And now for something completely different..... as far as DAWs go, anyway.

[Glenn Fricker]

Hey all,

I know we all can get rather attached to our DAWs and computers, and if what you have works well for you, great. But if anyone out there is looking for something different.... really different, you might want to take a look at SawStudio.
It's the only DAW on the market written in 100% machine code. "Fast" would be an understatement. That, and it uses integer summing as opposed to floating-point math, making for a much cleaner mix-buss.

Quick feature list:
3 versions, 72, 36, and 24 tracks. Each TCP/IP linkable to up to 6 computers for a grand total of 432 tracks if you really need it.

EQ, Comp, gate and 5.1 matrix on every channel

The channel EQ's have gone head to head against Massenburg hardware EQ's and tied.

The comps are fantastic as well.

Unique "soft edge" editing system. (this thing is a godsend)

Up to 6 multitrack layers. I used this to comp 12 drum tracks together on 4 layers last summer. You can swap the layers in & out of the mix without stopping playback. Pretty cool, but when you're flying 12 tracks in & out of the mix all at once, that's downright amazing.

Skinnable interface.

Oh yeah, and it's written by just ONE GUY. He also happens to have the best tech support I've ever encountered. If you've got an issue, it's usually fixed the next day.

Anyway, there's a million other features I've skipped over. Hell, I've been using it for just over a year, and I feel like I've only scratched the surface in regards to what this program is capable of.

Sorry to sound like a spammer here. I'm not. I've lurked on this forum for quite a while. And like I said before, if what you have works well for you, that's great.

If you are interested, you can check it out at
http://www.sawstudio.com/
Here's the user forum
http://www.sawstudiouser.net/forums/index.php?



Myself, I did Woods of Ypres' "Pursuit of the Sun & Allure of the Earth" completely in SawStudio. Right down to the mastering. Unrestrained! magazine named it thier best album of 2004. Not exactly the biggest metal rag out there, but I'll take the compliment!

-0z-

 

[black sugar]

Oz,

I really like Sawstudio, too.

I did a DAW summing test with some drum tracks a few months ago and I preferred Sawstudio over Cubase SX and Samplitude. That's all I tried, though. Anyway, Sawstudio had a nice flat, warm, open quality that I really liked.

It really is faster than shit. The native CPU usage is very low, and that's a huge plus considering I've bought into the UAD-1 and Powercore thing so I'm gonna be a "legacy user" for a long time to come. Up yours, PCI Express!

So yeah, summing quality is fantastic, the native eq/gate/comp are very nice, but...

The interface is fucking wacky at first, but I was getting around ok after spending a few hours on it here and there and browsing the docs when I really got stumped. But the online tutorials seem pretty cool, and the support forum looks great.

It crashed. Pretty frequently. It absolutely hated Drumagog 3, and seemed to have a little trouble with some of the UAD plugs. I would also get into a loop where I couldn't un-mute or un-solo tracks. They would either be all muted or all soloed. I would have to close and re-open the program to fix that.

Another thing holding me back from buying the Lite version is the VST support seems a little sketchy. From what I understand, there's no latency compensation for VST plugs, and I'm not sure if there's any VSTi support at all (don't need that very much, though).

I gave Sawstudio a really long look, but went back to Cubase SX because I had some stuff to work on and I couldn't afford to learn on the fly. But now I've kind of come back full circle to Saw, mainly for the sound quality. I'm pretty confident Bob will fix some of the glitches I mentioned.

Thanks for the post! Please correct me if I'm wrong on any of my gripes. I'm very much considering buying it again.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Yeah, the interface seems a little wierd from the get go, but after taking the time to learn it, it's kinda like "shit, how did I manage without it?" I actually sold my Mackie Control because it became irrelevant once I learned SS. Seriously, I think the interface is the best part.

As for crashing... hmmm. I don't know about that. I haven't had Saw crash on me in the last 9 months. Not even once.... and I use Drumagog all the time.

Try tracking down your problem by asking on the SS forum... the people on there are really helpful.

