Quote:
Originally Posted by
David Rick
Samplitude is a very mature and quite complete audio production environment. The name change to Pro X obscures the fact that this is really Samplitude version 12, so this program has been around a long time. The fact that it's more popular in Europe is partly due to the fact that its parent company is based in Germany. They never really figured out how to crack the US market before Pro Tools consumed all the commercial oxygen. Consequently, the user base here consists a smaller number of very serious users rather than a large number of casual ones. Users of Samplitude (and/or its big sister Sequoia) include several major broadcast networks.
Samplitude aspires (and often succeeds) in being an all-in-one audio production environment, meaning you can go from virtual instrument sketches to live tracking, editing, mixing, and mastering all in the same program. The tool set is very complete, including standard signal processing, spectral editing, drum editing, and pitch correction. Upscale versions add extended sample libraries, more video support, and 4-point (classical) editing.
The most important feature (for me) of object-oriented editing is that your original audio is never touched. You can process it, cut it up, move it around and save different versions, but the original files will always be there. Standard processing and fades are done in real time during playback. There is no separate rendering step, so what you burn on CD will sound like what you just heard in playback. Certain CPU-intensive tasks (e.g. spectral noise reduction) are done offline, but you never leave the program and you can always revert to the original version. In recent years, other DAW's have started to get a bit more object-oriented, but they are still in catch-up mode. The "Clip Gain" feature in Pro Tools 10? It's been in Samplitude since 1995.
Object-oriented audio production (like object-oriented programming!) requires a bit of mental adjustment. At first, you'll have occasions when you just can't find what you assumed was a standard DAW feature. Then you'll ask in the users forum (great resource, nice people) or look at a tutorial video and end up slapping your forehead when you realise that you no longer even need that feature because there's another workflow that is so much simpler.
New features arrive in numbered major releases. In between these, there are typically two to three maintenance releases which fix problems and sometimes add a feature or two that missed the big release. As a matter of policy, I usually wait for the first maintanence release.
I can't give you much in the way of comparisons to Cubase, because I don't use it. I've been using Samplitude/Sequoia almost exclusively for well over a dozen years. What I can say is that you're going to be thrilled by the difference in audio quality. I probably should have made this point in a private message because I don't want to start a flame war. Received wisdom on this forum is that all DAW's sound identical because "it's just math". Well, I do mathematical programming for a living so I know how hard it actually is to get right. I've even written my own dither and sample rate conversion code... never again! It's true that you can find very limited summing bus tests which "prove" that all DAW's do the same exact thing (as long as that thing isn't particularly complicated). I accept those "null" tests as proof that most programmers of major audio software can now code a mixer (especially if the faders aren't moving). Ask yourself this: If EQ and compression algorithms are so easy to do well, why are there so many different plug-ins? If sample rate conversion is so easy, why does so much of it sound horrible? Real audio production involves so much more than the summing bus that all I can say is this: Try Samplitude for yourself. Do a whole project in it and make your own decision.
I have used samplitude for years. Many years ago I tried cubase, then protools, then reason; these programs never clicked with me... even though I had been a musician for many years, I gave up the DAw thing due to the
incredible amount of hours spent learning and unable to get things to work right, or at all.
Fast forward a couple of years later, on a whim I bought a totally unprofessional program by a 'MAGIX' company I never heard of called 'music maker' ...more of a program designed for loops and amatures. It was incredibly intuitive....OMG, I actually began having 'fun' using it and began to combine loops with my music! Everything began to fall into place. Some time later I was loooking for more---I bought Samplitude, and it was really a step up..but everything looked familiar and again fell into place. The older samplitude versions had bugs and compatibility issues (then again, look at pro tools / cubase versions/ revisions from a few years back..how many 'bugs' have they fixed---tons) but having purchased subsequent versions since with samplitude PRO X I can say it works very smoothly and without a hitch. No more compatability problems.
Many people have said this software just 'sounds' better...I really
do hear a difference between DAWs, but it is small. I think the better the outboard gear and AD/DA converters, the more of a difference one will hear.
So, bottom line..the software ain't cheap (I've noticed Magix seems to have a blow-out sale late spring / summer onece a year when they drop the price
significantly); but this software can do almost anything protools can do, and in addition other things it
can't. It isn't complicated/nor is it easy; just some time to learn and get used to since it is so huge; but if I had to do it over again I honestly would NOT go any other way. I hope this late comment regarding this thread will help anyone considering Samplitude pro X or Sequoia. Good luck
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