Hey all,
I just purchased a Presonus Firepod and want to upgrade the software. Mainly will be tracking rock/alternative stuff, but also want to be able to create Postal Service type sounds. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much for your time.

i have both... but if you're buying only one, i'd go with sx3 and add live5 if/when you want to.

fwiw, if cubase had a loop browser and drag-and-drop inserts, i'd never use live again. cubase's time stretching sounds -much- better than live's...

different groove quantizes, triplet quantize..iretatize quantize.. making groove from hitpoint editor and edit in place so you can see your groove against audio ect to name a couple more features for me that puts live behind cubase for me aswell, its a fair trade off however for the composing on the fly approach to live which is very fun, id get cubase first aswell. or get sl and live instead of sx. i honestly dont own ableton but use the non saving demo to practise my chops and use it as a sketch pad for idea's and beats but then execute that idea in cubase, im going to buy live soon but mainly just to use it as that.. a live sequencer..it would be pretty much a computer mpc2000 replacement if it had more groove presets.

i have no idea what postal service sounds like so my approach might be totally different... i assume its a band your talking about however

Thanks for your help guys. It makes my decision a lot easier. And by the way.....Postal Service is a band.....it is Ben Gibbard from Death Cab for Cutie in front of some beats and whatnot. Thanks again for the knowledge.