Anything better than Mixcraft for the price ?

[J Gretch]

I"m in the middle of a free trial period using Mixcraft...I found about it right here on this forum (;) Thanks Radar) I was wondering if anyone has used Mixcraft and or similar programs and might recomend something else to look at.

I have to say that Mixcraft is very impressive for the price,but I like to cover all the bases when it comes to spending mony.

[RADAR_Brian]

I think M-Audio has a program called Session that you can get for the same price. I don't know if there is a demo, but it does come with a USB input interface... I haven't bought Mixcraft yet either because I was wondering about Session.

Check Session out here (http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Session-main.html)

For the record, as far as I can tell the Mixcraft demo only timed out the ability to mix down to mp3 and cd. I am still able to make songs and do everything else. So, I've temporarily been recording my mixed song back into Audacity to convert it to mp3...

Hope that helps!

[ez-one]

I have cakewalk, its pretty much a pro level recording software from what I can tell, I have struggled learning how to use it, I don't know if its the learning curve is that steep or if its just me and my old age, but it gets pretty high ratings on the test sites

[J Gretch]

Thats good news that Acoustica doesn't render the demo completly useless after the expiration.It would be nice to keep the stuff that I've done on it so far.

And I know what you mean about Cakewalk EZ,it looks like the Photoshop of recording software.(not that there is anything wrong with that)

[Cobalt1254]

Ive given up on Cakewalk Guitar Tracks Pro 3. I had it working awhile back with my Audigy soundcard. Nothing special but it worked. Then I bought a FastTrack USB Pro and once I got the Fast Track up and running, Cakewalk also worked fine. I came back to it one day and it will no longer record. Ive tried everything but no luck. Today I got it to record, (at least the input level moved) but when I played back nothing. Audacity works great and Mixcraft works great. Actually for what I want to do, one person on guitar, with maybe 3 tracks, it's too much so im giving up on it. I liked the Mixcraft demo but I would like to also find out more about Sessions because I have the Fast Track Pro but there is no demo. I may buy the Mixcraft although Amazon has a rebate form for sessions, it's $20. You actually could get it for $29 which is not bad. Anyway, if you find out anymore about sessions, please post. Thanks.

[RADAR_Brian]

I noticed at Best Buy they have mics and a few other items that actually come with SESSIONS... so there is an option too.. if they had mixcraft locally I would probably already have picked it up.

As far as Mixcraft vs. Sessions go, the only big difference I can see (haven't had a hands on with Sessions) is that Sessions comes with a ton more loops and stuff.

Still, I'm like you.. hesitant to buy until I could see it in action first hand.

[Cobalt1254]

My Best Buy had the Sessions package that comes with a M Audio USB Fasttrack. Some come with a USB microphone. I want just the software as I already have the Fast Track Pro. I think you are correct in that Sessions comes with over 3 gigs of loops and such. I believe you can download Mixcraft and then just buy the key for it. Im probably going to get Sessions from Amazon where it is 29 dollars after rebate. Ive only tried recording a few things but I notice that it sounds much better when you mic the amp and not just record your guitar straight in. I really know nothing about home recording but Ive heard there is a Dummy book about home recording for musicians that is really really helpful. There are a lot of terms I always hear but do not know what they really mean. From what I read about the book it is really good for dummies like me. Good luck to you and let us know if you get Sessions.

[Raytonium]

I don't know how this compares to Mixcraft or others, but it states that it's free:
http://www.trakax.com/software/pc/

[RADAR_Brian]

Wow.. Raytonium.. nice find.. I'm gonna check it out later tonight.. so what's their angle? I guess they make money on the loops?

[Raytonium]

Wow.. Raytonium.. nice find.. I'm gonna check it out later tonight.. so what's their angle? I guess they make money on the loops?

I don't know much about it. I just saw it the other day and still have to check it out. Let us know what you think.

[RADAR_Brian]

Well, I've only messed with it in my classroom after school for a short while and it is not bad... but I would take Mixcraft over it anyday... although this is free and it does video editing also...

