The most powerful sequencer

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Mon Jan 14, 2002 5:00 am

Prepare for laughs as I reveal my darkest secret: the most powerful sequencer for me is Cubasis v1.3 released in 1995. Yep, the one with a Windows 3.1 feel.

I pulled out my old 3.5-inch disk, installed in 30 seconds, hooked up the modules in Pulsar, selected Pulsar1 in Cubasis and off we go. When I want audio I sample to Soundforge or just record straight into Acid.

I usually live in Acid 3.0, so a hugely powerful sequencer isn't too important to me. Which is why I like Cubasis: it's simple. Really simple. It sequences midi notes, sends and receives midi clock, and..... well that's about it. It's alsmot impossible to get into a tangle because there ain't enough there to get tangled in.

I'd much rather get tangled in Pulsar.

Love it.

So am I a:
- ridiculous luddite
- using tools appropriate to the job
- the only cubasis 1.3 user in the cosmos
- all of the above

paulrmartin · Post by **paulrmartin** » Mon Jan 14, 2002 6:55 am

Hey! Who are we to argue if you get RESULTS?

I still do my MIDI sequencing on a Roland MC-50...

samplaire · Post by **samplaire** » Mon Jan 14, 2002 7:30 am

I would like to use my Logic Audio Discovery 3.014 (1997) but due to my careless operations (and one theft) I lost all my authorizations and they at Emagic don't understand it or just ignore my polite e-mails so can't get back to it (as I stated somewhere here I don't like the complicated routings in Logic Silver/Gold and Logic Fun is a bit too simple). I would appreciate also ProTools free as the audio sequencer (in sync with Logic Discovery) but we Mac users can't use Pulsar standard audio drivers due to their malfunction (or rather no function).

My combination is: Logic Discovery + ProTools free

sandrob · Post by **sandrob** » Mon Jan 14, 2002 9:01 am

ha, ha!!
anybody knows is it possible to add 2 pulsar cards in atari-1024st!?

sandro

alfonso · Post by **alfonso** » Mon Jan 14, 2002 12:34 pm

yes: get a very low budget old pc (pIII 450) and use it just to open the pulsar environment, then you hook the atari to the midi ports of the first card, your keyboard to the second card, route everything in pulsar and....voilà.

seriously, if i had something like nuendo or samplitude, i could hook that way my old st1040, for a rock solid and simple midi sequencing......
cheers, alfonso

samplaire · Post by **samplaire** » Mon Jan 14, 2002 2:06 pm

oh yeah! Rock Solid Midi timing... That's a nightmare for me can't rid of it without any investment, I know. Even the cheapest one like buying the Midex 3 interface would force me to upgrade to Cubase 5.1 (I use 4.1r2 succesfuly)

Air_PoLLo · Post by **Air_PoLLo** » Mon Jan 14, 2002 2:59 pm

Heh, I used atari too, man I loved it. I'm really sad I'm stuck with mac and pulsar (trying to find a good way to use it with protools) . back in those days u only thought about making the music, not all the fun gadgets and knobs to turn in the puter. Oh well , development suxs. HEhe
Btw, hrrmm.. did I mention I posted a unfinished track? check it out. Would be cool to have some feedback. Ciao.

samplaire · Post by **samplaire** » Mon Jan 14, 2002 3:23 pm

I love Atari, too. But for midi only.
Previously at my work we had Atari Falcons with Cubase audio (3 or so) and Yamaha CBX D5. It was a nightmare to reproduce the same audio levels and to make a fade in/out!!!!!!!!!

Atari+MIDI=yes, please
Atari+audio=oh, no, please

sandrob · Post by **sandrob** » Tue Jan 15, 2002 12:43 am

i use pc for 1.5 year and i "cried" for good-old atari till the cubase update (5-6 mounts ago) when steinberg change looks of editors.
finaly drum map, grid and key editor looks like atari's 15 years before

but i still have problems with cubase's logical editor. hm, my english is not so good to explain details, but for one operation i must 3 times go in and out of logical editor - anybody else

logical in atari was much cleaver

sandro
btw. the best croatian producent who wins award for production still work with atari and steinber midex+ midi expander and sync

samplaire · Post by **samplaire** » Tue Jan 15, 2002 2:41 am

There are many musicians/producers use old gear successfuly: look at Fatboy Slim and his Akais 950, dusted Ataris and so on (you can look at his studio on the cover of 'You've come a long...' album. There is a great interview with him in Future Music 106 issue where he discoovers his secrets. He says that having much money leads him not to buy new equipment but to visit second hand shops and look for Atari STs to have some in backup (for parts or just to replace one if she's dead)

RedSun · Post by **RedSun** » Tue Jan 15, 2002 4:25 pm

This prooves one thing: The most powerfull tool is not the latest or most expensive thing. It's the one you're comfortable working with.

So what if software X has the best Y and Z feature? If is doesn't integrate well in your usual workflow, you have to stop being creative all the time just to make it work for you.

As for my old gear? I still use my old TX81Z and PF2000(digital piano with a DX-7II core, great midi controler) a lot. I always say that you should never throw away your old gear. There will always be new ways to use them. Take my TX81Z for example: It's a grungy 4 operator FM synth but, pass this through a Modular 2 filter bank and you get instant fun!

RedSun .:.

at0m · Post by **at0m** » Tue Jan 15, 2002 10:04 pm

yer right, that's what it's all about. Daftpunk has made 'Homework' with only very limited sounds (ie. listen to their drums) yet made a revolutionary cd. they work with overaged gear, like one synth, a sampler and some fx. The same goes for MotorBass and some other artists.

It's very important to choose your setup and everything that's part of it. Then, work with that setup for a couple of years, get to know it inside out. A guitar player plays a couple of guitars, and might have one favorite.

On Digita Audio Workstations (DAW) nowadays, possibilities are endless. Very good for experience, but also very confusing. You might know what you're doing, but that's still lightyears away from 'becoming one with your instrument'

once i get my current setup up and running 100% and have a bunch of presets I can throw in whenever I feel like, I might not update my system again. That's not exactly what b.i.g. multinationals selling gear wanna hear, but that's how to get the most out of your system. Creatively.

the atom.

maket · Post by **maket** » Wed Jan 16, 2002 12:17 am

Absolutely agree with Atomic!
For one day you need stop with getting gear and get most from them

Spirit · Post by **Spirit** » Wed Jan 16, 2002 2:07 am

Sometimes it's like three or four hobbies:

- checking the specs on new gear, looking at the options, buying and tweaking
- configuring all your goodies so they're all arranged just how you like them
- programming sounds and sampling
- actually composing music