I've not been tempted by any of the current DAW deals because I don't feel a need to switch DAWs ATM, and if I do in a year's time, those deals will likely come around again next Black Friday.
 
But nobody's giving more apparent value for the money right now than MAGIX Samplitude. Soundforge alone is worth the $149. Plus it's got ARA, the PRV looks similar to SONAR's, and I like the inline tempo automation feature. SpectraLayers looks to be an improvement over the spectral editor I currently use in Adobe Audition. Lots of goodies in there, and the sale price is an amazing 90% off (for another week).
 
I'd like to hear from Samplitude users. Let me know if MAGIX's sketchy reputation is deserved. Does Independence still suck as badly as it did when it was Yellowtools? Does Samplitude require a dongle? How's the peer support/forum? I don't really care much about bundled instruments - unless, of course, some of them stand out as especially noteworthy. 

Hi Dave,
 
I've been using Samplitude for years now.  I finally got so fed up with SONAR and the direction it went around the time of X that I simply stopped using it.  After using Samplitude for some years, I tried to use SONAR X2 and X3 for a project, then gave up and had to recreate it in Samplitude.  That's a way of saying that I found Samplitude much easier to use for my work than SONAR.  Frankly, I think most people would.
 
Sketchy reputation: Somewhat, but it seems to be better than it used to be.  This has not interfered with using Samplitude.  In fact, Samplitude, as you probably know by now, is (or was) handled by a different group than the more consumer-related stuff.
 
I don't think that Independence is any different now than it was before, but I used it only on a couple of projects years ago and did not like the results.  They have taken the samples and developed some instruments using them using different players.
 
I've never used the peer support/forum for Samplitude.  Never needed it.
 
Bundled instruments: There aren't many of these.  You can pay a lot more and get many of them, but not many sound very good if you like real-sounding stuff.  I like Saxophonia and World Flutes, for example.  For EDM, I would say that there is probably a lot of stuff one could use.  They do seem quite EDM-oriented because some of the techniques they use in their examples tend to create sounds that are quite distorted, but yes they are loud!
 
The only serious problem I had with Samplitude was that there is a buggy version of vorbis.acm out there that causes crashes when working with projects that use different sample rates.  This buggy version is newer than the one that actually works correctly.
 
I'll send you an email in a moment.
 
Best regards,
Dave
 
On edit: Forgot to say that SpectraLayers had some unbelievable bugs in it when I got it maybe a year ago.  But the developer was very responsive to me personally and he fixed all the major, glaring problems.
 
Another important issue: Updates.  Magix has the smoothest updates of anyone I deal with.  Too many software people change things all around all the time, then have major conflicts with past versions, introduce new bugs where there weren't any before, and so on.  These guys have an amazing ability for and understanding of software development processes.
 

I agree with Dave...that this is the only deal that has me even thinking about it. My needs are so simple that I believe Waveform and Mixbus will more than deliver for me, but still this looks like a great deal. Then again...If I don't need any of it...it's not.

No dongle required. The console is not dockable and changes sizes as you add tracks.
Audio engine seems to be good and stable.
I'm still learning so can't add much else.
It seems to be like the "Swiss Army knife" of daws.
There are settings for changing almost anything.
 

 
 

No dongle!!!!! Choose the option to receive discs when you place in the cart. The Independence library took 10 hours. I will still use Sonar while learning Samplitude's workflow but I'm very impressed so far.

bitflipper
Does Independence still suck as badly as it did when it was Yellowtools? Does Samplitude require a dongle? How's the peer support/forum? I don't really care much about bundled instruments - unless, of course, some of them stand out as especially noteworthy.

I do not believe Independence has changed at all since Yellowtools. No dongle required. The forum looks pretty helpful and as has been pointed out Samplitude and Sequoia (and SpectraLayers) have separate support and forums from the rest of the Magix. In order to register the Pro X3 Suite takes two separate accounts, one for SoundForge and one for Samplitude/SpectraLayers.
 
Giving support a test right now on a plug-in layout issue. Had an issue with missing Melodyne serial number (they ran out like Cakewalk did when running sales). Got my reply from support in two days.

