Mac Sequencers

[ragsdaletoriches]

I was recommended to visit this forum from a friend of mine.

BACKGROUND

I used to live in Oklahoma and there weren't any drummers in my town. I always wanted to do something more extreme than the local metal bands so I decided to go solo and use a drum machine. I went from using a hardware drum machine to using software, from crappy samples to the original Drumkit From Hell. I make grindcore music and black metal. When I first started with the grindcore music I tried to focus more on the cyber aspect, making the music over the top and ridiculous. Then I gradually tried to make it more natural, to the point that now the grindcore I make is really organic sounding and not too over-the-top. The black metal music I make is of the grim variety, akin to Darkthrone, Sargeist, Xasthur, etc.

QUESTION

I've come upon some money so I decided to finally invest in some quality gear and software. I've always used hacked versions and whatnot and now that I can afford to I want to move to the real thing. Also, I just recently moved to Mac, acquiring a brand-new PowerBook about two months ago. So I'm fairly new to the Mac. I'm also getting Drumkit From Hell Superior.

I need a sequencer for programming my drums, and also recording guitar. I know of Logic and Cubase and Digital Performer. Which of these would be best for me to use? I know that's a really broad, open-ended question, but I'd like some opinions.

I also make electronic music akin to Aphex Twin and Squarepusher.

Any advice would be great. Thank you.

 

[unsilpauly]

I was recommended to visit this forum from a friend of mine.

BACKGROUND

I used to live in Oklahoma and there weren't any drummers in my town. I always wanted to do something more extreme than the local metal bands so I decided to go solo and use a drum machine. I went from using a hardware drum machine to using software, from crappy samples to the original Drumkit From Hell. I make grindcore music and black metal. When I first started with the grindcore music I tried to focus more on the cyber aspect, making the music over the top and ridiculous. Then I gradually tried to make it more natural, to the point that now the grindcore I make is really organic sounding and not too over-the-top. The black metal music I make is of the grim variety, akin to Darkthrone, Sargeist, Xasthur, etc.


QUESTION

I've come upon some money so I decided to finally invest in some quality gear and software. I've always used hacked versions and whatnot and now that I can afford to I want to move to the real thing. Also, I just recently moved to Mac, acquiring a brand-new PowerBook about two months ago. So I'm fairly new to the Mac. I'm also getting Drumkit From Hell Superior.

I need a sequencer for programming my drums, and also recording guitar. I know of Logic and Cubase and Digital Performer. Which of these would be best for me to use? I know that's a really broad, open-ended question, but I'd like some opinions.

I also make electronic music akin to Aphex Twin and Squarepusher.

Any advice would be great. Thank you.

hey man. check out dp, you wont be sorry. alot of people here use it and are really happy with it. but of course this choice is personal so you should check them out and demo to see what is right for you. from what i understand protools 7 is a huge step in that direction as well.

 

[SPLASTiK]

Logic is great for sequencing, havent really touched Cubase or Digital Performer in those regards.

 

[James Murphy]

dp is great for sequencing and recording... i do everything with it.

 

[Fyhed]

I do like Logic very much. For Midi sequencing it is superb.

 

[ragsdaletoriches]

Thank you for your recommendations. I think I'm going to go with Logic, but I'm still considering Digital Performer.

 

[James Murphy]

Thank you for your recommendations. I think I'm going to go with Logic, but I'm still considering Digital Performer.

yeah... you might definitely want to consider more closely... DP is much easier to learn.. it comes with about 40 plug ins.. and the midi side is the best on the market in my opinion and i've used them all, not to mention the powerful and elegant audio side. Logic's only "advantage" is that it comes with some soft synths.... but Apple charges a good bit more than MOTU does for DP as well. i use Battery, BFD, DFHS, Mach Five, SampleTank, Atmosphere, Kontact, Unity, and more with DP.

 

[SPLASTiK]

yeah... you might definitely want to consider more closely... DP is much easier to learn.. it comes with about 40 plug ins.. and the midi side is the best on the market in my opinion and i've used them all, not to mention the powerful and elegant audio side. Logic's only "advantage" is that it comes with some soft synths.... but Apple charges a good bit more than MOTU does for DP as well.

Logic Express is only $300...then again I think it limits you to recording 12 audio tracks at once and not sure what else. Logic Pro on the other hand is about twice the price of DP. Not sure the plug-in counts on either of them.

Most people I know who use Logic are composers for film and such. It's awesome though for MIDI once you have the environment setup, though the learning curve is a little steeper yeah. I don't know that much about DP but I can't imagine it being anymore MIDI extensive than Logic is...

However, Logic is horrible for editing audio in my opinion. So if you're going to be doing lots of editing work with audio tracks I'd probably pass on it and look elsewhere.

 

[dreamcatcher]

I'm gonna buy a new mac, and I can get Logic 7 express preloaded for $149.

Garageband is already on there, too

I have been using ProToolsFREE on my old G4, but for some reason it doesn't record audio. Works great for MIDI and I can import audio recorded on my (now totally outdated) Roland VS88EX. As it is, I import recorded bits, into PTF and edit them, sync to MIDI stuff, and dump back into the Roland via an external mixing board.

I'd like to get some version of DKFH. But I'd have to upgrade to Logic Pro ($399 extra) to get TDM compatibility for a lot of cool stuff.

/fishing for input