Hi,
I want to state upfront that this is not a slam on SF or Vegas (which I still love), it's just a report on my recent experiences with another product (that can be used with Vegas if you like as it can import and export Vegas projects [via the EDL-Convert utility] maintaining timeline positions and volume and pan curves etc.).
I was disheartened when I read SF's response to the requests for flying punches (something most every other DAW has and for good reason) and recently I heard about the upgraded Samplitude Studio 6 and since there is a 90 day (yes, 90 days!) fully working demo at samplitude.com, I tried it out. I have to say I'm amazed. It's had a complete facelift and now has a very attractive interface indeed but, more importantly, it has flying punch, proper bus grouping, real-time rendering, MIDI, a very powerful automated mixer (with skins), it works with earlier versions of DirectX and comes with very high quality pitch-shifting, powerful noise reduction, reverb impulses, a de-clipper and beat-slicer, great multi-band mastering plug-ins and numerous other effects, powerful wave editing, CD creation and a great deal more and is rock-solid stable. Plus it sounds really great.
But the thing that really floats my boat is the unique Object Editor that enables every section of every track to have its own mixer with volume, pan, aux sends, plug-ins, multiband dynamics and EQ, and pitch-shift all without affecting anything else on the same track and that turns off plugs if they're not being used in a section (so you can get more tracks with more plugs than usual). After working with the power and flexibility of this way of working for the last week, I can't conceive of ever going back to any other way of working.
The list price is $499 but the street price is $329 and the competitive upgrade price is $249. For $299 (competitive upgrade) the "Producer" version adds 5.1 surround panning and 64/64 sub/aux busses (compared to 4/4 in Studio) and also adds a complete DV and analog video capturing and editing studio.
The learning curve is tougher than in Vegas for some of its deeper functions and effects automation can be faster to set up in Vegas but I was able to successfully (very) use Samplitude on client sessions the second day after getting it and since. The Punch mode is excellent and the quality of the numerous built-in effects is truly top-notch. So far I haven't found anything I can't do with it and it all be done within the one program - recording and mixing audio and MIDI, wave and MIDI editing (MIDI objects can be treated just as if they are audio objects), mastering and CD-burning. It would be an excellent model for SF to look at for version 3 of Vegas. I still love Vegas for its simplicity but I love Samplitude 6 for its power and flexibility.
Tony
I want to state upfront that this is not a slam on SF or Vegas (which I still love), it's just a report on my recent experiences with another product (that can be used with Vegas if you like as it can import and export Vegas projects [via the EDL-Convert utility] maintaining timeline positions and volume and pan curves etc.).
I was disheartened when I read SF's response to the requests for flying punches (something most every other DAW has and for good reason) and recently I heard about the upgraded Samplitude Studio 6 and since there is a 90 day (yes, 90 days!) fully working demo at samplitude.com, I tried it out. I have to say I'm amazed. It's had a complete facelift and now has a very attractive interface indeed but, more importantly, it has flying punch, proper bus grouping, real-time rendering, MIDI, a very powerful automated mixer (with skins), it works with earlier versions of DirectX and comes with very high quality pitch-shifting, powerful noise reduction, reverb impulses, a de-clipper and beat-slicer, great multi-band mastering plug-ins and numerous other effects, powerful wave editing, CD creation and a great deal more and is rock-solid stable. Plus it sounds really great.
But the thing that really floats my boat is the unique Object Editor that enables every section of every track to have its own mixer with volume, pan, aux sends, plug-ins, multiband dynamics and EQ, and pitch-shift all without affecting anything else on the same track and that turns off plugs if they're not being used in a section (so you can get more tracks with more plugs than usual). After working with the power and flexibility of this way of working for the last week, I can't conceive of ever going back to any other way of working.
The list price is $499 but the street price is $329 and the competitive upgrade price is $249. For $299 (competitive upgrade) the "Producer" version adds 5.1 surround panning and 64/64 sub/aux busses (compared to 4/4 in Studio) and also adds a complete DV and analog video capturing and editing studio.
The learning curve is tougher than in Vegas for some of its deeper functions and effects automation can be faster to set up in Vegas but I was able to successfully (very) use Samplitude on client sessions the second day after getting it and since. The Punch mode is excellent and the quality of the numerous built-in effects is truly top-notch. So far I haven't found anything I can't do with it and it all be done within the one program - recording and mixing audio and MIDI, wave and MIDI editing (MIDI objects can be treated just as if they are audio objects), mastering and CD-burning. It would be an excellent model for SF to look at for version 3 of Vegas. I still love Vegas for its simplicity but I love Samplitude 6 for its power and flexibility.
Tony