I just upgraded my DAW this past week from an ancient Sonar 3 system to full blown modern X2 studio on a reasonably cheap Phenom II Windows 8 machine. Then I proceeded to play around with the Rapture synth and this came out: http://woggmusic.com/Audio/Wogg/Rapture.mp3 My old version Waves plugins don't like the new platform, so this is done using only what is bundled in Sonar X2 studio. That's a couple Rapture instances with some strings and a Roland synth for some electronic percussion. The bass and drums are performed live.

I like that the bass and drums were recorded live.  That gives the mix an overall depth and naturalness not always found in this genre.  The only problem was that about 3:30 into the song, the mix just deteriorated.  I listened twice to make sure it wasn't on my end, and I thinkyour server may have let you down.  You might try downloading this again just in case others hear this as well.

Thanks Lynn! I'm checking out the file now and will re-upload if there was a problem. Here's a soundcloud link for an alternate source: https://soundcloud.com/paul-graves-1/rapture

This song is really funky and tight.  The tone of the bass is sharp and right on.  I would have liked to heard the drums panned a bit wider, but the focus is good and rhythmic.  This songs pulsed in a good way.  Thanks for putting it up.

Yeah the live drums give it a different quality than usual for this genre and i think it works well here.

 The mix and production sounded pretty good on muy speakers.

Overall, i did find it an interestin piece and found much to enjoy, although i have to admit to prefering programed drum parts for electronic music.

It's hard to play as tight as a machine :)

Thans for the feedback guys.  The drums were tracked with the only stereo bit being the XY configured overheads, so there's not too much I can do about the width of the image without resorting to some effects or something.  I would never do that to a rock tune, but with this being a electronic inspired tune that would not be as offensive.  I wonder what X2 has that I can try... maybe split the overhead and use Sonitus surround on it?... hmmm.

 Interesting piece, I enjoyed it. I thought the natural instruments fit well in this

Outstanding.