I was about to say Cubase, but u said not that. I have both Cubase and Sonar on different computers. I actually just installed and mastered Cubase last night. Its an awesome program, but that and Sonar are the only 2 I can think of.
Look on Musicians Friend. There's bound to be something on there.
Cakewalk's Cool Edit series is pretty good i know of a few places you can snag it from online, but it utilizes Direct X plug-ins rather than VST...if you are lookin to use primarily VST ecspecially Cubase's Halion series then i would certainly go with Cubase SX 2 or 3
Im a hardcore Sonar guy, been using cakewalk products since the late 90s and LOVE THEM...
Audacity is OK, but i would spend the money and get Home Studio personally. Its VER VER VER versatile, especially from the MIDI end, being able to program drums, bass, keys and everything is worth the price of the program. Its an all in 1 recording solution for musicians on a budget.
Heres something i did in Home Studio ... the Demo version.
I used the FREE Version of Fruity Loops for Dums Bass and Keys using FREE Soundfonts i found on the net.
Check it bro, if you are going to do any work whatsoever dealing with choirs....the best route to go is East West/Quantum Leap Symphonic Choirs. It's the most indepth, and most realistic choral VST/stand alone program that you could ever think of, i highly suggest looking into it...
On a second note...Jason how the hell is Vegas bro? its been awhile!
Check it bro, if you are going to do any work whatsoever dealing with choirs....the best route to go is East West/Quantum Leap Symphonic Choirs. It's the most indepth, and most realistic choral VST/stand alone program that you could ever think of, i highly suggest looking into it...
Products like Symphonic Choirs and Symphony of Voices are extremely high-end, espensive deals, close to a grand... maybe more. Not the kind of thing the average hobbyist just shells out money for.
If this guy is looking for a cheap sequencer, how in the world is he gonna be able to afford a top-of-the-line choir library?
Look into sound fonts and samples .... Wav samples can be tweaked to come up with decent chior sounds. Fruity loops has 1 or 2 decent ones. You get what you pay for literally when it comes to VST's
I say sing the parts yourself and find a good VST voice tweaker. It works for me when im in a pinch.