I've been opening Kontakt as a standalone and using a multi, and sometimes I would have liked to record the midi to what I was playing, without messing with my flow. I mean when I'm improvising generating ideas.

I don't mean on specific works, which I know, won't necessarily be lost forever, given re-writes for me tend to be better. What can I use to always have open with Kontakt or have Kontakt open in (and then other vstis) such that I can have the program just constantly recording?

There's something about Cubase and PT feeling oppressive to me. I've considered a recorder off the soundcard, but if I can constantly capture the midi that would be better.

Reaper seems like it's so small it may be good, and Idc about whacky render issues...it's just for recording improvisation ideas.

What do you suggest?

 

Reaper is really lite on resources. One couldn't complain. What's for the render to file, I've never used it. Bounce to disk option produces a much better result. It gives me what I hear inside the DAW.

 

reaper I think from what I have heard from most reviews,
Fl studio would be just as good cos it seems to play nice with native instrument plugins

 

I`d say Reaper, or Cubase 8.5.

 

Cool Edit Pro As said above Reaper without a doubt imho. Tried just about all & it comes out ahead.
Sure it might not have the sound engine of Samplitude but it real light on resources. Plus the midi stuff u can do with it is huge!
I've not personally experienced many rendering issues.
Nothing comes remotely close to it for the price. Is adaptable and can be modeled to suit your exact needs.
Depends what sort of stuff you do but for me it's way ahead in those terms.
Midi only sends data etc so look into optimizing Kontakt itself in how in how it sends midi and Buffer sizes for Audio.

For me tho Reaper easily ahead CPU usage wise in general terms

 

REAPER https://audiosex.pro/threads/best-daw-for-cpu-performance-question.23361/

 

I use Kontakt within FL to noodle around and if I like anything I just dump the MIDI buffer - voila, new pattern with the last few minutes MIDI in it.

It doesn't use much resources.

 

Ok, ty guys for the input.

@Rhodes I'm not sure if my feelings of unease and quicksandiness using Cubase and PT is because of my lack of time on the software, but so far they feel like going grocery shopping in a Lamborghini. I hate potholes... On the other hand, if I had a workstation that wouldn't roast my nuts and have to use my laptop more often, maybe I wouldn't have a problem...

@G String I've used FL years and years ago when it was just a drum machine and I think I'm holding that against it. (Years and years ago is more than a decade...I'm pretty sure I wasn't allowed to do any of this when I was married and I was married 14 years...) I know that FL has developed into a serious DAW...

@junh1024 whoops missed that. Will check it out.
Oh crap, the reason why I liked Cubase for my midi work, is because it's better at midi work. Fk me. I'll mix in PT, doodle in Reaper and record midi in Cubase. I'm just one hundred plugins too deep to learn FL right now...

I will try Reaper for now, as I twittle away finding my voice.

 

Last edited: May 14, 2016

Cubase is very efficient in my opinion; prolly You need just to spend a few more days with some tutorials.

Good luck!

 

Aax pro tools unrivaled

 

not really... if You compare PT to Reaper and Cubase; it takes an insane amount or resources.

Using ASIO drivers, I can load 3 times more plugins in Cubase and Reaper than in Pro Tools.
- I like Pro Tools, but it is by no means light on sys resources.

 

I think the experience strongly depends on system hardware,
not only power but also optimized code for certain hardware.

not that this is relevant to Op's question, but we should be less biased against pro-tools I think

 

Reaper is not even my primary DAW, but I must agree that it's the most efficient DAW around. It's incredibly light.

 

Well, after watching a tutorial about how to use Reaper all morning, fighting not to go to sleep cause I hate details like using a menu to select a group of tracks cause it's easier, I loaded it up and watched it scan thru all my plugins for an hour (ok, like 5 mins). Then next time it loaded it though, shutting off the virtual machine running mode I have because I don't like my computer getting bricked, like PT, it just loaded up fast. So, so far, so good.

I think I may have to use an audio recorder though, because surprisingly I came across this problem:

• I decided I'll turn on the record-record-tape monitor mode after I play around and think I hear something nice.
• I'm twiddling around with a simple bass line, and a melody that immediately hears a harmony; because I'm in a DAW, I look at the midi I just made...
• ...I fix it up a little, cause I'm either getting better modifying midi now and it seems way easier and faster, or Reaper's stealing workflow from PT and Cubase is familiar.
• ...then I think, hmmm, I could add another instrument and another.
• ...then I'm replaying it and thinking I should break up the bass and melody/counterpoint cause the various instruments lend themselves better to their specific parts.

Then I think, wtf am I doing, I'm supposed to be just doodling!

So maybe I should be just using an audio recorder, so I don't get mixed up in mixing up tracks? OR This is a useful process for making things and just brainstorming lots of ideas is LESS effective in the end?

