live & Reason - although I don't even use reason anymore - I found that I preferred sticking with Live, but that's my personal thing, not knocking reason at all - I could sell it, but I prefer to keep things around just in case at some point in the future I get the feel for tehmagain.
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- KVRAF
- 7489 posts since 6 Jul, 2004
I still love using Reason as a synth rack inside Ableton though. R3 comes with a really top collection of sampled instruments, for example. A great pair. But often I do songs fully in Ableton without using Reason, of course. 
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- KVRian
- 607 posts since 20 Oct, 2005
You are joking right?us wrote:Orion pro 5 most of the time (speed,stability)
Trying to get into project 5 v2 (sequencer and arranger pane)but ...
Just try them all.
Good luck!
Orion and stability don't belong in the same sentence.
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- Fearer of cheese
- 3216 posts since 12 Mar, 2002 from UK
Gotta agree with thisaquar wrote:You are joking right?us wrote:Orion pro 5 most of the time (speed,stability)
Trying to get into project 5 v2 (sequencer and arranger pane)but ...
Just try them all.
Good luck!
Orion and stability don't belong in the same sentence.
RIP Black Tom and Beckett. They weren't just cats, they were MY cats, the best cats ever.
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- KVRist
- 107 posts since 7 Dec, 2005
* P5 is shockingly bad considering it comes from the same company as the excellent Sonar sequencer. It contains some of the worst virtual instruments I have ever heard .
this has to be a joke !
this has to be a joke !