Sunday, September 20, 2009

Which one ?

Nowdays we see lot of DAWs (digital audio workstations) and VST pluggins. But due its vast variety of options, sometimes it’s harder to find the right tool for your job. So in this article, I will discuss about various tools for your audio productions. So without further due, let me bring out the applications one by one.

Cubase

Cubase is made by Steinberg and is one of the most popular audio and MIDI Recording programs available. Cubase has been around for a while and is used by many hobbyists and professionals. This program runs on Windows PCs as well as Macs, although itís been historically more stable on Windows PCs. Cubase comes in several versions. The lowest version of Cubase is Cubase LE, yet very powerfull and handy. Cross-platform capabilities: Cubase can work on both Windows PCs and Macs. It seems that the Windows version is still more stable, but I donít hear a lot of complaints about the Mac version, either. This is one of the few programs that is truly cross platform. MIDI capabilities of this program is almost perfect. Working with soft-synths and MIDI instruments is easy, and you have a lot of flexibility in how you can work. This is a good program for anyone whoís looking for a decent blend between audio and MIDI capabilities.

Sonar

Sonar is a product of Cakewalk and it competes with the other heavy-hitters such as Pro Tools, Logic, and Cubase. Sonar is windows platform DAW, which handles loops quite well on par with ACID, the Loop Master program. Plug-in delay compensation: This is an important feature for people who use a lot of plug-ins on their tracks because the program automatically compensates for any delay that is introduced by processing the plug-in.

Pro Tools

Digidesign (the maker of Pro Tools) was one of the first companies to develop hardware that guaranteed a certain level of stability and performance. Pro Tools is probably the most used audio recording program in professional studios. Pro Tool has a immense power when it’s comes to audio recording and editing. With this program, you can make even the most exacting edits quickly and accurately. The layout of the interface is quite similar to that of a tape deck and analog mixing board. If you mess with lot of analog gear, this is the one you are looking for. One of the most used software doesn’t mean some thing like must have or the best one.

Acid

Sony Media Software is the makers of Acid. ACID is the most popular loop-based recording program. If you are working with loops I personally recomand this software to you. Acid have huge number of loop libraries, so painting those loops in your arrangement takes only seconds to build your music project. Unfotunately this DAW only runs in Windows. If you are interested in working with loops, many of the features in this program are useless to you. You can record and edit audio and MIDI by using ACID, but they are not on par with DAWs like Cubase or Pro Tools.

I tried my best to make this article short and well explained. The purpose of this article is to give you a rough idea of choosing software to your work. There are lots of other popular softwares to make professional sounds, that are not included in this list and once again there are no perfect ones out there. So your gonna need atleast couple of them to make your life easier. Just feel free to go to their websites and download and test the demo versions. In my next article, I’m gonna discuss about the VST pluggins. So until then happy making music!

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