Hi Mike,
wether or not you use Music-X (V 2.0 preferably) or Bars 'n Pipes is up to you. They are both on an equal professional level. You have to find out which one works good for you.
For me Music-X works best. It's got everything you could wish for except that the Librarian page lacks specific support for many a synth. If you can get hold of a D50 or a Casio CZ... , you DO get the bonus of editing your synth patches grafically from within Music-X!! Otherwise you can still use the Librarian to only store your patches anyway.
I use it with:
AKAI-S900, Oberheim DPS, Yamaha SY55, Kurzweil Micropiano, Roland JX-3P, Emu Pro-cussion, Zoom 9030, Behringer Virtualizer, Tascam TMD8000 + DA98 and 3x DA38 (synced with MTC/SMPTE, where Music-X slaves) and various mics.
The TMD8000's automation can only be run from a Powermac. The Mac is connected to MIDI through a MOTU-interface.
There is actually only one thing that I find a bit quirky about the Music-X program. You cannot import/load MIDI-files straight from the menu. You have to use the supplied fileconversion software that perfectly turns MIDI-files into Music-X projects.
It's amazing that the author of the program only wrote some games and then co-wrote this comprehensive mega-music-tool with musicians and studio-engineers. I've seen it do things that programs like Cubase still cannot do.
But don't forget that talent and is not a menu-option.
