cecelius2
Does Samplitude have a means of organizing plugins?  I see that some of the vst's and vsti's are automatically arranged into sub-categories (like Reverb, Dynamics, etc.), but I don't see any way of adding plugins to these categories, nor do I see a way of having a "favorites" category or adding new sub-categories. 

Larry Jones
I am liking Samplitude, but from a mostly theoretical point of view. I mean, it does a lot, comes with a lot of instruments and effects, and seems to be an all-in-one solution for a bedroom songwriter like me. But it is so freakin' fiddly! Every setting has to be done manually, and there are so many of them! Also, at my age, do I want to look at an interface with fonts so small I'm not always sure what I am seeing, if anything? I used nothing but SONAR for ~20 years, so I know I will have to relearn a lot of things that had become automatic, but this first week with Samplitude has been an awful lot of work!

35mm
What resolution/size screen do you have Larry? I have pretty bad eyesight but I hadn't noticed font sizes being a particular issue in Samp. I'm on a 32" 1920 x 1080.


As far as settings go, I have found most of them are set once then left and for most of them, the default is fine. I do like the fact that it's so adaptable though. I'm still getting to grips with it while I work with it, but at least I am able to work in it without the learning curve getting in the way too much.
 
It's all horses for courses but after the initial WTF moments, I am now enjoying it more than Sonar.

200bpm
I was a Samplitude user and was on their upgrade train from 2005 til this past update when I switched to Sonar. 
 
I owned Pro Suite and had been paying their exorbitant update fees from Samp 7 through X1.  When they came out with  X3, I essentially "lost" all the investment I had made into their suite, and from an upgrade perspective, was lumped in with the lowly "classic" users who were on the lower product tier.  So I had already spent a couple grand and if I wanted X3 Pro Suite it would be something like another $400-500. (Same as if someone was upgrading from the low tier product.) The mentality was, "we are all pro users here, what is $500 for an upgrade?
 
My thoughts on this $149 pricing is that it's a cash grab before they close the doors. 
 
A little bit of history about the DAW. 
 
*10-15 years ago, it absolutely had the best sounding audio engine and audio editing of other DAWs.  It also had an attractive and professional UI.  Other DAWs have caught up and surpassed; very little has been done with the UI.  
 
*5 years ago, they undertook an OS X port and after a couple years of work, they announced that they were scrapping that project and would remain Windows only.  
 
* MAGIX had software distribution in major box stores, you could buy their products at Best Buy.  They also had a dedicated pro broadcast audience from prior decade.  Essentially they were selling cheap products and high end pro products.  I don't know if that business model works today. ( The consumer $49 version was actually a mildly scaled down version of Samp and you could absolutely produce music with it, as long as you didn't need advanced audio editing.)
 
*The online community is about 1/20th the size of Sonars.  Infrequent posts often take days to weeks for anyone to respond.
 
*Samplitude is a "heavy" app and runs fewer instances of a plugin than does Sonar.
 
In summary, while they were in the lead in some important areas, the impression was that each upgrade release represented relatively little work.  There would be a few new internal features, but the UI largely stayed the same, and the fiddly nature never changed.
 
This is a warning to those considering the upgrade.  To fresh eyes, it may seem vibrant and new, but having been with it for years, the feeling (I had) was that it's dying.  I don't see anything about it that would save it from Cakewalk's fate. 
 
 
 
 

Anderton

Jim Roseberry
All the current major DAW applications are capable of amazing results.
It's just a matter of finding the one whose "compromises" best suit your situation. 

 
These two statements could replace virtually all the threads about the pros and cons of various DAWs 
 

burgerproduction
hi guys. I decided to let the presonus crossgrade deal go by, so I'm considering the Samplitude one. However, before diving in, would you say any of the soft synths are worth using. I mean, would you replace any of the VSTs you use with them, or are they just SSD balast?
I'm kind of interested in the venetian organ and would def like to know if there are decent brush drums.
any views?