I am quite interested in the potential of this Push from Ableton, for non-musicians, like myself:

https://www.ableton.com/en/push/

https://www.ableton.com/en/blog/minilogue-human-possible/?utm_source=2014-01-minilogue-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2014-01-minilogue-newsletter-human-en&utm_content=HTML&utm_campaign=2014-01-minilogue-videos

You said protools, not protools LE. That's the difference between an F1 car and go-kart. Fruity loops being comparable to a rollerskate

I sat in front of a complete Protools desk for four years to get my qualification. It was not easy even at the most accessible end. Cubase and logic certainly were but still had a lot to learn. Acid was very easy to use and fruity loops. I'd put it in that kind of heirachy.

^ Formby you seem to be confusing the concept of musicianship with the ability to make a good recording.

To pick ProTools as your example of a beginners home recording system is very poor as :
It's the one DAW that is delivered without any virtual instruments in the basic package. you'll need other kit to make a noise to record into the software.

It's the one DAW you can't just drop loops into the timeline to build a track with out some serious knowledge of how the software works.
Mixing samples/loops at different sampling rates in a project will produce an almost random mess of out synch sounds ( ProTools doesn't 'convert on the fly' during playback like many DAWs and requires some serious knowledge of sample conversion on behalf of the user to create a usable session).

Until very recently you needed a specific audio interface ( from Avid/Digidesign the software makers and at excessive comparative cost to other manufacturers interfaces) to record anything more than one track at a time and even that is problematic due to the latency in the D-A and A-D conversions of non-Avid hardware.

The proprietary format for fx and instrument plug-ins for the software make them very expensive, definitely outside the price range of the 'kids'. Antares Autotune (used/abused on almost every current hip-hop/R+B track) costs more than ProTools software itself.
Just keeping my software up to date costs me about £2000/yr and I don't have a particularly large plug-in collection.

There are no stable 'cracked' versions of the software after version 6.0 ( it's currently on version 11.4) due to the unique way that the software and plug-ins are placed in your computers registry, making learning the system on free/pirated software almost impossible and if you get as far as making a recording your project this will not be transferable to another ProTools set up or if you 'upgrade' to a non-pirated version of the software (one of the main reasons it is loved by professionals is the 'transferability' of projects between studios/systems).

If you had picked any other of the current DAWs (Logic, Cubase, MOTU Digital Performer, Abelton or Reason) you'd have much more of a case but you've picked on the one DAW that really needs studio and musical knowledge to get anything decent out of it.

^ he's not 'composed' a tune, he's arranged previously composed musical phrases into a tune.
A subtle but significant difference.

Last edited by doghouse (2014-01-25 07:26:00)

One or two glimpses of an intelligent discussion above.

Here's a  documentary on the brilliant Rudy Van Gelder who made everyone sound so scintillating , where other sound engineers often failed.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AA_xH7Xhs4