I'm confused about the process of finding your musical voice, which I thought was first creating a "library of sounds and phrases," and composition/songwriting, which is more structured like your in the DAW working. Which becomes "natural" only because of the thousands of hours of improvisation and actual work composing. Even with driving, the car only becomes an extension of you after many many many hours of driving. This is where I want to eventually be with music and it's creation tools...

So, how does brainstorming tunes relate to songwriting, if at the time you don't sit down necessarily for a project deadline and are such a novice creating music that you want to go from finger painting and crayons, to colored pencils, someday hoping you can write with actual paints?

What am I missing? What's the best way to get there?
-----------------------------------------------

@Kwissbeats I'm just surprised my relatively powerful laptop (yes I know that's funny) seems to be either not up to the job or I'm missing something. I know Macs that I see in the tutorials I watch for mixing and mastering at least are not as powerful as my PC laptop, except potentially the fatal 8gb instead of 16gb RAM difference. Macs don't usually have gpus default, and PCs do. It can run Maya and 3DS Max without a problem, so I'm scratching my head really. What is the optimum requirements like they give for computer games nowadays, not minimum requirements for Cubase and PT to run smoothly? I'm so green with the programs I can't truly tell if it's the hardware, the software or my brainware that is causing the problem at the time...but I know loading up a project and getting maximum noise on a channel or two for no reason is complete bullst. That happens in cubase when I have more than 20 tracks, 5 Instrument tracks, 4 send FX and light processing on tracks, like eq, and compression (ok and sometimes make up eq after compression).

 

Bidule -not a daw, it's a host/vst vsti loader which you can run stand alone or in daws- in stand alone has my favorite go to instruments (kontakt, zebra2 and synthmaster, xils X2 lately) a midi recorder and a looper. If I get ideas I record them and then I can either open directly Reaper in rewire (samplitude cannot be slave), or launch samplitude and insert the bidule I just saved as a vsti. For ressources and messing with ideas I havn't found better, and it's faster to setup than a daw.
I never loose an idea any more, I had the same issue as you.
For the creative part and finding your musical voice, make music eveyday, explore your ideas and you will find your process pretty quick, every one has their own way to bring creativity. It's through forging that you become a blacksmith as we say in France (c'est en forgeant qu'on devient forgeron)

 

I use Reaper and have no render issues. Works great on low powered machines also. I use bloxexpander for vst host only, when I need that.

 

Great statement !

No magic pill there, and no one can tell You what is the right way to do it; You have to try as much as You can, and make Your own way.

 

@Talmi Ok, ty, I'll try that too but, Bidule's graphic of 30 nodes isn't a selling point to me (I will suspend disbelief and just do it). It looks like Reaktor or Maya's shader networks. It would also blow if learning how to use rewire to have DAWs talk is complicated...I never used it yet...and what's a midi recorder or "just" a loop machine? I still think FL is just a loop machine, but the fk'r is a whole DAW now!

@Rhodes Actually, I'm asking for other ppls' process because sometimes, e.g., like sex (well for men today, and King's concubines in the past), you may not use the same techniques in the same way or in the same order but, having some things described or shown to you that you haven't thought of yet, is very helpful. (well, except for the complaints like "I'm dissolving into you" "I'm losing myself" bs as they run away scared...but that part shouldn't be a problem for me with music.)

You can't say there's no technique with drawing with pencils, or playing a guitar and such, because it's true thru induction some ppl get lucky and fall into things but, the trained artist is always better (with the same starting talent level).

 

@jeffglobal
of course it is helpful having some things described or shown to you, and You should assimilate as much as You can from others experiences; but if You want to stand out, You have to put Your signature on Your music.

I agree that it is not easy to do (I haven`t done it myself... I`m playing others music on hotels, ships, and it is not an easy way to make a living; it would be much easier if I had put my sig. on my music, and let others play my music; but obviously the man in charge, up there, must have other plans for me )

You can go through Your life copying others; no problem with that. But it is much easier if You become a "master blacksmith" rather than a ordinary blacksmith, if You understand what I mean

 

@Rhodes Ok, I hear you but I think we're talking in cross purposes. When I ask about other ppls' ways of doing things, I mean to at least have a tool chest populated with things that I may use or not, in that way or not, making my version of it or not. Everyone's interpretation of even the same thing can be different. If the average person knew how flawed eye witnesses were, our legal system work fail. Ppl see what they are, not what is there, is an old old saying, but it colors all.

On the other hand, playing "other ppls'" music in live performances like you do is not insignificant. There's something inspirational to others seeing someone that has talent play. I was "punished" at work and had to sit at the EMS station all day, so I practiced guitar at least 6 of those hrs each day. In 8 months, when the Medics came in to eat lunch or relax, sometimes they never spoke when they normally would, just because I was playing some nice sounding Baroque piece*. Don't sell yourself short.

-------------------------------
*That was after 4 months before they said they may have to kill me to shut off that ugly playing. I told them what I was trying to do was hard...but I think they were only half joking

 

Last edited: May 14, 2016