Wondering:
- If you have the original Rapture & DimPro, what does Rapture Session bring to the table that is a benefit? 
- Does Session represent the best sounds of the full "Rapture Pro"? Or are the best sounds left out?
- Is there any reason to get both Rapture Pro AND Rapture Session?
 
Who likes it and why?
 
Thanks, Craig

Craigster91
- If you have the original Rapture & DimPro, what does Rapture Session bring to the table that is a benefit?

 
These are all excellent and relevant questions. I have to admit I did not like Rapture Pro at all upon its introduction. However, now that the code has been cleaned up, I gave it a second chance and in the process, discovered the Instrument page. Although its stated purpose is live performance, and I get that, it's also a GREAT way to build presets that are highly customizable, either in real time or as "set and forget" changes. It's kind of like an FX Chain in that you can bring out the strategic parameters and have a "front panel" again. Even if you don't use a controller, being able to tweak these can make a sound much more suitable for a particular application.
 

- Does Session represent the best sounds of the full "Rapture Pro"? Or are the best sounds left out?

 
I think that depends on your viewpoint. If by "best" you mean the sounds that will probably find the most favor with the most people, then the answer is probably yes. But if you favor a particular kind of music that involves more specialized patches, your answer might well be no.
 

- Is there any reason to get both Rapture Pro AND Rapture Session?

 
I'm quite sure the Rapture Session sounds are a subset of Rapture Pro's sounds.
 

Who likes it and why?

 
What I like most about Rapture, and now Rapture Pro, are the extensive tempo-synched modulation capabilities, including step sequencers. Rapture Pro has basically all the building blocks used in contemporary synthesis, and as a side note, it's one of the absolute best synths for MIDI guitar because you can assign each string to its own element, and restrict the element to playing one note at a time (like a real string). This reduces glitching dramatically.
 
Of course there are some improvements I'd like to see (e.g., being able to enable/disable elements easily from any element's page and a tear-away modulation matrix like the old Rapture) but Rapture was an essential part of "my sound." It took until now for me to be convinced that on balance, Rapture Pro was a better replacement.
 
If nothing else, it's definitely a great synth for hardcore synth programmers who want to get original sounds. I assume part of Cakewalk doing Rapture Session is for those who just want a simple experience with lots of sounds "out of the box."

Rapture Session can work as a 64bit replacement for Cakewalk Sound Center. Now, the CSC will likely be retired instead of receiving a 64bit port.

Thanks Craig.
 
I just bought Rapture Pro.
Skipping Session.
 
(another) Craig

 
It would be nice if :
 
1. Session would go into my vstplugins folder just like Rapture, DimPro, Sound Center and everything else except SI.
 
2. The installer didn't copy my ten thousand Rap and DimPro programs into the Cakewalk content folder (100mb)
  (why not just read them ?)
 
   What happens if I make changes to my original programs ?
 
3. The program folders in Session's UI were collapsed and collapsable.
 
4. The installer didn't give me an "Out of resources" error message when confirming the Welcome screen, then go ahead and install things anyway.
 
EDIT :  I just uninstalled it.  I thought it might be a nice sample browser, but it needs some improvements.
 

It will have some use for me. I have the two synths it was made from so I didn't bother with Rap Pro. Session scanned all my Rapture and Dim Pro sounds so I can access them quickly through the session interface. It's a modern replacement for TTS 1 and Sound center. Nice freebie.

ampfixer
Session scanned all my Rapture and Dim Pro sounds so I can access them quickly through the session interface.

It didn't just scan them, it copied them.  I can only presume that if you add or delete sounds in the future, the changes won't show in Session.  Then what do you do ?  Uninstall and reinstall it ?
 

I happen to like the full features of Dimension Pro and Rapture even thought I can admit some elements of programing Rapture are over my head …what do you expect from a guitar player 
 
Regarding Rapture Session , I'm gonna go with the who likes it angle . 
 
At first I didn't know what to expect from Rapture Session since I didn't really care for the sound center thing all that much.
 
I was very happy when The Rapture Session took all my 3rd party expansion packs for Rapture , Dimension  Pro and  installed them /organized them into a nice tidy easy way to access them through the simple interface into 3 categories . 
 
 
I have been using Rapture Session wrapped inside Midi Guitar 64 by Jam Origin in both Windows 10 and Windows 8 
(Thank you Ole for making that possible for me .) 
 
I am getting excellent results with both Midi Guitar 64 and Rapture Session combined at a safe buffer rate setting of 128 .
I happen to think it is a blast to be able to play my Gibson Les Paul or any guitar I happen to feel like playing and have it trigger Rapture Session combined with any number of VST amp sims or effects I may chosen to have  wraped in Midi Guitar 64 as my signal chain .
I think that Rapture Session is on it's way to becoming this Midi Guitarist's very good friend  
 
Kenny
 
 
 

I like it too Kenny. I got six strings to keep in tune. Simple works for me. It sure sounds good too. I use a Fishman TriplePlay, by the way.

I already had DPro & Rapture and bought Rapture Pro when it was introduced.  I noticed a better than trivial performance improvement using multiple Rap Pro instances compared to using DPro and Rapture.  I like Rap Pro even more with the latest improvements; favorites being my favorite
 
The question I have yet to answer for myself is whether or not multiple instances of Session will be lighter than multiple instances of Pro with identical programs loaded.  It's on my list to try this.  If Session is lighter, it makes sense to me to do the creative stuff with Pro, switching to Session for use.  If they turn out to be equal weight, then I guess Session will have saved a buncha disk sectors from having a useless existence.
 
Has anybody already compared Rap Pro vs Session for playback resource loading?