Favorite sequencing software for PC

UCanDream · Post by **UCanDream** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 4:23 am

Hi, Everyone.

I’ve scrolled around the recent topics and hopefully I’m not asking something here that has already been addressed. If so, maybe someone would be kind enough to direct me to the right thread and I’ll not drag it out here. Thanks in advance.
Anyway, for nearly as long as I’ve been playing/writing, most of my recordings have been done with onboard hardware sequencers. I have a spare PC and wonder what is the most used or favored piece of sequence software by the masses, if I decide to go that direction. Anything that doesn’t call for the use of a manufacturer’s hardware…you know, the whole proprietary thing, i.e., Pro Tools. All I am really looking for is powerful tools for writing/sequencing/song and event editing. I don’t need stuff specific to sound editing/librarian/mass storage, though some or all of this may be standard, I don’t know. I realize the answer may be personal taste, etc. I’ve looked at reviews, and as per what I expected to find, each source has something different to say about a particular app. Just wondering what is the most used by writers with home studios.

I am close to uploading some stuff that I’ve done on the Kronos with a few other pieces of gear adding to the mix but in the meantime, here’s some of my older music with the O 88 at the hub: www.soundcloud.com/youcandream Some of the old timers here have probably heard a lot of what I have on that site but more new stuff is to come soon. Doesn’t the Kronos just frigging rock!

Keep it real.

~UCanDream aka David

Corgy · Post by **Corgy** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 10:23 am

Hi UCanDream...

It's really about purpose and budget. There is much to find that can fulfill your needs and what may fit to your personal taste. My advice would be, check out some of the big ones and study them by their demos or video resources.

IMHO they have a similar level of quality if sound is considered, but handling etc. may be very different. It's also about your preference of composing or arranging. You will find the old traditional way utilizing a set of tracks as well as an audio-clip / matrix oriented method the way like Abelton Live.

Basic sound engineering tools will be provided by most of the DAW with the package. If it comes to special sound engineering tasks, plug-ins, mostly from 3rd parties, will be needed.

You may want to check out:

http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/ ... -238905/11

This is a quite up to date overview about what's available on the market and discusses some weeknesses and strenghts of the packages.

I personally prefer Cakewalk Sonar on PC. It's complete, easy enough to use, reliable, and I like their licensing and upgrade philosophy better then others.

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 12:21 pm

I mostly use Sonar X3, which I'm quite happy with. It's a "classic" linear sequencer/DAW that has some really nice features I like - comping and ARA specifically are great, but they're mostly useful if you record a lot of audio and/or vocals. There are various versions, they mainly differ in the amount of extra plugins and instruments you get.

Cubase is similar and also very popular. Qui uses it, I'm sure he will chime in later.

If you prefer pattern based sequencing or are considering live use, Reason and especially Ableton are very nice. Reason (IMHO) has better included sounds but a very unusual workflow if you're used to "regular" DAWs. Ableton has two different modes, one of which is mainly intended for live use and pattern/clip based, the other very reminiscent of a standard DAW.

QuiRobinez · Post by **QuiRobinez** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 12:47 pm

SanderXpander wrote:I mostly use Sonar X3, which I'm quite happy with. It's a "classic" linear sequencer/DAW that has some really nice features I like - comping and ARA specifically are great, but they're mostly useful if you record a lot of audio and/or vocals. There are various versions, they mainly differ in the amount of extra plugins and instruments you get.

Cubase is similar and also very popular. Qui uses it, I'm sure he will chime in later.

If you prefer pattern based sequencing or are considering live use, Reason and especially Ableton are very nice. Reason (IMHO) has better included sounds but a very unusual workflow if you're used to "regular" DAWs. Ableton has two different modes, one of which is mainly intended for live use and pattern/clip based, the other very reminiscent of a standard DAW.

true, although i don't like the sound character of Reason (at least in the early days when i tried it).

As far as i know there was a more regional difference when you looked at popularity of DAWs. Cubase was more popular in Europe and Sonar more in the USA. Logic was popular in all continents.

Nowadays there isn't much difference between the products anymore. I use Cubase 7 and Ableton Live 9 depending on the workflow for the project. I think that SanderXpander said it right, when you are more into pattern based recording then go for Ableton Live, if you are more song based then see if you like Sonar, Cubase, Reaper or Protools.

The other DAWs are more of the same

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:49 pm

I think Reason has grown a lot in sound quality but mostly retains its original hiphop/pop-ish sound character. Mainly I think many sounds included in Ableton are awful

Can be interesting sometimes, though.

QuiRobinez · Post by **QuiRobinez** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 1:58 pm

SanderXpander wrote:I think Reason has grown a lot in sound quality but mostly retains its original hiphop/pop-ish sound character. Mainly I think many sounds included in Ableton are awful
Can be interesting sometimes, though.

that's funny, i really like the sound character of ableton (not talking about the synth presets), since it's so similar to what you hear in a lot of the (dance) productions in the charts, this is mostly caused by the sound flavor of the Ableton effects. But this is a good example that it's quite subjective what people like in certain DAW's, so it's always good to check things out yourself if it gives you the result you like.

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 2:02 pm

I love Ableton's effects! I specifically mean that I hate the synth presets

And I really don't care for much of the sample based content either, but I can't hardly say I've tried everything.

QuiRobinez · Post by **QuiRobinez** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 2:10 pm

SanderXpander wrote:I love Ableton's effects! I specifically mean that I hate the synth presets
And I really don't care for much of the sample based content either, but I can't hardly say I've tried everything.

ah, then i have the same opinion, the synth presets aren't great and the sample based content can be forgotten when you already have Native Instruments Komplete

But there are some good Synths available for Ableton, especially the M4L Granulator is stunning (and free). But you need Ableton Live Suite edition to use M4L devices in that case.

