Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum
At The Back => Time Out => Topic started by: MDV on August 04, 2008, 03:50:00 PM
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I've been on SX3 for a while now, but my PC finally went senile.
So
I ordered vista 64.
Yes, I know. My logic is simply - more RAM is good, especially with the slowdown I get with lots of drums programmed (when trying to add more drums). I checked the compatibility of my hardware, its all good, and most of my software is fine, but I now discover there is some sort of a fault with SX3. Intermittent apparently, but now I'm wondering, if I have to abandon SX3, whats the best out there now? I basically need good mixing capability and VST compatability, specifically for DFH Superior 2.0.
I've been looking at Cubase 4 and sonar 7, principally.
Any others?
Should I just get another copy of XP?
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I dont think I could go back to XP now I've got used to vista - it looks and feels so much nicer, I honestly dont know why people hate it so much. Runs perfectly on my new computer though is a bit slow on my mums dell. Each time I use my xp laptop it feels clunky and cr@p. 64 bit is meant to be even better but as I'm running 2gb ram 32 bit is all I can do apparently.
Anyway I use Reaper, its free (well you can pay for a license to stop the annoying nag screen coming up each time) and runs much better than cubase did for me. People on HC who are a bit more experienced with recording than me say its every bit as powerful as cubase and it seems to get great reviews.
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I use Cakewalk's Home Studio (2004 I think!) on my old laptop with XP2 - so not a great deal of help...
BUT, I wouldn't hesitate to get Sonar "whatever" when the laptop dies and I have to get a new PC. That might just be because I'm used to the cakewalk way of thinking, though... (SX3, that's Cubase isn't it? You might be happier sticking with what you know?)
If I could stop buying guitars, BKPs, Vox Tonelabs, etc, for long enough, one of my plans is to get updated in the music PC and DAW area anyway.. my current set up is all a bit Heath-Robinson and I've forgotten how to connect all the bits up! (Hence the complete lack of any home-recording going on - the main justification for acquiring all this kit in the first place!)
SO... Sonar would be my vote :D
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Logic 8 ;)
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I've used both Cubase and Sonar (Home Studio 6), and I MUCH prefer the Cakewalk stuff - for me, I find it far more intuitive, easier to get things done more quickly.
As for the OS, I'm still XP. I've struggled to find decent AISO drives for the hardware that I have for Vista. I guess that I'll have to upgrade at some point, but I'm going to put it off for as long as I can. XP on a well maintained system is fine as far as I'm concerned.
Mark.
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Logic 8 ;)
Me too, I only wish they would add support/wrappers for VST and RTAS, other than that it's top banana. You do need a Mac though :P
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I'm really strongly leaning to Sonar here.
Anyone use DFH sup 2 with it or know that it will work?
Indy and ging, that was incredibly helpfull, thank you. I'm not buying a mac, because then I'd be a mac-user, and theres nothing worse than a mac user talking about his mac ;)
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Try reaper first if you havent allready! Dunno about superior 2 with it but ezdrummer works fine, if they're even related at all?
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I have, Tom. Seems nifty, but it didnt work right for me. Dont remember how exactly, but it didnt.
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ableton live FTW \o/
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DAW? What is this 'DAW' you refer to?! I still use outboard gear! PDT_008
I mix in Sonar, however. I use Sonar for writing drum loops, too, as well as orchestral and mellotron samples.
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Pro Tools till I die :lol:
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Pro Tools at uni (soon to be at home too), Logic and Ardour at home, depending on what computer i'm using. When i get my stuff together, i'll be running Pro Tools synced with Logic (for sequencing)... but that's a fair way off yet!
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I'd like to try pro tools actually, but doesnt it only work with digitech, and doesnt DFH not work with it?
Other than that, sonar is in clear lead (its what I was thinking anyway, especially as its 64bit software).
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Just to add my vote for Sonar. I have 7 on a Vista machine with 4gb and also a UA PCIe card and MOTU PCIe with a 2048, 308 & 1224.
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I'd like to try pro tools actually, but doesnt it only work with digitech, and doesnt DFH not work with it?
Other than that, sonar is in clear lead (its what I was thinking anyway, especially as its 64bit software).
