PT sounds beter than sonar??

[jmorris]

I have used sonar 5 for a long time now and I have always loved it. For fun, and to see what I was missing I bought an Mbox with Protools 7 le. I swear, I do believe it sounds a lot better. Example. I loaded up same some in Protools and sonar 5. Just the drum tracks, no plugins on either. Sonar sounds thin, very thin, Protools sounds really good, fat kick and snare. I thought it was just due to the fact I have not been too busy in studio for a bit, other stuff going on, and maybe it was just a fresh set of ears. So I began to A/B the 2 daws. Man, big difference. Right now I have to say Protools is a better sounding program. Or, is there something I'm missing in Sonar..setup? Does not seem so. I'll post samples in a bit.I really hate to think I have to move totally to protools.I mean, it is very expensive to get system past 32 tracks of which many of the projects I have done need. DO I NEED TO LEARN A NEW SOFTWARE PROGRAM! aH!
I posted this in sonar forum also as I thought it would be also usefull there.

[Dax Productions]

Check ebay and froogle.com (google product search)

The Music production toolkit can be had for less than the normal 500 bucks if you look hard. I'm probably going to pick it up in the next few months and step up to a digi002 from my mbox 2 pro.

[jmorris]

I compared the 2 programs very close. Playing through each program there is a big difference between the 2. If I export both samples to sound forge, convert them to 16 bit, compare the 2, they both sound the same. So.....there seems to be some in sonar's playback engine that is different than protools. Does this make sense?

[jmorris]

additional... sonar playes through motu2408 mk3 as sound card, protools uses mbox as sound card...this may be difference??

[Dax Productions]

That would definitely be a difference. Set sonar up to playback through the mbox and check out what you're hearing. Different converters = different sound.

[jmorris]

yeah, thats what Im thinking but I really would think the motu converter should be better than the mbox...dont you?

[Dax Productions]

Well, at that level, the quality should really not be "better" or "worse" on either unit. Just different. And in the situation of whatever you're bouncing down, it sounds "better" to you.

The proof that it's a difference in the interfaces is obvious. You said yourself that when you put the bounced files in sound forge, they sound the same. When its in sound forge you're ab-ing the bounces on the same system. When you're abing pro tools and sonar, you're listening to two different systems.

[MessianicDreams]

jmorris, do post some samples if you can - i'd be very interested to hear if there is a noticeable difference between the two. Not quite sure how you're approaching this. What I would do is import a few different tracks - but stuff that's already been mixed - say, a stereo drum track, a bass track, a few guitar tracks. Leave all faders at unity, no plugins or anything. Bounce the tracks down, and then compare them using the same program (winamp, WMP, whatever).

Originally Posted by Dax Productions

The Music production toolkit can be had for less than the normal 500 bucks if you look hard.

And even better, if you have a friend who works at an educational institute that works with Digidesign (or just owns some of their gear) they can get gear and educational discount... basically you pay 1/4 of retail price!!

[jmorris]

DAX, hey I work for a school district so I can order the academic version

[Dax Productions]

Doesn't the academic version have to be renewed once a year or something? I remember hearing some weird thing like that about it.

[jmorris]

No I dont believe so. I have purchased via academic version before. I work at a school district as I said. All I had to do was have the item sent to a "academic" address. It was simple.

[thajeremy]

I dont see how the software is going to make anything sound different....rip a song from a CD and see if there is a differance....the software should do nothing for the sound...its just a way of organizing your tracks and plugs. You can record tracks with windows sound recorder if you want and it shouldnt make a differance...

[MessianicDreams]

Originally Posted by jmorris

No I dont believe so. I have purchased via academic version before. I work at a school district as I said. All I had to do was have the item sent to a "academic" address. It was simple.

Man, it was even easier for me. I had the stuff delivered to me here in Liverpool UK, and the school who "ordered" it is based in Geneva, Switzerland....

I got the MP Toolkit, an iLok and PT LE 7.4 for under 100euros...which i think with today's exchange rate is something like $150?

[MessianicDreams]

Originally Posted by thajeremy

I dont see how the software is going to make anything sound different...

Well technically it shouldn't, but its all about how the summing buss was written...perhaps there is an error in it somewhere?

[jmorris]

no, i dont believe it is the software. as i said when i place both mixes, drums only, no plugins in soundforge and play it back, there is no difference. i play soundforge through the motu2408 as my sound card. so i think it is a soundcard issue. or simply a matter of the 2 not sounding the same.but i'll tell you, the mbox has a lot more definition on the low end. not muddy, nice and clear. motu has a bit of muddy sound, mostly noticed on kick and bass. always had to eq. kick to sound reasonable, not with mbox

[RD423]

Originally Posted by jmorris

no, i dont believe it is the software. as i said when i place both mixes, drums only, no plugins in soundforge and play it back, there is no difference. i play soundforge through the motu2408 as my sound card. so i think it is a soundcard issue. or simply a matter of the 2 not sounding the same.but i'll tell you, the mbox has a lot more definition on the low end. not muddy, nice and clear. motu has a bit of muddy sound, mostly noticed on kick and bass. always had to eq. kick to sound reasonable, not with mbox

You can set even your soundforge to play out through the mbox 1 if you are on a windows machine you have to go into your control panel and set the mbox as your soundcard. just a fyi if u didn't know.