Review: Magix Samplitude 10
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jason Blum
GIANT DAW-PLUS-MULTITRACK-EDITOR IS THE AUDIO WORLD'S UNKNOWN SOLDIER
German engineering and ingenuity is something of a legend. Our Teutonic friends have spared no expense bringing us countless marvels over the years — not the least of which is a seemingly endless supply of industry-leading musical tools — so when new gear bubbles up to the top of the European cauldron, it's worth taking a close look, lest we let the next Steinberg, Emagic, Ableton or Native Instruments pass us by. Magix Samplitude, a Windows-only multitrack audio and MIDI sequencer, is a prime example.
Most people have heard of Cubase and Logic, but Samplitude is one that seems to hang out just under the radar, rearing its head in the occasional famous studio and then sneaking out the back door to places unknown. What's the story with this masked man of pro audio? Is it really “the master of pro audio,” as the manual's cover so boldly states? Earlier versions of Samplitude that I'd dabbled with years ago had plenty of redeeming qualities, but also a few rough edges such as no native VST support. When Samplitude broke double-digits, Remix thought it was time to take another look at this stealthy sequencer.
At its core, Samplitude 10 is a DAW much like Logic, Cubase or Sonar. It offers multitrack MIDI and audio recording, VST and DirectX support for plug-ins and instruments, and the other general stuff you'd expect from a DAW, like full mixing of multitrack audio. The program comes in three flavors: Standard, Master and Pro; I tested the Pro version so I wouldn't miss out on any of Samplitude's features.
VIP TREATMENT
Multitrack arrangements in Samplitude are called Virtual Projects, or VIPs. Each VIP in the Pro version can contain as many as 999 tracks, each of which can contain clips recorded at sampling rates topping out at 384 kHz. That all looks fabulous on paper but far outstrips the needs of just about every studio on Earth. Still, too much is better than not enough in this business, so if you're one of those people who tests the limits in the studio, Samplitude certainly does boast the specs to hang with the toughest session.
Each track in a VIP sports a whopping 64 insert slots for your favorite VST, DirectX or Samplitude-native plug-ins. That might seem like another case of overkill, but I actually have a deep appreciation for the ability to stack plug-in after plug-in on a single track, particularly when I'm in the throes of sound design. I've often felt constrained by the arbitrary limitations that programs like Steinberg Wavelab and Cubase put on plug-in chains, so it felt liberating to heap as many VSTs on a track as my CPU could handle.
MAGIX MAN
For years, I've been a die-hard Wavelab and Cubase user, trusting both with everything from broad multitrack compositing for radio shows to detailed, high-precision mastering jobs. I always thought each product had a convenient workflow, but while switching between Samplitude 10 and my old standbys during the past few months, I started gravitating toward Samplitude with increasing regularity. Samplitude feels logical and straightforward in its layout, presenting its broad array of powerful tools with a clean user interface. Menus are rarely nested more than two layers deep, and a staggering array of customizable toolbars keeps you only a click away from just about every facet of the program. The fact that Samplitude blends many of the elements present in Cubase and Wavelab into a single program also ups the convenience factor significantly.
Samplitude's “power user” interface activates all of the program's toolbars and looks pretty intimidating at first, but it takes only a few sessions to become completely comfortable with the program's nuances — a remarkably brief settling-in period compared to many other sequencers and editors I've used, where learning curves can be steep and daunting. That's a big selling point for me when considering a major platform change. Four additional layouts are provided for specific uses such as mastering, recording and editing, and you can supplement those by creating your own workspace layouts.
The ability to load custom skins adds another layer of user friendliness to Samplitude 10's GUI. The default skin was usable but sterile, so when I realized practically everything in Samplitude can be skinned with custom graphics, I looked into alternatives and found a handful of great commercial options for updating the aesthetic flair at Orange Hill Audio (http://shop.orangehillaudio.com). There is even a user community cranking out free skins; my personal favorite is called “Unempty Vintage,” available at http://unempty.com/sam/vintage.
OBJECT-ORIENTED
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Samplitude is its object-based design, a unique way of looking at arrangement data that allows you to perform advanced processing functions on individual clips within a track. In a sense, each clip is actually like a miniature track within itself, with an Object Editor that offers 64 of its own slots for plug-ins, as well as numerous tools for shaping edge fades, aux routing, EQ, pitch-shifting and time stretching. Of course, once a clip has been processed, its output is still routed to its parent track, where you can bring even more processing to bear.
The power inherent in this setup is impressive, particularly for sound designers who rely on large chains of plug-ins to achieve creative results. I was able to build incredible drum loops by layering individual drum hits into a single track, dropping separate effects processing on each slice and then adding overall compression and EQ to the loop with track plug-ins. Similar effects can be achieved in other sequencers using a combination of aux sends and folder tracks, but Samplitude handles all of that in a far more convenient and logical fashion that gets the job done with fewer restrictions.
HYBRID ENGINE
Samplitude's most recent quantum leap is the Hybrid Audio Engine, added to version 9 to increase efficiency with a broad range of audio cards in a variety of situations. It combines Samplitude's native, high-latency engine with the more modern ASIO system. You might think there's not much to see here, given that just about every sequencer out there offers the ability to switch between MME/WDM and ASIO drivers. However, Samplitude's approach is unique: It provides the ability to mix and match high- and low-latency elements, allowing you to pick and choose what's most important to you and eke out every last inch of performance from your hardware. You can't use two separate drivers (such as WDM and ASIO) concurrently, but you can offload some processing to Samplitude's internal engine when latency is not an issue — during mixing or editing, for instance — and realize an increase in track counts and plug-in instances.
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