Sonar, Logic or Cubase??

[///OSS]

Definitely Cubase for PC. I was never a logic fan but used it in the past as there was nothing logical about it (LOL) but everyone is different and what works for me might not for you. how about you try them both and see what you like

Sonar blows

Live is cool but its no DAW

[maelstrom808]

With Cubase, just keep in mind you will be missing out on a few things like the sidechaining and such due to some of the limitations of Steinberg's software. To a degree, there are some ghetto work arounds, but it's not going to work 100% as advertised. That being said, I still use and over all love it.

[TheHobbit]

Personally for the better of all the evils I use Cubase, for all the whines that people make it is a well developed platform amd every DAW has it's pros and cons. As for Abletons Live I have made several attempt to try and make tracks on it and not really gotto grips with it, but that's personal.

As mentioned your tools are what YOU get used to. All DAWs do pretty much the same thing and it is really down to the features and workflow that is good for you. Hence I have used Cubase for 14 years and do not 'choose' to learn another DAW.

I have tried most on the market Sonar, Traction, Protools (hardware reliant you must have a protools audio interface or for LE M-audio soundcard), Logic (which is Mac only).
Reaper is probably a good one to try as it's cheap and is making massive headway for user support a basic verion costs £30 or you can go pro for more.
Fruity loops and Reason i would say are not great for sequencing or capturing audio, however, both are excellent for creating loops and phrases which I do and then drop into Cubase. Propellarheads do now have Record which is a sequencer for reason - not convinced myself.

As for Virus TI support, Access do not yet officiallyy support Reaper unless that has changed (but that doesn't mean you shouldnt consider it).

Cubase5 does support sidechain and is easilty implemented in a channel with the included compressors.
Cubase does not however support VST Instrument input which will probably change on the next release/upgrade (Cubase6).

Hope this is of help PM if you need some advice.

Useful links (Im in a helpful mood today) :

CUBASE
http://www.steinberg.net/en/products...alversion.html (You need an elicenser dongle!!!)

REAPER
http://www.cockos.com/reaper/ (Again demo version on download)

SONAR
http://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SON...spx?Prod=SR8.5 (I do not rate this but is very popular in the US)

Propellardheads Reason and Record
http://www.propellerheads.se/products/

Logic
http://www.apple.com/logicstudio/ (Mac only loads of plugins for the money. This will take you down the Mac or Win OS platform debate!)

Traction
http://www.mackie.com/products/tracktion3/ (Limited features but good for guitarists may suit you)

Protools
http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?...11&ref=pt8-hpb (The alledged professional of the lot - expensive interfaces)

Fruit Loops
http://flstudio.image-line.com/ (It has it's place )

Peace out

[///OSS]

Originally Posted by maelstrom808

With Cubase, just keep in mind you will be missing out on a few things like the sidechaining and such due to some of the limitations of Steinberg's software. To a degree, there are some ghetto work arounds, but it's not going to work 100% as advertised. That being said, I still use and over all love it.

Cubase 5 has Sidechaining

[boborulz]

So what does live lack?

[enossified]

Originally Posted by boborulz

So what does live lack?

If you look at the full version of Cubase 5 you get convolution reverb, auto-tune, a huge number of plugins including synths and samplers, notation editing/printing, far more powerful MIDI editing (Cubase started 25 years ago as a MIDI-only sequencer for the Mac), multicore support (maybe Live 8 has this? Live 7 does not). And it only costs $100 more than Live!

Live excels at real-time rearrangements of short snippets of audio and MIDI...it's a great tool for sketching things out. You can actually jam with Live, recording everything you are doing as you go along. It's still the best DAW to use for live performances (as opposed to studio recording).

I'd say if your needs involve recording lots of audio tracks as well as complex MIDI sequencing, Cubase is definitely worth it.

[infraction]

Originally Posted by boborulz

So what does live lack?

Dual/multi screen support for one