UCanDream · Post by **UCanDream** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 4:26 pm

Awesome, guys! Thank you.

This gets me going in some direction. I think QuiRobinez's observation is pretty notable:

Nowadays there isn't much difference between the products anymore.

This kind of makes sense to me since developers would likely converge on the highest and most sought-after demands of musicians/users. Sounds to me like the UI is the biggest difference, albeit, plugin options and presumably, the raw horsepower requirements for audio, etc. may come into play.

To SanderXpander,

If you prefer pattern based sequencing or are considering live use, Reason and especially Ableton are very nice. Reason (IMHO) has better included sounds but a very unusual workflow if you're used to "regular" DAWs. Ableton has two different modes, one of which is mainly intended for live use and pattern/clip based, the other very reminiscent of a standard DAW.

As for live use for me, that won't likely happen ever. But as far as compiling song data, though, I used to write and record a song in its entirety simply because I was laying tracks on a multi-track tape recorder. These days, I've gotten very accustomed to the sequencers on the Oasys and Kronos (virtually, the same). Cool thing about those is that a writer can lay down, say, half the verse on the piano track and if he jacked up the track near the end, he can just pick it back up at a point and seamlessly resume the track. I'm sure that is old school for lots of HW based sequencers. Back in the old analog tape days, I think that disection process was called, "cut and paste," not to be confused with the computer lingo, "copy and paste."

In any case, I really appreciate the input and suggestions. Googling this stuff may or may not yield credible results but I pretty well figured I could get some straight and honest input from actual users.

Thanks again. Just for fun, check out the studio. http://s1208.photobucket.com/user/YouCa ... t=3&page=1
I still got some wiring (mostly MIDI) and cleanup to do. Although, the Walmart bags of cords and cables are not in view, lol.

Later guys.
~UCanDream aka David

BasariStudios · Post by **BasariStudios** » Fri Jan 24, 2014 4:58 pm

Cubase all the way!!! A DAW will sound ONLY how YOU will make it Sound.
I don't think a DAW has character or personality in the way something sounds.
Its VERY wrong to say Cubase sounds different or better then Live or vice
versa or whatever DAW. Sound will most likely depend on your Audio Converters
and VSTi and VSTs you use. If i get an Audii file and run it thru Waves and
Cubase and someone did the same thru Live also with Waves you think there
will be difference? Of course if we were both using the same ACs there will
be no difference. Remember, there is tonz of Third Party VSTs out there so
basically the DAW can not have its own character. Someone would compare
Halion SE with some other DAWs Sampler...Retrologue with some other DAWs
Analog Synth but that's pointless. What if instead i run Hollywood Strings and
record from a Moog Voyager...then the whole thing of comparison crashes down.

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 12:31 am

Just in case you meant Qui's and mine comments, we weren't actually saying Cubase sounds different than Live when doing the same thing, we were talking specifically about the bundled sounds and fx.

UCanDream, when I say pattern based versus linear it doesn't mean that you can't take song parts and repeat them in linear sequencer, nor that you can't create an entire linear song in pattern based sequencer. It has more to do with what happens while you're building the song. Ableton specifically is very nice for creating easily switchable and jammable song "sections". This can help you while programming/recording verse parts or chorus parts, or when still thinking about the order of things. However, once you want to make it into an entire song from beginning to end, you'll probably switch to linear mode anyway, for instance because you may want to add some transition fx/fills/etc when going from the verse to the chorus and back. Ableton does have a well functioning linear mode but it isn't as nice for many things as the one in Sonar and (I'm sure) Cubase.

Most DAWs have a demo available (sadly Sonar is still developing one for X3) so try one or two. If you can get a basic workflow going on one of them quickly, that would be a good direction to go. Nothing is more frustrating than working with a DAW that has all the buttons in places that aren't logical to you.

jeebustrain · Post by **jeebustrain** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 2:34 am

SanderXpander wrote:
Most DAWs have a demo available (sadly Sonar is still developing one for X3) so try one or two. If you can get a basic workflow going on one of them quickly, that would be a good direction to go. Nothing is more frustrating than working with a DAW that has all the buttons in places that aren't logical to you.

I thought I read on one of the sites covering NAMM that they should be releasing a demo for X3 really soon (if not already).

That being said, Sonar is awesome. I started with Cakewalk Pro Audio 8 and after a hiatus of about 5 years, I'm back to Sonar and am about as productive as I've ever been on the composing/recording front.

button · Post by **button** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 7:05 am

Ableton Live 9 ftw

Corgy · Post by **Corgy** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 7:55 am

UCanDream: Don't worry about Sonar X1,X2,X3 differences if demos are concerned. For a first look to a DAW I would recommend to check out the GUI and workflow and how you come along with it. With the "X"-releases Sonar comes with a new GUI and workflow enhancement that has been improved and replaced the handling of earlier versions. IMHO there is not too much difference in handling or the GUI architecture between X2 and X3.

I have got Sonar since version 8.X and are very pleased. There is also a vivid and helpful community on the web, which should be noted as an advantage for first time users.

There is also a "Matrix View" in Sonar that is not exactly the same as the clip/pattern based composing system provided by Abelton Live, but it comes close to it.

SanderXpander · Post by **SanderXpander** » Sat Jan 25, 2014 8:11 am

I agree in principle but X3 is sooooo much better for me, workflow wise, with the new comping.