pbognar

I like Mixcraft - it's like Garageband for Windows.  It's simple and intuitive.

On 2/10/2020 at 9:18 PM, jsg said:

But after a year and 2 months with DP, I decided to go back to Sonar Platinum.  Here's why.  First of all, there is no "best DAW".  What there is However, is the "best DAW for YOU".

Welcome back!

Absolutely correct about finding the best DAW for you.  The best DAW is the one which enables you to be the most musically productive.

I was fixated with the tied / partial tuplet thing in Sonar, but what really mattered was the work flow.

Right now, I'm having the most fun with Mixcraft (crappy notation) and REAPER (better notation than Cakewalk).   I'm watching for a reason to return to Cakewalk - hoping for chord / composition enhancements.

More composition tools please - Chord Track, Chord Assistant, Extract Chord from Audio

Oh, cool.  I was under the impression that it was only good for 10.5, as long as I registered it within a certain window of time.  Maybe by v11 the chord track will process polyphonic audio like in S1.  Thanks! 

I am trying to resist the urge to jump on the Studio One Pro 4.5 deal, and focus instead on registering and installing Cubase 10.5 which I crossgraded to in the Spring.  I don't even have time to make music on the DAWs I already have - I have a sickness 😫

1 hour ago, Zo said:

Yep cubase is growing on me , still stuuf i would love to be like in S1 ( Split for synths and fx to make complex chains , chord track implementation , better imho in S1 since it can extrac chord from an audio material witch i use a lot , read overlappoing clips !!! Macro bar versus catastrophic macro handling in cubase ...)

Yeah, I was hoping Cubase would have augmented their chord track to be more like S1, where it can work with polyphonic audio.  Either that, or hoping that S1 would  implement a basic MIDI notation editor.

I have an unopened cross-grade to Cubase 10 Pro which I still have not registered.  Cubase has most of the features I want, but looks overly complicated whereas S1 looks straight forward, but seems like a bit of a closed system (with no notation editor).

On 10/20/2019 at 6:50 AM, Yan Filiatrault said:

No, it works only for half point upgrade.

So, back in May, I purchased the competitive cross-grade to Cubase Pro 10. 

I received a small box, with I'm assuming, a USB e-licenser.

I was planning to register when 10.5 would be available.  Do I need to register before 10.5 is released, or can I wait until it is released?

Thanks

edit:  If Bapu registered his 9.5 and it reflected as 10.0, I suppose it is ok if I wait until 10.5 is released

17 hours ago, Some Guy said:

Xpand!2's installer allows you to choose where you put its library, as well as most of AIR's instruments.  However, it stores a copy of it in the ProgramData directory with the installer (not sure why, the others don't do this).

You don't really need a Junction for this.  Just uninstall and then reinstall and pay attention to the install/directory path options 😛

If I had to choose between Xpand!2 and Structure 2 for the OP's purposes, I'd go with Structure 2.  Xpand's library simply isn't big enough, so he'll end up having to look for more samples/another sampler.

AIR's Synths are the shining stars, along with Strike 2.  Hybrid 3 and Vacuum Pro are really good.  I haven't used Loom and theRiser much.

Mini Grand/Velvet/DB-33 are pretty decent.

Generally I just suggest buying Xpand!2 and then upgrading to the Complete Bundle for a cheap price at Plug-In Boutique.

Then I just install only the 64-Bit VST Plugins, and put the larger libraries on my D Drive.

If you do orchestral music, then you really need to look elsewhere - like Garritan Personal Orchestra 5 for a starter.  It's more suited for this, and not too expensive.  I'd probably still get AIR's Synths, though, and maybe the plugins; cause a few of them sound quite nice (but that depends on what you already own).

Are you referring to this upgrade from Xpand!2 ?  https://www.pluginboutique.com/product/1-Instruments/58-Inst-Bundle/2294-AIR-Instrument-Expansion-Pack-3-COMPLETE-UPGRADE-

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

What I consider bread and butter sounds would be natural sounding acoustic drums, electric bass, piano, electric piano, organ, clav, brass section, strings, sax and basic synth sounds.  I would be satisfied with something like the Roland Cloud JV 1080 (or a software version of the Yamaha Motif), but there's no way I'm going to go for any subscription based instrument.

I've been out of the DAW thing for a long time, but I have Dimension Pro not currently installed anywhere.  I recall not being too knocked out by the basic sounds included, but I should really revisit it.  My preference right now would be to have a single multi instrument, not chewing up all my computer resources.

I was pretty impressed by some Kontakt and SampleTank (Max) videos, but I'm not looking to spend any more than $100 at this time.

From what I heard of Xpand!2, it seemed a little cheesy when it comes to acoustic or electro-acoustic sounds.  I cannot find any decent demos of Structure 2.

I would consider going to full versions Halion, Kontakt, or SampleTank eventually, if my DAW use and productivity justify it.

For now, I'm trying to decide on a more robust and naturally sounding version of TTS-1 to get started.  I am a synth junky, and it seems like there are tons of really nice sounding inexpensive soft synths out there.  I'm a real fan of wavetable scanning synths.

If anyone can shed any additional light on Structure 2, I'd appreciate it.  At $29, it seems like a bargain.

@Some Guy which product were you referring to when you mentioned Complete Bundle?

Starting with TTS-1 on one end of the spectrum going up to Kontakt / SampleTank / etc., which multi-timbral bread and butter workstation / rompler / sample playback VSTi are you using in Cakewalk?

What do you use to sketch out tunes, where you might keep some sounds and replace others?

Cakewalk / Sonar have had pitch markers for years.

IMO a chord track is an evolution of this.