It needs a Digidesign interface to run (or the mBox micro dongle type affair) but you can use other interfaces if you want so long as a digidesign one is connected.
DFH works fine with it, though having used it a great deal, I have absolutely no idea why anyone would ever choose it over BDF II which blows every other acoustic drum programme out the water for me.
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Okay, well PT is ruled out anyhow, since it doesnt work with vista
Nfe, you may be right, I havent tried BFD, but I very strongly recommend you at least try DFH Superior 2. Its far bettter than any of the previous toontracks.
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my main DAW that i used for years was Logic Audio. Its mac only now, which isnt a problem for me cos my main computer is a mac. Its pretty much the best out there. Its what a lot of pro's use combined with protools hardware.
ive had experience in a lot of DAWs. ive been using them since they were basic midi sequencers back in the early 90's. Most modern DAWs can provide pretty much the same quality of result but sometimes with a different way of getting there.
While ive been messing round recording my guitar and using a lot of ez drummer ive found a more creative program that the others in the guise of Ableton Live. This prog was designed mainly for live dance music production (which i used it for in the past), but ive found it great for guitar demos for these reasons:
It records audio on many tracks just like any other DAW. It takes VST and AU plugins. Its a breeze to setup the drivers and have it running smoothly with no latency or monitoring issues.
It has live midi part triggering capabilities. This is great for ez drummer users because you can load up banks of the 'grooves' in ez drummer (these are midi files) in buttons in the program. you can trigger them live and switch between them in perfect timing over any guitar tracks after you have recorded. then record your switchings then edit them about a lot easier than copying the midi files into your arrange window. then deciding you want another one which can be a real pain in the ass.
you can download the demo and try it. there are tutorials built into the interface. all thats missing in the demo is save functionality.
when im 100% happy with the tracks ive recorded im going to use logic to mix them down but thats cos it has better inbuilt mastering tools, but for composing tracks with ezdrummer for your drums id give 'ableton live 7' a try.
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I use reaper and superior drummer 2.0 and it works great i even have multio out drum map tracktemplate if you want it.
Sonar 7 is also good but it doesnt like my cr@ppy onboard sound as its not asio.
Also i tried BFD2 and it is amazing but superior drummer 2.0 is just easier to use and id say equally as good sounding and doesnt eat as much of your RAM.
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Sonar 7 is also good but it doesnt like my cr@ppy onboard sound as its not asio.
You can get a dirt-cheap Soundblaster card that will do ASIO. Costs less than a burger and 2 pints!
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thanks to ASIO4all, any soundcard can do it.
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Asio4all always worked really buggily for me on this system.
And yeah Benny i keep meaning to buy one but never get around to it.
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Asio4all always worked really buggily for me on this system.
And yeah Benny i keep meaning to buy one but never get around to it.
wuschel seems to update it pretty regularly, nothing but praise for it myself.
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Just tried ASIO4All, and I have to say, I'm impressed... I'm running through a cr@p US122, and it's ALWAYS dropping out... not so far though...
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From a 20 years in IT point of view there's no way I would build a DAW around Vista just yet purly because there's too many things going on in the background which can cause random dropouts and difficult to track down glitches. I was part of the Vista beta test and even now after service pack1 I'm still seeing unexplained slowdowns and odd responsiveness.
For Raw performance bang for buck a tweaked XP install on good hardware kicks the ass out of Vista.
Our benchmarking of 3D modelling workstations showed Vista performing 25% worse than XP in polygon count and framerate. OK it's Not Audio but thats a lot.
Anyway I use Cubase SX3 and Wavelab with Maudio Hardware, It horse for courses though the big 3 pretty much perform well across the board and it's all down to what your familar with, I've used Cubase since the Atari days.
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Thanks for the heads up philp, but I'm gonna give it a shot (with both eyes open and a copy of XP on speed dial, so to speak)
With sonar producer 7
If anyone has any reason my recording of guitars with drums on DFH sup 2 and sonar producer 7 should not be wed, please speak now, or forever hold your peace.
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I watched some of the Demos of Sonar at the International Music show and it did look impressive. Mind you I'm still on Cubase VST which is old so anything probably looks sexy compared to that.
