I’ve become a huge fan of Cantabile. I happen to use C2, and haven’t switched over to C3 simply because I have so many songs/sessions and don’t want to rebuild them on C3… and C2 works so that’s fine for me.
For over 2 years i’ve been gigging with it, and it’s never failed me… not even once. It’s very robust, easy to use, and is geared toward how a musician thinks, not how a programmer thinks.
I load it up with vsti’s and plugins, playing guitar with S-Gear and some very cpu- heavy VSTi’s like Sax Brothers on Kontakt 4 player, VB3, etc. It seems to be very low on the the cpu load which is great, and I believe C3 is even more efficient.
I’m in 2 bands, one is a typical band with amps and whatnot, so I use S-Gear in C2 going to a FRFR speaker and the PA. The other band uses backing tracks and everything runs through the PA, and those sessions are much more complex. So I jsut ahve different Set Lists for each band… get to a gig, open the right set list, and I’m ready to roll. I love all the flexibility and routing you can do, for example I use a midi file that plays in sync with the backing tracks and automatically changes all my guitar patches, so with one click I just route the midi track to my S-Gear rack and bingo… no more footpedals needed. And I can back everything up in a couple minutes, dump it onto my backup laptop, and I’m protected.
BTW I used to be a tube amp snob… nothing sounded like my 1960 Ampeg amp. But now with S-Gear and all the plugs I can use easily on Cantabile, I have more versatility and amazing tones. I still love my Ampeg, but it stays home in the studio now.
I looked at Mainstage and Forte but found Cantabile to be much better. Plus, Brad is VERY responsive… in the beginning he was very helpful in answering my questions… some of which I’m sure were stupid questions!
I’m not usually one to gush about products but Cantabile changed my entire approach, my sound is better, and I can do just about anything I need to with it. Totally amazing software.
