Is Live your only DAW?

dmacintyre · Post by **dmacintyre** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 12:03 pm

Yes. I might export audio to Logic to mix down using it's EQ's, etc, but Live is a far more productive environment for me. And it's heading in the right direction for all anyone needs. There's probably an equilibrium of features that could be added before it would start to become counter-intuitive.

D.

homerjsim · Post by **homerjsim** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 12:58 pm

no longjohn, succinct but not quite correct (or maybe I wasn't clear)

<space> plays from last *select* point not last *start* point - so say you've just played from bar 9/beat 1 and decide you change the velocity of a midi note on bar 9/beat 3.5 inside a midi clip - I want to play back from bar 9/beat 1, not bar 9/beat 3.5 (which is what <space> would do in that case)

and I know about ctrl 4 for turning off the grid entirely - but then a) you can't see the grid anymore so you don't have the visual relationship and b) you have turn turn it back on (clunky when you're in the flow) - what I want is a momentary hotkey switch to bypass it without making it disappear entirely (exactly like <alt> works down one level in the midi clip).

Happy holidays everybody, btw.... peace (that sounds cornball but we could use some in 2007)

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 2:05 pm

After using Cubase for about 7-8 years, I recently switched to Live full on for all my production, and I have very few complaints.

I agree about the grid disappearing when snap is turned off, very annoying. Both in arrange and the clip views. the only thing Live needs to compete favorably with other DAWs in terms of efficiency, is customizeable key commands for all menu and editing functions. Pretty much all other DAWs have this. If Live adopted it as well, a lot fo our complaints on this front would disappear, as users would be allowed to set up lie the way THEY want, in terms of editing key strokes and speeding up often performed tasks,

longjohns · Post by **longjohns** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 3:29 pm

sorry i misunderstood you on the play position

are you guys using live 5? the grid now remains as dotted lines when it's off in live 6

Synthbuilder · Post by **Synthbuilder** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 7:32 pm

Live 5.2.2 only for me, but I will be soon moving on to Live 6. I have no need for any other host/sequencer, although I wish Live would merge clips on the same track in the arrange window like other DAWs.

Tarekith · Post by **Tarekith** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 7:56 pm

LOL I didn't evne notice the dotted lines, they're very faint. Oh well, better than nothing, thanks for pointing that out!

netchaiev · Post by **netchaiev** » Mon Dec 25, 2006 8:11 pm

YES. only one

mission · Post by **mission** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 1:22 am

ive used logic for about 6 years and over the last 4-5 months have i actually caved into trying this "live thing" that some of my peers were working with. i saw it in action one night at the studio and instantly had to try it out. gave up on it two weeks later out of frustration and somehow have made it back and am finally taking advantage of the workflow differences to do some more original stuff.

im undecided in which i like better as i can engineer much more effectively/quickly in logic but the workflow in live is so much fun... hmm... until i can learn enough to take full adv. of live then ill stick to using both when the right tool is called for.

grassnose · Post by **grassnose** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 3:54 am

glu · Post by **glu** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 4:08 am

Synthbuilder wrote: although I wish Live would merge clips on the same track in the arrange window like other DAWs.

consolidate doesn't work well enough in arranger? Or do you mean in session view?

glu · Post by **glu** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 4:12 am

Tarekith wrote: the only thing Live needs to compete favorably with other DAWs in terms of efficiency, is customizeable key commands for all menu and editing functions.

yes yes yes yes please! That way I don't have to spend time learning auto hotkeys (or buy the expensive xkey USB keyboards)

I really hope 6.X adds this feature.

mcconaghy · Post by **mcconaghy** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 5:53 am

Live shares the main DAW duties with Logic Pro in my studio, with ProTools being fired up on occasion. I have ProTools primarily for compatibility reasons, so most of my work is done in Logic or Live - often times both rewired together.

jamester · Post by **jamester** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 8:22 am

donnydonny wrote:I rewire Live to Cubase for pretty much every track I do with vocals. It's sweet for vocal editing/arranging. The main things that prevent me from only using Live are:

1. properly functioning group tracks
2. a folder track-like function...that will allow me to minimize the view on X amount of assigned tracks tracks

And that's about it. I constantly tell myself that for pretty much these 2 reasons alone, it's ridiculous that I'm not making the complete switch. Those 2 things are really that important to me, though, in order to have a steady workflow.

Starting to get sidetracked... but yea... that's my long short answer.

WORD and WORD!!!

These two things piss me off to no end! I'm also nervous about the dreaded "GUI slowdown" issue, though I have yet to do anything that big in Live yet. But until some of these basics get taken care of, I will continue to use Sonar or Reaper alongside Ableton.

headquest · Post by **headquest** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 9:51 am

Yes... and no!

YES... if I am producing a track using Live then for that track it will be essentially my only DAW. I do not find Live lacking, I do not rewire it into a *bigger* host, and I do not export to remix elsewhere. The main point here though is that I DO use Adobe Audition 2 alongside Live for sample editing, and I always use it for DIY mastering of tracks and burning them to CD, etc.

NO... because I have three other sequencing programmes in addition to Live. These might be used as alternatives to Live in the first place...

1. Reason 3 - which I use standalone and as a rewire slave within Ableton (etc)

2. SONAR 5 Producer - which I have had for around a year or so, and have now given up on. Basically I spent long hours learning how to use the thing, but never really *clicked* with it. So I have now retired it, pending de-installation. But a couple of its plugins are useful in other programmes, so it wasn't an entirely wasted investment!

3. Tracktion 2 - which is ideal for audio recording when working with students (I am a music teacher), or for collaberations, or with musicians who are not into technology at all and need something simple to use. However, at this stage it lacks the features I would need to use it for composing stuff myself. There's also a handful of annoying bugs in it, but hopefully they will get fixed in T3, which is being unveiled at the forthcoming January NAMM show.

For *all round* use, I would say that I like Ableton best of all the programs I listed.

headquest · Post by **headquest** » Tue Dec 26, 2006 9:51 am