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A digital audio sequencer is the core of almost every computer-based recording studio. More than any other type of software, sequencers have made the personal-studio revolution possible.
Musicians everywhere can record their music using the same techniques and many of the same tools as top professionals. For the first time in history, if your recordings are disappointing, you can no longer blame your equipment. Although top-shelf (and top-dollar) programs such as Pro Tools, Digital Performer, Cubase SX, and Sonar Professional Edition can handle anything that multitrack recording software can, many less expensive products are available to anyone with more modest needs and financial resources. Today's musicians are living in an age of unprecedented democratization: if you can afford a computer, you can afford the software needed to produce professional-sounding recordings in any musical style.
EM set out to find low-cost sequencers and what makes them different from their high-price counterparts. For the purposes of this article, we decided that each sequencer must retail for less than $225 to qualify as affordable. Our research uncovered a dozen products from as many manufacturers (see the specifications table for version numbers). Most are exclusively for Windows, perhaps indicating that the majority of entry-level users own PCs. Bremmers Audio Design MultitrackStudio Pro Plus, Cakewalk Home Studio 2 XL, FASoft n-Track Studio, and Image-Line Software FL Studio Producer Edition fall into that category. Digital Sound Planet's Quartz AudioMaster Pro and PG Music's PowerTracks Pro Audio are Windows-only applications as well. Most of the Windows programs are completely self-contained, but two provide separate applications for handling audio and MIDI chores.
Midisoft Studio Ensemble 2003 XP comprises the multitrack sequencer Studio 2003 and AudioPro Wave Editor. MIDI Studio and Audio Studio make up Magix Music Maker 10 Deluxe. We found two low-cost sequencers exclusively for Mac users: Apple GarageBand and Sagan Metro LX.
GarageBand is part of a software suite that also includes nonmusical applications. Two programs — Mackie Tracktion and Steinberg Cubase SE — are available on either computer platform.
What follows is a roundup of each sequencer's main features. We'll start with an overview of all the programs and then provide summaries on some unique aspects of each. The specifications table should help you to compare the programs feature-for-feature. If you're shopping for a low-cost sequencer, this article will help you find one that will best suits your needs. Interface-off Some of the greatest differences among sequencers are their individual approaches to the graphical user interface (GUI).
A well-designed interface lets you record, arrange, and mix your music quickly and efficiently, with maximum productivity and a minimum number of technical headaches. Because sequencers typically offer many functions and capabilities, having a clear and consistent GUI is essential, so that users can have a pleasant and productive hands-on experience. Generally speaking, one advantage of low-cost sequencers is that they can be simpler to operate than their high-end brethren because they don't offer such a bewildering array of options. Still, any sequencer needs to provide the basics, which include the means to navigate your way around the sequencer and the project being recorded; to record, play back, and edit MIDI and audio tracks; to import data; to host effects and instrument plug-ins; and to get finished recordings out into the real world.
Other than FL Studio (formerly known as Fruityloops), MultitrackStudio, and Studio 2003, all the programs featured in this article present the traditional track view as their primary user interface. Track names are shown on the left side of the main window, with a data area to the right. Alongside the track names are usually buttons or some other means to select MIDI channels, audio inputs and outputs, and related track parameters. The track view is familiar to almost anyone who has used a sequencer. It's also an intuitive way to orient yourself within a program.
FL Studio users spend most of their time in the Step Sequencer, a gridlike interface that has horizontal rows of buttons representing 16th-note steps and vertical rows of instruments such as soft synths, sample players, and the like (see Fig. Step sequencing is not a technique you'd use if you want to record your music in real time, however, so FL Studio has the most to offer users who enjoy building tracks note by note. MultitrackStudio uses a variation on the track view, but its data area is hidden by default and appears below the track header when displayed. Studio 2003 shows all tracks only in the Score view; to edit audio tracks, you must open the Wave view, which doesn't display MIDI tracks. One of PowerTracks' most powerful features lets you toggle a track between audio and MIDI at any point, and GarageBand lets you convert the MIDI data in Apple Loops to audio data. When you assign a MIDI track to a soft synth or the built-in sampler, MultitrackStudio will display notes as generic waveshapes that can be edited or as a rendered waveform view that cannot be edited, but neither option actually commits the track to an audio file. In all the other programs discussed here, tracks are fixed as either audio or MIDI.
