Looking to potentially move away from Pro Tools... other DAWs?

[somniumaeternum]

I have to say I'm liking Cubase so far. It's drum editor looks like a godsend compared to the archaic way I have to program drums in PT midi (i.e. have the PDF open in one screen, search for the thing I want, then find the same key in the piano roll in PT.

Can you name the keys in the Cubase piano roll to match whatever you're using? For example, as I'm using EZDrummer, can I rename each key to the corresponding drum?

The site also mentions that it has transient detection and "audio quantization functions to perfect the timing"... any idea if these are on par with the elastic audio feature in PT?

May have more questions soon

 

[KingAenarion]

I have to say I'm liking Cubase so far. It's drum editor looks like a godsend compared to the archaic way I have to program drums in PT midi (i.e. have the PDF open in one screen, search for the thing I want, then find the same key in the piano roll in PT.

Can you name the keys in the Cubase piano roll to match whatever you're using? For example, as I'm using EZDrummer, can I rename each key to the corresponding drum?

The site also mentions that it has transient detection and "audio quantization functions to perfect the timing"... any idea if these are on par with the elastic audio feature in PT?

May have more questions soon

They're not QUITE as good as the Elastic Audio feature... but they do some things better and some things just ok... I think they have a demo that you can try

 

[s_the_fallen]

I was a long time Pro Tools user. About 2 years ago I tried Reaper and have not touched Pro Tools since. I have no issue using Waves plugins. Not sure what issues KingAenarion is having.

 

[synrgy]

While I used to use Cubase and Reason, in the last 2-3 years I've gone almost 100% Ableton. IMHO, it's the bee's knees. Takes a minute to get used to the different style interface, but once you do, the workflow is SO much more intuitive/faster/easier than more traditional styled interfaces like Cubase or Reaper.

Again, just my opinion. I know the program isn't for everyone.

 

[somniumaeternum]

I wanted to try the free trial version of Cubase 6. Signed up through the site, and once it came time to download.... turns out the demo is free but you need a $30 super special e-crap usb drive to store the license on or it won't work. Luckily, they sell those on the same site

Is Cubase really going to provide this as the first experience to a potential customer? The bait and switch?

 

[shredguitar7]

ZERO latency? REALLY???

you know, someone always has to be a smartass. of course theirs always going to be a smidge of latency. but its so small, cant notice it. trying to give the guy my opinion.

 

[shredguitar7]

just try reaper again.

 

[KINGTHEBEAST]

I"ve been using Reaper, and I really like it. Its workflow is really simple to understand, sort of a combination of pro tools and Logic. It addresses most if not all of the issues you brought up. Its definitely worth checking out.

eh.

 

[Curt]

I like Reaper, a lot.

I had Cubase 4 for a while, but I just couldn't jive with the layout after using Reaper..

 

[MetalBuddah]

Reaper is truly the DAW you cannot beat. It is cheap, it is simple to use, and it is a pretty impressive program.

 

[DrewsifStalin]

protools, cubase, or nuendo for PC.
Logic or protools for Mac.
I do like reaper though!

 

[KingAenarion]

you know, someone always has to be a smartass. of course theirs always going to be a smidge of latency. but its so small, cant notice it. trying to give the guy my opinion.

And there's always someone who incorrectly uses Hyperbole...

 

[somniumaeternum]

I've been playing a bit more with reaper and protools.

I'm not sure if it's me, my evaluation copy of PT8 or what but it's incredibly frustrating. the smart selection tool doesn't seem to be working that well. I can't get it to select the wave properly for it to split. Things like that. I'm not sure if I just don't have the perfect setting checked in a menu or I'm just being an idiot or if there's something wrong with my version of ProTools.

I've been using ProTools since version 6 and it has ALWAYS been super finicky and screwy. I have an eval version of 8 to verify stability and the drivers for Digi 002 in Windows 7 so I'm not sure if a potential issue is that its not the full retail version. This is one of the big reasons why I want to upgrade to PT9. (It's not a cost issue for me necessarily since I have money saved up for this but I want to make sure I won't have these same issues if I drop 600 bucks or whatever it is).

I've been playing with beat detective and it barely works. Never really finds my transients in the guitar tracks. Elastic audio is very dodgy at best. Whenever I move a marker in warp mode my whole waveform shifts instead of the marker moving (yes, this is after having "anchor" markers around it). Again, I don't know if it's just me (I'm not a great PT operator) but it's a bit ridiculous that it's this hard to get things to work (well, when I can finally get things to work). I'm hoping it's just because I never really worked on quantizing audio (I try to play in time instead!) but now i'm trying to use as many features as possible to know which ones are a must, nice to have, or completely pointless for me.

Reaper is getting a bit better in my eyes. To me the UI is pretty much awful but I found some themes that make it more acceptable. I like that it is very fast to load and seems to be straight forward (as, say, Linux is - once you do it right it works marvelously 100% of the time). Also, it's very light on the system resources. I'll need to try the midi editing as well but, again, the UI looks fairly appalling from what I've seen in the 5 seconds I looked into it. I understand its a small team but they definitely need to improve the user experience here - otherwise no matter how great their product is it'll still throw people off. Imho anyways

Honestly, I'd still like to get PT working 100% and I would spend the money (even if it is significantly more than reaper) because I love the workflow, the sound quality, the editing abilities, etc. But I hate that I have to fight for every inch (tick?) with it... damn.

Anyone have similar experiences or further advice?