Quote Originally Posted by RDR View Post
No.. i dont agree at all.

I know you're on the mac platform slav, which makes cubase not a very good choice. The coders at steinberg are PC centric and as such cubase on the mac runs slowly, more slowly than on the PC for sure. Still very reliable however.

Ableton in my opinion genuinely sux bigtime as a sequencing program, fantastic for live work which is where its core market is, and great for fun.

You're on the mac and therefore i would seriously consider Logic, its cheaper than any of the others, particularly if you get an education discount on it. its 50gb of samples, channel strip settings, plugins and effects are second to none by a country mile and its now a very well behaved program (it wasnt always thus in the past)

For recording its your mic/pre amp arrangement that gives the best results no matter what your recording program.

In your case i would hedge my bets...

Get Ableton Live (The cut down version so you can rewire it into something else and also get used to it) and buy Logic Express 8 or maybe the full version that way its cheap, you get the best of both worlds and you can upgrade later.

Logic Exp 8 is really cheap and will be more than good enough to record your guitars and do the mixdown and mastering afterwards.

Remember this is about WHAT you want to do, focus on the tools needed to do the job rather than the extended capability of the system.

Another option is to buy an Mbox from digidesign, this soundcard can be used quite well with logic and all the other programs as well...

The difference between VSTs and AU's isnt much. they're just different plugin formats. Ableton uses VST and AU, logic only uses AU, Cubase uses both if memory serves me. AU is what i would consider the more commercial plugin format with more free VSTs for the mac available.
yes, you are right about being on the mac platform.

let me fill in a bit of info...i've had cubase for years but i HATED it when i switched to mac (slow!). then os x came out and i needed to upgrade and decided not to. so i'm in a position where i can upgrade my license for about $150, get logic at the educational discount for $199 or pro tool at edu discount for $150.

also, i've got an m-audio fw410 from several years back, which isn't a terribly good interface but is serviceable.