I'm completely happy with my host

[BONES]

It cost me the same to upgrade from Corel 3 to 10 as it did from 10 to 12. Otherwise I probably would never have done it the first time, so it works for them.

[TVD]

I've come to the conclusion that relying on a single host is not only unecessary(for me), its not fun either.

I have:

Orion Platinum
FLStudio XXL
Renoise
EnergyXT
Tracktion
Live 4

Admittedly i don't use all of them right now, but i know times will come when i will want to use each one for different reasons.

I might use FLStudio to make some scratch samples using its great scratching plugin. I can use Renoise/Orion for rolling drum loops and other parts for Live as they both have great render facilities.

With Live i can experiment, perform and remix.

EnergyXT...well its just the dogs cogs really isn't it, just so much fun and versatility, it patches up holes in other hosts

Tracktion is an easy to use host for recording and simple audio arranging, might even be good for final edit/mix but i haven't tried it that much yet! (Live may fill this gap anyway, i am starting to realise the power of arrangement view).

So i'd have to say i'm happy with all my hosts!!

Considering that this should be a thread in itself, I sometimes need more than one host myself.

Case in point:

FLS (Producer Edition)--->Primary Host that I use to make about 80% of my work with.
Live4 --->Most recent host that I want to use to work a remix.
Audition 1.5 --->To record vocals and final. mastering mix

[TVD]

I have been happy with mine for about 3 years ro so now. I just wish they'd stop putting new stuff in, its starting to get a little crowded.

At least that's one advantage Orion has over FLS:

The instruments are very good. Plus, you will get a new instrument more often that the average FLS user like myself. Apart from Sytrus and a few other, Image-Line needs to step their game up with the upcompng FLS 5.

[TVD]

How the hell can you be happy with sonar? god damn it pisses me off on all the little things.... like the plugin manager (let me edit the f**king menu already), VSTi synths blow up just as easily with v4 as any other version (although the freeze is a great feature and this somewhat redeems the issue), does a default project HAVE to open up at startup, and i want to arrange the columns in the track view on the tabs.

and another one that pisses me off: DEFAULT THE AUDIO TRACKS TO MONO, not stereo, you assholes. of course i forget to change them, apply an FX to a mono track, and it comes back stereo. grrr. even a better idea would be to change the track type to the format of the data in the track. but no, that would too much to ask. or even better: just process plugins with the type of data i send them - mono returns mono, stereo returns stereo - and the audio track type (mono/stereo) become irrevelvent. the reason i bring up this particular FLAW is that it happens every time and must happen to everyone, so you can all relate.

i could go on for hours because every aspect has some annoying quirks that are tedious, needlessly repetitive and counter intuitive. and it's not just sonar, almost all apps suffer from the rigor mortis syndrome and programmer cluelessness to the workflow. the happiness with an app ends once you get deep into the details and have to spend tons of time working with it and end up fighting with the limitations... like: i have to delete one bus at a time instead of multiples or even all of them? really? grrr

but what ya gonna do? overall, sonar is the best sequencer out there.

btw, did they fix the midiFX and CAL issues? i haven't had time to test it yet.

so.. all what I've experienced with S4 has no meaning then because all hosts still have some flaws so they are all shit. The fact that v4 is way better than v3 has no meaning.. because all hosts are shit. I shouldn't be using a computer at all.. because all the hosts are shit.. even the ones that are used over and over again by professionals all over the world.. but they are wrong.. because all hosts are shit. Maybe I should throw them away and
start doing some gardening instead.

or maybe you could read the f**king manual or learn how to setup/use your host as well as possible.. even though your host is shit

I'm not denying they all still need a lot of work, but a long time ago you had a 2 track tape recorder, now you have computer based sequencers that do a trillion times more.. but of course that doesn't matter..

because no host has reached divine status yet, blessed by the man himself

so they're shit

FLS and Live4 are best buys in my opinion. So far, I didn't have to read the manual too often to figure anything out. They're so user-friendly.

[stefancrs]

It cost me the same to upgrade from Corel 3 to 10 as it did from 10 to 12. Otherwise I probably would never have done it the first time, so it works for them.

I did not mean that it's wrong to charge the same amount "to upgrade to the latest" regardless of your current version. I'm actually quite annoyed at the people being pissed about Steinberg for having such a deal. They think about it as it's "as expensive to upgrade from SX2 to SX3 as from SX1 to SX3", not "it's as cheap to upgrade from SX1 as from SX2". For some reason.

[TVD]

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

You can't be serious!!!

First of all, FLS is a true host. This soft studio is the heart and soul of my music production. Everything I do begins here and (most of the times) ends here if I don't record any vocals at all in Audition or take my CD demo to another studio for extra work in general. I don't just use it to make "loops". I use this to make a track from the ground up.

Secondly, you're right about some things. Kinetic is a toy. But so are the hardware grooveboxes of Roland, Yamaha, and Korg (yes, electribes are grooveboxes). These toys can give you an extra edge on your music if you can think outside the box (no pun intended) and try to do more than just use the preset sounds.

