There are a LOT of different perspectives to this, and I am afraid to say THIS is a standard, because no matter what you say, you will come under attack. :) Maybe you could refine your question? I used to ask this question to everyone, and everyone would give me a completely different answer :)

Anymore, if you can get the job done, the job is done, but on the other hand, it is good to know programs like:

- Protools, Digital Performer, Logic 7, Cubase SX~, Sonar ~, Live.

Know how to use and troubleshoot both Mac and PC. Not everyone uses one or the other, but both are used a lot.

- Samples, Synths, Hardware: This list is nearly endless, so I am not even going to list them all, but basically, there is a LOT of samples, VST's, and hardware synths/effects modules/ ect.

Someone else can probably chime in as well.

Hope this helps,
Sean Beeson

FL has a lot of loyal fans, as I'm sure Audition does too. I personally use FL, so I'm probably a bit biased. It gets a bad rap as a newbieish program, but it really can be used for anything. Plus it's definitely the cheapest program you can buy and still do a TON with.

As for Samples and Synths...here's a couple examples of FL and EWQL silver at work.

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=3633448&q=hi

http://www.soundclick.com/util/getplayer.m3u?id=3701405&q=hi

Regarding your "industry standard" question: As Sean says, as long as you get the job done, it's done. Very true.

If I'm not mistaken, Audition is a two-track waveform editor. FL is a multitrack sequencer. They work with each other, not competitively.

For instance I use Sonar and Sound Forge. I use Sonar for sequencing and multitrack recording. I use Sound Forge to manipulate individual tracks of files and then often import them into Sonar to be mixed. You should have both multitrack software and a two track editor.

I haven't used Audition since it was called Cool Edit, but I heard Adobe has maintained the prog pretty well. FL I've never used, doesn't have the features I need.

To answer your question, ain't no industry standard especially when it comes to composition and sound design. It's all preference.

Tony

Many people that are Fruity Loops users also are familiar with Reason 3, which is in the industry.

Sean Beeson

FLStudio and Audition are definitely NOT the standards. If anything, Logic and Cubase are the industry standards in dance music, with Pro Tools coming up close behind. As for wave editing, nearly /everyone/ I know universally uses soundforge as it's full-featured yet has a relatively low price tag. This may be different in major studios, but the choice software of most professional producers who have their own small studios (like people in the more underground dance music communities) is Cubase and Logic.

That said, I /do/ know of people who produce in FLStudio. For example, one of my favorite D&B producers (Spor) produces exclusively in FLStudio, and he comes up with some great stuff.

Hope this helps.

Well, if you REALLY want to talk about standards, then we should be talking about $200K setups :)

Cubase and Logic, along with Digital Performer and Sonar, are used a lot for working with midi and the first two being used to work with audio quite a bit along with Protools.

Also a key thing to remember. you get what you pay for :)!

Sean

Well, you're talking about the origins of each program and it's evolution over the years.

For instance, ProTools was designed to explicitly mimic the traditional studio workflow. Therefore it is a multitracking powerhouse of a program. Yeah you gotta buy a lotta digidesign hardware to use anything past LE, but for the most accurate "digital" version of audio multitracking there is none better suited.

On the other hand a program like Cakewalk's Sonar started as a simple MIDI sequencer. In the last decade or so it has added Audio and not recently til the Sonar series has it really stepped out on it's own to really emulate traditional signal flow properly.

Recently ProTools has stepped up their MIDI implementation but it can't compete with the MIDI workflow of Sonar or Logic or others.

In the same way, Sonar and Logic aren't as fine tuned to audio multitracking as ProTools.

It's a simple case of which came first. Who's had more time to cultivate their abilities. At this point in time, all the big programs do the same thing in different ways...it's all a workflow preference.

Yeah, ProTools is a studio standard. You'll hardly see a Sonar or Logic studio. And if you are going to be dealing with real commercial studios, do yourself a favor and learn ProTools (I'm ProTools certified but I don't even own a rig). If you are only dealing with your own works and compositions, use whichever tool is the most efficient to YOU.

Tony

I concur with Tony 100%. I, believe it or not, this actually happens. In my earlier days of scoring for smaller films, I actually lost a gig because they said, do you know how to run a PT rig? And I said no, but I learn very quickly. And they replied with, you are not quite up to our qualifications.

I learned very quickly :)

Sean