How Portable are .WAV Files Between Sequencer Software Programs?

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gvdv

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Hi,
I'm in the final stage of my 'research' on hardware and software for my first DAW, and I had some questions regarding sequencing software.

Because I'd like to initially spend most of my money on hardware, I'm considering going with a cheaper sequencer, such as N-Track when I first build my DAW. However, I have decided that the Producer's Edition of Sonar is what I would like to eventually invest in.

Here are my questions relative to this:

1. If I follow this plan (buying N-Track initially, and later buy Sonar) and want to re-mix/overdub in Sonar the .WAV files originally created in N-Track, will I have any problems?

2. And on a more general level, is there any reason that importing .WAV files into different sequencing programs is difficult? (I think I saw mention somewhere the other day of a more kind of generic way of saving .WAV files for this very purpose, but I could be wrong).

3. Finally, what about cross-platform transport for .WAV files? My cousin in the U.K. has a Mac (but he's a really nice guy - :) ) and he plans to get the latest affordable Apple sequencer offering (GuitarBand, I think). I am a confirmed PC user. Will we be able to easily share .WAV files and work on projects and tracks created in each others' software programs?

Thanks for the help,

Geert, in Toronto.
 
WAVs are completely compatible across s/w and platforms....
 
hey bb - as i'm a puter engineer - i had an idea - whaddya think ? get a bunch of my fellow puter engineers together and get rich. produce a piece of audio software , get some big name artists to use it
- call it "Hit song maker" , charge 5k for it; prolly be at least a few
thousand people willing to buy it and let me retire to a yacht somewhere
with a big fund annuity and watch the waves go by and play guitar. i cant believe the prices people are willing to pay for "code".

gv - imho , n track is all you ever need. very good product.

also check out multitrackstudio.com . imho one of the most unknown underrated pieces of great implementation of multitrack software around
for the price. also try what i use powertracks from pg music.
pg have run some sort of contest for its users apparently. you'll see it on the main pg web page. using the new tc helicon harmonise feature in powertracks. you should give the songs a listen. and see what folks are doing with a 29 buck software.
 
Hi Manning,
Will check out the software programs you mentioned.

Thanks,

Geert.
 
Remember to keep all of your wave files intact from start to finish, and all starting at "0" on the timeline to keep them easy to transfer between programs. If you edit your tracks into multiple little "clips" (audio regions) in each track, there could be a hundred or more of these regions by the time you're done, and it can range from somewhat difficult, to damn near impossible to transfer these into a different program.

Session files, or project files, or whatever type of standard file is used by a program to store the session/project info such as audio region location, fader/pan/FX settings, etc. (edl file), is usually a propriatary file format that cannot be read and opened by a different program because every program works differently, and while there are some 3rd party programs, such as "EDL Convert Pro", that can "translate" one type of edl to another, at least in a basic sense, these solutions are quite a bit more expensive than just following the advice in the 1st paragraph.

Kristal Audio Engine can get you started with computer recording for free...

http://kristal.kreatives.org/

:)
 
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OK, I'm gonna show my ignorance, but I want to know the answer, so gonna go for it:

I didn't think wav files were the same thing as sequenced MIDI data. I thought those were analog audio. Don't you have to export sequenced MIDI data as some other format of file, and, while I'm at it, there appear to be about 4 different formats available in my Cakewalk Home Studio export dialog. Is there one format that's better or safer or more universally compatible than the others?

Also, if you're gonna upgrade to Sonar someday, why would you not start in the upgrade path, and start at some lower (but upwardly compatible) level, like Home Studio? Just asking, not challenging in the least. Just trying to learn, myself. We've decided to go that way, based on my professional experience with software purchasing (business, not audio).
 
Personally I stick to the .aiff format because it's more predictable than .wavs. Also, coming from Macs I was used to them anyways.
 
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