2 Sequencers (was: Live Suite Dilemma)

[James R. Coplin]

For me, it's largely a matter of convenience.  If I had to pick one it would
be Cubase as for me, I just don't feel like I can take a track to the level
of polish I desire in Live.  That isn't to say it can't be done, just that
they way *I* think about my music, Live just doesn't do it for me.  However,
I do really like the immediacy of Live so as a sketch pad and a way to throw
some sounds around and see what works well together, I really like it.
Also, I should note, I don't play out.  Ever.  Period.  Isn't going to
happen ever again... maybe.

My laptop is older and not fast enough to do much more than the basics I
need for my life in academia (which is eating all my time and keeping me
from music these past couple of years).  My big system is in the studio.
Consequently, unless I wanted to run Cubase LE, Live works on my old laptop
for when I want to go to the coffee house and sketch out a track.  I find
that I like to be out in the public sphere when I'm sketching for some
reason instead of in the studio.  Once I actually start working a track, I
want the opposite.  That point, I switch over to Cubase, move the bits from
Live and begin doing the heavy bits.  This is also when many plugin parts
get redone to a "real" synths from my pile.  I'm fairly reliant on a large
quantity (probably overly many) of vintage analogs that aren't going to be
leaving the house and can't be replaced by plugins.  This accounts for part
of the disconnect - the desire to be portable and sketch outside the studio
and the impossibility of taking some key pieces out of the studio.

If I were to decide to play out, Live would immediately become more
important to me.  I wouldn't take Cubase out for a gig.  Not because of
reliability, but because it would be too much like taking a DAT with all the
background bits.  One of the main reasons I haven't played out, is that I
loathe watching people "play" their laptops.  If I go out, there has to be a
significant degree of performance.  While most of the offenders of rocking
the mouse have been using Live, I still think that ideally, Live is better
suited to more open ended performances than something like Cubase would be.
The user just needs to figure out how to make that bridge.

James R. Coplin

-----Original Message-----
From: music-bar-bounces at lists.music-bar.org
[mailto:music-bar-bounces at lists.music-bar.org] On Behalf Of Martin Naef
Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 6:01 AM
To: Music-bar
Subject: Re: 2 Sequencers (was: Live Suite Dilemma)

punkdISCO wrote:
> I think if a single sequencer does not do everything for you, maybe you 
> need another sequencer?  Sequencers are so complex and problematic, I 
> have no desire to double my troubles with two sequencers.

So which one would you take?

I feel sequencers only become problematic when you want them to do 
something they weren't designed for. Hence, using something like Live 
and Cubase does make a lot of sense, because although their feature set 
now overlaps massively, their original design goals were rather 
different. I'd rather use a few different tools for their individual 
strengths (and ignore their weak parts) than trying to shoehorn 
everything into one...

Martin

-- 
http://www.navisto.ch
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