I'll do some more testing tonight..

[J Gretch]

What's up guys,

Thought I would touch base and let yall know that I did purchace Mixcraft 3
and so far it's working out great.I'm going to check out that program that Raytonium came up with out of curiosity, but I think that Mixcraft will be hard to beat...And the support is good too,I had a hardware issue and they were realy quick to get me straightened out.

Thanks again Radar... And stay on the cutting edge

[RADAR_Brian]

Did you purchase it online as in they just sent you a registration code? I wish there were more loops that came with it.

Anyone have a good site that has free loops archived? Like bass and drumlines?

[J Gretch]

[QUOTE=RADAR_Brian;47029]Did you purchase it online as in they just sent you a registration code? QUOTE]

Yea they were very profesional...They even helped me with a problem transferring files from one computer to another...they seem to be in it for the average working joe trying to lay down a few tracks...?

[RADAR_Brian]

There is a boxed version as well I think.. I wonder if you can get a hardcopy of the software after you get the code? hmm....

[J Gretch]

There is a boxed version as well I think.. I wonder if you can get a hardcopy of the software after you get the code? hmm....

I'm pretty sure that option is there, but they already have ver.4 in the pipeline so you would be upgrading pretty soon anyway.That's another thing that I feel good about...it looks like the developers are very active in keeping everything up to date and working out any bugs.

[RADAR_Brian]

Do you get to upgrade to 4.0 for free? Sorry to keep drilling you on it hehe

[RADAR_Brian]

Hey speaking of Mixcraft 4... I was looking it up and ran across the beta testing page from acoustica.... you can download the beta of Mixcraft 4 and give it a try as well... I just downloaded it but have not installed yet...

Get it here http://beta.acoustica.com/

[J Gretch]

That's cool ... I didn't realize that 4 was in BETA already.I just hope that they don't mess around and turn it into a resource hog.Ver 3 runs good on my current setup.

[Liquidmantis]

Check out Reaper (http://reaper.fm/) (that's a link). It's an up and coming awesome DAW written by the original Winamp developer. It has an uncrippled, non-timelimited trial and is really cheap to register.

[J Gretch]

Thank's Liquidmantis...I will be checking this out when I get some free time.On the surface it looks very interesting. I apreciate the link.

[RADAR_Brian]

I was impressed with Reaper.. especially considering the file size... I still prefer Mixcraft though.. but could be just because that is what I'm used to.

I was unable to install the Mixcraft 4 beta.. not sure why it failed...

anyone else able to?

[THUMPLUMP]

Downloaded Reaper yesterday. All I can say is WOW!!! SOOOO much stuff!!! It will take time to figure it all out, if ever. I have been using Pro Tools Free and I really like it. Now, what will I do? Decisions. Decisions.

[Liquidmantis]

Man, I'm going to sound like a marketing shill...

If you guys checking out Reaper have any questions, you should check out the forum there. It has some great people and it's really active. I've still only tinkered with Reaper but when I've had any issues or questions a quick search on their forum has turned up help and usually step by step guides.

[JeremyT]

ANYBODY SOLVED THE MIXCRAFT VS. SESSIONS Battle? Im about to pull the trigger on Sessions or Mixcraft.

[RADAR_Brian]

I still have never worked with Sessions... have you worked with the demo of Mixcraft at all?

[JeremyT]

Yes and I Looooved the demo... Just wasnt sure as to whether sessions was any better? Comparing screenshots they look like the same program except Mixcraft has better graphic design and Sessions has more Loops.

[JeremyT]

Anyone tried a program called "Reason"?

[ftwguitar]

Has anybody tried out Session yet? I've used Mixcraft4 quite a bit and love it. However, I have pretty huge latency problems. I am wondering if Session beats this. Or Reaper for that matter.

[RADAR_Brian]

Are you using ASIO drivers? It will cure the latency problem. Under FILE/PREFERENCES look and see if you can click the ASIO drivers. You may have to download some for your specific soundcard. Having said that, having a good soundcard is also helpful.