Just Bought A Macbook... Options

[darcyb62]

I've been debating for a while on whether or not I should jump ship on the PC platform> I went shopping on the weekend and ended up with a 2 gHz MacBook. I was looking on the Windows side but I wasn't prepared to go the Vista route and there wasn't a whole heck of a lot of hardware left with XP preloaded, so I decided to bite the bullet and go Mac.

Now I need to decide what to do on the DAW side. With Windows I had been using Tracktion but as of late I had doing more and more with a product called Podium. Boot camp will keep me going for a while here but I do want to make a full transition to the Mac.

I don't want to spend a whole lot of money on this so I am looking at the following:

Tracktion 3 Ultimate Bundle
Logic Express
Cubase Studio 4

I've looked at Ableton Live on the Windows side and could never get into so I'm not considering it. Am I overlooking anything?

It's also looking like I have to abandon my favorite drum program (Jamstix) so I am curious as to what some lower cost options might be in this area.

I appreciate any feedback you might have...

Darcy

[apachateca]

congratulations- you'll love it...it'll take a bit to get used to mac- macs come with garageband which is just great for laying down stuff quick- good for writing ideas and fleshing them out later on- logic is good, and you can import all your garageband songs and it will be nice and neat...

[gdoubleyou]

Good choice of laptop, be aware that Mac version of cubase4 is not quite ready for primetime. the situation is even worse if you are on an Intel Mac.

Check out Cubase.net for details.

I recently upgraded from Logic Express to Logic Pro. Also MOTU has a crossgrade offer on Digital Performer for $395.

Live is also worth a look.

[jimdubpram]

re. drum software. Avoid EZ drummer as it doesn't work well on mac. Problems recording midi .ie you have to open a new track for every bit of new recording, and it will only open into a woodwind track which you then have to change. Way too fiddly!

[darcyb62]

I appreciate the feedback so far. I am leaning towards Logic Express and maybe down the road move to Logic Pro. And thanks for the warning on EZ Drummer.... It was on my list. Anybody try Addictive Drums? That looks promising.

[gdoubleyou]

I saw a demonstration of Drum Core, by one of the developers.

It's a little different animal, it's not a plugin, but a standalone app that communicates via ReWire.

It's collection of drum performances by several different drummers in the form of audio and midi.

The audio and midi segments can be dragged and dropped into the Arrange window.

What makes it really interesting is how the treated the patterns at different tempos. Patterns are time streatched over a tempo range where the sound remains realistic, as the tempo gets to higher range a pattern is inserted that was recorded at higher tempo.

Drumsets are completely editable and you can import your own samples, or mix and match elements from the different drummers kits.

Check out the demo, they also have a free Drum core LT, that can load the various drummer packs.
They are constanly releasing new drummer packs.

http://www.drumcore.com

[deaconblue]

Drum Core is amazing. As is Addictive Drums. I opted for the latter and have not been dissappointed.

Getting a good drum sound and a solid groove is what takes up the lionshare of my time when building a track without a live drummer. Either of these two apps are killer.

peace.