Looking for better software than Mixcraft finally! :D

[jabond23]

So, i've decided its time to start looking around for a better DAW than mixcraft 5 finally. I personally think mixcraft 5 is an excellent program, but i feel that sometimes i should be able to do more than i can with mixcraft. I know of some others out these such as Cubase, Pro tools, and the like, but i'm looking for opinions on what would be a better upgrade for my music production needs. For the most part i do rock/metal songs, but i've been getting a lot into using Eastwest and some other fine vst's and find that sometimes mixcraft is picky with them. This is especially true with my Ezdrummer program i use for all my drums.

Here's an example of something i can create within mixcraft:

Now, its decent, i think, but certain things like velocities are hard to control in mixcraft. Even sometimes writing out the vst tracks can be a pain. Changing little things like pitches, expression, and velocity take some time. I'm willing to put in a good deal of a time to make a song sound good, don't get me wrong.

On the other side, i've used FL Studio with some success, but i suppose i should really delve deeper into the program. I write a lot of original video game music and always that FL Studio would be a good choice for that.

[Moseph]

Demos, demos, demos.

Most DAWs have some sort of demo or trial version, so look around and give some of them a try. Try to find one that fits your workflow, and be willing to invest a little time in whichever ones you look at, since you'll need some time to figure out how everything is supposed to work before you can really judge whether it's right for you. (I always find when trying to use a new DAW that everything is just familiar enough to make it really, really frustrating when I can't figure out how to do what I want to do.)

[GarretGraves]

Another thing to keep in mind is which DAWs tend to be the standard in the industry if you decide to go that route. The ones I've seen at school are Logic, Reason, Cubase and Pro Tools. Logic is Mac only but Cubase and Pro Tools have a PC versions.

I'm told that Pro Tools is the DAW most vastly used in the industry. (Metallica uses it for sure) Expensive though it may be, i think there might be a light version you can find somewhere. But as Moseph said, DEMO EVERYTHING!

A cheap way might be to use Adobe Audition. I use it for quick demos and I got it for less than what Logic would cost. That was years ago though.

[Yoozer]

Industry standard only means something if you plan to bring your stuff to other people who use the same.

As for PTLE, you're forced to buy particular hardware with it - either M-Powered M-Audio interfaces or the PTLE interfaces themselves.

[jabond23]

Alright, that's coool. Thanks guys.

I didn't know Pro Tools needed specific hardware to work. I suppose that would be the better option anyways, just for quality's sake. Although, quality would really come down to how long i wanna spend getting a track to sound "good". I'm definitely gonna check out Cubase and looks into Adobe Audition also.

[Yoozer]

I'd rather have my wisdom teeth pulled than use Audition ever again, and Cubase is as exciting as Excel on a Friday night.

Go try Reaper. No dongles, no bovine excrement.

[SonicThHedgog]

Ableton Live TRY IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!......................... i also heard FL studio has a surround sound template

[Moseph]

I didn't know Pro Tools needed specific hardware to work. I suppose that would be the better option anyways, just for quality's sake.

Not necessarily. I think at this point, the hardware requirement for Pro Tools is basically a holdover from the days when you used to need a lot of high-end external equipment to run a recording studio. Digidesign has been constantly scaling the hardware down for prosumer use -- I think they're down to a single-input interface as the cheapest one (it's been a while since I checked). At least in theory, having to use a specific piece of hardware should make the program more stable and easier to trouble-shoot, but I'm not sure if that's true in practice, and I think the downside of being tied to hardware that you may not like outweighs any potential benefit. The hardware bundled with Pro Tools isn't any better than hardware you can buy independently at a comparable price.