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what sequencer do you use? what have you used in the past and what would you rate them out of ten?

all i've used over the past 4/5 years is Reason, but i want to move on a bit to try out a sequencer for plugins etc.. what would you suggest to someone whos so used to reason's layout? Cubase's layout seemed too different to what i was used to when i tried that, but suppose im gunna get that whatever i try...

anyone used cakewalk's Sonar? that looked good to me.. might give it a try...
or orion platinum?

I used Reason for the last few years and got along pretty well. The last 6 mounths ive been using Ableton and for me its the ants pants. I love the layout of Ableton and once you get the keyboard shortcuts in ya head its even sweeter. Ive used Synapse Orion Platinum before and i must say its pretty good. If you like Reason keep using it and run it through Cubase via rewire so you can use vst's.

Well i use FL6 as my sequencer, it has such an easy layout and gets ideas down quick. I only use it as a sequencer and to tap beats up, so for that i would give it 9 out of ten, but if you only have fruity by itself then it really isn't up to much in comparison to Cubase and Logic, but i use it with Kontakt, Cool edit, PSP Nitro and aload of VST's and soft synths and i wouldn't have it any other way.

Reason + Pro Tools (and sometimes Live too).

Now:
Madtracker (http://www.madtracker.org) + vst plugs
Sound Forge
Live

Then:
Protracker (Amiga)
OctaMed (Amiga) + shit loads of midi hardware
Roland 909+707+606+303 + sampler

Tryed:
Reason (Real fun and excellent program, but can't seem to finish tunes when I've started 'em there)
Fruity Loops (crap IMO)
Fast Tracker (crap!!)
Cubase (crap IMO)
Logic (crap IMO)
A mic (crap, mostly because of my lackin' skills... )

the reason why i love reason so much is it's easy to manipulate the sounds of synths etc... automation is proper easy, create effect devices at a click of a button and automate the dials on them.. and the spider device for splitting into different channels, good for getting stereo effects etc... can this be just as easy in other sequencers? automation etc?

Reason automation is well easy, but so is Live and epecially Pro Tools.

Cubase SX#3 . Sound Forge . Kontakt

Marry those three with a small collection of analogue synths, hardware effects, piano & midi controller and you have my studio. Theres no chaff, i use them all extensively and love em to bits.

Cubase VST 5. Oldskool.

Ableton Live 5 + Reason 3

Those two together are the sickness!

thanks for all the comments

im gunna try out Ableton Live, people who use reason seem to all say good things about this.

keep posting though still, its good to see what everyone uses etc

Used to use Reason only, now i use a combi of Reason, Cubase SX and Soundforge. If you havent tried it, re wire reason into a copy of Cubase. So good to mix and match instruments/VSTs etc

anyone know how to rewire reason into logic? i have logic 7 express is this possible?

Reason, Soundforge and Recycle.

fruity loops 4 and proud

I'm currently using Ableton Live 5. It's simply a great piece of software. I find it very intuitive and easy to use. Some people though confuse ease-of-use (i.e good design) with "cheating" but that's just being a bit silly, really (just a friendly dig at Loefah there). I have toyed with Cubase SX3 but in comparison with Live, getting simple ideas down is a mission. That said there is a HUGE difference in sound quality between the two - hence the current trend to rewire Ableton into Cubase for the final mixdown. In terms of functionality there is very little you can do with Cubase that you can't do with Live.

On paper there is little to distinguish the audio engine in Live and Cubase. Both use 32bit processing and a summing bus is a summing bus - in theory at least. The main difference is the panning laws are different. In Cubase the panning law has a default of a -3db dip in the centre (this can be altered in the options menu). Ableton has a 0db panning law (or no panning law at all) and there are no options to change this. Robert Henke is on record as saying

Live may sound different to other software (if they use a different panning law), however generally this is just that it is louder or softer. A slight gain difference can play tricks on the ear, it may be perceived as a difference in frequency response, transient resolution, "phatness" or any other subjective parameter. When in reality the only difference is a few db of gain.

In all respect to the man, he's chatting a bit of breeze there. So called "tricks on the ear" are very real phenomena that should not be so easily be dismissed. They constitute a lot of what producing recorded music is all about. This is just a salesman trying to convince you that a defect is a mere "difference".

I've heard rumours that the sound engine in Live 6 is very much improved. We'll just have to wait and see if this is true. Even if it is true I doubt Ableton will have done enough.

oh right.. the main reason why i wanted to venture out of reason was to see if i could get better sound quality.. so not sure about ableton now (apart from getting VSTs) do you think the sound engine is better than reason?

and what do you mean by panning law? does this mean the effect of the stereo field is dumbed down or narrowed ? this seems to happen in reason (my knowledge of this kinda stuff is quite basic tho)

like i try tricks like detuning synths and having either panned to opposite sides, i cant get it to sound as fat as proffesional prodcuctions.. that sort of thing if u no what i mean

also, have you tried cakewalk Sonar etc? ive headrd sonar's good?
heard from a few pewople that ableton live is good for reason users, so would want to give it a shot

When you have a mono track and pan it left or right this has the effect of making it quiter than when it is centred. To compensate for this, the gain is reduced by x db when the (virtual) pan-pots are in the centre position n (where x is the panning law, -3db in most cases). It just makes things sound a bit fuller. Of course, once you know that Ableton doesn't have a panning law you can work around this to a certian extent - it's just a bit of a pain in the arse. You don't get the instant gratification of Cubase. With stereo tracks it's not so much an issue.

To be honest, it doesn't really matter which sequencer you use. What does matter is that you use what you have and learn to get the most out of it. If your synths don't sound as fat as you'd like take a step back and ask yourself why? Prhaps you need to layer other sounds to thicken things up a bit. Try using some FX (Compression is important here - which is why I started the compression thread). In any case - I think someone else has said this too - you can always use an audio editor like Wavelab or SoundForge to master your finished tracks regardless of sequencer.

I haven't really used Reason that much so can't really comment on it - I didn't like the fact that you are stuck inside the hermetically sealed Reasonworld - I do like my VSTs and ad hoc plugins. I have no experience with Sonar at all - I have heard good things though.

If you want to use VSTs just try out some demos of everything that supports it and go with whatever you're most comfortable with.

By the way, panning bass sounds hard left or right is not a good idea if you have an eye on releasing a tune on vinyl - panned bass frequencies can't be cut properly - they cause the needle to jump out of the grove.

Grey Son wrote:I used Reason for the last few years and got along pretty well. The last 6 mounths ive been using Ableton and for me its the ants pants.

arrr tis amazin canny wait for 6

also cubase is the bisness, usualy use cubase then rewire ableton, reason, rebirth (yea i know old skool, but those 303s!) ect through it. but im still learnin this whole prodution type thing.

I use Renoise alongside a handful of VSTs and Soundforge. It's a steep learning curve, but once you've got the basics down, the possibilities are endless.