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Best DAW/Sequencer for Film/Video Scoring


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Hello--

 

I'm looking for opinions on the best PC-based DAW or Sequencer as far as ease of use, features, etc are concerned, specifically in the area of scoring to (digitized). Obviously, all the big boyz can do this-- but who does it best. FWIW, I've been doing some limited work with Cubase SE, and I'm NOT real enamored of it. Also looking for:

 

A. Which one has the best/most seamless Rewire implementation. I use Reason quite a bit...

B. Which one implements tempo maps best?

 

I also use Acid w/ Reason from time to time, and that doesn't work badly, but I'm looking for something a bit more MIDI-intensive.

 

Maybe the choice comes down to Cubase SX or Sonar 3. Which one would you use, and why? Thanks in advance for the help, forumites!

Biggus

"You can't enjoy yourself unless you're having fun."
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Im a Sonar user and find it to be very well implemented. I dont use a lot of Rewire expect with Project 5, but it seems fine from what I can tell. Another plus with Sonar is that there is no dongle or any other type of hardcore copy protection. Ive always found Cubase to be temperamental and with more of an emphasis of pretty colors than actual functionality. Sonar is simple and very easy to get up and running. There is also a great forum for Sonar over at Cakewalks website that is a nice resource. You might want to check it out before purchasing as well as the demo version.
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Nuendo has all of Cubase's features plus more for post work, so I would choose Nuendo over Cubase. ReWire always seemed fine to me with Nuendo, but I haven't used it for a while.

 

Sonar 3 is what I am using, but not for scoring to video, yet, but S3 does have that functionality. It has fabulous ReWire implementation: you just open Reason through S3's rack and it creates all the tracks you need in the arrange page as it starts Reason, effectively and seamlessly letting you use Reason as a plugin instrument.

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Logic is written for professional use and there are a lot of settings and features that enhance your professional scoring work

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Waiting for the Nuclear Fusion. More energy, less damage.

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Originally posted by 1:

Logic is written for professional use and there are a lot of settings and features that enhance your professional scoring work

Again, Mac only. And, from my experience, it has the worst ReWire implementation so far.

 

Sonar and Nuendo (and ProTools LE with an 002 or something...) are written for professionals, have fine ReWire implementation, and each could serve well.

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I use Sonar, still using version Sonar 2XL (I have not upgraded yet, but soon). I'm no expert on film scoring, but I have dabbled, and I can't imagine that you would need anything else.
"You're either WITH me, or you're AGIN' Me!" (Yosemite Sam)
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Originally posted by Gulliver:

"big boyz" use logic.

Yeah, a lot of the "big boyz" use logic but doesn't mean it's better.

 

Biggus... since you're already familiar with Cubase, my suggestion would be to go with SX or Nuendo. It has better rewire implementation IMO. As for tempo maps, the time warp function is handy.

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Thanks for the input thus far guys and gals.... Now, onto ideas for financing this... :D

 

I'm somewhat intrigued by the idea of Nuendo, but it may be overkill for what I will need it for-- not planning on doing any post, or surround quite yet. Also, I'm using a Firewire 410, any thoughts on DAWs with this?

"You can't enjoy yourself unless you're having fun."
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Originally posted by zeronyne:

Nuendo has ALL the MIDI features of Cubase? Are we positive of this?

Yes. Its identical.

Here is a PDF that shows the differences between the two products.

 

ftp://ftp.pinnaclesys.com/Steinberg/download/Documents/Cubase_SX_2/English/Differences_between_Cubase_SX_and_Nuendo.pdf

-Mike Martin

 

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Sonar works great for scoring.

 

Here's a plus that you will not find in Nuendo: ACID loop support and MIDI groove clips. This is great for layoing down quick beds of tracks for your score that you can later flesh out with additional parts. The nice thing about Sonar's loop implementation is that the loops continuously follow the tempo map, so you can accellerate or decellerate parts to stay perfectly matched to the action you are scoring to.

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Originally posted by C.Jader:

Here's a plus that you will not find in Nuendo: ACID loop support and MIDI groove clips. This is great for layoing down quick beds of tracks for your score that you can later flesh out with additional parts. The nice thing about Sonar's loop implementation is that the loops continuously follow the tempo map, so you can accellerate or decellerate parts to stay perfectly matched to the action you are scoring to.

True, Sonar has great Acid file support, but you can pretty much do the same thing in Nuendo/SX by using Hitpoints.

I heard a rumor that Acid file support or Acid-like features are in the works for the next versions of Nuendo or SX. Like I said, rumors!

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