Has anyone here used Reason? Has anyone used Acid Pro? How about Pro Tools? Which program do you recommend (Price not a concern) and do you recommend higher end software programs that you can testify to using?

Thanks

I've used ProTools with a Mackie board (which makes it soooo fun) and it ROCKS. Simply perfect. I've not used the others though.

i've used reason plenty. a great tool for sounds and synth racks. i don't sequence in reason though. sequencing is left to Logic Pro 7 and Digital Performer 4.6. Logic Pro has a great environment with hands down the BEST CPU utilizing on any system I have ever used. Digital Performer is more CPU hungry but has a lot of great film scoring features. Logic Pro is more for audio production, although it does suite me well for film scoring as well.

I've used pro tools. here is my take on that. a good sophisticated program, but overall very limited in scope unless you fork over 10 grand for the TDM version (LE version is free with digidesign purchased hardware, and only allows 32 simultaneous voices - good for someone in post-production dubbing, not for someone with a large amount of audio tracks that doesn't want to sub mix everything to a few different buses all the time). it's basically a good solid audio editing program and easy to use. as of now the midi support sucks, but supposedly the new version 7 is to add a great deal of support for reason.

logic pro 7, in my opinion is much more extensive and complete at the expense of being more difficult to learn, than pro tools. the midi implementation far surpasses pro tools. good for composers, and audio production work.

pro tools would be your choice if you didn't want to deal with midi, wanted to learn and use a solid system for editing audio, recording songs etc.

reason is a nice compliment as a software synth but not great with pro tools.

joe greenier

film . music

Is the TDM version really 10 grand? Wow... its on every computer at school. I should learn Logic and Reason, cause we have them as well, and they sound pretty good.

quote:

Originally posted by titaniumdoughnut:
Is the TDM version really 10 grand? Wow... its on every computer at school. I should learn Logic and Reason, cause we have them as well, and they sound pretty good.

well... there are three different version of Pro Tools systems that use the TDM software... the 'low end' version - Digidesign Pro Tools|HD 1 retails at $7,995.00 at sweetwater.com. That is just for Pro Tools TDM software, and a pci audio interface that would then attach to a pro tools external audio interface for another $4,000 retail. And of course you would then need an analog mixing console of some kind.

so LE is digidesigns way of teasing you, because in my opinion it is extremely limiting... but very affordable in comparison to a TDM system. still, with pro tools you HAVE to use digidesign hardware

on the other hand, logic pro 7 is an amazing piece of software and rather affordable at $999.99, (i bought it through universitycomputers.com - a BU computer store while i was in school in boston for $299 and i wasn't a BU student, so i'm pretty sure any student could buy it there). and from my experience logic blows pro tools away.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: j.s.greenier,

Joe... great flash site and works!

Uhhh. What's midi implementation? I'm used to Acid's user freindly, dumby proof setup. Basically, I need a program that is capable of giving me the best selection of loops or instruments and also allows me to make sounds and input them as well. I'm looking for the best output quality. I'm not necessarily doing a lot of dialogue on these, but maybe a vocal here or there. I'm willing to learn as well. It sounds like Logic is the most appropriate, but it is just for apple. Anything for PC?

Also, what speakers do you use or swear by making your music?

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Thinkingman,

hey thanks...

well...if that's what you're looking for... "program that is capable of giving me the best selection of loops or instruments and also allows me to make sounds and input them as well" then Reason will definitely give you those options and more. It also has great output quality. The issue will be more a case of recording tracks of audio... as reason is really a synth module there are no "tracks" really for audio... you can do it using samples but that's a pain.

if you're looking for a pretty good interface for the PC for "sequencing" the sounds with more audio tracks.. then I would recommend Cakewalk Sonar (most recent version is 5). This is where I came from in the world of audio production & recording before I switched to a mac. It's a GREAT program and fairly easy to use. But it does have a small learning curve... but not too bad. This would interface with Reason just fine...

I believe you can download a demo of Sonar 4... I would do that first. But you will definitely LOVE reason if you get into it. Go to the official site and just download some samples of what people have done... that will sell you. I use it specifically for extra sounds and effects, but I know people who use it for everything.

also you have Steinberg products like Cubase and Nuendo. I have used them a bit, but not as much as Sonar. They too are great products... Cubase, Sonar & Nuendo are actually VERY similar.

as far as speakers/monitors go... about a year or two ago I purchased some KRK Rockit 8's .. started with 2 and then went all in and got 3 more with a sub for surround mixing. KRK makes great monitors. I love my rokit 8's.. they also make smaller Rokit 5's.. the 8's are about $250 a piece and the 5's about $140 i think. They are not the BEST monitors out there.. but for the price you can't go wrong. i would check out a few different monitors at a local guitar center and see which ones you like. but yes, all I use at this point are the rokit 8's and I love them.

Joe: how to those compare to the Blue Sky systems? The 5.1 Mediadesk system is less than a grand ... in between the 5 and 8 Rockit systems.

Joren,

personally i have not used the blue sky system. i just looked them up and they seem to be a good buy for the price ... not to mention there are some rather well known studios that use the system. typically you always want to try the system / monitors out before you buy them. i don't know how easy that would be with the blue sky system... although i would do some research.

other then that, the system itself is more similar to the rokit 5's which are at 75watts, but for a small home studio i think that would be fine. especially if you just wanted to do some inital learning / mixing of films in 5.1.

basically if you're going to be mixing and trying 5.1, just stay away from the $300 surround systems used mainly for gaming, heh... go out and get an actual pro audio monitoring system.

quote:

Originally posted by joren:
Joe: how to those compare to the Blue Sky systems? The 5.1 Mediadesk system is less than a grand ... in between the 5 and 8 Rockit systems.

Someone at NLE Systems here in Glendale told me that the 5.1 Blue Sky speakers are not true monitors. They will not give true playback for 5.1 mixing. I personally don't believe him. He tried to say that you can only do it with two monitors, like a piar of Rocket 8s. I thought for sure a 5.1 monitor setup was needed.

Have you mixed 5.1 on the blue sky monitors? What does one need as far as the number of monitors to do this professionally?

Thanks

Todd,

I don't know who you spoke to, but without any more information I would assume that they are giving you incomplete / incorrect information.

How can one mix in 5.1 with TWO monitors? The ONLY thing I can think of... that they were trying to tell you is that you should mix in stereo and then translate it to 5.1. If this is the case then in my opinion this is a horrible way to approach 5.1 mixing. Essentially you would be mixing in stereo and then panning things around you... which doesn't make sense, since when you mix in stereo you are eq'ing and moving tracks around the spectrum so that they don't bump into each other within the 2 speakers. While you still use similar techniques in 5.1 as with stereo, in 5.1 you have more channels / speakers to chose from and therefore more 'room' to put things.

If you want to mix in 5.1, you should actually MIX with 5 speakers and a sub. If you plan on delivering a mix in stereo AND 5.1, then you can still use a 5.1 system to mix in stereo. I use 5 KRK Rokit 8's and a Rokit 10s sub. I mix in Stereo and then I do a totally different mix in 5.1.

good luck