KVR Audio

rcat · Post by **rcat** » Sun Dec 26, 2004 6:40 pm

Just trying to get some opinions of the most stable and easiest to use host for multi-track recording of softsynths. Sometimes I'll use a guitar, but mostly just record softsynths controlled by a midi keyboard controller. Right now I'm using Acid 4 and it seems to be fairly straight-forward and works ok, but just wonder if I'm missing out on something better. Thanks everyone.

mrspecial · Post by **mrspecial** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 6:11 am

i really love cubase sx's recording and sequencing functions for softsynths. nice for recording as well. if you are at all familiar with music software its pretty much a breeze after you get the hang of a few concepts

Architect · Post by **Architect** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 6:18 am

rcat what is it that you think your missing out on? If it works for you then use Acid, what other features or functions do you need to have? I mean there's a lot to choose from it's kind of hard to tell you what your missing unless we know what you want.

Carbonboy · Post by **Carbonboy** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 11:29 am

rcat wrote:but just wonder if I'm missing out on something better. Thanks everyone.

Of course you are... www.flstudio.com

Apart from anything else, the life-time free updates are hard to go past.

Carb.

3mph · Post by **3mph** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 12:15 pm

Spend some time reading the KVR-forum and you'll realize that it's all a matter of how the program itself fits your eyes and thinking. I recently read a post where a fellow musician stated that the SX mixer looked "sexier" to him, and therefore he chose this host for a while.

Anyway, if audio-recording isn't a big issue for you you might want to consider hosts that use little CPU-power leaving as much power for your synths as possible. Cubase, Logic and Sonar wouldn't be worth your money then. Tracktion is nice, but you'll most likely experience problems with a lot of plug-ins (I did).

The big thing about VST-plug-ins is how it runs on YOUR computer. Virtual guitarist crashes most of the time on my computer, but runs fine on some other machines I've tried.

Have you tried Reason and FruityLoops?

TheWall · Post by **TheWall** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 12:35 pm

3mph wrote:Tracktion is nice, but you'll most likely experience problems with a lot of plug-ins (I did).

Just to say that I do think you may be an exception in the case. One of the general concensus about Tracktion is exactly that how stable and compatible it is.

If T's stability was as bad as some of my other hosts are, you'd see ppl crying all over the board here by now.

Mo Verdigast · Post by **Mo Verdigast** » Mon Dec 27, 2004 1:11 pm

rcat wrote:Just trying to get some opinions of the most stable and easiest to use host for multi-track recording of softsynths. Sometimes I'll use a guitar, but mostly just record softsynths controlled by a midi keyboard controller. Right now I'm using Acid 4 and it seems to be fairly straight-forward and works ok, but just wonder if I'm missing out on something better. Thanks everyone.

Gotta say it: SONAR! If you want something that is rock stable and does it all, give Sonar a try! I've used practically all the others and I keep going back to Sonar. And my main use of it is to compose music using VST plugins. I don't sing, I don't play an instrument, I don't even play a keyboard. I just click and draw and have fun all day and all night!

3mph · Post by **3mph** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 2:48 pm

TheWall wrote:Just to say that I do think you may be an exception in the case. One of the general concensus about Tracktion is exactly that how stable and compatible it is.

True, and to be honest I haven't seen T crash itself, but some plug-ins did crashed T. T seems to be stable if you're using "native" stuff (the plug-ins included with the distribution from Mackies page) and less complicated plug-ins. Besides, the incompatibility-list is considerably large, and from my point of view this isn't a good thing if you rely your music-creation on software.

And just to clear things up, I simply LOVE Tracktion and the way it works. I often wondered why bigger sequencers didn't come up with some of the ideas Jules did, like the red markers (why have a start and end-marker when you have a cronological track-view?)

TheWall · Post by **TheWall** » Tue Dec 28, 2004 3:56 pm

3mph wrote:True, and to be honest I haven't seen T crash itself, but some plug-ins did crashed T. T seems to be stable if you're using "native" stuff (the plug-ins included with the distribution from Mackies page) and less complicated plug-ins. Besides, the incompatibility-list is considerably large, and from my point of view this isn't a good thing if you rely your music-creation on software.

Seriously, many of us of T users are seasoned users with more or less familiarity with 3rd party plugins, as well as with various hosts. And T does earn itself a favorable reputation for being a good host(means it's excellent in handling VST plugs). Also, Jules is known for sticking to the VST standard and not willing to allow some non-standard operations from the plugins, unlike many other hosts - personally I support his view on this matter.

As for the incompatibility-list...well, lots of its content is dated. Some of them are due to user errors, too(say, it's hard to tell if a user is really experiencing a bug or simply not knowing how to use multi-timbral/multiout plugs in T, or if he knows how to set up MIDI/driver correctly etc.). More over, you may want to check out some other hosts' support forums and you may get a different view on the whole matter...

That said, there ARE plugs don't go well with Tracktion indeed. But the number is amazingly small. I can only say it's unfortunate if all your plugs belong to that group. And it's still hard to say where the blame should be put...personally the only plugin dev I'd trust as much as Jules is Rene.

All in all, if you do have specific plugins that have problems, I'm sure Jules will be glad to hear about it.

Best host for multi-track recording of softsynths??