Although most sequencers let you resize individual tracks, n-Track and PowerTracks have alternate track views that display configuration information, but they don't show actual audio or MIDI data. Home Studio, MIDI Studio, PowerTracks, and Studio 2003 have a Go To option that lets you quickly view any portion of your project — a handy navigation feature. N-Track has a feature that allows you to simultaneously change the vertical and horizontal ranges that are displayed. All of the programs except GarageBand and MIDI Studio support markers, a useful feature for locating points in your recording — for example, the start of a verse or chorus, a voice-over's punch-in point, or the boundaries of a phrase that needs effects. In FL Studio, markers always appear at the start of a song, and you must drag them to the position that you want.
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Half the programs have a dedicated Markers window (AudioMaster calls them Cues) for setting and editing markers. In PowerTracks, the markers appear only in the Bars window, not the main Track view.
You also can't move them around with the mouse. N-Track has a variety of marker options, including the ability to display a pop-up time-indicator window a few beats before a marker is reached as a song is playing.
A piano-roll view or its equivalent is the main area for entering and editing individual notes in Home Studio, Metro, MIDI Studio, MultitrackStudio, and n-Track. In FL Studio, the Piano Roll view is an alternative to the Step Sequencer window and is used to enter specific pitches for a synth, among other things. Most of the other programs have graphic editors that use piano-roll displays in separate windows that you open for each track. N-Track has a great feature that allows you to define any range of notes as a pattern, and then use the mouse to draw the pattern repeatedly. Home Studio's Pattern Brush performs a similar function, and the program comes with several dozen preset patterns to use as defaults. Eight of the 12 sequencers let you see your music as standard notation.
If printed music is one of the primary reasons you use music software, you'll want to investigate those programs more closely. The printing options in PowerTracks and Studio 2003 offer the most flexibility. GarageBand and MultitrackStudio are the only ones that display notation but don't let you print musical scores.
Seven programs have editable event lists, which can make a significant difference if you like to tweak the tiniest details of MIDI performances. All except GarageBand and Multitrack Studio have a dedicated mixer display, and even those provide almost identical functionality in other windows.
The programs discussed in this article have a variety of other work areas. Home Studio's has Synth Rack, a dedicated soft-instrument display; PowerTracks has Piano-Keyboard and Guitar-Fretboard windows, both of which show notes currently being played; n-Track has Big Time screen, which can use many common video formats as the display increments; and FL Studio has a Browser screen, in which you can preview and select loops. GarageBand's Musical Typing window lets you play software instruments and enter note data with your computer keyboard, and its Loop Browser lets you search for and audition Apple Loops. Cubase's Pool is used for organizing audio and video resources and various windows for routing and controlling VST instruments and effects. Likewise, AudioMaster offers the Navigator, which lets you browse audio and MIDI assets and display audio file metadata. It also has a unique Karaoke view.
MIDI Studio's HyperDraw view gives you graphic editing of controllers within individual sequences. The Object Editor in Audio Studio allows you to assign plug-ins and other mix parameters to individual audio objects. Metro features Rhythm Explorer, an algorithmic assistant for generating percussion and other parts, as well as a Jukebox window that can play and batch convert various audio formats. Cubase, Home Studio, Metro, n-Track, and Tracktion allow you to trigger and view video clips while a song is playing. All of the programs include basic editing functions such as cut, copy, and paste, and all provide one or more types of quantization.
N-Track has a flexible quantize option that allows you to snap to common note durations as well as to a value of any arbitrary number of ticks. Several sequencers allow you to transpose, slide, or change the length of MIDI events. Cubase and PowerTracks include the option to eliminate overlapping notes.
Most of the programs let you get creative with MIDI data by performing some nifty tricks. Cubase, Home Studio, FL Studio, and Metro each have an arpeggiator with adjustable parameters. To loosen up stiff rhythm tracks, Metro and MultitrackStudio have Humanize processes in their gig bags.
