What Pro-Level MIDI/Audio Tools Are You Using?

groovemaneuver asks: "Over the years, I've managed to build a small home-studio for composing and recording my music. The one component that has always been the biggest obstacle to my productivity has been the digital audio workstation. I started with a MIDI-only Atari, moved to a PC with Logic Audio, and now have a Mac with Logic Audio. The problem is that I seem to spend more time trying to get the software and hardware working than I do actually making music. I really love Logic Audio, but I can't stand the Mac. Surely some of you out there are having success on the PC making music. What are you using, and how much of your time is spent fiddling with your studio rather than making music? Is there Linux software that can reasonably fill the shoes of Logic, Nuendo, or Sound Forge?"

Comments

Stop trying to play catchup.

[torpor]

My only advice to you is to ignore the software market as much as possible, and decide on a *stable* platform that does the job that you need - musically - and then leave it at that.

So many people get into music software and lose all impetus to make music because they're always "trying out" the latest and greatest tools/releases from over-zealous manufacturers who release things at a blinding pace.

It *is* possible to get a basic set of tools working under Linux for music writing. Such things as Ardour, Rosegarden, etc. are all viable solutions - though I wouldn't encourage you to get involved with Linux for Audio right now if you're finding that you're already not making music because of computer issues.

Try taking *Just The Basics* out of a package. For example, maybe you don't *need* all the features of Logic, which is getting in the way of your creativity. There is a *lot* of 'keeping up with the Joneses' facter in the musical instrument business these days.

If you want cheap, easy to use, and more importantly PRODUCTIVE software, try the fringe:

Raw Material Software Tracktion

Cheap, works, is easy to use, and easy to configure.

If you're on the Mac, try:

Intuem

But always remember this: If you're not writing music at a pace with which you are satisfied, your music tools are not working.

Scale them back as much as possible. Just because "Joe DJ" uses "Brand X" does not mean that you need to go through the nightmare/headach configuration that they went through only to end up getting 'endorsed' ...