I'm completely happy with my host

[quincy]

For the record, I do kind of agree with what Armadillo has to say. Why learn how to use so many hosts only to a certain level rather than one intimately? That said I use two, but for different functions in my composition process.

Why not?

Like you say, you use different things for different jobs. So do i.

Besides which sometimes a change is all thats needed to kickstart some creativity, if you stare at the same screen all the time it can rot your brain.

If i want to kick-start my creativity after failing (yet again) to get anything decent going, i just try a different host. And then fail again

I guess its important to distinguish between those of us who are true hobbyists like me, and those who take it a bit more seriously. If music production was my living then i probably wouldn't use half of those things, i'd just use Live 4 and EnergyXT i expect, cos they cover the most ground.

[cptgone]

love my Cubase SX2 and EnergyXT!

gonna try to skip the SX3 upgrade though (and wait for SX4), as Steinberg charges the same for SX1->SX3 as for SX2->SX3

[CynicalSmile]

Not to take this off topic, but Quincy.....

Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!



AHAAHAHAHAHHAAH!!!

That kills me every time. Awesome movie!

[quincy]

Not to take this off topic, but Quincy.....

Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion!



AHAAHAHAHAHHAAH!!!

That kills me every time. Awesome movie!

Go suck a f**k!

Yeah great film. I intend to change my sig to have different great movie quotes. Nearly time for a change i think

[Rabid]

Quincy and Rabid, 6 and 7 hosts. Outrageous.

Do you guys ever get any music done? With that amount of hosts I can't imagine that you do.
You must either be stinking rich technology freaks who just need to try everything and know everything inside out, or be the most hardcore producers around who could bang out a top 10 in his sleep.
Otherwise it's purely insane.

I have just *downgraded* to Cubase SE, realized that I can do 97% of what I did in SX. I do also have Reason, which is a nice supplement, but it is not used for any sequencing purposes. And besides, I won it in a competition, otherwise I probably wouldn't have got it.

So, let me hear your masterpieces.

Why does someone have more than one subtractive synth, more than one pair of shoes, more than one room in their house?

Anyway, I'm not rich. Other people at my stage in life buy boats, take vacations to the islands, put kids through college. My vice and enjoyment in life is music. And when you don't smoke, don't drink, and don't do drugs you have to throw your money away on something.

Robert

[CypherOne]

Besides which sometimes a change is all thats needed to kickstart some creativity, if you stare at the same screen all the time it can rot your brain.

If i want to kick-start my creativity after failing (yet again) to get anything decent going, i just try a different host.

hmm, that's not the way I work at all (obviously, I'v e only got one main host) - My host isn't what gives me ideas, my brain and my synths do that. The host just enables me to capture those ideas and refine them (or screw them up completely)...

[vurt]

Go suck a f**k!

oi!

[quincy]

Besides which sometimes a change is all thats needed to kickstart some creativity, if you stare at the same screen all the time it can rot your brain.

If i want to kick-start my creativity after failing (yet again) to get anything decent going, i just try a different host.

hmm, that's not the way I work at all (obviously, I'v e only got one main host) - My host isn't what gives me ideas, my brain and my synths do that. The host just enables me to capture those ideas and refine them (or screw them up completely)...

Like i said before mate, i just piss about and hope something comes of it. I swear some people don't understand(not you mate) thats its perfectly possible to just enjoy messing with sound and stuff, and not ever take it anywhere.

I do the same with web design, just mess with ideas as a learning process and to see what might be possible.

[Rabid]

Consider that Reason, Live 4, Acid, Project 5, EnergyXT, FruityLoops, Orion and Kinetic are not true “full” hosts. You read about professionals using these products, but when it comes to the final product you find they use these “mini-studios” for getting ideas down or creating loops. They each do something well but producing a final product is not their strong area. So while I use a lot of stuff, Sonar is the focal point and the final gateway. Acid and Kinetic are musical toys, Live is a fun instrument, EnergyXT is a great arp, FL and Reason are good for making loops. Orion is the only one that I really use to scratch out a song. That’s because I really like how each synth can hold 64 polyphonic patterns that can be painted into the song view. But in the end it is always Sonar.

Robert

[Armadillo]

Sorry guys, forget the the rich part. Nowadays I suppose you can get just about every host ever conceived for less than a 2nd hand Ford Escort.

