Switching to mac, Which DAW?

[GuitarGoblin]

So I already use Cubase Sx3 and enjoy that on the pc but since I'm switch over to a different platform, I'd like to use something else. Logic has really caught my eye but protools has been an industry standard for quite a while.

I will be doing a lot of MIDI creating/editing/abusing, creating a bunch of weird sounds (granular synthesis, waveform editing, real-time modulation w/ ableton live) as well as traditional recording. I do a lot of orchestrated stuff as well with soon to be Gigastudio 3 running on a PC, rewired to the DAW on the Mac.

Does logic support VST instruments? ReWire capabilities? Would I be better off staying with Cubase? Or is there something else out there I over looked? I know PT doesn't support VST and I'd have to use a VST wrapper.

List of programs I use-

DAW
Reason
Ableton live
Reaktor
Various Waves and Voxango plugs
EZ drummer w/ add-ons
Amplitube and ReValver
Various soft synths

And soon to be either Gigastudio or EWQL and Kontakt. Right now I'm using my m-audio mobile pre but that will be upgraded to a Digidesign if I go PT or MOTU. Sorry for the newbishness in this thread, I just don't want to get something and find a road block later on.

 

[guitarboi89]

logic 8? if your a student, or know a student, or pretend your a student you can get it for £100 ($200ish converted but its probably even cheaper for you americans) thats what im doing pretty soon

 

[SonicAlbert]

I use Digital Performer, made by MOTU. It's got incredible midi features and the audio features are excellent too. You can use a VST wrapper with it. I've used Performer and then Digital Performer for many and have found it to handle pretty much any situation that arose.

 

[GuitarGoblin]

I use Digital Performer, made by MOTU. It's got incredible midi features and the audio features are excellent too. You can use a VST wrapper with it. I've used Performer and then Digital Performer for many and have found it to handle pretty much any situation that arose.

How does this compare to other DAW's that you've had experience with?

 

[Phuturistic]

I second going the MOTU route for MIDI production. DP works great.

 

[jonnyc]

How does this compare to other DAW's that you've had experience with?

DP is a very powerful DAW. A truly professional software. However you may want to read up on the differences between it, Logic and Cubase. All are perfectly capable of producing top notch recordings when put in the right hands. Sorry, didn't mean to speak for Albert.

 

[noisewreck]

From performance point of view both DP and Logic (especially Logic) will have performance advantage on the Mac vs. Cubase as Cubase isn't well optimized for the Mac OS platform unfortunately. This is one reason why I am sticking to the PC. The other is Wavelab.

Which kind of sucks as Reaktor performs better on the Mac vs. PC from what I gather.

 

[dgatwood]

I'm in the process of upgrading to DP 5 from 4.5, and now that Apple has dropped the *^%*&%^& dongle, I decided to buy Logic Studio 8 as well. I've installed the former, while the latter arrived in my hands today, and I hope to install it this weekend.

I hope to get to know both DP5 and Logic Pro 8 over the next few weekends, and time permitting, I'll post some comments about both. (I may be asking questions over in the Logic forum along the way....)

My opinion on DP prior to 5 is that it has always been reasonably stable, only crashing occasionally, usually in response to me changing the sample rate on the interface behind its back. It feels a hair sluggish in terms of overall responsiveness of things like the transport controls. Beyond that, though, it handles heavy processor load fairly well, handles multiple CPUs, and generally gets the job done. The interface with the Tranzport remote is superb.

The workflow is fairly good, though there are a few editing things that can be a little quirky---the need to explicitly make a cut in every track when shifting content around, for example.

I'm looking forward to some of the new features in DP5---slip and slide editing has been my #1 "why don't DAWs have this" feature for several years, ever since I first saw it in Radius EditDV back in the late 90s.

 

[GuitarGoblin]

I'm in the process of upgrading to DP 5 from 4.5, and now that Apple has dropped the *^%*&%^& dongle, I decided to buy Logic Studio 8 as well. I've installed the former, while the latter arrived in my hands today, and I hope to install it this weekend.

I hope to get to know both DP5 and Logic Pro 8 over the next few weekends, and time permitting, I'll post some comments about both. (I may be asking questions over in the Logic forum along the way....)

My opinion on DP prior to 5 is that it has always been reasonably stable, only crashing occasionally, usually in response to me changing the sample rate on the interface behind its back. It feels a hair sluggish in terms of overall responsiveness of things like the transport controls. Beyond that, though, it handles heavy processor load fairly well, handles multiple CPUs, and generally gets the job done. The interface with the Tranzport remote is superb.

The workflow is fairly good, though there are a few editing things that can be a little quirky---the need to explicitly make a cut in every track when shifting content around, for example.

I'm looking forward to some of the new features in DP5---slip and slide editing has been my #1 "why don't DAWs have this" feature for several years, ever since I first saw it in Radius EditDV back in the late 90s.

DP5 seems very appealing but I think I'm going to jump for Logic 8 for now and if I'm not satisfied I will try DP5.