Does your DAW software kill creativity?

[stringyo]

Just went from Tracktion 2 (very, VERY easy to use) to Sonar.

So many buttons. So many.

Hopefully I'll get the hang of this program so I can get back up to pace with my songwriting.

 

[gumplunger]

Nope, Cubase has helped me write very effectively and record quickly.

 

[stringyo]

Nope, Cubase has helped me write very effectively and record quickly.

Hmmm, I'm a moron I guess.

It's just that Tracktion was soooo intuitive. When I needed something it was right there, no scrolling through menus or hunting for buttons on the screen. I always viewed Tracktion as sort of a watered down beginner piece of software...I was proved wrong.

I actually might just go back to Tracktion and say screw Sonar. The learning curve is high and I get short of patience.

 

[dreamcatcher]

My Roland VS killed creativity for damn sure. Friggin POS.

 

[A Toolish Circle]

String yo , u should try Cubase

there are alot of buttons , but u only need to know a few to get working real quick

 

[Carrier Flux]

Just went from Tracktion 2 (very, VERY easy to use) to Sonar.

So many buttons. So many.

Hopefully I'll get the hang of this program so I can get back up to pace with my songwriting.

I think they changed the name from "cakewalk" to "sonar" because cakewalk was a serious misnomer.

I'm not familiar with tracktion but I use sonar. after you get the hang of it, the power of all those extra buttons becomes much more intuitive. you can also strip down the track interface view so that you don't have nearly as many buttons showing, I do this and I've been using cakewalk/sonar for maybe 8-10 years. you just don't need everything that's on there.

if you're intimidated with it you have to take baby steps. first thing would be a multitrack recording. get comfortable with that. then move on to mixbuses or midi. the nice thing about DAWs like sonar or cubase is that you don't need to know the program inside and out to make it incredibly useful. you just need to get comfortable enough with it that it doesn't impede your workflow. and yes, that will take some time. but in my experience it was well worth the effort; and now that I'm comfortable with sonar my workflow is as smooth and efficient as ever.

 

[stringyo]

I think they changed the name from "cakewalk" to "sonar" because cakewalk was a serious misnomer.

I'm not familiar with tracktion but I use sonar. after you get the hang of it, the power of all those extra buttons becomes much more intuitive. you can also strip down the track interface view so that you don't have nearly as many buttons showing, I do this and I've been using cakewalk/sonar for maybe 8-10 years. you just don't need everything that's on there.

if you're intimidated with it you have to take baby steps. first thing would be a multitrack recording. get comfortable with that. then move on to mixbuses or midi. the nice thing about DAWs like sonar or cubase is that you don't need to know the program inside and out to make it incredibly useful. you just need to get comfortable enough with it that it doesn't impede your workflow. and yes, that will take some time. but in my experience it was well worth the effort; and now that I'm comfortable with sonar my workflow is as smooth and efficient as ever.

Yeah, I guess I'll give it another try. It just gets frustrating.

With Tracktion, the program itself NEVER entered the creative process. I'd lay down a riff, then I'd think, "wow, it'd be cool if I put this guitar line right here, then fade into this drum beat..." and it'd be DONE. Never once during the entire process of writing did the program ever infringe...what I wanted done was printed quickly, and efficiently.

With Sonar I lay down a riff, then spend a half hour trying to sync up the assbackwards MIDI sequencing. In Tracktion, you lay down a MIDI clip, sequence it, then throw Battery at the end of the chain as your sampler. Apparently there are like 3 different ways to put your sequencer in the chain with Sonar, and each has its own advantages and disadvantages. WHAT?!?! I just want the damn thing to play drums!!! AHHH!!!

Hehe, I need to get some patience.

 

[EtherForBreakfast]

Stringyo. Traktion is pretty similar to CoolEdit/Audition, etc. Nothing wrong with those apps at all, but you are better off to learn some of the big guns.

I was a cake/sonar user for a LONG time. I switched to SX3 about 2.5 months ago and wont look back. SX annihilates Cake when it comes to MIDI, and the audio engine also feels more stable... call me crazy but I think SX sounds better than Sonar.

