Should I be using Project 5 like Abelton Live?

[DM]

I just don't get PROJECT 5. I had it since XMAS and have not really been able to use it to make anything inspiring, so I just leave it out.

I know how to use it, but don't really want to apply CPU to running a plug-in so big on a 2.8G single processor - and it just doesn't inspire me to create. I don't run ABELTON LIVE and am more concerned about uni than upgrading.

SONAR suits my purposes on a PC and I'm always learning new things - especially about monitors and compression, but creatively I like to go with the flow and for me SONAR is the vehicle, but I just think I could get something more in the way of timestretching and groove-templates if I knew how, with PROJECT 5.

Guess I should look up some tutorials, because a lot of the mainstream and hard-copy material seems dedicated to these other products and that's frustrating because I'm not going to pirate my DAW (mainly because I wouldn't want to risk it being unstable).

I tend to find the CAKEWALK TUTORIALS kind of daggy to be honest, but I don't let that get in the way because my mates and I rock-out on their software a lot (at least we think so!).

Cheers.

[Escape Velocity]

DM,

My advice would be to start collecting cover disks from music tech mags and build up a sample library. Load some of these up into Project 5 and start messing about with mixing and matching them, then maybe adding a live vocal or some instrument tracks over the top. I'm fairly sure that's the general workflow Project 5 was built to support.

That said, if you have Sonar 5 or later, don't bother wasting your time in Project 5. Project's supposed to be a sketch-pad - high level arrangements, etc. You can do everything in Sonar that's possible in Project but you can then take things to a more polished level using Sonar's more advanced audio/midi editing capabilities.

If you want to experiment with a different approach to workflow, then I'd recommend taking a look at Reason or Ableton Live. I recently purchased Reason 4.0 and it's possible to take a very different approach to sketching out a track using loops and repetitive synth sequences. Reason's workflow is less structured, more.. organic... than Sonar, which is an excellent tool for doing things in a very precise and tightly controlled manner. I think it's possible to do some fairly random things very quickly in Reason that still sound fairly musical. Of course, I can also Rewire Reason into Sonar 7 either as an audio source or as an external effects processor (and the Reason Rack approach is a great tool for this).

Have you been to the Cakewalk YouTube site and looked at the tutorials there? Are these the tutorials you've described as "daggy"? I'll admit, they're not groundshakers, but I found them to be a useful entry point into playing around with the tool a bit more.

Cheers


Jez