I have been on Samp since v8.

I would have jumped on the upgrade to ProX v12 when it came out, except that with the new pricing scheme, prior owners of the "Pro" version are funneled the "lower" upgrade track, the same as prior "Classic" users. This stings a bit.

Now, I am considering the upgrade because it 64bits and I can use all my computer's memory, but I really dont have any usability or feature complaints with v11 Pro, so I am staying with v11 for now.

For any "home" users interested in Samp, let me give my impressions of the software.

Prior to Samp, I was a CWPA/Sonar user from the mid 90s, and I have auditioned most of the major sequencers except Logic and Nuendo through about 2005. So I don't really have knowledge of what is available now (except for reaper). But 7-ish years ago, Samp was leaps and bounds ahead of the other software in sound quality.

Also the user interface had a very fluid feel to it and the audio engine/transport is very responsive. You can drag the transport, set up markers, loops, do almost everything in real time without freezing or stuttering. This is an intangible quality, but makes it feel more like a hardware device.

Samplitude Pro cost 1K prior to ProX, and while this was very expensive up front, the included plug-ins were much higher quality than what I was using. Even simple things like the mixer EQ sounded better. Back then it was either UAD or Waves for high end consumer plugins, and those were both expensive (and look where they are now) Today with multi cores and the competitive plug-in marketplace, one may be able to supplement their plug-in arsenal with affordable native alternatives, but as a baseline, the Samp included FX are still excellent, imo.

The complexity of the software is good/bad depending on your ability and needs. Professionally, i am a software engineer and am used to technical complexity, but that said, I spend most of my recreation time playing/practicing music, and Samplitude is still a handful. (Every other sequencer I have used, I feel as if I "know" the software in a week or so.) I dont think this is because of problems in samp design, just the level of power/complexity. There are buttons/widgets for everything which will save having to go into menus, and contributes to its "hardware" feel. But make no mistake, it is complex.

If I worked with the software every week I would gain more proficency, but as now I just stick with basic things, and occasionally delve into deeper functions. I have never felt it could not do something. Its clear it was developed for professionals. I think it has a very "German" feel to it.

Because it has many professional users, the forums have a high degree of knowledge and quick turnaround answer on questions. (Most of the other forums are full of kids making techno with "warez", none of that nonsense in the samp forum.) I have emailed tech support before and gotten quick turnaround from Germany on a fairly complicated issue, and have also talked with Tim Dolbear who has offered great phone support. Its amazing to have direct access to someone with his knowledge, if needed. I think support for Samp is great, but because it is not as mainstream as say Cubase, you wont get constant validation from the music community and advertizers. Its a small, but talented family of users. (Fortunately, Samp/Sequoia are the big brother to the Music Maker program and Magix is long established so there is no danger of Samp disappearing, imo.)

That said, there are other tools that do things "better" than samp. I use Sibelius for scoring rewired to Samp. (Although Samps scoring has evolved considerably over the past 5 years.) I am also considering checking out the latest version of Ableton for composition (again, rewired to samp).

In summary, I would say it has a very professional feel, highest quality sound, but it might be overwhelming for typical home recordists who are primarily musicians and dont have alot of time to devote to learning the program.

Hi Kraznet! You're the man! Really appreciate the input, i'll make sure to check that out and yes please, follow up on the #Request for a more user friendly way!

Appreciate & will give this a try soon!

+1

This doesn't seem right. It also seems that the "penalty" for those who are on an older version than v11 is pretty light. They only pay $100 more to upgrade than those who have stayed current.

@Tim or Mr Kraznet!!

Been playing around from time to time on Samp X Pro but honestly I don't maybe it's on my side but I find Samp being very buggy most of them. I'm simply following every new updates release and see how they go about fixing issues and so far out of all the DAW's that I owned (thru the years) from S1, PTools, Reaper, Cubendo, Ableton Live etc... still lots of unfixed little bugs & features that simply annoying me big time.

With all due respect to All the Samp/Sequoia users (i'm not saying this to bash the daw, not at all trust me) and Although I find Samp/Sequoia to be one of the MOST complete DAW out there in the market, I find Samp kinda filled & way crowded with tons of #features (which is amazing right?) but aren't polished enough. Matter of fact, I've learned Reaper faster then Samp and I had Samp way before even Reaper was born.
And lots of Reaper users or convert users know how it can be a learning curve when you go Reaper route (sometimes depends on some people). Anyways

Still up today latest update, they haven't look at fixing the (VST plugins PATH problem) of allowing for real the user to ASSIGN more then one path at a time.

Kraznet tryied to help with a work around going thru RegEdit and change some stuff in the Registry Keys etc.. but as A user I wouldn't want to go and spend time playing with my RegEdit no? Why can't Magix Samp/Seuqoi Devs fix this tiny thing? (All major DAW and new kids DAW are offering that possibility,) So Why NOT Samp/Sequoia?

Another thing I noticed while playing back music with VSTI, when playing back and you go and click your Mouse over the Midi Vsti track, the audio of that VSTi JUMPS/CUT and comes back?

I remember way way back in the beginning of Samp/Sequoia, this amazing DAW have never really been rock solid with VSTI. Always had major issues and bugs. And although they've improved but still I find on my side. And as I said earlier, I own some of major player DAWs and I used them and switched and left some behind (including Cakewalk/Sonar) and this Midi Vsti playback jump or all the little issues been noticing under Samp, never encounter them in these DAw's i have. At least if they had those issues, they've been looked at and fixed for good by the DEVs.

Just seems to me that Magix (head office) is more concentrated & putting time on releasing their #low end software that we often received batch emails from them then putting some REAL attention of Cleaning & fixing the already existing bugs inside Samp/Sequoia. Reminds me of another company that does that too (i won't name). They just keep on announcing big Update/Upgrade release but don't really work at the Core problems and fix them and from there move to the Next. It sad & sucks for REAL SAMP/SEQUOIA users.

This of course doesn't mean that the real DIE hard Samp/Sequoia don't get the job done but I'm sure they foun to hold and live with the workarounds whille waiting & wishing things will be fixed.

This being said, i'll keep watching & see how Samp/Seqo Dev Team will respond & hopefully they're reading us here too.

Very glad S1 has arrived to my Life & production world.

FWIW only MIDI sequencers have ever been "solid" with virtual instruments. Samplitude and Pro Tools both have much steeper learning curves (and capabilities) than most casual users realize.

Any chances we will see Samplitube Mac version this Winter Namm?

Thank u