Considering Samplitude for Vocal and Mastering

I think Samplitube is pretty nice for mastering (even though you could a lot of "home mastering" with Sonar) but I don't understand why you feel it's better than Sonar for vocal editing. True, the included Melodyne is a little limited, but if you're about to spend serious money on more software, you could also upgrade your Melodyne to the "editor" version for less, and get the de facto standard tool for vocal correction. It's integration with Sonar through ARA makes for one of the nicest workflows I've ever had.

Ah.. so the current Magix 19.99 sale for v2013 is 32bit only?  Who would have guessed!   The only reason I was considering it though (besides the price) is that it includes Independence Basic with the 12GB sample set.  
 

From my understanding it is locked to Samplitude.

The $60 upgrade also include the VariVerb II plug in.

I own the Music Maker Premium version

joel77
Katchi,
 
If you're upgrading to Sonar X3 Producer from a lesser version of X3 it shouldn't cost you $399. It should be $149. At least that's how I'm reading their upgrade page. Can anyone else confirm that?

You're misinterpreting that I think, that is the price upgrading from X2 Producer.

Sound good, would love to get your source though.

Samplitude is a great app for "Mastering" and CD layout.
Also particularly good for any type of hard-core slice/dice editing (with the Object based tools)
That said... if you're a Sonar X3 user, I'd upgrade to X3 Producer (first)... as it offers ARA integration for use with Melodyne... and has some fundamental tools for "Mastering".  The Pro Channel EQ is pretty good.  If you need additional Dynamics Processing options, you can add 3rd-party plugin/s or Pro Channel additions.
 
As has been mentioned, the inexpensive versions of Samplitude are not the full Pro-X version.

Anderton
Samplitude is a fine program, but I've been doing more and more mastering in Sonar. The LP EQ and Multiband are excellent. So are the ProChannel modules.
 
Ozone 5 costs $249 and has any "missing" mastering plug-ins and diagnostics tools. Throw it in a channel, create a screen set that's optimized for mastering, and you can take care of most mastering situations. If you're doing multi-point editing for broadcast you'll need something like Sequoia, but that's major $$$ for a capability you likely won't use for mastering music.
 
The biggest limitation in Sonar is CD production (e.g., CD text and such). With the decline of physical media and an emphasis towards singles instead of albums, I'm finding this less and less of an issue with each passing year.
 

One thing I'd like to see Sonar pickup that S1 has (and you did a great NAMM presentation on, that's on your YT site) is album mastering and ability to throw in tracks and order them and reorder them, etc.  You can sort of do this in Sonar, but it's a lot more painstaking.
 
I got S1 professional as an upgrade from Artist (that was a throw in on an old interface) on one of these advertised deals, for $100 specifically for that feature (that and I needed a cross Mac/Windows platform for stuff I do at my church), but I use Sonar pretty much exclusively for everything else.

The version of Melodyne included in Sonar is Melodyne Essential, which normally costs $99. It does basic pitch and timing correction as well as pitch transposition for monophonic signal sources, and also surprisingly impressive audio-to-MIDI conversion. Melodyne Editor is more like V-Vocal on steroids.
 
People seem to focus on the plug-ins in X3, but to me the huge features have been VST3 support, ARA integration, and the incredible comping improvements. 

One of Samplitude's strengths is it's Object based editor.
A Samplitude "Object" is equivalent to a "Clip" in Sonar.
Samplitude offers a lot of control in the Object Editor.  
Advanced fade-in/out curves, swapping L/R channels, flipping phase, EFX Sends, EFX inserts, gain control, etc.
It's kind of the ultimate in "Snap-shot" style automation.
With this level of control over each clip, Samplitude makes a particularly good Mastering Environment.
You can layout each tune... with advanced fades and/or cross-fades, add any necessary processing to each individual tune (completely non-destructive/realtime), add track indices to Object borders, and burn a CD.
 
For hardcore slice-and-dice type editing, Samplitude is hard to beat.
 
Most of these things can be done in X3... albeit in a slightly different manner.
 
While vari-audio is nice, it's not nothing on Melodyne.   

Yep, I remember adamantly requesting "Clip based processing" for Sonar.
That opens up a whole world of possibilities.
Aside from "Mastering", Clip based processing is a great tool to de-essing and removing/diminishing plosives!