Completely Overwhelmed - Got A Min?, Overwhelmed and seeking advice Options

[damon]

I'm completely overwhelmed. I'd love some help.

I'm an ex-DJ (1994-1996) turned tech worker turned wannabe musician. I've been persuing this new life since July last year, and have more or less been reading constantly, learning theory basics, learning about synthesis (I've spend most of my time on synthesis, pretty good now actually) and am now getting ready to build a home project studio of significance.

I have been saving hard, so I've got a good amount of money to spend.

Right now, I'm trying to use Logic. I bought the big box, and have an EMI 2|6 (not 6|2) which is fed by my synths which are plugged into a Mackie 1202 VLZ.

Here's the thing: Yes, the environment makes sense, yes, I can make Logic work, but it just doesn't sit with me. I just don't *like* using it. I've messed with ProTools Free (I love the workflow... audio to the right, midi snips to the left, very fast for me) and DP 3 at a pal's studio, and they both feel so much more natural to me. However, I keep reading how incredible Logic is, how nice the plugins are, how great the sampler is, etc.

So, the big question is: How important is it for me to learn to love Logic? I'm overwhelmed with the options out there, and would like to settle, but I just can't seem to enjoy myself with it.

In building out the project studio, I'm about to invest in a control surface, a big audio interface, etc, and the sequencer I choose affects this. With PT, I'd get a 002 in a second. With Logic it's a HALO or a Firestation or the Hammerfall and the Logic Control. With DP, I have no idea since apparantly the MOTU 828 drivers choke serious goatbutt in OS X atm.

So, please, does anyone have some wisdom/guidence/grand words from a grand poobah to sprinkle down to this wee blind lost scared wounded limping potentially logic-allergic sheep?

Thank you kindly. ;-]

[manexmachina]

I've been gliding between DP and Cubase SX / Nuendo sort of waiting to see what their next versions offer actually - so DP hasn't got me quite yet.

It's very easy to describe what I miss about ProTools, the audio editing was just perfect. It was a great paradigm - very fluid. The midi though, you can't get too ambitious. Most people don't. Most people spend $4,000 on their computer to play a video game and $2000 to write letters. But... you can definitely see the ceiling on the midi front in ProTools.

I like DP because it is so incredibly Mac oriented. I haven't warmed up to it's excessive use of windows. Know that generally I've found film composers prefer DP - or they have up until recently for certain.

Nuendo/Cubase - I like it because it's like Protools with a lot of good midi tools added in, it's that simple. They listened to what PT users wanted very carefully and tried to fill in that gap. What brought me to it was my wishing ProTools had good midi capabilities... and then someone said, "well, that's basically nuendo."

There really isn't a best choice. The only thing I know is that I ruled out Logic for the same reasons you experienced. Both DP and Nuendo/Cubase (btw I say it like that becuase I'm told the NEW nuendo looks/feels just like cubase sx and nuendo simply has more advanced audio editing tools)... but as I was saying, both will pretty much do the same thing... and when DP supports Audio Units, it should have VST vicariously thorugh a tool that has recently come out to convert plugs (don't have link handy).

Try to play with both for a couple hours if you can... make some music... see which one appeals to you... talk to people who use the tools...

honestly, either one would do the trick I bet.

BTW, the Mach5 I got to see at NAMM and it seemed really appealing as well, which, for some reason, made being homogenus with all MOTU a neat concept.