Speakers or Daw

[dannthr]

Don't touch Logic right now, wait until NAMM, see if there's any news.

Logic hasn't been updated in a long while and considering what's happened to Final Cut Pro, it's hard to say how Apple feels about catering to the Pro marketplace.

My two recommendations for DAWs right now:

ProTools (Unbeatable for tracking and editing)

Cubase (Unbeatable for VST programming/MIDI programming)

Here's the thing about studio monitors.

You're not going to be able to really get an appreciable experience out of your studio monitoring system with regards to critical frequency evaluation until you have a very controlled listening environment.

What you can get is a detailed monitoring system that will help you evaluate timing and offer an alternative perspective (and less fatiguing listening tool).

With that said, my recommendation for you, if you're dead set on getting some new speakers, assuming you listen in your bedroom/living room/home and you don't have a properly treated listening environment, is to get a small, 5" driver near-field. You don't need to pump out any serious wattage, listen at low volumes, you don't need a sub, because frankly speaking, you can't control sub frequencies in your tiny bedroom anyway.

I have a pair of Equator D5s. Because they're small, and I have a good audio device that remains balanced at low volumes, I can listen at lower levels, keeping reflection energy to a minimum. The D5s are also Coaxial, which helps to prevent phase distortion between the tweeter and the woofer during cross-over, this is important when you're listening in a small space and the distance between the monitors and your head is fairly small.

The Equator D5s are also really cheap because they sell a lot of units without going through a retailer--meaning they're available at about 40% of the price they would be available if they were sold through Guitar Center or something like that.

There are also other selling points, I won't go into, just keep in mind that there's a chain of equipment/gear that needs to serve you in order to achieve a quality listening environment, the speakers are just the middle link.

If this were my dilemma, I would go with a DAW or some virtual instruments.

[Esperado]

im good in the way of vst's. im not going to be getting komplete or omnisphere until i get a desktop computer with a larger hard drive that i can devote to JUST music, since i use my macbook for everything right now ( maybe not the best idea ) but thats another story. good thing namm is just around the corner. though, i run the risk if they do make logic x, that logic 9 wont be on sale anymore and ill be stuck paying whatever inflated price they have for the new version, if i decided to.

thanks for the advice though everyone! for now ill just wait until namm to see what things come out and what old outdate products go on sale before i decide.

[SonicThHedgog]

D/A ?

i mentioned it in this thread here http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42351

i guess i never got back to the thread on what i ended up doing. which was that i have been completely unable to find a working copy of dent du midi, and the only midi converter software i found, ended up being a bunko demoware thing that only converted half the file.

If you are going to use ANY type of reference monitors worth their grain of salt, you should seriously buy a audio interface with decent converters

Headphones mix

(Haunted House on beatport soon)

monitor mix on 5" at a friends house http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUla17c8UDo (diddy kong racing remix) (but composed with headphones)

Im using Sennheiser HD203, So good for me

That is a weird problem having all midi data forced to one track.

here is another question, do you need to always import midi for every project you do?

IF possible, could you post a video, or pictures of your issue

For Daw recommendation, I say go with Cubase my favorite for recording and mix, not not so much with midi unless im live performing on my keyboard. for composing midi, I handle all that with Ableton.

[Esperado]

Ill see what i can fashion up in the way of a video and ill post about it in that other thread .

[dannthr]

That is a weird problem having all midi data forced to one track.

If you save a MIDI as a Type 0 MIDI, this happens.

[SonicThHedgog]

If you save a MIDI as a Type 0 MIDI, this happens.

Oh 0 midi...

dont they have converters for Type 1 midi? This does not seem like a problem, but a work flow problem.

One concern I have is if he needs to use pre-made midi clips for most projects instead of composing it or just for things he would like to arrange or for ideas etc...

@Esperado Are you using live 8(or suit) or a low version? Ableton is a very good Daw and if you get used to daws like Cubase and Protools, Ableton will feel like a great tool for composing.

[Esperado]

its mostly for using midi for remixes , its hard to remix a song when either the tempo syncs horribly, or all the data is forced to one track. does anyone know of a midi 1 converter? i have ableton live 8, im not sure if i have the suite or not .

EDIT: I pretty much solved the tempo issue. turns out if you drop a midi clip in the arrangement (NOT session) view, it imports the tempo data. it does set the tempo to some wacky number , so I have to guess when it comes to setting the songs bpm, but that's workable.

[Kanthos]

Esperado, if you didn't have any issues importing MIDI files, would you be happy with Ableton? There's probably a free (or at least much cheaper) solution that will let you import MIDI files or convert type 0 to type 1 so they'll import into Live cleanly; that might be a better choice than buying and getting used to a new DAW.

[Moseph]

Also -- there are things to hate about every DAW. Switching DAWs, even if you generally like what you're switching to, doesn't guarantee completely smooth sailing.

[Esperado]

Definitely. i know how to use it pretty well , or well enough that im not limited by anything. i will say that being stuck using garageband for a while has helped me improve as a musician though. do you happen to know of a way to convert them ?