-0z-

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Very powerful way to work, very fun, this environment is a dream

(special joke for those who watched the videos on the website... look, I can cut this audio part, and I can copy it here, unbelievable, very powerful !)

 

[Kazrog]

I checked out this website a while back. Really interesting, but two things they need to fix before I'd consider it:

1) There is no Mac version. If it's all written in machine code, good luck with cross platform feature parity...

2) The interface is horribly tacky. This guy needs to hire a professional UI designer.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

I checked out this website a while back. Really interesting, but two things they need to fix before I'd consider it:

1) There is no Mac version. If it's all written in machine code, good luck with cross platform feature parity...

2) The interface is horribly tacky. This guy needs to hire a professional UI designer.

On your two points:

1) There won't be a mac version. Ever. Sorry.

2) The interface is skinnable. There's some really cool skins out there now. Besides, what's more important... what the screen looks like or what comes out of the speakers?

 

[Glenn Fricker]

T
Another thing holding me back from buying the Lite version is the VST support seems a little sketchy. From what I understand, there's no latency compensation for VST plugs, and I'm not sure if there's any VSTi support at all (don't need that very much, though).

There's a free latency compensator (as well as some other really cool plugs) here:
http://www.jms-audioware.com/downloads.htm

And yes, it supports VSTi, and now there's an addon called "midi workshop" for the full midi experience as well.

 

[black sugar]

Nice! Thanks for the info.

Yeah, changing the default skin gives it a much nicer feel. Makes me feel less like I'm mixing in a Cutlass Classic station wagon with curb feelers.

Have you tried the JMS eq and/or comp? I like the fact that those are written in assembly, too. Getcha geek on. Shit.

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

I like the machine code idea....Question: I was comparing the features of the 3 different Sawstudio editions and I am wondering, what does "Number of multitrack layers" mean?

 

[Glenn Fricker]

I like the machine code idea....Question: I was comparing the features of the 3 different Sawstudio editions and I am wondering, what does "Number of multitrack layers" mean?

It's kind of a "3D" thing. Layers are stacked upon each other. If you have 4 layers, layer 1 will be the playback, and the other 3 sit below it, ready to be brought forward. This can be great for comping guitar solos & vocals. It really takes the stress off the singer.

Again, I used the layers for comping down drum tracks. 12 drum mics on 4 separate takes, all layered in one behind each other. Hit playback with the full mix going, and then start swapping drum takes in & out of the mix (all 12 mics at once) without stopping. That is what I call powerful.

Anyway, download the demo and play around with it. The interface WILL throw you for a loop at first, as it's different from anything else out there. But, if you take the time to learn it, it's well worth the effort. You can get to any point in the mixer damn near instantaneously, and you can always set up custom F-Keys (another really cool feature) for your most used routines.

-0z-

 

[Razorjack]

I just got the demo and so far I am liking it. I'll see how it goes with my fa-101.

What's everyone deal with the interface though? It's very straight forward, and if you know the workings of more than one DAW then you should find it very easy to use (I built up a full track in less time than it took for me to fully configure SX2!!).

 

[Nitronium Blood]

Nice. But for the life of me I can't figure out how to load Battery in it. I apologise for my stupidity.

 

[black sugar]

I just got the demo and so far I am liking it. I'll see how it goes with my fa-101.

What's everyone deal with the interface though? It's very straight forward, and if you know the workings of more than one DAW then you should find it very easy to use (I built up a full track in less time than it took for me to fully configure SX2!!).

Right off the bat, the default skin just kind of made me not want to fucking look at it. Ok, I'm shallow, I can admit it.

Also, the routing/bussing threw me for a loop. I'm sure there are ways around the issues I was having, but I haven't done the homework yet. I'd rather just complain about it. Haha.

The channel strip function thingy on the left became very intuitive after a little bit of fiddlin'. Scrolling? Who woulda thunk it? Not Cubase, I guess.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Nice. But for the life of me I can't figure out how to load Battery in it. I apologise for my stupidity.

If it's a VST plug... copy the .dll file into the sawstudio/vst_plugins directory.

-0z-