This is an excellent feature.  We have to at least ask for it.

I was hoping that when ARA2 was implemented, that it might open the window to chord track / audio.  It would be hard to imagine that the Presonus developers came up with the algorithms to detect chords in audio and also be able to affect polyphonic audio.  Though it could be German engineering.  

The Chord Track in S1Pro being able to affect polyphonic audio is killer.

Having this is Cakewalk would be stellar.  Let's not forget Chord Pads and Chord Assistant being able to suggest conventionally appropriate chords.

The new Roland Fantom announced today includes a built in sequencer, which includes a Cakewalk Matrix View / Ableton Live like screen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16sxYVdYYMg

2 hours ago, superdan54 said:

Yeah, I was never asked for proof of ownership either. You should be good to go!

Thanks - appreciate the help.

So I received my "boxed" crossgrade to Cubase 10 Pro in pretty much record time from B&H.

Somehow I was expecting a box of media and the eLicenser, but the un-opened box says "Software installer not included.  Box contains Download Access Code for download/activation and USB-eLicenser"

Sorry for my idiocy, but am I good to go?  I have not been asked to provide any proof of ownership.

I initially placed an order for the crossgrade box with gear4music - what a clusterf...  Their internal system was not happy with my credit card, even though my CC company approved the transaction...

I ordered the box with the eLicenserthrough B&H over the phone.  They will ship it to me once they receive it from Steinberg.  I don't care if it takes 2 weeks.

On 5/30/2019 at 9:16 AM, superdan54 said:

Got my boxed copy of the Pro 10 Crossgrade yesterday!! Shipped from the UK in 4 days...how 'bout that?

I can confirm it did come with an e-licenser so this was definitely the route to go for me. I'm loving the feel of Cubase so far. Seems to merge the best of Sonar & S1 together.

Did you have to pay Local Import Duties or VAT?   The shipping cost would be about $10 for me - is that what it was for you?

I wonder if ARA 2 in S1 paved the way for the Chord Track (and it's ability to work on polyphonic audio) in S1?

Does this pave the way for the same chord track functionality in Cubase once ARA 2 arrives there?

And what about a chord track in CbB now that it has ARA 2 support?

36 minutes ago, rasure said:

 

S1 had ARA2 in version 4.0.0 released in May 2018

Yes, however CW beat Cubase. 😀

I know Elements and Artist come with a "basic" score editor while Pro comes with an "advanced" score editor.

In practice, I would prefer the "basic" score editor for entering/tweaking MIDI and save the "advanced" score editor for printing if needed.

Does anyone know if in Pro, you have the option of using the "basic" score editor?  I don't want to be bombarded with options.  I am more than happy to have an editor which looks like Cakewalk's staff editor, but without the limitations of triplets and embedded rests.

Pro is the edition which will have ARA 2, Chord Assistant, VariAudio, etc.

27 minutes ago, BassDaddy said:

You can't say I'm guilty of that.

 

Tell me about the one on the left - how did you end up with full sized, non-slanted pickups in there?  What pickups are in there now, and how are they wired?

On 5/15/2019 at 7:13 PM, msmcleod said:

It's there already isn't it?

I thought Studio One 4 was one of the first DAW's to use ARA 2...  AFAIK that's what the chord track uses to do its magic.

If that's true (and I thought the same thing), and Cakewalk just implemented ARA 2, could a chord track be far off within Cakewalk ?😍

13 hours ago, Tezza said:

This whole popularity thing is also driven by genre and "what's happening now". At the moment Electronic music (in the box) production is driving the industry, the concept is, anyone can become a star overnight if you just buy Ableton Live suite and sit down at a computer. You don't need to know anything about music at all, just move your mouse, twiddle dials, press buttons and you will become a millionaire star DJ overnight.

The majority of young people buy DAW's with these high hopes and then after having them for 2 weeks to 3 months, they find out how complex the whole process really is, they then move on to something else, just using their DAW as a hobby occasionally or not at all. We can call them "EM newbies". Some of these have some success at electronic music production where they may become semi or fully professional with their songs. We can call these "EM artists".

The others might be engineers who want a DAW to record others in their home studio etc, they might be making money from a studio or have hopes to, we can call these "Engineers". The last group would be singer/musician songwriters who can play instruments and or sing and want to mainly record their own instruments and songs. We can call these "musician songwriters".

The DAW market is driven mainly by EM newbies and EM artists. Musician/songwriters are probably next and then engineers in terms of popularity.

DAW's try to cover all of these different needs in one DAW but it doesn't work really. The EM people are going to get Ableton, Bitwig or  Fruity Loops etc, they may try Studio One or Mixcraft. The Musician/Songwriters are likely to get Cubase or Studio One or Protools/Logic. The Engineers will get Protools Studio one or Logic.

The question is where does Cakewalk fit in here, my view is that it fits mainly in the musician/songwriter category and it does that category better than any other DAW.

Everything is there to produce your songs easily and to support hardware instruments. However, there are only a certain amount of musician/songwriters.

It can also fit in the engineer category.

Studio One tries to get a bite of every cherry and probably has some success at that. I think that Cakewalk should go after the Musician/Songwriter category mainly, it may not be the most popular category but seems to be more relevant to Cakewalk than the other categories.

 

+1  Would love to see a chord track (affecting polyphonic audio), analysis, and assistant.

I too have Sonar X3 Professional.

This is tempting, as Cubase has notation, chord track, assistant and pads.

However, S1's implementation of chord track is incredible, in that it can deal with polyphonic audio.  Hopefully S1 will get a mini version of Notion embedded for editing MIDI.

I was leaning toward S1, but this cross-grade price is really low.  Decisions...