best sound edeting software..

[tjwett]

Originally posted by mrjamin
from what i've heard from a friend of mine (big time producer/engineer) - protools 6 isn't very good at all. He bought it, installed jag but felt that it was way too slow, even on a dual 1.25 G4. He has since downgraded to 5 - which is supposedly the dogs danglies

ProTools 6 on OS X does indeed suck the big one. I watched a good friend get it up and running (eventually) on his 1Ghz dualie running Jag and it was a total joke. It was crashing, hanging and hiccupping like there was nothing else to do. Back to OS 9. I'm happliy running Logic Plat under Jag for a few months now and although I miss a few plugins and some of the speed I haven't really looked back. The Logic/Mac combo is the strongest, most solid setup in the biz.

 

[zimv20]

Originally posted by tjwett
The Logic/Mac combo is the strongest, most solid setup in the biz.

what h/w are you running? i'm seriously looking at settling on LAP for my move to osx.

i'm running ProTools LE on os9 w/ a digi001 right now. i'm hoping to keep the digi for the time being.

 

[Sol]

DigiDesign software to download

Originally posted by zimv20
what h/w are you running? i'm seriously looking at settling on LAP for my move to osx.

I recomnmend that you check out DigiDesign's software downloads pages. A week or two after PT6 was released they made a utility available that would allow you to use the Digi 001 hardware with other software. I am not sure if you must have PT6 installed in order for that to work or if Logic is supported.

 

[springscansing]

Protools is craptastic. You don't want that.

 

[tjwett]

Originally posted by zimv20
what h/w are you running? i'm seriously looking at settling on LAP for my move to osx.

i'm running ProTools LE on os9 w/ a digi001 right now. i'm hoping to keep the digi for the time being.

keep the digi and spend on software if it's working good for you now. i was using (office) a Delta 1010 and a TC Works PowerCore card in a PowerMac under OS 9. at home i'm now running a 12" PowerBook with an emi 2|6. very simple. i record very little external audio on my own so i don't need much of an interface, and i want to be as portable as possible. at work everyone is refusing to spend a dime until the 23rd, for better or for worse. if you haven't tried Logic yet grab a demo and see what's new. so far i'm addicted to Freezing and mixing from the arrange page (now i can work from a single window!). this is great for me since i'm using about 99% virtual instruments so not needing that mixer anymore is letting me just compose. if you are into true multitracking of live instruments then you'll probably like the new grouping features. i have to say that Logic is really getting up to par with ProTools with audio. i think if it had all the Playlist features and stuff it would be all there.

 

[zimv20]

Re: DigiDesign software to download

Originally posted by Sol
I recomnmend that you check out DigiDesign's software downloads pages. A week or two after PT6 was released they made a utility available that would allow you to use the Digi 001 hardware with other software. I am not sure if you must have PT6 installed in order for that to work or if Logic is supported.

i was just there (digidesign d/load page). as it stands, the digi001 drivers need PT6 installed to run on osx.

it said they were working on drivers that didn't require PT6 for digi001 to work. once that's available, Logic should work.

i used to have LAP and the digi working together on os9, but LAP can't find the DAE now. must fix that...

 

[zimv20]

Originally posted by springscansing
Protools is craptastic. You don't want that.

actually, i like the recording / editing environment. (again, this is on os9)

what i don't like is their having two different plug-in formats, neither standards and the lack of good plug-ins included w/ LE.

plus, i'm looking to get into more midi stuff and would rather have a better sequencer to play with.

 

[zimv20]

Originally posted by tjwett
i record very little external audio on my own so i don't need much of an interface, and i want to be as portable as possible.

i've been doing a lot of live instrument recording, mostly one or two tracks at a time, sometimes up to 6 (i front it w/ my mackie 1642 and feed the direct outs to my digi001).

but i want to get back to my "roots," which is building songs up in a sequencer (i'm an old Performer user). but this time i want to do it all w/ softsynths.

if you haven't tried Logic yet grab a demo and see what's new.

i actually have LAP 4.x, but i never really got the hang of it (i really should pick up the manual one of these days). if i can finally get the gist of it and feel productive, then i'll order LAP 6 for osx.

 

[tjwett]

Originally posted by zimv20
i've been doing a lot of live instrument recording, mostly one or two tracks at a time, sometimes up to 6 (i front it w/ my mackie 1642 and feed the direct outs to my digi001).

but i want to get back to my "roots," which is building songs up in a sequencer (i'm an old Performer user). but this time i want to do it all w/ softsynths.

i actually have LAP 4.x, but i never really got the hang of it (i really should pick up the manual one of these days). if i can finally get the gist of it and feel productive, then i'll order LAP 6 for osx.

