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MONTAGE Series Synthesizers
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I am picking up my new used Montage 61 tomorrow! While at Guitar Center I will pick up the required FC7, USB/Power Cables, Mike adapter , and a DAW. I was planning on picking up Cubase based on the great tutorials I found on the site.... and how the templates are preset up. I am somewhat familiar with cakewalk/Sonar but from what I see... Cubase Elements should be fine for arranging "patterns" and working with Midi and audio tracks. The one cable setup seems awesome and the templates seems like they would be a great starting point to working with the beast day 1. But I have to ask..... Should I pick up Cubase Elements, or does anyone on this board think that Sonar is a better selection to get started. I had a MO6 and used the patterns and songs on occasion as starting points for a Cakewalk project. So just get Cubase tomorrow?
I am so excited about this board... getting all my ol arps on board, ol sounds, and like a billion new sounds, and the ability to try to learn FM synthesis... is going to keep me busy for years. The demos sound great... and just playing with one for 10 minutes in guitar center, I had tweaked many performances to my liking.....seemed pretty intuitive for such a deep machine. I will menu diving in the Montage, more than I will be getting into cubase or sonar... I just need to be able to stack my audio, and sometimes tweak my midis tracks a bit....
Posted : 24/08/2017 11:00 am
Maybe I'm biased a little bit, but I always considered Cubase as the more matured, more feature rich and better thought out piece of software, compared to Sonar. I was amazed by how long Cakewalk needed to implement an audio metronome, that's something even free sequencers get right. But that's just my personal opinion.
I'd suggest that you first try the Cubase AI which comes free. Maybe it offers enough and anything you need. You can always upgrade at a later point.
Posted : 24/08/2017 2:08 pm
There is no need to purchase any DAW just yet... as mentioned above, your MONTAGE will come with a free (entry level) version of Cubase AI. This is provided (as a download) to introduce you to the world of computer based recording.
The feature set in "Cubase AI" is more than sufficient to get started... once you're registered and get Cubase installed, you can begin working with it. Then, and only then, can you really make a decision about switching DAWs or utilizing the attractive upgrade discounts for users of Cubase AI.
Anyway you go, there is no reason to spend that extra money now on a DAW (and plenty of reason to wait if indeed you do want a more feature laden version of Cubase)... what AI has that will be immediately useful is the ability to run MONTAGE CONNECT within the Project environment. This allows the utility to automatically capture and restore your MONTAGE setup for each Project. In other words, once activated in a session, it can run in the background where it "requests" a bulk dump from the Synth when you SAVE the Cubase file. It then stores that data within the Project file. When next you open the Project, it automatically restores your entire setup to the MONTAGE.
This saves time and means you don't have to find or keep your data in your MONTAGE... everything you need is stored, conveniently in one place!
That said, if you are a long time Cakewalk User, and are comfortable in that environment then there is no reason for you to change. It is about being comfortable working. Each will have a learning curve, even Cakewalk because integrating your new MONTAGE into your setup will be new, too. So, I recommend that since you get Cubase AI free, and since you'll have some learning to do either way... try it out. Learn the basics of each. Fundamentally all DAWs do the same things, setting them up and how they look may vary...
Also, (just FYI) you don't need any kind of converter to connect a dynamic microphone to your MONTAGE, simply get an XLR (female)-to-1/4" Phone (TS) cable.
Posted : 24/08/2017 3:16 pm
