WIll you weigh in on Samplitude and Mixcraft?

I know Bapu and Bitflipper are on the Samplitude forum. I think Samplitude reminds me of Sonar 8.5. Which
is fine for me. I only used 10% of the program probably.
Mixcraft reminds me more of Project5. Mixcraft is running the special to the end of January. So you got some time there to try it out. I brought Samplitude because I was interested in Spectral Layer 4. Funny thing is Samplitude's
Built in Spectral Layer Editor might be all I need. But if I need the extra muscle of Spectral Layer it is a couple of clicks away.

The deal on Samplitude simply can't be beat.
I think Mixcraft is a worthy and capable DAW,
but lacking some features and costs $99 on
the crossgrade from Sonar.  Samplitude Suite, Soundforge,
and Spectral Layers is $149, and it has a VAST pool
of features all by itself.  Throw in Soundforge 11 Pro 
(which normally sells for $399) and Spectral Layers Pro
(which ALSO sells for the same price normally) and this
offer is WAY to good to pass on IMO.

It's kinda different in working, and you can't dock the mixer (yet)
(make the keyboard shortcut "M" your friend )
but all in all, Samplitude is a tremendous DAW.  All the other goodies
are just icing on the cake (not walk) (see what I did there?)

Cubase Is the sensible way to go !!
 
Mixcraft is great for VST 's and waves only.
For midi and keyboard communication,It lacks SYS EX

jude77
...for instance I can't seem to turn off quantize: does it turn off?

In the toolbars of the Tracks (Arrange) view, and in the PRV (Editor), there are buttons to turn on/off Input Quantize (IQ) and Auto Quantize (AQ), as well as snap quantize settings. It's all there...
 
Regards,
Dan
 

I'm really enjoying Samplitude. It is rock solid. Kraznet's videos have been a great way to learn the program, really fast. I wish they had a plugin manager. A user wrote one, but I have not tried it. The object editor is an amazing tool. If you have a lot of CPU intensive effects on many different objects, the CPU isn't used until the object plays, so you can really do a lot of interesting things. 

35mm

mcdoma2000
I've had issues with Mixcraft not releasing the ASIO drivers when I end it. I've had to do a reboot in order to use a different DAW, as I'm still trying to determine what I'll use long term. Pretty frustrating...

I have periodically had similar issues with Sonar. You can try rebooting your audio interface instead of rebooting the computer - it's quicker. Normally that forces the DAW to release the driver and shut down its hung process.

I haven't sorted this out yet myself. I've had the problem on and off over the years: Sound Forge won't play when SONAR has been opened, the browser has no sound when either of the other two are running. I think it's a function of the driver settings for Windows, SONAR, Sound Forge and whatever other audio programs you want to use. They have to match. Some programs detect the driver settings and adjust themselves, and some don't. When they don't, you get no audio. This is just speculation as I haven't tested my theory, but if it's really bugging you I suggest you set Windows and all audio software to the same sample rate and bit depth as the driver for your audio interface.

Cactus Music
That's interesting Larry as you have the same interface. I often have both Wave Lab and Sonar open. I can also play U Tubes or Win Amp, WMP,, everything always works... but I do only use 44.1 so possibly that's different. Also I have all other audio drivers disabled.

When I first started out I did everything in SONAR at high resolution, until I realized that listeners couldn't tell the difference. So I made the move to 44.1/16, and gradually, as old projects were not being loaded anymore, and after changing everything to the same resolution, my problem went away. That's why I haven't done any troubleshooting on the issue.

Cactus Music
 
I find it odd that people will pay money for a "new" DAW that is on par with using older versions of Sonar? Why not just stay with the older version of Sonar or just keep with Splat. I found Mixcraft like working with 8.5. I like it for the same reasons I like 8.5 ,,, but I HAVE 8.5 and it's still works. So why would I spend money on another DAW that is just like one I already own? 
 
And at this point in time I'm still putting my money on I'll be using Sonar for a long time yet. 

