KVR Audio

Meloday · Post by **Meloday** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 3:09 am

i have and love eXT but i dont' use it as much anymore....I used it mostly for its modularity....i've never used it that much for sequencing. for modular patching and setting up complex midi routing and chaining effects, i use Bidule much more than eXT. But, alas, Bidule doesn't have a sequencer. i'm fairly familiar with eXT's sequencer, but i haven't invested too much time with it, so i don't mind looking elsewhere.

to my question:

for those of you who have used/still use both eXT and Podium, which one do you prefer as a sequencer? forget about eXT modularity, i have bidule for that. which workflow do you prefer? i haven't done an a/b comparison of the features of each sequencer--does one have must have features that the other one doesn't? I'm in the middle of demoing Podium...its not completely intuitive (nor is eXT for that matter) but it's starting to make sense. Podium's gui is gorgeous too. I'm thinking Bidule and Podium would be a really good team.

whatcha think?

thanks!

darcyb62 · Post by **darcyb62** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 4:37 am

That's easy... for me anyways... Podium... I use eXT to do some things Podium can't do quite yet (i.e. midi routing). But then I haven't really given eXT a good honest try. I've never tried to complete a whole song with it so my opinion is probably somewhat jaded.

I'm thinking I need to take a look at Bidule.

Meloday · Post by **Meloday** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 4:51 am

darcyb62 wrote:That's easy... for me anyways... Podium... I use eXT to do some things Podium can't do quite yet (i.e. midi routing).

I'm thinking I need to take a look at Bidule.

cool. thanks. yes, you should take a look at bidule--lots of midi routing madness and great fft modules! among other things.....

i'm starting to think that eXT's most powerful feature is the integration between it's modularity and sequencing. since i haven't gravitated towards it's sequencer, and i use bidule for the modular aspect of my music, i'm thinking i might get Podium for sequencing.....

anyone else?

thanks!

spritex · Post by **spritex** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 8:45 am

Here's my take on this, coming from Logic Windows:

I got the eXT license a few months back. eXT 1 sequencer seems OK and I like the GUI, but it misses some important things for me like recording VST GUI automation or support for multicore CPU's. The engine is also quite prone to crackling.

I had my hopes up for eXT2 because it is supposed to add the things I miss in v.1. I thought that it would be more or less ready before the beta testing, that it would just be tested in three phases to see if everything is working OK.

This turned out to be the wrong assumption, since eXT2 seems to be very much in it's infancy. I really like the mixer and how you can drag and drop things, but the engine is so far much worse than in eXT 1 - it simply doesn't work smoothly here, I get horrible crackling whatever I do on the gui with VST's. And from the speed it's developed, it doesn't seem that it would be ready with all the features in at least half a year from now. I sadly can't wait for it right now.

Then, I checked Podim a week ago (never did before for some reason) and was very positively surprised. It already has automation recording, multicore support and what's the most important, it feels solid without crackles.

It does miss some shortcuts and features for MIDI editing, but most of them are of the sort that shouldn't be a big problem to add. Also, looking at the updates lately the development speed seems all right - and the developer seems to respond about people's comments and is realistic about the future features. I will still evaluate the demo for a while, maybe wait until the next Podium and eXT2 updates before I will (probably) decide to buy Podium.

(And follow the eXT2 development in the side, but not stress about it anymore.)

ObsoleteAcc99 · Post by **ObsoleteAcc99** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:08 am

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Meloday · Post by **Meloday** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:11 am

ttoz wrote:i would HONESTLY say, neither. get a real sequencer.!

great, thanks

spritex · Post by **spritex** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:18 am

ttoz wrote:i would HONESTLY say, neither. get a real sequencer.!

I can HONESTLY say that I looked into Sonar and Cubase, but they just don't appeal to a former Logic user (which I'd probably get again if it was still on PC).

ObsoleteAcc99 · Post by **ObsoleteAcc99** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:22 am

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dalor · Post by **dalor** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:22 am

ttoz wrote:i would HONESTLY say, neither. get a real sequencer.!

like what? I'm happy to hear your opinion.

I'm giving Podium a serious try ATM.

ObsoleteAcc99 · Post by **ObsoleteAcc99** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:32 am

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spritex · Post by **spritex** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:44 am

ttoz wrote:Cubase is pretty close IMO, but for midi there is and will never be a competition to Logic.

I dont even understand how people put EXT and Podium into the same ballpark, it's just ridiculous, and their midi editing requirements must be very low, let alone general sequencing requirements.

Cubase has a quite different feel than Logic, for some reason Podium felt more familiar.

I agree that the MIDI editing in Podium is quite sparse, currently. But as I said, most of those things I can see being very possible to add.

I read about your problems with Samplitude, by the way. Is that why you needed to come to this thread, to make yourself feel better about it?

Did you know that Podium has currently important features that Samplitude lacks - some of them seem to get added in v. 9.1 though.

(I was actually considering Samplitude as well, but couldn't see what it offers to me that Podium doesn't. And, the cheaper samplitude version has the limit of 8 VSTi's, so it would be a no-go.)

.jon · Post by **.jon** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:46 am

I actually wrote a rather long post about my current feelings with eXT1 and XT2, but I want to think a bit before posting. I do share quite a lot of spritex's thoughts.

All I can say right now that I am demoing Podium, and also seriously considering those SX3 bargains popping up like mushrooms. Podium certainly feels interesting, but I'm far from over the learning curve yet. There's also the possibility of REAPER growing to meet my midi needs, anything can come out that program. It already has superior audio.

Meloday · Post by **Meloday** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:50 am

ttoz wrote:
dalor wrote:
ttoz wrote:i would HONESTLY say, neither. get a real sequencer.!
like what? I'm happy to hear your opinion.

I'm giving Podium a serious try ATM.
Seriously?

Samp 9, Cubase 4, Logic Pro on Mac.

i don't run a studio, or exchange logic or samp files with anyone who does so.....

are they real sequencers because they have the most features? i don't need all the features. seriously, if i did need all of those features i would consider buying one of them.

then again i'm the hippy type to get a hybrid-motor-scooter-with-a-hemp-grocery-basket-hanging-from-the-back, before a hummer. so what do i know about music

dalor · Post by **dalor** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:52 am

ttoz wrote: Seriously?

Samp 9

Haven't tried Samp9 yet, does it have good midi editing features? The price is a bit of a turnoff - but hey, rather than wasting time in trying to find that works for me i would spend the money if Samp9 is any good.

ttoz wrote:Cubase 4

used cubase on Atari-loved it, later on PC until version 3.5, all after that was a buggy, too overblown bloatware - it did have !extreme! timing problems. I tried CubaseSX1 years ago... It didn't work for me.

ttoz wrote:Logic Pro on Mac.

I don't have a mac.

spritex · Post by **spritex** » Fri Feb 16, 2007 9:57 am

Have you checkd out the video tutorials for Podium, .jon - they make some things quite a bit clearer for a beginner.

http://www.zynewave.com/wiki/doku.php?i ... ials:index

I did also check Reaper, but it kinda feels "all over the place" and not very ergonomic, for MIDI/VST work at least (I would hardly use audio).

Podium or eXT?