FL Studio adds flam and strum effects, which come in handy when you're creating drum and guitar parts. Some programs give you tools for generating random MIDI events, for creating new MIDI events based on existing data, or for changing one form of MIDI data to another. For example, FL Studio's Randomizer lets you determine whether it generates many hundreds of new notes or just a few. MIDI Studio has a sophisticated Transform window that enables logical processing, allowing you to alter the pitch, length, Velocity, order, speed, and other properties of selected data. Sound Investments All of the programs in our roundup allow you to record, cut, copy, paste, and play back multiple tracks of audio. Beyond those functions, the range of features varies widely. If you want high-quality recordings and don't mind consuming hard-disk space, all but two support 24-bit audio resolution and 96 kHz sampling rates.
Although it's somewhat unlikely that low-budget sequencer users own big-budget audio rigs, a few even support 192 kHz (hardware permitting). All except GarageBand and Studio Ensemble can handle sampling-rate conversion. All the Windows programs support MME (except FL Studio), WDM, and ASIO drivers, and all the Mac programs support Core Audio. It's easy to adjust an audio clip's length in most of these sequencers: just click on and drag its beginning or end to the desired length. You can also click on and drag a clip to a new location in every audio program except AudioPro.
All of the programs except for AudioMaster and MultitrackStudio allow you to loop entire audio tracks or defined regions. Most of the programs let you bounce multiple tracks to a new track directly from the main track interface, and most can automatically create a new audio file containing the bounced tracks. PowerTracks also has a nifty feature that lets you automatically create a new disk file from the output of a DXi, and FL Studio can automatically insert any recording you make of its output directly back into its Playlist. Busing and routing options give you the most flexibility for getting your signals from here to there — from a group of channels to a single stereo reverb plug-in, for example. Such features are standard in most of the programs, though they're implemented in many different ways. N-Track supports the most aux channels (32), and PowerTracks supports the fewest (2). GarageBand doesn't have any auxes at all, though it does have a master bus that can serve the same purpose.
If you've never used aux channels, though, you probably won't miss them. Not surprisingly, none of the low-cost sequencers offer explicit surround support — a surround mixer, for example — but if you have a multichannel audio interface and use ASIO drivers or Core Audio, you can send a signal to as many channels as your hardware allows.
The next version of n-Track, which we've seen in beta, will include a surround (5.1, 7.1, and above) mixer. Part of the fun of mixing with a sequencer is using automation to control changes — fade up here, add reverb there, and so on. You can record mixer automation in all of the programs except GarageBand and MultitrackStudio, and most (including GarageBand) let you draw volume and pan curves onscreen. MultitrackStudio offers graphic volume editing using its Automated Fader plug-in. Effects Collections Most entry-level programs differ from top-of-the-line software in the number and types of included effects. Although some of these programs come up quite a bit short, a few are downright bountiful.
Fortunately, all of them except Studio 2003 support either AU, DirectX, or VST effects, and half support two plug-in formats. (In theory, plug-in support makes your audio-processing arsenal unlimited.) Several also have native real-time or destructive audio effects. Studio 2003 has no audio effects other than those built into your sound card. FL Studio stands out for its large number of audio effects. Among its many unique offerings are the Fruity Waveshaper, Fruity Scratcher, and Time Stretcher, the last of which offers five distinct methods for time stretching and pitch shifting. Cubase SE comes with a bundle of 22 VST effects, such as QuadraFuzz, StepFilter, and Tranceformer.
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It has so many, in fact, that you could go a long time without needing any additional plug-ins. PowerTracks Pro also rates highly in this area with nearly 20 of its own bundled effects. Its Generate Audio Harmonies option is worth a special mention: it can create a single new harmony part and use notes from a MIDI track as the starting pitches for multiple new harmony parts. GarageBand has a respectable stable of effects, including some nice guitar-amp simulations, the gender-bending Vocal Transformer, Enhance Tuning (for correcting pitch), and Enhance Timing (for quantizing audio). Tracktion has an extensive bundle of freeware VST effects from Maxim Digital Audio (MDA), as well as IK Multimedia's AmpliTube LE modeled guitar amp. Tracktion also comes with Final Mix, a rather sophisticated stereo mastering processor that works only with that program (see Fig. For taking projects all the way to completion, Final Mix gives Tracktion tangible advantages that might cost considerably more using similar plug-ins.