I didn't know MAGIX has/had a sketchy reputation. I think their bread and butter is on the consumer side, and yes, there are restrictions/fees for using their consumer products and content commercially.
 
My nickel review is: Interface isn't very modern looking by comparison, instruments are average/effects are good with lots of both. plug-in management and organization is lacking, but compatibility is excellent.
 
I'm happy to try to answer any specific questions, but I am new to Pro X3 Suite/SpectraLayers (not new to Samplitude).

bitflipper
I've not been tempted by any of the current DAW deals because I don't feel a need to switch DAWs ATM, and if I do in a year's time, those deals will likely come around again next Black Friday.
 
But nobody's giving more apparent value for the money right now than MAGIX Samplitude. Soundforge alone is worth the $149. Plus it's got ARA, the PRV looks similar to SONAR's, and I like the inline tempo automation feature. SpectraLayers looks to be an improvement over the spectral editor I currently use in Adobe Audition. Lots of goodies in there, and the sale price is an amazing 90% off (for another week).
 
I'd like to hear from Samplitude users. Let me know if MAGIX's sketchy reputation is deserved. Does Independence still suck as badly as it did when it was Yellowtools? Does Samplitude require a dongle? How's the peer support/forum? I don't really care much about bundled instruments - unless, of course, some of them stand out as especially noteworthy. 

 
I was a long-time Sonar user up to X2, when I tried Samplitude Pro X. It has a reputation for been complicated but I didn't find it hard to figure out, there are a lot of videos about using Samp, and there is an aspect to the workflow that is similar to Sonar. Lots of configuration options. I haven't used Independence very much (and I never used it when it was Yellowtools) but it works well, feels quite solid actually, and I like some of the sounds. And its sound files are huge, of course. No dongle on Samp versions since at least Pro X.
 
The official Magix user forum is adequate - nowhere near as active as the Cakewalk forum but there are long-time experienced users there and you can get answers you need. Also, they have ramped up a bit recently due to a bunch of new forum members - former Sonar users. And you've probably heard of Kraznet, who's a wealth of Samp knowledge and has created dozens of video tutorials for Samp. He's very active on the Samp forum (he's a mod there) as well as Gearslutz and KVR. Unfortunately, official email support is hit and miss - their offices are in Germany so there is the time zone delay, plus they seem to be understaffed for U.S. support. On the plus side I haven't needed official support very often... between the forums and video tutorials I've gotten the answers I needed.
 
Their reputation - they do make a lot of non-pro, consumer market software but I think that many people aren't aware of their professional software like Samp and the mastering suite Sequoia (which is used by professional mastering engineers), so I think that being sketchy is more of an urban legend rather than actual practice. As a Samp user for a few years I've seen that they put a lot of work into their pro side and the non-pro side seems to give them the resources to back Samp (so Samp hopefully won't end up like Sonar).
 
I also think most of Samp's plugins are quite good - I like EQ116 and use it a lot, and their compressors - especially AM Munituion - are great. It's a very full-featured program, like Sonar or Cubase, but if you already have a selection of plugins and VSTis Samp's feature set may not be that important.

Thanks for the feedback! I've been watching several of Kraznet's very clear tutorials. He's a one-man Samplitude University.
 
While watching, I was struck by how similar it is to SONAR. You're not stuck with Instrument tracks, but can freely route VIs any way you like. Plus the MIDI editor is quite similar to what I'm used to - and it does multiple tracks in one window very nicely. Many keyboard shortcuts are even the same (I assume they can also be customized).
 
Automation is almost the same as SONAR. Actually, it's a little better because it looks more like SONAR 8.5, with all automation overlaid over the waveform and (optionally) all selectable without having to use a dropdown list. That's how I liked automation to work, and the main reason it took me so long to warm to SPlat.
 
There are also some nice features that SONAR doesn't have, such as a complete Red Book CD-burning solution and a mastering mode.

I think another thing that contributes to MAGIX reputation is how they acquire other software companies, then recycle the software without developing it. It's not completely true, as evidenced by Sound Forge Audio Studio 12, but that is a complaint I've seen from Yellowtools and Sony Creative software users.