Anything that is cheaper than $800?

Mmmmm... What do you mean exactly? A MIDI sequencer? Of course, Cubase SX includes all tools for MIDI.

ooops!



Maybe Cubase SL then... Go and get some infos about it before doing anything but I was told it's a kind of light version of the SX one.


Anyway, what you should do first is give a try to all these softwares before buying anything. Chosing your future work tool is something really hard.
For example, most of the professional sound engineers use ProTools : I don't really like it, I can't afford it and I don't care. I prefer Cubase.
Some may say you should get a Logic Audio for Mac (who? guess)...
There are no rules : it depends on what you want to do, how, how fast you work, your musical theory skills, your sound knowledge...

A tracker is a very specific form of sequencing, like Renoise, Fast Tracker2 etc.

No Cubase SX is not a tracker.

Then what is the difference?

Which version of Ableton live are you using?

I know you didn't ask me, but I'm using 4.

I'd like to give 5 a shot. I read it has some nice new devices and a more user friendly interface.

I've got the demo versions for both 5.0.1 and 4.1.4 and the programs look pretty much the same to me.

Download the demo of renoise and examine the way it sequences. All trackers sequence the same way.

For a start, the sequencing is text based and vertical rather than horizontal.

OKay, I see now. I've already tried a few like the one you're talking about.