well it sounds like the latest version of Logic might suit you quite nicely. like i said it has made leaps and bounds in the area of live studio-style recording and i think you'd be hard pressed to hit a roadblock or something it couldn't handle at this point. the only thing i've heard from engineers in that Logic's take management, although really good, may not be as great as Pro Tools', but that could also a matter of opinion and being comfortable. but as you said you are planning to do more sequencer type recordings using softsynths and samplers so i couldn't think of a better, more streanlined, and stable place to do it. Pro Tools and DP are not exactly the best places for soft synths and the like. the bundled synths are wonderful, as is the sampler. Plus there are already a ton of great AU synths already hitting the market, including the Spectrasonics line which is truly amazing stuff. if you were ever intimidated by Logic's interface and way of working you gotta try the latest version. it's fast, and i don't mean speed, i mean it's a very fast environment, especially if you're working with virtuals. they've literally cut the entire work process in half. there is very little "computing" to be done and that's obviously good for creativity. i do video scoring and the new video thumbnail track feature is awesome too. i now i'm really singing on here but since jumping to OS X and then on to LP6 i'm just psyched all over again to be a Logic user. then again, this is how i felt when Logic 5 was released😉

 

[springscansing]

Originally posted by zimv20
actually, i like the recording / editing environment. (again, this is on os9)

what i don't like is their having two different plug-in formats, neither standards and the lack of good plug-ins included w/ LE.

plus, i'm looking to get into more midi stuff and would rather have a better sequencer to play with.

Well I do all my editing outside of the sequencer and I hardly record anything, its all midi and automation data, so that's why I'm big on SX and not protools. (although logic and DP are nice too)

 

[zimv20]

Originally posted by tjwett

if you were ever intimidated by Logic's interface and way of working you gotta try the latest version.

in your opinion, it's become more intuitive since version 4? i had trouble getting both midi _and_ audio into it.

but i did manage to import a midi file and do some next tweaks and mixing on it...

 

[mrjamin]

Originally posted by springscansing
Protools is craptastic. You don't want that.

i could fine several people who would love to beat you for making that comment:
ProTools 5 is the industry standard

 

[tjwett]

Originally posted by mrjamin

...ProTools 5 is the industry standard

well, sorta. it's good for certain things but nearly useless for others. ProTools has it's strengths, those mainly being stability and solid timing. Beyond that ProTools is not much more than an audio sequencer. It's MIDI features are almost non-existent, as is it's support for industry-standard plugins. Infact, with all it's proprietary software and hardware components there reall isn't anything "industry standard" about it. Ever see someon using ProTools as the center of an elaborate MIDI setup? Me neither. What about using ProTools to host soft synths and samplers? Nope. To call it "the industry standard" is a bit broad. It's the industry standard for a few certain tasks but the reality is that ProTools is expensive and way under-featured compared to Logic, or even Cubase or DP for that matter.

 

[mrjamin]

Originally posted by tjwett
well, sorta. it's good for certain things but nearly useless for others. ProTools has it's strengths, those mainly being stability and solid timing. Beyond that ProTools is not much more than an audio sequencer. It's MIDI features are almost non-existent, as is it's support for industry-standard plugins. Infact, with all it's proprietary software and hardware components there reall isn't anything "industry standard" about it. Ever see someon using ProTools as the center of an elaborate MIDI setup? Me neither. What about using ProTools to host soft synths and samplers? Nope. To call it "the industry standard" is a bit broad. It's the industry standard for a few certain tasks but the reality is that ProTools is expensive and way under-featured compared to Logic, or even Cubase or DP for that matter.

Thanks for correcting me - i'm not audio-buff (i'm a musician, i don't need to know any of that stuff). I have a circle of friends who call themselves ProTools ninjas!

I used cubase with Reality (i think) a few years back and that seemed pretty cool.

 

[tjwett]

Originally posted by zimv20
in your opinion, it's become more intuitive since version 4? i had trouble getting both midi _and_ audio into it.

but i did manage to import a midi file and do some next tweaks and mixing on it...

Oh totally, now that it's using Core Audio and Core MIDI there is literally zero configuration. No more ASIO, no more OMS. Just plug in, seriously. It's pretty unbelievable. I was really shocked the first time I setup in OS X. I had put aside 2 hours out of my day to get everything up and runnnig. I was done within a half hour. Hell, you don't even need to install or authorize the software anymore. The XSKey knows what to turn on and what to lock you out of. I'd say it shouldn't even be allowed to be compared to Logic 4. It's gotten so streamlined, with the working soley from one window thing. It's starting to remind me of Ableton Live, which is the most intuitive and fast program on the planet. I know a lot of people who are making the move from Pro Tools to Logic, for a few reasons. Mainly because everyone was sitting around waiting for PT6 for OSX and then it finally arrives and it's a total joke. Everyone knows that Logic is gonna run on a Mac, especially now. Plus everyone can still hang on to all their PT hardware, Logic supports it all. They only real investment is the software, which is priced to sell. Now did you mean that you were having trouble getting audio in and out of Logic 6 in OS X or 4 in OS 9. I hope I understood that right.

 

[zimv20]

Originally posted by tjwett
Oh totally, now that it's using Core Audio and Core MIDI there is literally zero configuration. [snip] I'd say it shouldn't even be allowed to be compared to Logic 4. It's gotten so streamlined, with the working soley from one window thing.

good info. that's the stuff i needed to hear.

Now did you mean that you were having trouble getting audio in and out of Logic 6 in OS X or 4 in OS 9. I hope I understood that right.

4 in os9.

 

[zimv20]

i bit the bullet and ordered LAP 6. sadly, it's backordered. maybe by the time i get it, Digidesign will have released a proper set of osx drivers for my digi001.

does anyone know which two softsynths are included in my purchase?