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

Propellerhead

[Apreche]

Propellerhead software makes a lot of really good stuff.

http://www.propellerheads.se/

Especially Reason. It may be expensive and non-free. But it can emulate audio hardware that you'll never be able to afford in your life. Technically it has infinite rack space. It may not be midi, but I know a lot of people who swear by it for making electronic music and remixes. It's cheaper and easier than actually buying the hardware, and it works almost just as well. If you have Rebirth Reason and Recycle you can make some really crazy shite.

For midi I hear Cakewalk is still numero uno. There's not much more to say there.

And for wav editing Cooledit seems to still be the best. My roomate has it and swears by it.

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' ...