Music production software recommendations?

[EmberAMP]

Hey folks, I'm in a bit of a pickle and I was hoping for some advice?

I'm an aspiring composer/re-mixer Still in the early stages of learning my way around things. For a good 2 years I was working on a macbook with Logic pro 8, about a year ago however said macbook decided to explode a little. I have another computer but its a windows 7 machine, and I've been struggling to find a program to replace Logic. I really liked how simple it was, it felt like all the features and menus flowed in the same place with easy access to anything I needed. That may just be because I was comfortable with the program, but I've yet to find anything on windows that felt  the same way ( or weren't terrifyingly complex.) So would anyone happen to have some recommendations  for me? 

I realize there are a few different threads on this forum addressing different programs and their features, but I've not seen anything addressing it from this angle. I do apologize if there is such a thread and I'm double posting however!

[Malcos]

That's unfortunate. I used Logic when I was 16 (and one of my friends also uses it). Back in those days before they discontinued it on Windows it was very much Logic vs Cubase. Have you tried using Cubase? There will be some adjustment of course, but it might feel the least alien to you, strictly interface wise.

It's not an easy solution as Logic comes with so many instruments, whereas with Cubase you might find yourself short out of the box. Do you have any hardware? Reason is another possibility as it comes with a lot of instruments bundled in. The only disadvantage with Reason is that you will find yourself limited if you want to purchase hardware and high quality cinematic vsts later, as Reason doesn't support vsts itself. What DAWS have you looked at so far?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Flexstyle]

If you were used to Logic, I'd say give Cubase, Reaper, StudioOne, or MixCraft a shot. Those will probably all have a similar enough workflow that you'll be able to adjust reasonably quickly.

[EmberAMP]

2 hours ago, Malcos said:

That's unfortunate. I used Logic when I was 16 (and one of my friends also uses it). Back in those days before they discontinued it on Windows it was very much Logic vs Cubase. Have you tried using Cubase? There will be some adjustment of course, but it might feel the least alien to you, strictly interface wise.

It's not an easy solution as Logic comes with so many instruments, whereas with Cubase you might find yourself short out of the box. Do you have any hardware? Reason is another possibility as it comes with a lot of instruments bundled in. The only disadvantage with Reason is that you will find yourself limited if you want to purchase hardware and high quality cinematic vsts later, as Reason doesn't support vsts itself. What DAWS have you looked at so far?

The ones I remember off the top of my head are FL studio, Sonar , and something from sony? there where a few others but it's been a while. I haven't heard of Cubase however , nor tried Reason yet. I will certainly look into them both.

As for hardware I have a Yamaha MX49 that's just kind of sitting around, I never could get logic to recognize it as a controller. ( I also have Komplete 9 so I do have things to work with as long as the program is compatible.)

 

[EmberAMP]

1 hour ago, Flexstyle said:

If you were used to Logic, I'd say give Cubase, Reaper, StudioOne, or MixCraft a shot. Those will probably all have a similar enough workflow that you'll be able to adjust reasonably quickly.

Thanks for the suggestions!

[Malcos]

On 5/26/2016 at 10:37 PM, EmberAMP said:

The ones I remember off the top of my head are FL studio, Sonar , and something from sony? there where a few others but it's been a while. I haven't heard of Cubase however , nor tried Reason yet. I will certainly look into them both.

As for hardware I have a Yamaha MX49 that's just kind of sitting around, I never could get logic to recognize it as a controller. ( I also have Komplete 9 so I do have things to work with as long as the program is compatible.)

 

Aha! Definitely look at Cubase then as Steinberg and Yamaha have a special relationship. I'm sure your hardware would be recognised as a controller! 

[MES Records]

Reaper has a free trial and the purchase is very cheap as well, so you should try that. But be prepared to spend some time setting things up as it's very customizable and not every function is as easily reachable out-of-the-box as in Logic.

There are enough tutorials on the official site though. Just have to spend some time learning, as you will with every DAW.

[Frederic Petitpas]

Reaper is a total beast. It's missing just a few things (that aren't a reason not to go with Reaper anyway) ; there's only one instrument.

It's a simple synth with sine/square/triangle waves, but you can basically make a very cool synth with that if you combine other stuff.

I'd definatly go with Reaper and put my money in Kontakt if I were you (and if I could start from scratch).

Reason is a gem that comes from another planet it seems, with an Apple-ish philosophy somehow; like it's been said you cannot host VSTs.

However, you can 1) send midi out of it to Reaper and compose in Reason but trigger the sounds in Reaper. 2) Use the "ReWire" protocol, but then you can only record midi and no audio in Reason. 3) if you have multiple outputs/inputs you can just send the audio from Reaper to Reason.

Do you really want to deal with such an hassle ? That's what I do right now, cause despite the compromise I love Reason and been using it since version 4, but think again or you might regret it, the workflow isn't for everyone either. But when I don't need a VST, the rabbit hole goes far with Reason.
I use this version : link1. And this is the upcomming one : link2.