what's you're favourite DAW?

  • When I think of DAW I am thinking of how to get what I am doing recorded. I am not looking for a band of additional instruments I am not playing...but that is me and that is what plug ins are for if I ever needed them. All the DAW's out there are good now a days. Finding one that aligns with what you are about, how you work and so forth is what matters in the end. YMMV

    The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.

  • If my statement was wrong I apologize.
    When I was using Reaper (Years ago) there were no instruments included.

    And according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REAPER

    this hasn’t changed.

    Are your instruments included or 3rd party?

    They are 3rd party plugins but Reaper comes with all your basic effects necessary to make a pro mix minus instruments. I would not depend on a all-included-solution in DAW to satisfy my needs. They are many 3rd party plugins that are over the charts to what an included plugin can do. Superior Drummer is one of them.


    I do get though that once you get used to a DAW then you are not likely to change. I get aggravated when I have to learn a new Windows OS or Android Phone.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • They are 3rd party plugins but Reaper comes with all your basic effects necessary to make a pro mix minus instruments. I would not depend on a all-included-solution in DAW to satisfy my needs. They are many 3rd party plugins that are over the charts to what an included plugin can do. Superior Drummer is one of them.


    I do get though that once you get used to a DAW then you are not likely to change. I get aggravated when I have to learn a new Windows OS or Android Phone.

    Agree on all fronts. What sold me with Reaper was that it can look like any other DAW if you want it to. I don't know of anything more customizable but I am certainly not a DAW or recording expert by any means. I am typically an Apple fan but I also don't like being stuck with a system that moves along at the whims of the owning company when said company isn't only a DAW company (in this case). Apple loves to slave their users into their system lock them in and or force the upgrades, etc. Anyway. Logic is a fine product and it and Cubase are my other DAW favorites.

    The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side.

  • They are 3rd party plugins but Reaper comes with all your basic effects necessary to make a pro mix minus instruments. I would not depend on a all-included-solution in DAW to satisfy my needs. They are many 3rd party plugins that are over the charts to what an included plugin can do. Superior Drummer is one of them.


    I do get though that once you get used to a DAW then you are not likely to change. I get aggravated when I have to learn a new Windows OS or Android Phone.

    Thanks for setting this straight and confirming my point (i.e. Reaper doesn’t include instruments).

    We were talking bang for the buck.
    And my point is/was how complete Logic Pro's feature set is with what’s included not only with FX but also instruments.

    If you actually want depend on it or not is another preference question. I own Superior Drummer, Slate, EZD, Jamstix. More often than not I can get the job done only with Logic's drummer.

    The same is valid for piano, brass and whatnot. It’s there in Logic if you need it.


    If all you ever do is record guitar you'll never use what Logic has to offer and Reaper is for you.

    But if you are composing/arranging and looking for sound textures this is where you can get really creative with Logic Pro.

  • ...

    If all you ever do is record guitar you'll never use what Logic has to offer and Reaper is for you.

    But if you are composing/arranging and looking for sound textures this is where you can get really creative with Logic Pro.

    I disagree. Any DAW in experienced hands will yield superior results provided that the musician's are above average. And I've heard some great results with lesser musicians. ;)

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • I disagree. Any DAW in experienced hands will yield superior results provided that the musician's are above average. And I've heard some great results with lesser musicians. ;)

    That's not the point. Regardless what you intend to use you have to know your shit inside out. ;)

    And I now I was able to record some pretty good songs with a 4-track cassette back then.


    See, the keyboard player in one of the bands I play in (the ska band, see my sig) even gets his live sound with a master keyboard and a MacBook Pro running Logic Pro. He could not do this with Reaper.
    With my other band I produced two albums in the last 8 years with Logic Pro completely in the box incl. the keyboard sounds apart from the odd sound here and there where the keyboard player wanted to use his Nord keyboard (see my sig, it's even streamsble


    So, what point do you want to make in the end? You want to tell me that a meal with a piece of meat, 6 potatoes and a handful of vegetables is more bang for the buck than an all you can eat menu that you can vary as you see fit?
    Then go ahead, my math clearly is very different.

  • That's not the point. Regardless what you intend to use you have to know your shit inside out. ;)

    And I now I was able to record some pretty good songs with a 4-track cassette back then.


    See, the keyboard player in one of the bands I play in (the ska band, see my sig) even gets his live sound with a master keyboard and a MacBook Pro running Logic Pro. He could not do this with Reaper.
    With my other band I produced two albums in the last 8 years with Logic Pro completely in the box incl. the keyboard sounds apart from the odd sound here and there where the keyboard player wanted to use his Nord keyboard (see my sig, it's even streamsble


    So, what point do you want to make in the end? You want to tell me that a meal with a piece of meat, 6 potatoes and a handful of vegetables is more bang for the buck than an all you can eat menu that you can vary as you see fit?
    Then go ahead, my math clearly is very different.

    You just want to be right that's all and how fantastic Logic is with hight quality fx. :rolleyes: It doesn't matter if I use daw A or B. All daw's comes with good plugins nowadays.

    Think for yourself, or others will think for you wihout thinking of you

    Henry David Thoreau

  • You just want to be right that's all and how fantastic Logic is with hight quality fx. :rolleyes: It doesn't matter if I use daw A or B. All daw's comes with good plugins nowadays.