It just strikes me as "I lack inspiration let me try a new host. No, that didn't work. Another one, no. Another one, no. Argh, feck it. I'm gonna watch TV".

I think it's a different story with synths, cause they produce different sounds, a host doesn't. A host in it's basic form, just provides a way of recording and editing notes.

Seriously, I know Logic and Cubase pretty well. Am ok in Tracktion and Reason. But I bet I could make a tune which is 80% as good in Reason or Tracktion as I can in Cubase or Logic. Those are just tools for me. They don't provide me with ideas or sounds. One might be smoother than the other, but the outcome will still be the same (more or less), it's just the path that's different.

[quincy]

Consider that Reason, Live 4, Acid, Project 5, EnergyXT, FruityLoops, Orion and Kinetic are not true “full” hosts. You read about professionals using these products, but when it comes to the final product you find they use these “mini-studios” for getting ideas down or creating loops. They each do something well but producing a final product is not their strong area. So while I use a lot of stuff, Sonar is the focal point and the final gateway. Acid and Kinetic are musical toys, Live is a fun instrument, EnergyXT is a great arp, FL and Reason are good for making loops. Orion is the only one that I really use to scratch out a song. That’s because I really like how each synth can hold 64 polyphonic patterns that can be painted into the song view. But in the end it is always Sonar.

Robert

Its just another one of the infinite examples that we all have our own way of doing things, its a matter of personal taste and thats the end of it.

I think a lot has to do with attention span to be honest. If i sit with one host for more than 2 hours max i start to get bored and often try something different just to see if it helps things continue.

Also i never really start with much of an idea in my head at all, i just make one drumbeat or bassline and then take it from there. Where it might end up is anybodys guess, i have many times started writing a drum and bass beat and ended up with some kind of house or breaks track!!

Anyway i digress. As you were

[CypherOne]

Sorry guys, forget the the rich part. Nowadays I suppose you can get just about every host ever conceived for less than a 2nd hand Ford Escort.

It just strikes me as "I lack inspiration let me try a new host. No, that didn't work. Another one, no. Another one, no. Argh, feck it. I'm gonna watch TV".

I think it's a different story with synths, cause they produce different sounds, a host doesn't. A host in it's basic form, just provides a way of recording and editing notes.

Seriously, I know Logic and Cubase pretty well. Am ok in Tracktion and Reason. But I bet I could make a tune which is 80% as good in Reason or Tracktion as I can in Cubase or Logic. Those are just tools for me. They don't provide me with ideas or sounds. One might be smoother than the other, but the outcome will still be the same (more or less), it's just the path that's different.

so what I said then really....

[Rabid]

...I think it's a different story with synths, cause they produce different sounds, a host doesn't. A host in it's basic form, just provides a way of recording and editing notes.
....

I think you are very close to seeing why. As you say, "A host in it's basic form, just provides a way of recording and editing notes." But these hosts each have a very different feel. Consider a sax, guitar and piano. Different instruments that allow different techniques. If you sit down and write a song on guitar it will be very different than a song you may write at a piano. Creating a solo on sax will give you something very different than a solo created on a MiniMoog. They all use the same scale to make music, but the feel of the instrument leads you in different directions.

Robert

[stefancrs]

...I think it's a different story with synths, cause they produce different sounds, a host doesn't. A host in it's basic form, just provides a way of recording and editing notes.
....

I think you are very close to seeing why. As you say, "A host in it's basic form, just provides a way of recording and editing notes." But these hosts each have a very different feel. Consider a sax, guitar and piano. Different instruments that allow different techniques. If you sit down and write a song on guitar it will be very different than a song you may write at a piano. Creating a solo on sax will give you something very different than a solo created on a MiniMoog. They all use the same scale to make music, but the feel of the instrument leads you in different directions.

Robert

Hell yeah. I tried out Ableton Live 4, and suddenly everything I started on ended up as progressive house or electro.

I don't even like progressive house!

[Armadillo]

Ok Rabid, I'm getting curious now.

Can you take me through one of your tunes, and go the rhythm was done in FL studio because blah blah,

The arps in EnergyXT cause the other hosts can't do blah blah.

Orion provided the melody because blah blah etc.

I promise I won't laugh of the tune

Cypher: yeah, I suppose so. Being busy at work and keeping an eye on 30 posts in 15 min. in this thread can be rather difficult at times.