Ideally, stuff should be "drag and drop" and "plug and play" but that really is not the case. In order to do advanced things, and get beyond laying down some cheez ACID loop and sporking a few guitar tracks, you really owe it to yourself to learn a professional program inside and out and become intimately familar with all things MIDI.

There are so many books and resources out there to help with learning. I am number 1 fan boi of books and e-books and video tutorials. I'm knee deep in Stylus RMX right now and fucking LOVE the thing. I was impressed right off the bat, but now that I am getting deeper into it and learning how sick it is, my mind is being blown constantly.

Having a nice midi controller / control surface / programming custom key commands/shortcuts will really help with flow.

Just remember, you can always hit F1 at any time and type in a query. =)

 

[prititing]

Man, there is nothing more suited to midi-oriented composers then Logic Pro. It's a fuckin wonder ! Not very good on editing audio, but good enough for a semi-pro.

 

[Kenneth R.]

bro, I HIGHLY recommend taking a few hours and sitting down and reading the manual or quick guide PDF if there is one for whatever DAW you use. While doing this, as it goes through the various steps (VST, MIDI, etc) and gives examples, have your DAW open and make any preferences changes you feel like doing *now* so that later on, when you've read the whole thing, you can just pop it open and go, presets already loaded how you want.

Nothing kills creativity like having to check line levels and I/O when you just want to hit REC and play.

 

[stringyo]

Stringyo. Traktion is pretty similar to CoolEdit/Audition, etc. Nothing wrong with those apps at all, but you are better off to learn some of the big guns.

I was a cake/sonar user for a LONG time. I switched to SX3 about 2.5 months ago and wont look back. SX annihilates Cake when it comes to MIDI, and the audio engine also feels more stable... call me crazy but I think SX sounds better than Sonar.

Ideally, stuff should be "drag and drop" and "plug and play" but that really is not the case. In order to do advanced things, and get beyond laying down some cheez ACID loop and sporking a few guitar tracks, you really owe it to yourself to learn a professional program inside and out and become intimately familar with all things MIDI.

There are so many books and resources out there to help with learning. I am number 1 fan boi of books and e-books and video tutorials. I'm knee deep in Stylus RMX right now and fucking LOVE the thing. I was impressed right off the bat, but now that I am getting deeper into it and learning how sick it is, my mind is being blown constantly.

Having a nice midi controller / control surface / programming custom key commands/shortcuts will really help with flow.

Just remember, you can always hit F1 at any time and type in a query. =)

Yeah, I figured I had better learn some of the bigger pieces of software like Sonar or Cubase.

For being just a single-screen interface, and being a program that relies heavily on drag and drop, Tracktion 2 was pretty damned powerful. The only thing it was actually missing was an effective bus interface. It did have aux bussing, but it is sort of weird. I did actually like the bussing on Sonar better than Tracktion...I liked the console view a lot.

Maybe I should try Cubase...shit, SX is like $600. How about that M-Powered Pro Tools? Hmmmm....

 

[Lopes]

Maybe I should try Cubase...shit, SX is like $600. How about that M-Powered Pro Tools? Hmmmm....

Once you get to the "professional" level programs, they're all pretty much the same with just slight differences in terms of interfaces and such. So the best program to use is the one that you're most comfortable with, for me that would be Sonar.

 

[Noumenon]

Today it did, DP crashed on me
It's been acting strange lately, might have to do with that I only have 1gb worth of ram.

 

[006]

I only have 768mb on my PowerBook G4 15" and I'm running DP4.61 with rediculous sessions already...not quite sure why you'd have any problems. Macs are very efficient machines when it comes to the CPU and RAM and the demands of any program you run on them. I've never had a program close on me once in my year of having this laptop. Not in the two years of having my dual 2.0 G5 either. Never had a single problem running anything on either of these babies. Maybe I'm just lucky?