Reading this forum over the years I've come to the conclusion that nearly all of us are musicians, but there is also a high percentage of audio tweakers, people who love the technology, know a lot about it, and get satisfaction from using and exploring it about as much as they do from creating music with it. I think both groups have reasons to look for a new DAW as a result of Cakewalk shutting down. In my case, the geeky side of me doesn't want to be stranded some day with a program that needs a fix from software engineers who no longer exist, while the creative side of me is shocked and a little disoriented that this long-term "relationship" suddenly ended with no warning.
 
Mixed in on both sides is the pure fun of looking into new ways of doing things, and the impulse to maybe buy a little insurance (a backup DAW), just in case SONAR goes south. Add to that the holiday bargain prices we have seen, and Bob's yer uncle.

bapu
In my race for the top spot Studio One 3 Pro wins over those two. 
 
Actually Reaper wins over those two but is slightly under Studio One 3 Pro.
 

I got the Studio One deal too before the Samplitude deal came along, and I just can't get into Studio One. It's kind of odd how much opinions differ seeing as we are all coming from the same software. I guess we were all using Sonar in very different ways.

Guys,
This is exactly the sort of stuff I was hoping for.  I'm leaning hard towards Samplitude.

I have Mixcraft Pro 8 and Samplitude. Both are excellent IMHO but Samplitude is far more superior and I've settled in in on it being my main DAW. I like it even better than I liked Sonar. I didn't like Studio One at all but everyone has different needs.

Studio ONE is ridiculously similar to Sonar minus a few things and adding a few things. If you want to master it just press F1 and read the manual from beginning to end.

Mixcraft = No
 
Studio One 3 = Maybe/sort of
 
Samplitude = Absolutely!

I'm copying my reply from another thread:
 
After a week of Samplitude here's what I can tell you. It's a very DEEP program in terms of what you can tweak. I think it's about on par with Sonar and Studio One with regard to overall performance, but I did notice a few differences. In SPLAT when running Kontakt and other CPU heavy vsts like Arturia's analog stuff it was better to have the multi CPU options enabled in those plug-ins. Without that SPLAT would show uneven use of the system cores when the CPU monitor was set to "System". However the opposite was true in Samplitude. Disabling the multi core support in Kontakt and allowing the host to do handle the scheduling evened things out with the cores. Same was true for Studio One. This is on an i7 from about 5 years ago, 4 cores with 4 more virtual cores running the latest version of Windows 10 16 gigs of RAM. I've had some crashes, but it's worth noting that what causes crashes in SPLAT causes crashes in other DAWS. The biggest culprit is Drumagog especially when using it's plug-in hosting feature. It doesn't happen all the time, but it has taken down SPLAT, Studio One, Samplitude, and yes even Reaper. I also have an occasional crash when dragging in MIDI files related to rex files from NI Battery in from the media browser. This has also happened in all the DAWS mentioned above.
 
Overall, I like Samplitude because unlike Studio One it allows 3rd party audio editors like Adobe Audition and Soundforge. Reaper does as well and setting them up in those 2 programs is easier than in SPLAT. The Object editing feature is great and gives some nice mixing possibilities. I also think their audio quantize is way better and more efficient than Audio Snap. Never was a fan of how that was implemented in any version of Sonar. I've done some basic mixes, but at this point will hold off on any judgements on how the audio engine sounds. Samplitude doesn't yet allow track templates, except on the master bus, a bit of an annoyance. But they do have a built-in stereo imager on the master bus which gives mixes a nice width and depth without having to use a 3rd party vst.
 
As much as I like Samplitude thus far, I still think that if you check back with me in about 18 months, I'll be on Reaper. To me it's about one more solid update away which I'm told will be happening this year. If they add ARA integration and beef up the MIDI functions it will be my next DAW. It's the most CPU friendly of the pack by far, it's main setback being that it's very hard to just dive right in and start. I also do think that the folks at Reaper borrowed some ideas from  Samplitude with some of the functions, but most DAWS "borrow" from each other these days.

These replies have all been great!  Other thoughts are still welcome.