I'm currently working through the Groove3 tutorials and it seems like a fantastic DAW.
Yes, it's still young and it doesn't have all of the features that everyone expects, but that's partly why I like it, especially when compared to something like Reaper which does have a lot of the requested features, but always somehow feels like the Linux of the DAW market.
At the moment, for me at least, I don't make enough money doing music to warrent purchasing something like Pro-Tools, which does have a lot of the features I like (once you purchase CPTK2) and the problems people are having with Cubase 6 here is putting me off purchasing that too.
Studio One seems like a nice alternative.
Here's some things I like off the bat:
1. Resource friendly. It's not a big install either. It's not as lean as Reaper, but defo better than my 7.x copy of Pro-Tools.
2. I like the interface. Yes, you can customise Reaper etc. but personally I wish the devs spent more time working on things we absolutely need and not just eye candy. Studio One has a nice browser, easy to use editor and they all seem to work very well together. You can tell effort was put in to the design and integration of such features.
2. It has slip editing (Reaper-style, not PT-style).
3. Integrated mastering solution. While I've yet to try this out, it seems awesome that when mastering and you notice something that needs to be fixed in a song, it can be easily fixed and your mastering project is automatically updated. Nice.
4. Alternative and custom keymaps. Studio One has keymaps for PT, Cubase and Sonar users etc. One of my biggest problems with Reaper, other than the constant menu traversal is its default keymap. You end up having to customise everything anyways and it's bloody annoying. I like a unified system, kinda like how a PT engineer can go to another studio and not have to worry about how the DAW is setup once they have the same DAW.
5. Controller integration. They seem to have a nice system for getting your controllers to easily work with the DAW, seems a bit like how it's done in Ableton Live. Reaper fails big time in this department. Yes, you can get shit working but coming back to my Linux comparison, it's like compiling an application from source code. Ugh!
6. Developers active with the community. Reaper wins in this regard, easily - but the developers seem more active and friendly especially when compared to the horror stories from the PT and Cubase camps.
So yeah, that's my take on it so far. I'm still only learning it, but am really enjoying it so far. Yes, we all know that PT has it's feet firmly placed within the pro studio market, but I don't entirely see Presonus aiming for that market...maybe more toward the Cubase and Sonar users.
Does anyone here use it full-time? I know I saw drew_drummer mention it a few times and saw it being used when tracking drums on a video he posted recently, but I could swear he's gone to PT now.
Anyways, try it out - you might like it!
Niall.
Yes, it's still young and it doesn't have all of the features that everyone expects, but that's partly why I like it, especially when compared to something like Reaper which does have a lot of the requested features, but always somehow feels like the Linux of the DAW market.
At the moment, for me at least, I don't make enough money doing music to warrent purchasing something like Pro-Tools, which does have a lot of the features I like (once you purchase CPTK2) and the problems people are having with Cubase 6 here is putting me off purchasing that too.
Studio One seems like a nice alternative.
Here's some things I like off the bat:
1. Resource friendly. It's not a big install either. It's not as lean as Reaper, but defo better than my 7.x copy of Pro-Tools.
2. I like the interface. Yes, you can customise Reaper etc. but personally I wish the devs spent more time working on things we absolutely need and not just eye candy. Studio One has a nice browser, easy to use editor and they all seem to work very well together. You can tell effort was put in to the design and integration of such features.
2. It has slip editing (Reaper-style, not PT-style).
3. Integrated mastering solution. While I've yet to try this out, it seems awesome that when mastering and you notice something that needs to be fixed in a song, it can be easily fixed and your mastering project is automatically updated. Nice.
4. Alternative and custom keymaps. Studio One has keymaps for PT, Cubase and Sonar users etc. One of my biggest problems with Reaper, other than the constant menu traversal is its default keymap. You end up having to customise everything anyways and it's bloody annoying. I like a unified system, kinda like how a PT engineer can go to another studio and not have to worry about how the DAW is setup once they have the same DAW.
5. Controller integration. They seem to have a nice system for getting your controllers to easily work with the DAW, seems a bit like how it's done in Ableton Live. Reaper fails big time in this department. Yes, you can get shit working but coming back to my Linux comparison, it's like compiling an application from source code. Ugh!
6. Developers active with the community. Reaper wins in this regard, easily - but the developers seem more active and friendly especially when compared to the horror stories from the PT and Cubase camps.
So yeah, that's my take on it so far. I'm still only learning it, but am really enjoying it so far. Yes, we all know that PT has it's feet firmly placed within the pro studio market, but I don't entirely see Presonus aiming for that market...maybe more toward the Cubase and Sonar users.
Does anyone here use it full-time? I know I saw drew_drummer mention it a few times and saw it being used when tracking drums on a video he posted recently, but I could swear he's gone to PT now.
Anyways, try it out - you might like it!
Niall.
