Opinions needed: Cubase, Logic, or Protools

kilowatt

kilowatt

mach-o mach-o man
So, just purchased a Delta 1010 (rack mounted ten TRS input, ten TRS output, 96khz) to go with my Foxtex 812 (twelve channel, eight bus mixer).

And now, as you may have guessed, I am looking for the software portion.

Under Mac OS X, which of these programs runs the smoothest, and provides the greatest bang for the buck?

Steinberg's Cubase, Digidesign's ProTools, or eMagic's Logic?

Also, as many of you know, these all have various 'editions' avaliable, for example, Cubase LS, and Logic 5 gold.

I'm looking to spend $300-$500 on the software, and I don't really have that much money, so I want to get the maximum bang for the buck. What is the photoshop of audio editing/multitrack recording, for Mac OS X?

I'm hoping someone here can offer some insight, because I have never truely 'gone digital', and I don't know the various differences between the programs.

Your thoughts for a penny?
 
Personally I've only used Cubase SX, but it's a very good program. Fast and easy to use. I've heard Logic is really messy, and much more expensive. More functions, though.
(moving this to system/software, as there wasn't much attention to get in Digital Canvas)
 
Pro Tools is probably the most expensive of the three, but it is the industry standard when it comes to Post Audio. Music may be another conversation.
my 1 cent
Best Regards
Andy Potvin
 
Thanks for moving the thread, ksv. And thanks for your input, Andy.

I'm setting my max spending limit at $500.

Browsing the harmony central forums, general opinion is the plugins bundled with Cubase are junk compared with Logic.

That's really all I have to go on at the moment.

I obviously need more info. I think the local Guitar Center has it all installed on a G4.....
 
Go with Logic 5 Platinum (soon to be v6). We used Cubase SX since it came out for Mac OS X and it is full of bugs (MIDI stopping, Score Editing Crashing, lots of other crashes too). We were forced to buy Logic to get work done... and it hasn't crashed once and the exact same MIDI equipment and Interfaces haven't failed since.

BTW, we've used Cubase since Atari ST days and really didn't want to switch but so many Cubase users were getting errors and Apple bough EMagic so it was the way to go... it is truly excellent. And all versions of Cubase have crashed in the past so we should have switched a long time ago. Loyalty eh!

We use Korg Triton Rack, Trinity ProX keyboard, TR Rack and MIDISport 2X Interface and AudioMedia III audio card (awaiting OS X Driver, should be soon) and Internal Apple Audio in the meantime.

Good luck. Logic also comes in lesser flavours than the Platinum. It has Gold, Silver and Platinum. Check out http://www.emagic.de/english/

Logic isn't any harder to use than Cubase. I do like the Cubase SX interface over Logics at the moment but it is growing and since Logic works that's all we want! Plugins are great too. And automation is the best.
 
Thanks aled, thats the sort of 'heads up' I was looking for. I had heard from some other places that Logic was a more advanced program, but I didn't know to what degree.

Apple's purchase of emagic is a definate plus, too.

It looks like ProTools only works with ProTools hardware (digidesign's stuff). So, I'll probably grab the free version for simple two-track editing.

Now, which version of Logic?

emagic Logic Audio Platinum 5 is about $699.
emagic Logic Audio 5 Gold is $499

$499 sounds good :) Does anyone know the major differences between these editions? $699 is more than I had in mind to spend - but if its really worth it, and what I want/need, I'll go for it.
 
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