What DAW do you use?

[nfe]

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.

[MDV]

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.

[Modular1]

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.

[Transcend]

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.

[TwilightOdyssey]

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!

[gwEm]

thanks to ASIO4all, any soundcard can do it.

[Transcend]

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.

[gwEm]

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.

[MrBump]

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...

[phlip]

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.

[MDV]

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.

[Johnny Mac]

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.

[_tom_]

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.

[Transcend]

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.

[MrBump]

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..."