Sonar HSXL versus Studio / Professional

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pbognar
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2006/02/06 20:34:34 (permalink)

Sonar HSXL versus Studio / Professional

I'm trying to determine whether to go with the simplicity of HSXL and additional soft synths or Producer...

I wish Cakewalk would provide a comparison matrix of the Home Studio products side by side with the Pro products.

I'd like to know exactly what I'd be passing up if I went with HSXL - I mean, somethings are obvious, but others are more subtle, like workflow features and handling of recording multiple takes of an audio performance...

Also, if I went with Professional, I'd probably end up having to use the "family" computer, because it has the most horsepower, where as HSXL has less resource demands.

Any suggestions???

Pete
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    bbarnes
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    RE: Sonar HSXL versus Studio / Professional 2006/02/06 22:09:21 (permalink)
    If you are just starting out and you don't own either product I'd say to go with home studio. You can always upgrade later and I think it ends up costing less in the long run.
    On the other hand if you are going to be recording other bands you'd probably want to go with Sonar Producer. As far a soft synths go I don't think any of the ones bundled are that great compared to many third party products that are available.

    Bill
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    daveny5
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    RE: Sonar HSXL versus Studio / Professional 2006/02/06 22:29:51 (permalink)
    If you're going to be recording a band, the first thing you'll need is a soundcard that has more than 1 or 2 inputs and probably some microphones, monitors, headphones, etc. Its not a cheap endeavor. Even HS requires a powerful computer so don't think you're going to run it very well on the less than a P4 2GHz with 1 GB of memory and lots of disk space.

    I agree with bbarnes. Start with HS XL. Cakewalk offers discounts to upgrade to the other products in the line. I've upgraded to Sonar Producer from Home Studio. I would have never plunked down $500 for a program, but by upgrading I was able to spread the cost over a few years. HS doesn't have a limit on the number of tracks (except your computer's limit) or the number of simultaneous inputs (except your soundcard's limit).


    Dave
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    boten
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    RE: Sonar HSXL versus Studio / Professional 2006/02/07 08:54:18 (permalink)

    HS doesn't have a limit on the number of tracks (except your computer's limit) or the number of simultaneous inputs (except your soundcard's limit).


    Dave, actually SHS4 has a limitation of 64 audio tracks (MIDI tracks are unlimited), for some reason they stuck this limitation to give the user an incentive to upgrade. Me myself never use that many so for me it's a non issue
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    mewsician2
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    RE: Sonar HSXL versus Studio / Professional 2006/02/07 10:50:20 (permalink)
    64 tracks, is way more than I've ever even approached.
    I did an orchestral thing last year, using a different track for each instrument, and got to 31 tracks. That's the most I've ever used.

    Stephen

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    pbognar
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    RE: Sonar HSXL versus Studio / Professional 2006/02/07 14:35:34 (permalink)

    ORIGINAL: daveny5

    If you're going to be recording a band, the first thing you'll need is a soundcard that has more than 1 or 2 inputs and probably some microphones, monitors, headphones, etc. Its not a cheap endeavor. Even HS requires a powerful computer so don't think you're going to run it very well on the less than a P4 2GHz with 1 GB of memory and lots of disk space.

    I agree with bbarnes. Start with HS XL. Cakewalk offers discounts to upgrade to the other products in the line. I've upgraded to Sonar Producer from Home Studio. I would have never plunked down $500 for a program, but by upgrading I was able to spread the cost over a few years. HS doesn't have a limit on the number of tracks (except your computer's limit) or the number of simultaneous inputs (except your soundcard's limit).





    I guess that was the spirit of my question - I'm not a pro, recording bands, doing video, etc. I'm a home based guitarist/songwriter, and in addition to some audio tracks, I'd like to utilize MIDI hardware and software sounds, in addition to making use of some human sounding drum loops, both for inspiration and so the final product (song demo) sounds realisitc.

    While I'm sure the Pro products would help me out loads, I'm wondering if I'd use 10% of the extra features, and if I'd be making the whole music making process a large learning experience.

    Pete
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