I'm asking this here as I'm sure there are a few of you out there that, like me, are musicians or like to dable in the music side of the production.

I like to write and put together my own scores for films and generally make some music for fun and was wondering if anyone has opinions about the best software to go for.

It's been a while since I looked into it and things have changed. The last program I bought was cakewalk audio (before it became sonar).

Acid is too simple and limited - I'm after a full blown, free range production program. I have Adobe Audition but that is just a simple editing program.

Which leads me to the question of which program would you buy? Cubase? Sonar? Logic? Other?
I quite like Sony Vegas 6 as a video editing suite (to give you an idea of the platform I favour) so am looking for something that will be similarly powerful and easy to use.

Who here composes / remixes / dables in music and what program/s to you favour?

Vegas video was orginally created by sonic before being bought by Sony. To that extent you'll find that Acid Pro 5 would be the closest in look and feel to Vegas.

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It sounds like you need a full-blown audio program - Personally I would go with Soundforge (made by the ppl that make Vegas) (mediasoftware.sonypictures.com) as that is a very poweful audio editor and easy to use

Andrew

I use a whole bunch of progs as I do audio stuff for a living and have to meet all requirements from telephone on hold switchboards to bands, and here are my opinions (good or bad)

I started with Cakewalk (now Sonar) at ver01 some 20 years ago when it came on a 360k Floppy disc. Cubase was also around at that stage.

I assume that you will be using MIDI as well but will give other options.

Soundforge7 is an Audio Editor meaning it works with wav files as such and not midi. It has a similer look and feel to Vegas and is very fast and stable as a 2 track editor. It is NOT a multitrack editor. It has some very specific editing features that non of the other audio progs seem to be capable of doing. It has a MIDI out clock for running external MIDI gear.

Wavelab5 (Steinberg) is essentially the same in that it is originally a 2 track Audio editor but it has a section called "Montage" which then has multitrack audio facilities with 8 buss output capabilities like the big boys. I tend to use this as my quick working multitrack audio program. Very easy and fast to work with and very powerfull. No MIDI editing but does have a MIDI clock out for running external MIDI gear.

Cubase SX - This I use for big productions that require 10 or more audio tracks plus full blown MIDI. I have a series of programs that run inside it like -

Groove Agent - A simple to use but very versatile great sounding drumming program with about 30 different kits.

Virtual Bassist - Really great sounding Bass program

Halion - Very powerfull Sampler

Virtual Guitarist - Big range of guitars and styles from acoustic to electric.

Virtual Electric Guitarist - Similer to above but goes all the way through to heavy metal stuff complete with stomp boxes.

The above plugin programs are not just sounds but pre-recorded guitarists and drummers playing that you can edit to fit your production.

Hypersonic - A stunning Synth with most of what you will ever need.

I stopped using Cakewalk just before it became Sonar. I do not use it but it is also a very good program.

If you need anymore info give me a shout.

Caveman