Vegas and the other audio alternatives

KjipRecords wrote on 12/9/2002, 4:28 AM
Up until now we have been a small demo/project studio (actually still is), but we have been growing, and now we are offered bigger and better jobs.
Our studio was originally based on digi001/PTLE, but we found that this solution was not sufficient.
I find that Vegas is very fast and efficient, but version 3 are missing some of the functionality that I enjoyed in PTLE (aux busses, MIDI, control surface option, a good and flexible mixer, etc.). I really hope version 4 will correct some of these issues.
I have tried the Samplitude 6 demo, and although it seems like a "deeper" product audio wise, I feel I can do the same job in Vegas 3, just faster.
Now version 7 of Samplitude is coming up, and by the looks of it, it seem to have a better user interface, but it also has a lot of nice professional audio features not found in Vegas (Samplitude 7).

I kind of asked the same question buried in another thread, and kilroy responded with this:
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Posted by: kilroy
Date: 12/5/2002 10:54:28 AM

"Not knowing what we will see or expect from Vegas 4, what are the closest contender to Vegas? Samplitude 7?"

That depends on what your primary task is. We have used Samp a long time but we would never think of totally replacing Vegas with it...ever. The reason being that of all the apps we have at our disposal, and there are alot of them, Vegas still has absolutely no peers when it comes to absolute raw editing speed and overall interface efficiency. Its lean, fit and stable.

When you have thousands of edits to perform, and maybe very little time in which to perform them, the slightest awkwardness in any command execution, navigation, file handling I\O etc. adds scary amounts of time to your job. I think SoFo have done an exceptional job of providing a very balanced app that puts a high priority on some of the more unsung features professional audio folks need every day, like really good file handling and management, consistent and intuitive command sytax, and a fast, efficient, and clean interface that stays out of your way.

Samp has some very good features, and the new version will no doubt add to that list. But as far as being in contention with Vegas...nah. Too many things would have to change for that to be a reality. At least for us anyway.
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So you mean that vegas is all about speed and efficiency?

What about Nuendo, SX, Sonar? Are they more a composers tool than a true multi tracking and recording app?
We mainly do audio, but we also use some basic synths and MIDI stuff when needed.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Lars

Comments

Cold wrote on 12/9/2002, 1:39 PM
Sonar may be usefull to you as a secondary app for midi stuff, But I think Vegas is a much better prog for day to day audio recording. Be carefull how you judge software. I'm probably in close to the same boat you're in as I run a small studio that's almost let me quit my day job(I work my day job only part time at this point and will probably be able to ditch it for good over the next six months or so).Vegas is my main multitrack software. I started with cakewalk (early sonar) but found too many bugs, too many issues and too many elements that were not quite good enough. When I switched to vegas a couple of years ago, I couldn't believe how much easier a good chunk of my workload became. I find vegas extremely stable, the editting intuitive and quick and the layout elegant and uncluttered. It is software that feels transparent for the most part to both myself and my clients.I find the fact Vegas is not cluttered with limmitted use bells and whistles a good thing, less crap to get in the way of the task at hand. Of course Vegas has its own issues and limmitations, all software does-read the forums and decide if the issues that pop up regularly are going to be serious impediments to your work. Personally, I find myself praising vegas often and cursing it only occaisionally. Figure out what are going to be your most common uses of the prog and pick the Prog that will do these things the quickest and easiest for the way you work.
Good Luck!
Steve Simpson
KjipRecords wrote on 12/10/2002, 4:52 AM
Thanks for the reply.

I have to agree with you when you say you praise vegas more than you curse vegas.
I just hope that version 4 will address some of our concerns.
Samplitude 7 looks like a promising alternative, it would be nice to know a little about what we can expect in Vegas 4 before I go out and take advantage of the cross grade offer from magix...


:) Lars
kilroy wrote on 12/10/2002, 12:09 PM
Lars

In our office we have to perform alot of audio tasks. We need solutions for practically every audio problem you care to name and our clients like the fact that we can handle everything if we need to. But we could never do this with one program any more than you would expect a carpenter to build a good house with just a hammer and a screw driver.

Software is cheap. Cheaper by far than any of the other gear you will have to rely on. So go ahead, try some demos, see what works for you and your situation, and plunk down the cash. Heck, buy em all if you can swing it.

We encourage our people to use what they want as long as productivity is not compromised in any way and we can still have good file format sharing between platforms. This works well and you have the advantage of systems versatility on a multitude of apps.

I personally do alot of editing these days, and it has pretty much been established in here that Vegas is without competition as far non-lin assembly editing goes. No one will dispute that in this office. We simply do not have a solution that comes close. I'm still using Vegas 2.0h and every day I thanks the Lord for the good folks that coded this app. It always works and its a dream to use.

Samplitude is a very capable program with superb sounding native processing and mastering facilities, and its approach to total object oriented handling of audio is very powerful, but it has a long way to go before it's as smooth or as fast to use as Vegas. I have been a Samp user for much longer, so I know what I am doing with that app, but there is no way I can be as efficient with it for assembly work. Even for intense mixing sessions it is not as fast. This is most definately *not* an app that you will learn overnight, something the folks that develop this proggie seem bent on doing little to improve. The old saying, "When I likes it, I likes it. But when I hates it, I *really* hates it!" Well, that about says it.

I happen to not be a fan of "virtual mixers" so that feature is not particularily attractive to me, though to be fair Samp's implementation is among the best I've seen. It's just a pain in the ass to flip back and forth and fiddle with these little knobs and such, and it covers up your arrange window. Boo. Geez, at least let us dock the freaking thing. To me the hallmark of a well designed audio app is the exclusion of such mixer attempts, I want to have everything available in the arrange window. Look at Sonar for an example of an app that is clearly paying some attention to the elegant SoFo interface design.

And since you mentioned it, I would heartily advise checking Sonar out, not as a substitute for Vegas, which it certainly is not, but as a competant solution for compositional tasks. MIDI is excellent and thorough, interface is decently thought out, and the automation is very well done. We parted company with similar apps from other competitors and have never looked back. All I can tell you is that, so far, it has been performing very well and stability has been good. Also, for what it is worth, we were surprised at how good the summing engine is in this app. This coming from folks that definately do not favour the summing of anything more than a modest number of digital audio tracks within the actual application.

If you are curious about more specific comparisons then you will have to ask about those specific areas, other wise the broad general approach will to some degree leave you with a whole lot of questions left unanswered. Hopefully one question has been satisfied. That being whether or not you could find a suitable substitute for Vegas that would make you happy to do without it. That I very much doubt.
KjipRecords wrote on 12/11/2002, 12:58 AM
kilroy, thanks for your thorough reply. I think I have a clear mind now...

We have Vegas 3, Acid 4 and Sound Forge 6. That's our core software base.
I'm confident that this is a wise choice, and that the limitations in the software not will prevent us from doing the jobs we are offered.

Thanks,

Lars
[:kjip:]records