Mackie promises to deliver several additional Tracktion-exclusive plug-ins soon. MultitrackStudio's Convolutor is one of the least-expensive tools that uses impulse responses, and its Band Effect splits a signal path into three frequency ranges for multiband processing. AudioMaster's 20 effects include a pseudo-surround process that can create some interesting results. MIDI Studio includes Digital Factory, a sophisticated suite of offline processes such as pitch shifting, time compression and expansion, and more. Audio Studio offers noise reduction, time stretching, and even a vocoder. Only three of the sequencers don't have time-stretching capabilities: Metro LX, MultitrackStudio, and Studio Ensemble 2003.
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All of the programs have some form of EQ, and all but Home Studio and Studio 2003 include dynamics processors. Most give you at least a handful of effects presets, and all but Studio 2003 let you save your own custom settings. Several let you draw effects automation curves, and a few support effects-send automation either by using graphic envelopes or by recording changes made on the mixer (turning aux send knobs, for example). Some programs offer a Freeze option: the program creates temporary files on disk containing rendered audio that has been processed by effects, conserving CPU resources.
If you need to make additional changes later, you can return a frozen track to its normal state. ReWire support, which lets you sync your sequencer with other programs and route audio from compatible software instruments, is available in most of the sequencers covered in this article. Instruments and Content Most of the software in our roundup has instrument plug-ins, sample loops, and other content in addition to the main application; Metro LX is the only exception. Any musician would be happy to use the software-based synthesizers, samplers, or drum machines that ship with several programs.
Home Studio, for example, includes the DXi synths Virtual Sound Canvas and DreamStation. Tracktion includes IK Multimedia's versatile sample-playback synth SampleTank SE and LinPlug's virtual drum machine RM IV. Both plug-ins also supply a substantial amount of content. Oddly, Tracktion has a built-in sampler that doesn't have any content, as well as a handful of synth plug-ins from Big Tick, reFX, and LinPlug. Cubase SE comes with the VB-1 bass synth, LM-7 drum machine, and Universal Sound Module. MIDI Studio's arsenal of soft synths includes the 16-voice FMX1 FM synthesizer and Robota virtual analog drum machine.
MultitrackStudio comes with a built-in sampler (with only one patch) that can import SF2 and GIG files. You'll get numerous audio loops and MIDI tracks with PowerTracks Pro, and FL Studio includes a large number of sample files, loops (registered users can download nearly 2 GB's worth), and soft instruments (in its own proprietary format). Among FL Studio's instruments are a text-to-speech synthesizer with 20 different personalities and a variety of analog-modeled synths. Because GarageBand 2 doesn't play external instruments, it has a good variety of software instruments, along with an impressive collection of presets. GarageBand's collection of audio loops (more than 1 GB's worth) is also nothing to sneeze at, and you can expand it with optional Jam Packs and third-party Apple Loops. Studio 2003 ships with 54 MB of short audio clips.
Read All About It No matter how easy it is to use a software program, good documentation will often determine how efficiently you explore its features. Printed manuals are useful, but you can more easily search manuals that are displayed on your computer screen.
Cubase and Tracktion supply manuals in printed and PDF formats, and Metro has a PDF startup guide. Most of Metro's documentation consists of searchable HTML files and detailed online reference. Although GarageBand furnishes only help files (which are also searchable), Apple's Web site offers plenty of GarageBand support pages in 14 languages, and you can download several brief PDF manuals. Music Studio (MIDI Studio and Audio Studio) has a 95-page printed manual, a 626-page PDF manual, and searchable HTML files.
Home Studio and FL Studio include a getting-started guide and searchable online help, and PowerTracks includes a complete user's guide and searchable online help. AudioMaster, MultitrackStudio, n-Track, and Studio 2003 have only searchable online help. (You can download a PDF manual for n-Track from the company's Web site.) There are video tutorials at the FL Studio and PowerTracks Pro Web sites and on Music Studio's install disc, and the manufacturers of all the programs except for Studio 2003 run online user forums. Though you won't base your buying decision on which sequencer has the best documentation, what's the advantage of having a program that's easy to use if the manufacturer doesn't make it easy for you to learn how to use it? Apple Computer GarageBand 2.0.2 (Mac, $79) GarageBand is just one of five applications bundled together in Apple's creativity suite iLife '05, which also includes iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, and iDVD.
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