Thirdly (most of the KVR community can agree with this), Live4 has been design to be "the next big thing" in sequencing. The addition of MIDI recording and hosting VSTi prove this alone. In due time, we would finally be able to rank this with Cubase, Logic, Sonar, DP, etc. by the time we get to Live5,6,7, etc.

Trust me. There is no all-in-one solution. But I have high hopes that Live can come pretty close.

[Z3R0T0N1N]

funny, I was thinking about how happy I have been since Podium arrived, and how I feel "finished" for the first time in a long time as far as sequencer/host/recording goes, when I saw this in the column. I am glad that you have arrived, however fleetingly, at that same spot, spaceman. heheh, might say you've landed.
BTW, I love the new look for Sonar!!! Looks like they had a good long stare at Samplitude 7, doesn't it? Really really big improvement, it looks fantastic - easy to have on your screen for hours on end.
Yes, it's a great feeling to reach a state of contentment with your software. With Podium, EXT, and FL, I am totally set. Big big up to Frits from Zynewave!:)

[TVD]

...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!

Right after Trance & Crunk, Progressive is a dirty word. This need to be ban too.

[Z3R0T0N1N]

heheheheh!!

good one about Energy XT being an "arp". That kills me. Havin' us on, huh? The new sampler beta alone puts it in the "serious" tool category. Add to that... oh f**k it, I'll be here all night if I try to list... you know already if you have it!

[rsmus7]

I just got a nice mail from Cakewalk today ... now through 10/28, I can get the Sonar 2 to Sonar 4P upgrade for the same price as Sonar 3P (which I skipped) to Sonar 4P... $70 off. W00t!

The mail was titled "No customer left behind", if you happened to chuck it.

Doug

Seems cool


I got these days a mail from Steinberg,
Im a registered user of Cubase5.1 and they announced the "SX3 upgrade" for 399,- € = 503,- $
and I skiped till now the upgrade to any version of SX. But Now they have lost me. For that I can buy Orion and some good FX.
So why should I invest in SX ?

[CynicalSmile]

TonyVanDam wrote:

But so are the hardware grooveboxes of Roland, Yamaha, and Korg (yes, electribes are grooveboxes).

Couldn't disagree with you more on this point. I personally own the Roland MC-909, and it is much, much more than a toy. It is most certainly a serious piece of gear!!!! Read the Electronics Musician review (September 2003).

Why is it that a software program that ISN'T as full featured as the 909 (Reason) is revered as a "super host/effects processor/synth" but the Roland is a toy?

The Roland MC-909:

Great sounding synth with 4 tones per patch, 64 voices, 2 LFOs, GREAT effects, ability to use sampled sound as waveform

Full featured sampler with waveform editor, time stretching, etc.

16 part sequencer with great arpeggiator

Lots of real knobs and sliders

Connects to computer via USB for midi pattern or sample swapping, also there's a 909 control program if you want to use it via your pc (???didn't buy hardware to edit via mouse???) if that's your thing.



I suppose if it said ACCESS on it, it wouldn't have made your list.

[TVD]

TonyVanDam wrote:

But so are the hardware grooveboxes of Roland, Yamaha, and Korg (yes, electribes are grooveboxes).

Couldn't disagree with you more on this point. I personally own the Roland MC-909, and it is much, much more than a toy. It is most certainly a serious piece of gear!!!! Read the Electronics Musician review (September 2003).

Why is it that a software program that ISN'T as full featured as the 909 (Reason) is revered as a "super host/effects processor/synth" but the Roland is a toy?

The Roland MC-909:

Great sounding synth with 4 tones per patch, 64 voices, 2 LFOs, GREAT effects, ability to use sampled sound as waveform

Full featured sampler with waveform editor, time stretching, etc.

16 part sequencer with great arpeggiator

Lots of real knobs and sliders

Connects to computer via USB for midi pattern or sample swapping, also there's a 909 control program if you want to use it via your pc (???didn't buy hardware to edit via mouse???) if that's your thing.



I suppose if it said ACCESS on it, it wouldn't have made your list.

Yes, I know they're not toys. But that the misunderstanding on a lot of people's parts (not mine).

Deep down, Kinetic is a software groovebox. But if some companies are going to market a product like a toy, they will be talk about as if it is a toy.

Either way, you're right. I'm wrong.

[headquest]

That's why you can try the demo before you buy it.

Given that Cakewalk offers a demo and uses the least-onerous copy protection scheme of any of the major (and not so major) hosts and sequencers, the "no resale or transfer" is a deal I can choose to accept or not. Doug

I must admit, it annoys me that the Sonar demo has so many restictions... without the VST wrapper I can't see if any of my plugins work in it, and effectively this means I can;t record using any of my synths . It would be nicer to have a time-limited demo that actually works!

[headquest]

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

Marriage?

[headquest]

And when was the last time you read a software license agreement? They all prety much say that don't they?

I've never read one; don't they just say "blah blah blah"? Shit, am I missing something really interesting here?