As far as Stringyo's problem goes...you need to get over your patience problems and just bite the bullet and learn a more professional program than Traktion. I'm sorry, but that host is a joke. I don't care how easy it is to use compared to the more professional ones out there. Cubase SX has proven to me time and time again that it's probably *the* best MIDI sequencer out there to date with the exception of Logic, but I'm talking from a Mac and PC standpoint, Logic being Mac only. I've even caught myself importing the bounced DFHS tracks back into Cubase to mix them in instead of DP or PT. I have never felt that anything in Cubase, DP, or PT was difficult to find or that it took me any longer to do one single action in one host than the others. It's a matter of learning the programs and how they are laid-out. Sure, Traktion probably had a much smaller learning curve, but there's a reason it's frowned upon and laughed about amongst the recording community, and there's also a reason why professionals choose Digital Performer, ProTools, Cubase/Nuendo, and even Sonar over things like Traktion. My opinion? If you want to step up your game get over yourself and just learn the damn program. Otherwise you'll be stuck in kiddie land with Traktion while the big boys are playing with much nicer things. But thats just how I view it.

~006

 

[GeertSamuel]

I might want to upgrade/buy SX3 and it won't kill my creativity.

 

[Noumenon]

I'm thinking of ditching DP and going back to cubase. But I'll miss the easy handling of different time signatures, that and that cubase don't support AU (I think?)

006: Actually I've had quite some crashes on OSX, but mainly poorly written programs (shakespeer for one). And the wierd thing that my mac can't download at 100mbit/s where my pc can. Oh well, still nothing that'll make me go back to pc BTW. With that laptop, what version of osx are you running? Seems wierd that you won't get freezing and I do when I have a dual 2.0 G5 with 1GB ram.


EDIT: I changed DPs buffer size from 128 to 1024, now DPs cpu meter isn't at 75% anymore, more like 10%. lol. Though I get a huge delay when hitting play and DP plays back (dito for stop).

 

[Mutant]

Just went from Tracktion 2 (very, VERY easy to use) to Sonar.

So many buttons. So many.

Hopefully I'll get the hang of this program so I can get back up to pace with my songwriting.

What i like to do is quickly record any idea (whistling or humming to the microphone) in Adobe Audition and then slowly and painfully enter the notes with a mouse in SX2.

When i try to do it directly in SX2 - it takes too much time and i always forget the melody, get frustrated and lose my inspiration.

 

[chadsxe]

Not all...

Sonar has been heaven sent since day one and it has only been getting better.

 

[Carrier Flux]

What i like to do is quickly record any idea (whistling or humming to the microphone) in Adobe Audition and then slowly and painfully enter the notes with a mouse in SX2.

When i try to do it directly in SX2 - it takes too much time and i always forget the melody, get frustrated and lose my inspiration.

get a cheap midi keyboard controller. they can be found for like $75 US.

 

[stringyo]

I only have 768mb on my PowerBook G4 15" and I'm running DP4.61 with rediculous sessions already...not quite sure why you'd have any problems. Macs are very efficient machines when it comes to the CPU and RAM and the demands of any program you run on them. I've never had a program close on me once in my year of having this laptop. Not in the two years of having my dual 2.0 G5 either. Never had a single problem running anything on either of these babies. Maybe I'm just lucky?

As far as Stringyo's problem goes...you need to get over your patience problems and just bite the bullet and learn a more professional program than Traktion. I'm sorry, but that host is a joke. I don't care how easy it is to use compared to the more professional ones out there. Cubase SX has proven to me time and time again that it's probably *the* best MIDI sequencer out there to date with the exception of Logic, but I'm talking from a Mac and PC standpoint, Logic being Mac only. I've even caught myself importing the bounced DFHS tracks back into Cubase to mix them in instead of DP or PT. I have never felt that anything in Cubase, DP, or PT was difficult to find or that it took me any longer to do one single action in one host than the others. It's a matter of learning the programs and how they are laid-out. Sure, Traktion probably had a much smaller learning curve, but there's a reason it's frowned upon and laughed about amongst the recording community, and there's also a reason why professionals choose Digital Performer, ProTools, Cubase/Nuendo, and even Sonar over things like Traktion. My opinion? If you want to step up your game get over yourself and just learn the damn program. Otherwise you'll be stuck in kiddie land with Traktion while the big boys are playing with much nicer things. But thats just how I view it.

~006

POST EDITED for being an ass.

I'll try Cubase, I hear a lot about it. SX is so damned expensive. $600. I wonder if Steinberg offers a demo...? No way I'm dropping that much just to TRY it.