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Shame you didnt get on with reaper, I love it and wouldnt consider paying for recording software after using it. Then again I'm a really amateur recorder, I dont even have a mic interface or even a mic stand and the most stress Reaper has to go under is EZDrummer :lol: The only problem is that it wont save my drum kits in ezdrummer, I change the snare and stuff on the mixer etc, save that preset because it sounds nice but when i try to load the preset it doesnt do anything. Maybe I'm doing it wrong.
I have a free copy of xp pro on standby I can use at any given time but right now vista is fine - I'm tempted to get a 2nd hard drive to run an xp install on so I can see if theres much of a difference in performance though.
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Yeah thats actually a bug in the ezdrummer software that they never sorted out until dfh seuperior came out. Seems daft really that they still haven't sorted it on the original program.
And to the OP sonar 7 will work wonders for you.
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From a 20 years in IT point of view there's no way I would build a DAW around Vista just yet purly because there's too many things going on in the background which can cause random dropouts and difficult to track down glitches. I was part of the Vista beta test and even now after service pack1 I'm still seeing unexplained slowdowns and odd responsiveness.
For Raw performance bang for buck a tweaked XP install on good hardware kicks the ass out of Vista.
Our benchmarking of 3D modelling workstations showed Vista performing 25% worse than XP in polygon count and framerate. OK it's Not Audio but thats a lot.
Anyway I use Cubase SX3 and Wavelab with Maudio Hardware, It horse for courses though the big 3 pretty much perform well across the board and it's all down to what your familar with, I've used Cubase since the Atari days.
+1 for "unexplained Vista randomness..."
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I got the new install, and for what its worth, Vista 64 absolutely eats XP SP3 alive for speed. Much faster.
Sure enough, though, SX3 doesnt work. (and its the ONLY thing so far that hasnt, so far. There are a handfull of things that I know not to try (including an old favourite game of mine: homeworld, but out of everything that I havent been able to find info on, its all worked swimingly).
I'll see how I get on with Sonar 7 after payday. Shame I'll have to re-do my recordings, but it was only 4 songs so far, I didnt like one of them and they're all non-optimal, being parts of my learning to hamfistedly audio-engineer.
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Cool, good to hear Vista is working well :) I can get 64-bit Business for free from uni but I dont know if it'll offer much improvement over 32 bit ultimate? I guess Business has a load of stuff most home users might not need though. I also "only" have 2gb ram..
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Well, its only a guess, but since word has it that XP outperforms the 32 bit vistas, and vista premium 64 outperformed XP for me, I think you'll benefit.
In fact, if my experience is anything to go by, you'll benefit a lot.
There are a small handfull of things that it doesnt get on with (virgin speedtouch modems and SX3 are the only ones of any cosequence that were pertinent to me - I forgot about the modem before - but one router and a plan for sonar 7 later and all is well!)
Its running 3 and 4 year old software that I couldnt find anything on and chanced without any problem.
And did I mention its fast? Like FAST. My Emu patchmix loads about 10 times faster (no exageration) than on XP, for example. No idea why: its a 32 bit app, but even 32 bit apps are faster. Crysis (I couldnt resist giving it a whirl with DX10) runs faster than before, with higher settings, Foobar2000, my audio player of choice, loads my 12000 songs at least 3 times faster. VLC plays vids nearly immediately (rather than making me wait a whole 4 or 5 seconds: I just couldnt take that any more :lol: )
And so on.
Like I say, bar SX3 and the modem its much, much better (faster/more stable). I have no idea why poeple dont like it. Maybe 32bit vista really is a dog, but this is great.
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Cool that sounds good. I guess I can disable everything that I wont be using in the business edition. I just need to get off my arse, find the uni site to download from then burn it all to a disc and find a time when I can be bothered to format and redo it all :lol: Probably wont be til next summer now knowing me.
My 32 bit is quite fast as it is but I'm really intrigued by 64 bit. Not sure how well it'll work with just 2gb ram though..
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Well I'm still only on 2 gig till I can get my exceedingly recalcitrant mobo to accept 4 without a hissy-fit (asus striker extreme: great on paper, a huge pain in practice) and all the performance benefits I've found with 64 are with 2G of ram.
Cant wait to see what 4 does to DFH (which, I hear (havent got it running yet) runs like a dream in 64 anyway!)