Justin is clearly in no mood to recognize there are other worthy players besides a full Protools rig at $15-20K.

For the rest of the world -- Samplitude 7 (and uncle Sequoia) is clearly an amazing "pro" program. Noone could reasonably call it "prosumer". It has consistently (for the last decade) been considered the best sounding DAW (right at the top with Paris). Samp guys who also use PT (or used to) virtually always prefer the sound and editing on Samp compared to PT. (Except for a single area: the Beat Detective).The object editor is the premier editing tool in all of DAW software.
EM recently honored it as the best native audio editor (Jan. 04). Pro Tool's mixer looks like a toy compared to Samplitude's. The real-time room simulator provides access to the best of true acoustic room reverbs (WAY better than Waves and TC reverb plugs). Recording and editing are straightforward. The developers pioneered "non-destructive" editing. They are also, incidentally, accessible and interact with users.

Samplitude has consistently been completely stable (I've used it since v.5 on multiple machines).
Samplitude plus a loaded UAD card and some Waves Renaissance plugs provides an amazing system. Coupled with a blazing fast custom built DAW (use all available silencing options and the fastest components you can affort), with Windows XP Pro and quality converters -- you've got a screaming phenomenal quality system for 40% the cost of ProTools.

Is Pro Tools 60% better? I can't imagine anyone running a screaming Samplitude + UAD system to agree.

But don't trust me. Check out the site - www.samplitude.com and download the 90 day demo. You won't need 90 days.

Craig Allen