Pro Tools or cake walk
 

Building a home studio and would love some input...

I would get Sonar Producer Edition. Basically the normal Cakewalk with MUCH more editing tools. It blows protools out of the water. Plus its free if you know where to look ;)

I would get the Mbox 2, then you have a recording interface + the industry standard in software with many available plugins.

Mbox 2 Mini is fairly inexpensive and it's great for starting out- comes with a few plugins too.

The new Samplitude is supposed to be incredible. That's what some close friends of mine are using and they have nothing but good things to say about it.

I went with pro tools after some research. The M-box mini at first but decided that i would rather have to m-box 2 and swapped out the mini. First I have to say that the M-box 2 and pro tools is awesome esspecially since i am a guitarist as well. I love being able to have all the tools nesessary to make a great sound. Yes by the work i have done you can tell that it will take some time but i learn something new every day. They have great support and i dont think i could ask for more just yet. Pro tools I have decided is the way for me thanks all!!

I haven't used ProTools, But I own CW's Sonar 7 Producer Edition, and I wouldn't dream of switching to anything else.
I can't make any comparisons to ProTools, but I can say that Sonar is more than capable of providing the recording and production tools you need and at a professional level.

The best thing for you to do is research both programs and decide which is best for you.

Pro tools is what the pros use. Does sonar have an interface?? Im honestly asking cause i dont know. I know that there are many stand alone products like reason, ableton live, ect but these are all able to be used as plug ins for pro tools. I have never used sonar so I cant compare either but I love pt. I just need to get an ilok key. I mean I love pt its awesome.

Sonar doesn't come with an audio interface, no. But personally, I'd rather choose my own interface regardless.
I currently have an Echo Audiofire 12, which has 12 balanced inputs and 12 balanced outs. It's necessary because I record drums and other instruments through a 16 channel Mackie board and I don't like sub mixing and ending up without control of all my elements.
If I'd gone with the Mbox stuff, I'd be assed out.
So really the peripherals are a matter of situational requirement.

As far as going with PT because it's an industry standard, well, I can assure you that professional studios don't JUST use PT. PT simply serves as a tracking program for a lot of those guys because it's simple and it does the job. But when you get into production in the box, mastering, extensive editing and other stuff, I know they rely on a host of other software.

Because of that fact, I chose Sonar because it offered the majority of all those things in one package. The audio engine is just as good as PT, which can operate at 64bit floating. The limitations in Sonar are dictated by your computer's performance. That's it.

I like Sonar because it offers a complete recording solution, and at the same time, a complete production solution that allows me to produce from scratch, all the way down to the finished product.
And it comes with amazing plugins.

Again, it's really situational requirements. Sonar works for me. PT works for you. But if you find yourself needing to buy additional things to iron out your recordings, then that's when you have to begin evaluating whether or not your software is really providing your needs or just serving as a nice hype hook.

Protools is definitely the industry standard. I hear a lot of people say it can be an adjustment from timeline based programs. But, depending on what you want to do with your music, its worth it. Hey, if you can get the job done with a less expensive/advanced program then go for it! Best wishes

I don't know i did some looking and everything pointed towards pro tools which i have used for the past month or so. I have also noticed that it is the most recommended program out of all of them everywhere I look. Sonar is probably good and all but I think that PT has a slight edge and that's why it is used so often. BTW its not easy or point and click. But sonar cake walk kinda spell simplicity out for you. In the end I would assume that its all a matter of preference, I have since used sonar and have to say that I personally am more impressed with PT.

Not to knock it but for another 100 bucks you can get the mbox 2 which is way better than the mini. I could see using that on your non studio pc.

Let's just hope you're not doing any serious recording... Especially drums.
You're going to need more than that Mbox toy.

if bfd or reason or the fact that i can midi my electric drums not enough for you?? Maybe you should learn to play some drums before your open your fly trap...

what do you use???

Um...

I've been playing drums since I was 12. (I'm 28, do the math)
I use an actual set of acoustic drums. And I record them. With an Echo Audiofire 12: a 12 in/out audio interface going through a 16 channel Mackie Mixer. Going into Cakewalk's Sonar 7 producer edition.
I think I do just fine.
And when I don't feel like playing real drums, well THEN I use a program.

Btw, I didn't call Mbox a toy to insult you.
I personally think it's a toy.
I just happen to have enough experience playing and recording a drum set to know that the Mbox won't cut it.

This and a decent mic
maybe think Rode as they have some well priced good quality multi purpose condensers.

Its gold.

You can get mixers and what have you from the digi design website. Its all relative really. Pro tools comes with some serious plugin power to start and has tons of upgrades. You can shop for virtually any plugin you want on there website, basically the sky is the limit.

I get most of what I need from WAVES bundles.
Sonar comes with some awesome plugs though. Check out Vintage Channel. That thing is a work of art.

I will have a look.

Digidesign - The Industry Leader in Digital Audio and Live Sound

I don't know if Vintage Channel comes separate from Sonar, but it's a great compressor.

Im new to all of this for the most part. Ive been recording for some time with other devices never the pc. I understand that both programs are good. I just happened to go with the one that i thought would be better for my applications. I will admit that i wanted to upgrade my pc to vista 64 and still have the disk. However PT will not work on a 64 bit system. Either way i dont really need to have it since it really doesnt benifit from running 32 or 64 anyhow. PT has been good to me anyhow. Just when i thought it could not get any better they gave a free 8.0 download to all there customers that had the 7.4 version, included with that they had tons of big fish rock loops that are avalible to me however i would perfer to play drums over cutting down non midi drum loops. Then i have reason which if im not mistaken can be used on either of the platforms that we are talking about here, I must say anyone who has a platform that can run reason as a plugin would be a fool not to have it (yes its that sweet). Then on top of that you can go to propeller heads website and beef up with more plugins for reason and its already jammed with awesome synths, drums ect. I dont know I am just overly happy with Pro tools, and yes you might drop some cash but you get what you pay for.

That's awesome.

Yea I heard nothing but horror stories regarding 64bit platforms and Sonar. My rig is pretty beefy and 32bit doesn't take anything away from my performance, so I'm happy with it.

can you run reason with sonar?

I guess. Never tried.
I'm pretty sure it has that re-wire thingamabobber dealy. I never used Reason, so I, pardon the pun, never had a reason to try.

I've run NI Reaktor 5 through Sonar, Absynth, Guitar rig, etc..
If something is capable of being run as a plugin, then Sonar can run it.

I know a lot of people that use NI Battery and BFD for drum programs and route each output from the drum pads to their own channels in Sonar, and trigger the pads with Sonar's step sequencer or midi editor.

Sonar is fully compatible with pretty much anything.
It also has an external hardware feature that will route any channel through your soundcard to any external audio processors you have, then send it back in... all in realtime and with delay compensation.
It's like using an effect plugin, except you're using whatever EQ or compression or whatever fx hardware you may have.
It's got a few bugs, but I believe they worked them out with the latest release of Sonar.

reason will run as a slave with just about any recording/mastering application. It even runs with Garage Band.

^^^^ Dont you love it!!

Do you have the full version of 4.0. or the m-box version?

Full version

You?

Oh I have the demo, but Iv'e owned previous versions and I know just how fun it is.

Its freakin awesome. I got reason 4 mainly for the drum loops, I had no idea of the depth this program went into. I use it as a slave for pro tools and well it was kinda tricky to setup to be able to record as audio in real time as a PT track but i got it. I just didnt know like I have stated before I am new to pc recording software, but in a few days I got the info and now I have more fun than ever.

Samplitude 10 is worth checking out. Best audio engine out of all the multitrack daws