The thing though is that Vision is more of a loop or pattern based sequencer. It's perfect for electronic and pop musicians, but my own personal stuff is more linear and progressive. Not that Vision can't do that, it can, but Logic seems the better sequencer for more advanced and detailed stuff all around.
Wow… there's so much mistaken assumption and jumping to conclusions here I don't even know where to start.
I've used Vision, StudioVision and Galaxy for years, years, and more years. It is NOT loop/pattern based - unless you want it to be. It is also NOT linear - unless you want it to be.
It will work well either way - that's one of the unique cool things about it. My thing is blues and jazz - definitely NOT pattern based.
I think the problem here is just that years of working on other DAWs have some of us expecting to be able to just jump to another and have everything be familiar. I've heard the exact same complaint from folks going FROM Vision TO Logic; that Logic was obtuse and (pun) illogical to them.
I too, use hardware mostly and IMO the functionality and flow with Vision and Galaxy is as smooth and efficient as you could ever ask for.
I also like how when you click with the drum stick in the piano roll, you can immediately move the note up and down and get it just right. You can't do that in Logic.
That's just ONE of the MANY things you "can't do in Logic" but you can in Vision. You can drag pitch, duration, velocity up and down, duplicate notes, etc too.
Back then there was really only Opcode and MOTU… they invented just about all of the basics we enjoy today. OMS alone (still working well) was vital in enabling the MIDI spec to evolve into more than just playing one hardware kbd from another.
The "too many windows" issue can be turned from an annoyance into a feature by simply adding another monitor then sizing and arranging them as you like. Then iit's a GOOD thing!
"Audio rendering to a file" is accomplished with the "Capture Seq > Seq" command. You select the tracks you want and one click dumps it all to a new sequence file with all EQs, plugins and automation.
The app predates VSTi. If your stuff depends on lots of VST instruments you should use something else.
If your stuff depends on mixing down 75 tracks with effects you should just take out a 2nd mortgage and fill up the room with TDM. (You DO get free heat that way…)
Note: after years of trying, Dave Oppenheimer is finally getting Avid to incorporate some of Vision's MIDI routines into PT - that's what…only PT ELEVEN!
Seriously, I've created entire albums in StudioVision alone using Sonicworx or Amadeus for tweaking and I'm starting another right now.
I will get around the VSTi issue using the Ugly wrapper (if I can make it work reliably) and by using my dual-boot MDD to track an occasional instrument in OSX using…wait for it… LOGIC!
Any questions, just ask.