Host advice please, help me get started

[meister eder]

- can't blame people for wanting up to date info.

- and KvR is more than just a knowledgebase, it's a social thing, isn't it? infotainment!

- not everyone can do a search the right way, especially absolute beginners who don't know the lingo.

I cant agree more. Hence my comment about asking new questions. Look I am not trying to be a jerk here I am was just trying to say that the original poster was not listening to the replys...and did not have enough information about specifics to recive the ansewer he apperantly wanted to hear.

The social aspect of KvR is very important and I was not trying to deny that...but along with keeping a good social aspect one should not tell people not to reply with relevent information.

The basic point I was trying to make was that the oringinal reply was valid...albeit with some extra information the basic pricipal stands good: do your research (yes I agree that discussing this is good research and that new things come up but there are also past threads that would help to answer the questions in the archive), try out all the demos (DEEP trying...manual reading and all...this is a big investment afterall and not something to be allowing others to choose for you without ALOT of information about what you need), and then purchase the one that fits YOUR needs not someone elses. I dont know of better general advice to buying a host than that...short, sweet, and simple.

The other (and imho the most important) point I brought up was that we didnt have enough info. Sure he narrowed it down to a handfull...but never told us what others he had tried, what he did/didnt like about them, what he needed the host to do and how, amungst other relevent questions. Without this how are we suppoed to help him choose?

Sure he said he wanted to know how they all stacked up "midi, audio, VSTi and mixing-wise" but that leaves alot open...I mean is he talking about having the midi controll internal soft synths or external gear? Does he want to know about timing, editing, etc? What about "audio" do you mean output quality, input quality and options, etc? The question is so vague that its hard to answer without clarification.

Once again not trying to be a jerk just trying to say that the reply was valid and that more info was needed...nothing more. I am sorry if I came off wrong in all that.

You seem to have plenty of spare time to fill!

[JaseisMusic]

thanks guys. with one of these hosts that I mentioned, I want to make tracks, mainly from VST instruments and also sync it up to my ASR-10 and record audio from it as well as my CS6r. I deal mostly with loops, my own loops that is. Just creating a pattern looping and adding to different segments.

[meister eder]

thanks guys. with one of these hosts that I mentioned, I want to make tracks, mainly from VST instruments and also sync it up to my ASR-10 and record audio from it as well as my CS6r. I deal mostly with loops, my own loops that is. Just creating a pattern looping and adding to different segments.

Now I have to ignore your "narrowed down" choice myself , but hey, this reads like all you need is Ableton Live4! So quick and easy to record your external synths as loops, load your own loops, and... pattern based as well as timeline based.
And you can be sure that it follows your ASR's MIDI sync, which could be a problem with the other (non-timestretching) hosts! But then, you better sync the ASR's sequencer to the host anyway...

[JaseisMusic]

also the reason that I don't have tracktion and energyXT on my list is because they have some incompatibilities with my Emu soundcard and emulator X.

Also the cost of Orion Plat. was mentioned, musicians friend will have them in soon at $169.

[TechnoWeeniePas]

You seem to have plenty of spare time to fill!

Acctually I do...I have been off work yesterday and today because I am quite sick KvR is great way to pass time

[meister eder]

Acctually I am quite sick

You certainly are!

[BONES]

thanks guys. with one of these hosts that I mentioned, I want to make tracks, mainly from VST instruments and also sync it up to my ASR-10 and record audio from it as well as my CS6r. I deal mostly with loops, my own loops that is. Just creating a pattern looping and adding to different segments.

Cool! I used to own an ASR-10 and I have owned both the CS1x and CS2x so maybe I can be of assistance. I should also point out that I happen to think that ORION is the best thing that ever happenned to my music and I cannot understand why anyone would find it lacking in any department.

If you've already found ORION easier to use then it is probably a good indication that it will suit you better. FL has a very steep learning curve [even after 18 months, I never felt that I was using even a fraction of its potential], especially if you are used to working in a hardware world. I have not looked at N-Track for a very long time but it was geared far more towards audio recording so it would be less suitable for you, I think.

Rubber Chicken Software make some good utilities for getting your ASR Instruments onto your PC and you can use something like Awave Studio to convert them to and from soundfont or other formats so you should be able to get your ASR sounds into ORION's Sampler wihtout too much trouble, although I had a few problems with very complex ASR instruments [not all the layers came across]. I think you will very quickly discover that your ASR cannot hold a candle to software for all the things you use a sampler for.

The CS6x will work really well with ORION, if its anything like my CS's, as it provides a different palette of sounds. Where my CS's were weak, nstruments like WaspXT in ORION excel so the two work together really well. I recently bought a 2nd hand CS1x to use live with ORION and they work together nicely.

As your confidence and knowledge grows you will come to appreciate just how complex ORION is without having to resort to any arcane tools. You can use familiar processes like sidechaining and sub-busses to achieve an incredible amount of stuff. The sound quality of ORION is also amazing and Rich, the guy who makes it, is constantly making it better and better whilst a lot of other software just gets more bells and whistles to gloss over any other issues it may [or may not] have.

Audio in ORION is basic but very easy to use and you can create a direct link to your audio editor of choice [I use Cool Edit 2000] so its like having Cool Edit built-in. Audio is also relatively new to ORION so it is a good candidate for future improvement.

I use very few plugin instruments or effects as ORION's included stuff is of the highest quality so it could well be a much better value proposition in the longer term.

Good luck wiht whatever you choose, I'm sure that all the things you are considering will do a decent job.

[BONES]

Orion Platinum is something like $299 now. I find that price ridiculous. Pro might be OK/fairly value for money.

Its roughly the same price as the FL Studio XXL bundle and has similar capability so it seems like a reasonable price to me, especially as it comes in a box, on CD, with over 600Mb of extras that you don't have to waste your broadband download limit getting your hands on [so you get more porn].

I actually think it makes ORION Pro look a tad expensive.

[JaseisMusic]

thanks bones, do you think orion does well with audio and midi, relating to my hardware? I don't care to get into a multi timbral setup really, but just to sequence a track at a time with orion and the CS6r and record it as I go. I can sequence my rack with orion right?

Also does lack of track freeze present a problem?? and what about when Synapse does upgrades, do you pay much? free?

[Col.G]

also the reason that I don't have tracktion and energyXT on my list is because they have some incompatibilities with my Emu soundcard and emulator X.

Also the cost of Orion Plat. was mentioned, musicians friend will have them in soon at $169.

Did you try the Cubase VST 5.1 that came with your Emu ?

[JaseisMusic]

mine came with cubasis which is too limited. Thanks Dr Wackler I'll check out ableton live

[BONES]

thanks bones, do you think orion does well with audio and midi, relating to my hardware? I don't care to get into a multi timbral setup really, but just to sequence a track at a time with orion and the CS6r and record it as I go. I can sequence my rack with orion right?

It should be easy. I really only record vocals and I tend to do it through Cool Edit, as I have been using it for around 10 years, but recording sequenced parts should present no problems at all.

Also does lack of track freeze present a problem?? and what about when Synapse does upgrades, do you pay much? free?

I suppose that depends on what you are doing and how grunty your PC is. I have an Athlon XP1700+ and I have never had any problems.