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Excellent thread!
Just want to point out a few things...
- The difference between software studios and sequencers is rapidly diminishing. I recently downloaded the demo of Cubase SX, and it contained (as far as I could tell -- it is pretty complicated) everything I needed to start writing a piece of music, just like FL, Reason, Buzz, etc. do.
- Concerning Buzz, I'm not sure if you meant the "can't just press install" literally or not, but in case you did...  The latest package of Buzz (released a few days ago) installs beautifully, and works as soon as you install it. The bugs are also a lot fewer, and easier to fix when they happen, than they were in previous version. There is an excellent Buzz Fixkit, which allows you to change settings, reset stuff back to the way it was, etc., all outside of Buzz, in case you run into trouble. But yes, bugs are, unfortunately, one of Buzz's main drawbacks...
Also about Buzz, there are some problems with VSTs, though they may be fixed by now (I don't use VSTs, though I may try out Synth1 soon). Polac has released a VST driver, I believe, which may eliminate the problems people had. (I believe, though, that the worst -- or at least most common -- problem was not being able to load presets on VST2s.)
- There are also a few more sequencers/studios I figured I'd mention:
Renoise
http://www.renoise.com
This is a tracker sequencer which supports VSTs, ASIO, MIDI, and various other goodies that trackers didn't used to support. I believe this is one of the most, if not THE most, popular tracker.
I tried out the demo briefly. It runs at 1024x768, and is the ONLY thing that you can use while it is running (i.e. there is the Renoise screen, and that's it -- no start bar or icons or anything). The main drawback here is that you can't switch, say, to AIM and chat with someone while you work on a song. I've never used a real tracker before, so I didn't figure out the sequencing completely, but it doesn't look too hard. Like Buzz, it offers a lot of quick, easy input via the keyboard.
Its tracker sequencing lets you see a LOT of what is going on when you play a song. It needs a lot of room for stuff, though, so if you want to edit an instrument, or some various other tasks, you sacrifice seeing something else (e.g. if you want to edit an instrument, you can't see the sequencer). Because it is a fixed 1024x768, there is no hope to expand the size, or even (like Buzz or other programs allow you to do) use two monitors or something. All in all, though, the limitations don't look too bad. Worth checking out, if only to know what a good tracker is like, so you can figure out if you want to use a tracker or not.
Psycle
http://psycle.pastnotecut.org/
Opensource software studio that originally started as a clone of Buzz, though it ended up with more of a true tracker sequencer. I used it briefly. To be honest, unless you are an opensourcehead, or love Buzz but want a true tracker interface, you probably want to wait until more work has been done on it. Or wait for PsycleII (if that ever comes out), because that looks very cool. Buzz has it beat in pretty much all areas except it being opensource, and having a tracker sequencer. Might be worth checking out, though.
Ejay
URL: Dunno, don't care
Don't use this. It is a basic sequencer, and that's it (as far as I can remember).
Other software I know about but haven't used (so I can't write up anything about it): Skale, ModTracker, Jazz++, Pro Tools, Acid (actually used this shortly several years ago, but don't remember much about it), Nuendo, and a fair number of other trackers out there.
If anyone else has used other software, write a short description of what it is like! Hopefully people will find this thread useful...
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-brash
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Summary of Programs
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. More and more people have stopped using these programs and have gone over to the “studio” programs. For people with hardware, the sequencer is still useful. And it’s no secret that they have more features than the one in all programs. The question is if you need them. What does these programs have that the “smaller” ones don’t? As I mentioned people with hardware and a high-end soundcard would benefit from these programs. Using multiple outputs and recording several tracks at the same time is a big plus. Automation is more complex. You can plot manual graphs, tempo controlled sinus curves, parables and more. And the best, they’re all available for every parameter thinkable. Midi is also a bit more in depth along with scoring possibilities if you’re into that
:. They also feature very good wave editors. Time stretching, normalizing and all those other useful stuff can be applied to tracks inside the program. If all of this sounds like useless stuff, then a sequencer might be overkill, and of no use. I will write about the three biggest sequencers around.
) This program does not support external plugins. You can make Reasons synths and samplers have its output in Cubase and Logic with a technology called Rewire, but since that also involves another program that people might like or hate I won’t comment much on this. In Rewire mode it becomes more like a sub-studio/softsynth (an excellent one as well) or something, while I will talk about the standalone mode here. It comes with two different softsynths, two samplers, one loop sampler, one drum machine, a mixer and a place to sequence all of this. The only limit of how many instances you can include of the different parts is the horsepower your computer has. I noticed that Reason was very cpu friendly. I could include more than enough synths and samplers in my projects. Another cool feature that Reason offers is the possibility to see the backside of this “rack” and mess around with the wires. This can give some very interesting and unique results.
