artfulmatt Posted June 11, 2018 Posted June 11, 2018 Hi all, I've been tasked with reviewing our Music Suite which at the moment consists of windows desktops, with cubase 9 and the odd machine with sibeleus too. What does everyone else tend to use? Thanks, Matt.
peej2k Posted June 11, 2018 Posted June 11, 2018 I would've thought most music departments will be running MacOS and Logic Pro these days, though I am a big fan of Soundtrap myself. Doesn't matter what machine you're running that on, and its now owned by Spotify, so has some big backing!
ICTDirect_Dave Posted June 11, 2018 Posted June 11, 2018 (edited) Removing my supplier hat and popping on my former sound engineer's hat for a second... Don't go Mac. It's a waste of money unless you want to use Logic, and there's really no single reason why you would want to invest so heavily in software that does the same job as what you already have. Cubase is perfectly serviceable, but I'd suggest looking at Ableton Live if possible. It's more intuitive and rewards creativity more than cubase. It's my go to production software these days. Secondly, cores over clock speed every day of the week for me. You'll be able to take advantage of hyperthreading too so you'll get more benefit from Xeon systems with 6/8 cores & 12/16 threads than you would a more modern i5. A good external usb audio interface takes a load off of processing and saves you having big looms of cables coming out of the back of your machine. The Focusrite Scarlett range are great and well priced. If you have any questions, I'm happy to offer advice Edited June 11, 2018 by ICTDirect_Dave 3
artfulmatt Posted June 11, 2018 Author Posted June 11, 2018 I would've thought most music departments will be running MacOS and Logic Pro these days, though I am a big fan of Soundtrap myself. Doesn't matter what machine you're running that on, and its now owned by Spotify, so has some big backing! Just had a quick look - would that need installing locally or is it web based?
unixman_again Posted June 11, 2018 Posted June 11, 2018 We use Macs and have Logic Pro installed locally. The reason we have that is that is what the teacher wanted - it's his room and he supports it, although we control the Macs.
tj2419 Posted June 11, 2018 Posted June 11, 2018 I would've thought most music departments will be running MacOS and Logic Pro these days, though I am a big fan of Soundtrap myself. Doesn't matter what machine you're running that on, and its now owned by Spotify, so has some big backing! Is the licensing for Soundtrap based on concurrent users or per user account as otherwise 1000 users is £3700 pa!
TechMonkey Posted June 11, 2018 Posted June 11, 2018 (edited) What age range and what requirements? We have a thoroughly over specced Music Tech room, with Sibelius and Cubase on windows. Works well, Sibelius is a pain. If it isn;t for GCSE or A-Level, MuseScore may suffice. It is free, so may be worth trying until the Music teacher decides they need more functionality. EDIT: Soundtrap looks great, if they offered the basic or even the pro version for education. Our pupils don't need 500+ instruments, or 4000+ loops, that cost is restrictive. & I bet it is per user. Edited June 11, 2018 by TechMonkey
mdrabble Posted June 11, 2018 Posted June 11, 2018 We have Windows 10 running Sibelius 5 (no money to upgrade) and Cubase 9 Elements and MuseScore which is free It does what the Music staff request so all happy here.
PotNoodleTech Posted June 12, 2018 Posted June 12, 2018 Windows 7 clients running Sibelius 7.5. Music department seem happy enough. Have asked for Macs before but no funding really for that and as we already had the PCs and had the software it was a bit of a non starter.
Davit2005 Posted June 12, 2018 Posted June 12, 2018 As @ICTDirect_Dave mentioned. Budget in some Audio Interfaces, I've had to spend hours on the likes of ASIO4ALL fine tuning specially for Sibelius. 1
ICTDirect_Dave Posted June 12, 2018 Posted June 12, 2018 As @ICTDirect_Dave mentioned. Budget in some Audio Interfaces, I've had to spend hours on the likes of ASIO4ALL fine tuning specially for Sibelius. Yeah I think this may be the most important of all things to consider. As a guide, you can get the Scarlett 2nd Gen 2i2 pretty cheaply and it will do a fantastic job for you! https://www.gear4music.com/Recording-and-Computers/Focusrite-Scarlett-2i2-2nd-Gen/1KPW?
Mako Posted June 12, 2018 Posted June 12, 2018 Windows 7 with Sibelius 8 on a multiseat license which runs on one of our servers. MIDI keyboards attached to each desktop. Each desktop has a sound card and external speakers but nothing else special. Students logging into the music suite get a special M: drive to save work-in-progress stuff to. As they tend to need to write scores to video, their MyDocuments rarely has the space they need.
peej2k Posted June 12, 2018 Posted June 12, 2018 Just had a quick look - would that need installing locally or is it web based? Web based. Is the licensing for Soundtrap based on concurrent users or per user account as otherwise 1000 users is £3700 pa! Per user, but I wouldn't be buying it for every single child in a High School! Unless music lessons have evolved that fast and far since I worked in high schools it's only going to be the GCSE and FE students that'd need it.
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