it's 300 quid!!!!!!!!!! no dongle!!!
man look, you know if you hung around here enuff that i am a total mac cynic, the g series from 3 to 5 imo was overpriced junk, but... omg, this release co-inciding with these new intel macs?.. it's a whole other world!
I tried it with the mac pro and 30" monitor... I went up there thinking, "Oh i could get an imac and it's still a dual-core, and even the macbook beats a G5 for power, and logic has freeze too, so an imac will do me fine and they are quite cheap", but after trying it with the full mac pro monty?
I just cant emphasise what a massive step forward it is, it's like the control consol on the USS enterprise in NextGen compared to the dashboard of an old Austin 7
first up, the workflow is all centralized... choose a channel, add an aux send and the aux bus is right there next to the channel strip on the left column, no need to fanny around tweaking the send and then going into the mixer to adjust the return bus etc
i aint tried cubase 4 so not sure hwo their new workflow is, but say compared to Sonar Producer 6?.. ok, in sonar you add an instrument and it's quite cool how it adds the actual instruemt control track and the associated midi track together all ready to go... with Logic you always had just the one track which integrates the audio instrument controller lane and the midi parts in one, but now, the channel is on the left as well as an associated bus channel, so everything you need for tweaking an instrument inc it's bus returns is all there on the left column without ever needing to go to the mixer..
wanna edit some audio?.. click it and the editor pops up above the transport bar.. in a way they have taken some of that SONAR 'all-in-one' layout, but like with Sonar you can split windows off if required
It's got Sony Vegas or Cubase style click & drag/timestretching and the new algorithms sound great, no odd artefacts, no glitching etc, they've got a whole load of algorithms for beat stuff, dialog, etc etc
the space designer reverb?... I kid you not, that ALONE is worth 3 grand, it's absolutely phenomenal!!!, like if you do mega huge trance and need to compete with the biggest global named artists for massive lush verbs, no problems!.... and you can load the reverb as a stereo verb or as a 5:1 surround verb ffs!.. same with the Delay designer which is something very special in it's own right
the exs sampler?... select it on an instrument track, and the explorer appears on the right column (the right presets browse column can be easily hidden)... ok, so, you browse the sample presets, and they auto-load and play!!!!!!!!
feck me!!, omg, like very quick and automaticaly, you select say Pizz Chellos, and theres a quick glitch and suddenly it is loaded and playing! you dont even have to touch the sampler interface!
same with the synths (inc 3rd party ones) select the track, the channel and any associated return bus appears on the left column, and the presets browser appears in the right column, just scroll thru your preset sounds in the explorer and hear them play
everything seems to be drag and drop now too!
The video preview and the video track etc is mind blowingly good, and of course all the options are there for video on various types of external video monitor devices.
the included samples (1300 free instruments!) are absolutely superb, easily as good as something like Garritan (which we own) you'd have to spend mebbe 500 or so on that content alone if you bought the samples on dvd's
the included Ultrabeat drumbox is f*cking awesome!!!, 24 seperate outs, everything you want in a drumbox with tons of great drum sounds included
Oh also they have fully re-written the rewire stuff apparently, although i didn't get to use it of course.
anyways, i've been doing this for 30 years and never have i seen a product package which offers such amazing value for money when you consider the power it gives you. I
use it with stereo i/o or add on hardware racks, protools hd units, or apogee racks etc if you need multi i/o.
Look... for those with less cash (which includes me btw!), it seems like alot to invest in a whole new hardware system. I went up there thinking "Oh well i can get an old style imac which shops are knocking out for 800 quid now, it's exactly the same spec as new imac but just with the older colour-scheme, and that'll do the job ok, and if i run out of power there's always the freeze function, so I can get a bank loan for an imac ansd pay it back at about 30 quid a month"
but, after trying it on a mac pro with the 30" screen?... ok, inc' logic 8 and without adding a firewire or pcie audio interface we're talking 3 grand with 1gb of ram and the basic hard drive
but, you can network it to your old pc for storage & backup, add in extra mac-pro ram bought from crucial or dabs way cheaper than the mac-store price (and it doesnt invalidate your warranty to do this)
anyways 3 grand is alot... is it worth it?.. well yes it is i think cos imo this annihilates pro-tools & thrashes all previous logic versions. If you work with clients for money they will be gobsmacked at the quality and it should easily pay for itself. If you know how to record vocals and guitars etc and work with songwriter clients, this will pay for itself easily.
all i can say is, if you did a loan on a full-on mac pro system, well, why would you need to ever upgrade?.. what? are we seriously going to see people switching beyond 48k or 96k in the next 5 years?.. this will do it all with absolutely gobs of spare power, so sure, there's gonna be the panther OS soon, and 8-core is here etc, but jesus H christ, it is so much power in a box., and so much is included, synths, sampler, sounds, drums, effects, it's just rediculous for 300 quid.. then roll that all up with no dongle issues, and experience the thing on that monster sized screen and i tell you, it's totaly f*cking space age!!
and.... it's silent!!! no noise!... you audition say an included upright bass or drums thru the space designer reverb... omg, it's 100% hollywood monster crystal clear sound.
you also get a full on included wav editor, total integration with final cut for film & tv work and of course dolby surround encoding is included!! (as i said the reverb and delay also can be opened in 5:1 surround config) - it's got sample accurate editing, automatic audio file transient to beat stuff, crossfading audio and their new comp/take selection system for auditioning multiple takes of audio without stacks of 'take tracks' to mute and unmute (just right click and choose a take to listen to all from the one track!)... despite the new single-screen workflow design you can still use screensets just the same as before if you like (i do!)
anyways. I aint tried Cubase 4 yet, but I bet steinberg are absolutely f8cking crapping themselves over this release.
go and try it guys, seriously, apple are gonna totaly pwn with this.
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