Best: SONAR, TruePianos, Rapture, Z3TA+, Sound Forge 8, Vegas 6, FireFace 400, Shure SM81 (x2)

Worst: Gigastudio 3 Ensemble


EDIT: Somebody down the list reminded me of a couple more "Best" items.

Best(s):

-Yamaha NS-10ms-- No more running to the car to check my mix 10,000 times. I used to monitor thru some cheap PC speakers and would blow thru a spindle of 50 CD-Rs once a week.

-BFD-- no more praying that drummers will come up with decent beats. Hand them the CD and say, "These are the beats I had in mind".--FASTER and MUCH less aggravation; yeah, I'm impatient!

Worst(s):

-Korg Toneworks Pedal-- I liked the chorus effect on this pedal so much that I actually ended up buying three of these crap pedals over the span of 2 years (because the preset lock button kept breaking). After the 3rd time, I said "F--k it! I don't need my chorusing to sound that good!"

-Behringer Eurorack MX-something 16ch Mixer-- This SOB had 3 channels that would only work SOMETIMES. I eventually just marked the F'd up ones and used the others until I could get another mixer. Damn thing sounds like there's a fuzz pedal effect if you push the preamps up too far.

ORIGINAL: Boogie
Delta 1010. Bought it when I took the Core2 back in 1998 or 1999. Long time ago. STILL going strong!

That's odd....I thought Intel released the Core 2 series much later than 1998 or 1999.

...shows what I know.

Worst purchase - Cubase Score for Windows. Never worked right and every patch made it worse. Studio Profiles Special Edition - not what it was made out to be. (Made good by the manufacturer.)

Best purchase - Cakewalk Pro 9 and above. EZdrummer. Sound Forge. Smartloops libraries, Groove Monkee midi grooves.

ORIGINAL: Boogie
I was referring to this core2:



Thankfully, it was discontinued in 2001.

Yeah....that was my sad attempt at a joke. At least the NEW "Core 2" Intel products are solid CPUs with great performance. It would be a shame if the name carried bad luck.

Best :All the Sonar's from 1 to 6, Allen and Heath Sabre desk (Original price 11 grand, bought for £600) Fostex D108.
Worst : Korg Toneworks. a nightmare to program.

Worst : Korg Toneworks. a nightmare to program.

+1

I had one of those a friend let me use, Pandra's Box, or something, PRX4, can't remember, but I hated it. Had it for three weeks, and could only figure out how to run though it clean.

ORIGINAL: Boogie

I was referring to this core2:



Thankfully, it was discontinued in 2001.

I bought that POS too. I was so disguted with it I didn't even try to sell it. It just went straight into the garbage!

Mine was an XG1000 I think

quote:

Worst : Korg Toneworks. a nightmare to program.

+1

I had one of those a friend let me use, Pandra's Box, or something, PRX4, can't remember, but I hated it. Had it for three weeks, and could only figure out how to run though it clean.

_____________________________

Worse:
Any headphone in existence.

So what do you drive with your Behringer headphone amp, listed under your "Best" heading?

You're right, of course, headphones are no replacement for good monitors. However, every studio needs at least one high-quality set of phones. You can't judge your mix with them, but you can often hear details that are undetectable in even high end monitors.

Best purchase: Sonar and all my other software purchases

Worst:
the roland vs 880ex, although I really liked it I wish I would've went with software instead of a hardward recorder. The vs880 cost me $1600 and now it just collects dust, I could have bought pro audio and kept upgrading.
Also the stanton final scratch (which cost at the time approx. $499) and I really didn't use it at all. I was going through a period when I was a gear junkie.

Best: NAD C-cassette deck (the cheapest model,early 80's) The price/sound quality-ratio was unbelievable, Cakewalk Apprentice ( 1,4 mb floppy, came with a SB soundcard, I think, late 80's) That's where my DAW hobby started. I wish I still had it, just for the nostalgia. And the CW products that followed. Addictive Drums, AKG C 3000 mic (sounds so natural)

Worst: Pinnacle Studio (nothing but problems), some Matrox hard drives (died long before acceptable), ASUS K8N motherboard (My mistake, but how could I have known. Works fine, but has 754-socket, so it's not upgradable anymore).

Best: Most everything on my Equipment Page <link> was purchased at very good prices and it's all quality gear with just a few exceptions which I'll list below. Right now I'm loving the T.C. Electronics Finalizer 96K. Really taking my mixes and masters to the next level.

Worst: M-audio ProFire Lightbridge. Works great with everything except what I bought it for... and that's allowing me to use my Apogee converters with Pro Tools MP. It has periods of distortion that cut in and out of playback. I've tried everything to fix it. Digidesign couldn't help. No worries... I just consolidate and export PT project audio files into a folder, and import into SONAR for tracking and mixing. When I'm done, I import the SONAR BWF's back into the PT project and deliver to the client. Nobody cares what software I choose to work in, as long as I can deal with Pro Tools studios.

Oh... one more thing. Bass Pod XT Pro. I have no use for that thing. It has interesting effects, but I just don't use 'em. I DI the bass through a Sebatron Tube Pre and mic the cab mult'd through an Emperical Labs Distressor. Why would I want to use a Bass Pod?

ORIGINAL: bitflipper

Worse:
Any headphone in existence.

So what do you drive with your Behringer headphone amp, listed under your "Best" heading?

You're right, of course, headphones are no replacement for good monitors. However, every studio needs at least one high-quality set of phones. You can't judge your mix with them, but you can often hear details that are undetectable in even high end monitors.

Yeah, I was just venting there. I wish that monitor companies would team up with headphone companies and provide a combo pack where the headphones closely responded to the monitors. I have purchased about every headphone set known and they all fall short of reality.

best: Sonar, FW1082, ADAM A7's, Shure KSM44-KSM27-SM57, AKG-240 headphones (best ive ever heard)

worst: not having enough cash for a universal audio pre and a pair of Nuemanns !