[Cellotron]

Originally Posted by alyricalmind

Woh, I just went on their website and saw the price for sawstudio... from the screenshots it looks like a dated GUI.

Except you can change the complete look of it with a single mouse click by loading a skin called "Shades" in SAWspeak - there's at least over 100 of these, most created by SAW users - all of them free to download, including a pretty darn close emulation of PT's look, as well a freeware app available that lets you create your own.

Why does it cost so much ($2500)?

Well there's also the Basic version that goes for $300, and the Lite version that goes for $1200.
As far as the full version, it costs that much because that's the price being asked for it, and it's still priced cheaper than other DAW app's such as Sequoia, SADIE and Pyramix.

With that money I could buy a DIGI 003 Mixing Console with automated faders, good preamps, decent conversion and a whole lot more features... PLUS Pro Tools 8. Is there something I'm missing about this DAW?

Well, to my ear the 003 pre's and conversion is ok, but certainly not anything to get excited about - but that's a separate issue.

Features that SAWStudio has that PT doesn't include:
much faster than real time "Bounce to Disc" functions, including numerous routines which allow for ultra-easy track consolidation with and without effects processing,
automatic plugin latency delay compensation,
the ability to use any audio interface that has Windows ASIO, MME, WDM or DWave drivers available for it - so your not tied into just one company's products for this,
support for VST, DX and SAW native formats (which includes a number of excellent sounding processors not available for any other format) - although I'll grant that this is definitely off-set by the extensive choice of RTAS plugins available - although again I'd say these come at greater cost than what is available for SAW,
an inexpensive add-on that allows PQ index and subcode creation directly in its Multitrack view allowing creation of Red Book spec audio masters from it,
a unique way of handling fades that for me allows for more control over the sound of the end result,
NO copy protection, NO dongle and NO Windows registry hooks, along with a generous license so that you can put it on numerous DAW's at your studio with no additional cost,
the ability to synchronize up to 8 remote and slave machines via TCP/IP so that you can have it run gigantic sessions all networked together,
the ability to hit a single key and have the cursor snap to the nearest zero energy crossing point
the ability to load soundfiles with different bit depths and sample rates and have them playback at any selected sample rate using a real time src routine without having to convert the files first,
an excellent history of support with numerous updates each year containing feature enhancements given for free, and when occasional paid upgrades happen none has been charged for more than $100 to date,
assembly language optimized engine that is extremely fast and stable,
a forum where you can get answers directly from the apps author himself, and where you can also make feature requests known to him as well.

There a number of things that PT can do that SAW doesn't do though as well. What is more important to you and what is worth what amount of money to you will vary on your own needs. For my own needs PT just doesn't cut it and SAWStudio works great. For you it will likely be the opposite. Whatever works for you is all good by me.

Best regards,
Steve Berson