Host rumors.....

[Kriminal]

I heard Cubase SX3......due to be released within the next 2 or 3 months

2ndQ 2005.

Oh? Where did you here that?

a rumour

[nuffink]

and there's always NI Komplex.

[Karbon L. Forms]

I'm expecting a huge christianmusicmaker post any second. Dunno why and I may be wrong...

[christianmusicmaker]

I'm expecting a huge christianmusicmaker post any second. Dunno why and I may be wrong...

KLF!!!

munchkin:The big hosts are stuck - they can't change drastically enough to suit the new ways that people are making music.

Too true...how do you reverse engineer a host as complicated as Cubase SX to work like Live 4 or Tracktion...? I don't think even Charlie Steinberg knows how to do that! It would probably cost Steinberg more money this way.

But thinking it over...it would make more sense for the big three to release something like Tracktion instead...a totally new product like Live 4 or Tracktion.

Apple have already done this with Garage Band so it is not impossible the others will follow suit.

[AD80]

Actually Garageband is emulating Acid ScreenBlast more than Tracktion.

[Lunch Money]

I've been having plenty of fun with Live Delta 1.5 or whatever it's called that came with my Audiophile soundcard. I can imagine Live 4 would be a superb piece of software.

It's not quite suited to my particular kind of music (I'm constantly nudging clips just to get them to line up in T, and when I tried creating 'loops' and then using them in Live, I fell on my face) but it's intuitive, friendly, and insanely powerful even at the "Delta" level. Live 4 is still in the category of "too expensive for me", but the pricing posititons them as a competitor to the big 3. They've laced up the gloves and they're ready to fight. I, for one, think they've already won the first few rounds, and are garnering plenty of support in the industry press.

Greg

[Sicklecell666]

The thing to do with Live is to just (if possible) try & temporarily forget how you approach things in a linear based or even pattern oriented DAW..

Try messing about in the Session view only. Load up a bunch of clips & map em to whatever, the computer keyboard or external controller. Hit play, start bashing keys & that's it, you're jamming in real time.

It's crazy & refreshing & I competely love that aspect of it.

It's not my main host & I'm probably not devoting as much time to learning it as I should, but I think Live has enourmous potential now that VSTi support is in there..











of course, no vst support in rewire mode is a real high-killer..but I'd imagine that's bieng saved as a paying update..

[AD80]

I got bored with the Live4 demo after using it for a couple of weeks. I do like a lot of its features like the little "fold" midi feature. And of course its automatic time stretch. And I like the GUI design. But the navigation around the arrangement is clunky to me. And the drag and drop of plug-ins is better than most big sequencers, but not as good as Tracktion. Since I work in a linear way I dont really take advantage of its other live features. T is a much better fit for me. But if T ever goes under I could see switching to Live.

[munchkin]

The thing to do with Live is to just (if possible) try & temporarily forget how you approach things in a linear based or even pattern oriented DAW..

Try messing about in the Session view only. Load up a bunch of clips & map em to whatever, the computer keyboard or external controller. Hit play, start bashing keys & that's it, you're jamming in real time.

It's crazy & refreshing & I competely love that aspect of it.

It's not my main host & I'm probably not devoting as much time to learning it as I should, but I think Live has enourmous potential now that VSTi support is in there..











of course, no vst support in rewire mode is a real high-killer..but I'd imagine that's bieng saved as a paying update..

This is how I use Live. I hardly ever use the arrangement view. I've got my audio and midi clips and just chuck em in while everything is playing. Click them on and off - everything is in time and in key. Record myself jamming different takes and add control changes while everything is playing. It's all recorded in the arrangement view for editing if necessary. But I like the freeform arrangements as the song retains an organic feel so I hardly ever edit. Even trance and other 4/4 types of music work well this way.

I don't feel I need rewire as I wouldn't bother using Sonar to control Live. In fact, if I ever was rewiring it would be Sonar to Live with Live as the main controller. Live is expensive compared to Tracktion and if you like the linear style of working then I think Tracktion is the way to go.

[jens]

I'm expecting a huge christianmusicmaker post any second. Dunno why and I may be wrong...

[Karbon L. Forms]

I'm expecting a huge christianmusicmaker post any second. Dunno why and I may be wrong...

Almost right. But it was a small one for him.

[jens]

I'm expecting a huge christianmusicmaker post any second. Dunno why and I may be wrong...

Almost right. But it was a small one for him.

If you look for long posts which an average human being isn't able to read from beginning to end try a few from x_bruce - they are incredible.

(most of his posts are very exciting ones about vst-synths )

[headquest]

What else will Sonar 4 and SX3 offer? Sonar will probably get surround and a new collection of 3rd party plugs.

Instead or as well as the Sonitus fx: Suite & Lexicon?

Does Sonar have Freeze yet?

Is it true that Sonar can only ReWire 16 tracks of Reason, instead of the full 64 audio outs that Tracktion can handle?!

Does Sonar have PDC for VST plugs yet (as I know it does for DX)?

Can Sonar render at 32-bit?

Cubase SX already has surround features and may simply be made more user friendly with a focus on better ergonomics.I really can't imagine what *new* list of 10 - 20 features they can add outside of making changes to what is already there and removing as many bugs as is possible. But then I am not a Cubase SX user but I have an old copy of Cubasis and have used SL2.

Just my thoughts...

Better Freeze functions - it only Freezes instruments, and not effects at present!

I can't imagine ever going back to lack of PDC - you can stick all that bouncing down stuff! And lack of Freeze seriously inhibits a host IMHO - you run out of CPU grunt before you get to the mastering phase in the proceedings.

So on a PC laptop, I think Tracktion 1.6.x is already the best bet, having full freeze and PDC.

The way the "big 3" seem to be responding is by justifying their high cost by bundling more expensive pluggins. Sonar started it with the Lexicon and Sonitus FX. Logic took the bait with their Pro 6 bundle, and now Cubase SXXX are following suit. Mackie have now taken the rug from under their feet yet again with the inclusion of FinalMix, by saying that expensive plugs CAN be added without justifying a £400+ price tag.

For the record, Live 4 doesn't have Freeze or PDC. And great though it is I couldn't run it as my main host because at the end of the day, as an instrumental performer I think in a linear time based way, and not in terms of creating a montage out of isolated clips.

I agree with you that the barman is calling "time" on the "big 3" (ahem...) and that they have driven themselves to the end of one road just at a time when many musicians are turning to software solutions that are taking an altogether route...

[lowkey]

I hope we dont have another format war. Im sick of begging software developers to support DX/DXI as it is.

[Pipebomb Productions]

Sonar does support 64 rewire tracks, but it does it in a really klunky way. Each channel gets its own track and you cant group two tracks together to form a stereo track (exeption 1-2 stereo). So that means you got 64 tracks in your mixer where the pan has to set by volume sliders. Add another 32 tracks if you want to do the midi from sonar. (Total 96 tracks for those of you who dropped out of school like me). I also find the sonar 3 test drive version to be highly unstable. The mixer view is worthless as i cant get anything to fit on my screen (1024x768).

Plus sonar doesnt support VSTi's without wrapping.