For those considering an upgrade...

Well I've put up the money for a couple upgrades in the Cakewalk family. I purchased Home Studio7XL because I want the ability to use midi drums like EZdrummer. The XL version ships with Studio Instruments which has a drum synth similar in idea to EZdrummer so I thought I had what I needed to justify the purchase. Unfortunately I'm still climbing the learning curve so I haven't even been able to open up SI drums yet. However I have been able to play around with SHS enough to figure out that it is quite a bit different from GT. The interface looks better but I'm not convinced that it's as intuitive.

Basically, my point, if there is one, is that GT is a pretty cool program for laying down audio tracks. I've figured out how to run up to 10 tracks audio in and how to send a signal out of GT to an external device and back. Mixing is much simpler at the expense of fewer routing options, a trade I'm actually quite comfortable with. If you don't need midi, GT is as pro as any other DAW with the possible exception of the 48k sample rate limit.

I know that GT gets some bad comments in here but if you have a half way decent setup with a good computer and enough RAM you can record with real time effects and no noticeable latency. I do it all the time, poor code and all.

If you want to take advantage of midi, real support for control surfaces, newer windows systems, or just want bells and whistles there are some fantastic deals offered every year to us guitar player types.

Basically just take advantage of what GT offers, learn good solid recording techniques. Set up a decent area for recording and monitoring. Use this very capable and extremely stable software to get the fundamentals down and you will be rewarded with a good results.

Thanks for reading my little rant and thanks to all of you who have been such a great help in my recording adventure.

I'll second that Cj,
GTP3 is great for laying audio.

Ofcourse the added use of midi is a real bonus with all the effects it can offer.
One thing Midi hasn't done is improve any musical talent that I may or may not have.

What I'm trying to say is, that if we can produce something musically competent, that sounds good in GTP3, we're onto a real winner adding midi effects to enhance the over-all sound.

I'm afraid to a greater or lesser degree, I've been sucked into the CW sales hype and have started looking at software's that provide all the bells n whistles and stuff to create wonderful sounds, but sure enough having upgraded to MC4 have found it certainly hasn't improved my musical skills and I'm certainly not going to upgrade for awhile (If ever)!

I'm pleased to announce that MC4 and Midi used in certain ways is a great way hide my poor guitar playing, and ofcourse its loadsa fun.

ORIGINAL: pistolpete


Another one gets suckered into buying and upgrade because GT3 just doesn't cut it.

Hope you enjoy the Sonar forums CJ.

ORIGINAL: cjlinus


... if you have a half way decent setup with a good computer and enough RAM you can record with real time effects and no noticeable latency. I do it all the time, poor code and all.

Everyone has a different threshold of noticing latency. The fact is that the GT3 real-time effects will never will work correctly until Cakewalk cleans up their code, even if you have a terabyte of RAM. If you use a Toneport, you can get decent realtime effects through the Gearbox software but the GT3 realtime effects are still crap.

So when will we get to hear your music?

ORIGINAL: pistolpete

Another one gets suckered into buying and upgrade because GT3 just doesn't cut it.

Well Petey me old china, you've actually surpassed anything you've ever posted with this comment

It is, without a shadow of a doubt, the twattiest thing you've ever come up with

Pathetic

It's like saying you shouldn't buy an oven because your freezer doesn't cook your roast chicken properly.

Duh

SONAR Home Studio 7 does MIDI, GT doesn't you big tool

It's a different program you enormous bell-end of biblical proportions




BTW, can I still have a tour jacket old pal?

ORIGINAL: ascottdesign
....One thing Midi hasn't done is improve any musical talent that I may or may not have......

Guitarist Bob Brozman has a saying "recording is God's way of telling us we suck".

It can be a real revelation somtimes can't it?

Steve - I was referencing the comment about lack of musical talent - not the midi part.

MIDI just means you've given up on musical talent - period!

(Exception made for drums which are not musical in the first place )

Bill,

I knew how you meant it mate - just checking you're awake on a Monday morning

I think, however, that there's certainly more 'ability' needed to use MIDI drums for example, rather than pre-recorded loops.

---

James,

Good example that - since I got my Edirol controller, I'm really finding (Bob said I would!) that with careful use, I can get better result playing the parts 'live', rather than straight from the PRV.

PS SONAR 8SE dropped through the door yesterday

ORIGINAL: SteveStrummerUK

...

I think, however, that there's certainly more 'ability' needed to use MIDI drums for example, rather than pre-recorded loops.

Depends on how you approach loops - doing what they want you to do is easy....

Making them do what you want them to do - that's the hard part!