Cakewalk Home Studio 2002

It costs about 90 dollars at Guitar Center. I wanted a product that could record at 24 bit, as well as record audio and midi.

The software definitely records, audio, midi and 24 bit. The Home Studio getting started manual is very good. It tells you how to set up for midi and record tracks, as well as set up for audio and record audio tracks.

Suprisingly, I didn't find the audio quality much more amazing recording in 16 bit versus 24, possibly just more headroom before clipping (for newbies, that when the audio level exceeds what the digital converters can handle, so you get crunches and crackles in your recording).

The most important factor to good audio recording is getting good levels (true both in audio and on tape, isnt that interesting?).



The Home Studio 2002 Getting Started manual is excellent, but pity it doesn't include a full manual telling you how to use all the features if you choose to try any of them.

The advanced features are documented in help files, which is more difficult to use then just cracking open a printed manual.

Also, this software is not really suited to the beginner. I would say its more aimed at the intermediate to intermediate-advanced user who wants to get into recording audio (guitars, vocals, bass etc) as well as some midi.

Also, this software has some advanced features like DXI synth (haven't gone there yet), printing sheet music from midi (which I heard doesn't work well, but havent tried it myself), as well as assembling drum loops etc. etc.

For the serious home recording hobbiest, this software has lots of features to discover, so for months and months you won't feel like your bored or have covered everything you need to know.

The quality of the software is very good. It seems pretty rock solid. I've been using it under Windows XP with an Echo Mona, at 24 bit using WDM drivers, and I've never experienced any latency problems. Seems to record very good sound quality. Hasn't crashed yet, in many hours of use.

Very good chunk of software for the intermediate to advanced home recording enthusiast, who wants to do both audio and midi recording.

As always, Cakewalk has an excellent Getting Started manual, as well as email and phone support. A pity the software doesn't come with an equally as good comprehensive manual so one could spend many a Friday night thumbing thru, experimenting with some of the more advanced features.

This review was originally published on http://www.musicgearreview.com

Quiet Installation
Incompatibility resident mainly in the choice of sound card, opt for a standard WDM
Configuration ease and automate
The manual should be used as an exercise book, period.

SUITABILITY/PERFORMANCE

P4 2Ghtz mounted on a ASUS P4B266 512 MB RAM / SCSI Hard UW3 / 24 + DSP Hoontech ADDA 2000, W2K install Standard PC mode (optimized IRQ) latency = 0.7 ms (h yes a running strong!)
Setup Hyper stable of studio sessions from 14:00 redmarrage without crashing and without!

OVERALL OPINION

I use this program since its release and I quickly pass SONAR 2.0 XL
The lack of audio edition
Before I look and I plant cubase dtest (interfaage galre) Magix audio studio pro and logic (it's a bit spcial ...)
Trs good report quality price
Looking back I will direct SONAR 2 XL, but it is primarily a choice li one question: I have fun and I work?