Product Description
It is time to take control of the creative process. Now you do not have to depend on anyone else to get your music recorded. Do it all from your PC with Cakewalk Home Studio. There is no better Windows software available for musicians taking the step into the world of digital recording. Home Studio provides you with everything you need to turn your PC into a powerful multitrack recording studio. Windows only. Note: Home Studio 2004 is not compatible with Windows 95,… More >>
#1 by Cory Fossum on March 24, 2010 - 1:55 am
I have been plugging away at this darn program for over two days and I still haven’t recorded anything! The user’s manual is of no use and nothing seems to make sense. There is seemingly nothing intuitive about this program at all. Perhaps once I have figured it out, I will feel differently. But for now I am simply frustrated. I have no HD recording experience and this seemed like a good way to get into it. I think I was wrong. I have downloaded trial versions of other Cakewalk products and Sonic Foundry programs. They seemed to work fine. So why is this program so rotten? And then when I try to apply effects, it says I am out of memory. But I have TONS of memory! I am unable to record onto a second track without recording the first one on to it also, but there is no logical explanation as to why this is happening and how I can resolve it in the user’s guide. At this point, I can’t recommend this program, which is very disappointing. Hopefully in time, this will change. But I think you’re money would be better spent elsewhere. Maybe this is why Cakewalk doesn’t have a demo version on the site.
Rating: 1 / 5
#2 by Anonymous on March 24, 2010 - 3:55 am
If you want a product that you can use on the day you get it, look elsewhere. But if you take the time to go thru the tutorials
, you will have a powerful tool. And you can go to the tech support newsgroups at cakewalk.com if you have problems getting it installed. I use it mainly for digital audio, and I like looping my guitar licks thru Ampsim lite or revalver amplifier
simulator to here different sounds.They sound accurate to my ears
. I don’t know much about midi, but it looks like HS2002 can do what you want it to.
Rating: 5 / 5
#3 by ak_9jsz on March 24, 2010 - 5:01 am
I have a full review below. Just wanted to add something else.
Home Studio XL in Windows 2000 gives annoying little problems that force you to stop your flow (in some cases for as long as 5 minutes when it crashes and you let windows 2000 sort everything out on its own). Every problem in the full review pertains to working in windows 2000.
However, on windows 98, its smooth sailing. I never had a problem with it while working in Windows 98.
Rating: 5 / 5
#4 by James Fieser on March 24, 2010 - 5:29 am
I purchased this item in spite of the warnings about how difficult it was to learn. It is indeed difficult. The tutorials are detailed, but regretfully silent on some key issues. I had to search the web for solutions to some problems I had in getting it to run on my laptop computer. The solutions simply involved toggling some options in the pull down menus, but I’d never been able to stumble onto the fixes without investing a few hours in searching the web for advice. I still can’t get the chorus and reverb options to work on the mixing board. Oh well. Nevertheless, there really isn’t anything else like this product — especially for the price.
Rating: 5 / 5
#5 by Shawn St John on March 24, 2010 - 8:00 am
For those with a modest sound card and a modest budget, there is hardly any difference between HS2002 and Sonar, its much-praised big brother. The old HS only let you play back 8 audio tracks. 2002 offers unlimited tracks. The ability to use Acid-style techniques is revolutionary. HS2002 sounds better, even if not used in the new 24-bit mode. And the effects bundled with 2002 are much better than those that came with HS9, especially the EQ. The analog synth that comes with it is not real exciting, but the mono synth that can be downloaded free from Cakewalk’s website right now is great!
This is a serious product, and if you are the type of person who tends to work alone, someone who does not need more than two simultaneous inputs and outputs, you may never miss the extra features in Sonar. With the level of power this product has, I would be hard-pressed to think of ways to make it easier or more intuitive to use.
My only complaint: I only recently upgraded from HS9, so maybe I’m missing something, but I cannot find a way to set it up so that double-clicking on an audio clip takes you into an edit window. Now it opens the acid loop window. It appears that the main window functions as the edit window as well. This slows you down, having to keep zooming in and out all the time to edit. In addition to music, I use HS for sound design and editing, so I really miss this feature. Other than that, a very worthwhile upgrade.
UPDATE: I have not bought it yet, but the new HS 2004 is even better. You can now record more than two tracks at once (8 simultaneous tracks in ‘04, I think), which makes it a great upgrade if you want to record a group of musicians, or dump a ADAT session into the computer. It can run in 24/96 mode, and I think you can use more plug-ins and aux sends than in 2002. I plan to upgrade later this year and will offer my comments at that time.
Rating: 5 / 5