MPE - MIDI Polyphonic Expression support in Acid Pro?

Lars_F_Norway wrote on 8/27/2020, 1:25 AM

I used to make music in Acid Pro about 12 years ago, and want to get back to making music - but I love my Seaboard and need a DAW that supports MPE (https://www.midi.org/midi-articles/midi-polyphonic-expression-mpe).

Is there a plan to add MPE support to ACID, so that ACIDs MIDI can fully record and repeat the MPE data from ROLI Blocks and the Seaboard keyboards?

MPE Support seems to be widespread, but I haven't seen it mentioned for ACID yet.
https://support.roli.com/support/solutions/articles/36000037202-compatible-synths-daws-and-instruments
 

Comments

Former user wrote on 8/31/2020, 4:31 PM

I used to make music in Acid Pro about 12 years ago, and want to get back to making music - but I love my Seaboard and need a DAW that supports MPE (https://www.midi.org/midi-articles/midi-polyphonic-expression-mpe).

Is there a plan to add MPE support to ACID, so that ACIDs MIDI can fully record and repeat the MPE data from ROLI Blocks and the Seaboard keyboards?

MPE Support seems to be widespread, but I haven't seen it mentioned for ACID yet.
https://support.roli.com/support/solutions/articles/36000037202-compatible-synths-daws-and-instruments
 

ACID Pro doesn't support this. Samplitude Pro X5 supports MPE, but it is not a good DAW if you're doing MIDI heavy production, or producing in genres like Hip Hop, EDM, Trap, etc. It's, IMHO, best viewed as a competitor to Steinberg WaveLab Pro or Adobe Audition - as a Recording & Mastering DAW.

You are better off using something like Cakewalk by BandLab, and using ReWire to get ACID Pro stuff into it. Cakewalk is much better at MIDI than ACID Pro (MIDI in ACID Pro hasn't really been developed since the PRV was added in v6 or so, well over a decade ago).

ACID is really geared to Remixing, Sampling, and Arranging Loops (and most DAWs can do that now, so you have to be firmly in that niche to justify ACID Pro over competing solutions).

Lars_F_Norway wrote on 9/1/2020, 12:44 AM

That is too bad, because I really liked the ACID UI.
I am currently leaning towards Cubase, rather than Cakewalk.

Former user wrote on 9/2/2020, 11:49 PM

That is too bad, because I really liked the ACID UI.
I am currently leaning towards Cubase, rather than Cakewalk.

Cubase is $580+ Tax (Without the dongle, about $550+ Tax).

Cakewalk by BandLab is $0. You just have to bring your own stuff (particularly instruments), but an AIR Complete Bundle can be had for about $80, abusing discounts and crossgrade offers on Plugin Boutique.

In any case, you really need to look at your requirements and see what you need out of the DAW - particularly when you're staring down a $550+ price point.

If you're going to be arranging Loops, then go with Cakewalk. I don't think you will get $600 of value out of Cubase Pro for that. Cakewalk can ACIDize Loops and has some tooling for doing this that Cubase doesn't (as it never really was going after that user base).

If you will be doing more composition, film scoring, etc. then I think you should give Cakewalk an actual legit month (produce a track or two in it) to see if it's enough - but Cubase does take the cake in those areas (pun unintended). If you are truly serious, then Cubase isn't a bad investment here, you just need to make sure you aren't getting it when the alternative is more than good enough for your needs (because money doesn't grow on trees).

On my main DAW I've switched to Cubase Pro, and I use Cakewalk as an "alternative" on my Laptop - for when I don't feel like moving my dongle around. Mostly for sketching and doing some sound design (because I can move my Synth presets wherever - they're DAW Agnostic).

Lars_F_Norway wrote on 9/3/2020, 2:29 AM

Thank you for your kind advice, Trensharo.

I'll have a go with CakeWalk.


Anyways - it is not about the money - but about finding something that suits me well.
Back in Acid Pro 7, I did do mostly loops, but now I want to go more towards MIDI and softsynths.

As for synths - any recommendations for must-haves?

Former user wrote on 9/17/2020, 6:55 PM

Thank you for your kind advice, Trensharo.

I'll have a go with CakeWalk.


Anyways - it is not about the money - but about finding something that suits me well.
Back in Acid Pro 7, I did do mostly loops, but now I want to go more towards MIDI and softsynths.

As for synths - any recommendations for must-haves?

Serum is a go-to for most people. Synthmaster One is a budget alternative that works well (and has far less CPU usage, IME).

I advise against getting tons of soft synths, as it provides too many distractions and you really want to try to learn how to use one really well before branching out. Sample libraries are different, for fairly obvious reasons, of course.

If you don't have an audio interface, then buy a PreSonus AudioBox 96 for $99 and use Studio One 5 Artist.

They now bundle the VST/ReWire/etc. support with it, so it's a full fledged DAW. Just a few plugins and the Project/Play page from Pro not there - but that's largely ignorable for production.

Most people here should have at least Sound Forge Pro, anyways, since it was on Humble Bundle multiple times - even the Studio SKU is quite usable for prosumer mastering.

That's probably the most efficient use of funds, especially since you can upgrade off of Artist to Pro.