    First sentence: nope (and I sent you a PM for clarification). :)

    Second sentence: yes, agreed, but I never stated otherwise. Don’t put words in my mouth.

  • They are 3rd party plugins but Reaper comes with all your basic effects necessary to make a pro mix minus instruments. I would not depend on a all-included-solution in DAW to satisfy my needs. They are many 3rd party plugins that are over the charts to what an included plugin can do. Superior Drummer is one of them.


    I do get though that once you get used to a DAW then you are not likely to change. I get aggravated when I have to learn a new Windows OS or Android Phone.

    quality 3rd party plugins don’t come cheap…


    superior drummer 3 is 359€. The first bundle with more packs starts at 529€.


    And That’s only for drums… want a good keyboard? 150€, want some good plugins packs : 100€ a year minimum.


    With all that money spent you really have to make some money from it.


    Logic comes a 199€ with a s**load of high end plugins and loops. That’s why I like it.

    But honestly, for 99% of guitar player a simple free daw like GarageBand on Mac is really enough.

  • ...

    With all that money spent you really have to make some money from it.


    ...

    I would whole-heartedly agree. I mean, you have to be able to pay for it. Fortunately, I made some money before guitar so I don't feel that type of pressure. Just pressure to get my music out there.


    I tell you what I found out... a DAW (any DAW) is an absolute necessity to understand tone fully. At least in my case. So now I get when people said a guitar is a midrange instrument.

    Larry Mar @ Lonegun Studios. Neither one famous yet.

  • Turning a subjective discussion into an objective one will never work so no-one should feel the need to justify their view....just pre-empting my view :).


    I run Ableton and I really like it BUT.....


    1) I like it because it was relatively cheap and I don't use it heavily

    2) I did find it quite a steep learning curve as it wasn't intuitive.....its one of those products that in hindsight seems obvious but at the time I struggled with basic things

    3) It seemed very geared towards samples/drum and bass

    4) I have a PC and have no intention of getting a Mac.

    5) I am so heavily invested that I couldn't bear re-learning something else!


    As per usual its about requirements first. As a very basic user, wanting to record guitar parts, sometimes download backing tracks and record over them, take live stems and remix my band, then I'm hardly a "power user" :)

  • Same level here!

    I use Logic Pro for the exact same reasons. Only point 4 is different here. I'm on a Mac.

    And to be honest, Garage Band could be enough for me. The most used function for me is the tuner :D

  • My thoughts, after owning numerous DAWs over the years:

    If you're on a Mac, then Logic is a great choice if you want an all-around DAW to compose with. IMHO it's geared more towards creatives than engineers, it's really great to get things moving along quickly when you're writing.


    Reaper is awesome for audio handling. Very intuitive to get going, cross-platform (a major drawback with Logic Pro), and rock-solid. Its MIDI development lagged behind for a long time, but it's since been fleshed out quite a bit. Also, given the price and the licensing scheme it's a fantastic first DAW, since you get all the features (but you really should buy your license if you keep it - I did!)

    Studio One has come a long way very fast. Great overall environment, cross-platform, supposed to be very solid although I did have issues last time I tried it. A bit pricey to get the full feature set.

    Pro Tools - overpriced, overrated. If it works for you that's great, but IMO they've been coasting on its reputation for being the "professional choice" since outboard hardware was needed for more intensive work. Those days are long gone, and they haven't kept pace with their competition enough to justify the price tag & the hassles of Avid licensing. I paid for two versions along the way; took training, and really wanted to master it but it was always coming up short.

    Ableton Live - expensive, but if you pay attention to the release timings you can get in on sale prices and save some bucks. Live (and Bitwig) are different beasts - more like DAW-as-an-instrument. Not that you can't record every bit as well as the competition, but then you're really not taking advantage of what they offer. Steep learning curve to really get into it, but if you like geeking out on digital audio then it's amazingly powerful.

  • + for Cubase for me.

    I was trained on it whilst studying music technology at A-Level. MANY moons ago now. I bought Cubase 11 last year in a sale and got Pro as part of a deal.
    It's complex at times but every day is a school day! Just personal preference for me...

  • In Studio is almost always Pro Tools (but I don't have to operate it myself), at home I use Reason Studio. I like the analog-like interface and is more the enough for what I need.

    If something is too complicated, then you need to learn it better

  • Thanks for the input guys.After a lot of trying,the winner for me is Cubase 12 artist.

    It's crazy what you all can do with it.

    The audio to midi and chord track is very handy especially when you struggle with hearing the right chord or remembering what you played in a track.I know it can be complicaded ,but I got the time I'am still young(62).

  • At the end of the day it's whatever works best for you. Most DAWs have similar feature sets, often the devil is in the details of how it was implemented. If it stays out of your way and helps you be creative, that's about the best you can ask for. :)

  • The one I have been very much digging lately (for demos and quick ideas) is Roland Zenbeats on an iPad. It's fairly simple, and has lots of capabilities, very much like a simplified version of Ableton crossed with Maschine. And it is free for a limited capability version; a $2.99 subscription gets you into the Zencore universe with emulations of most of Roland's vintage and current synths. Don't let the Zenbeats name mislead you, it has what is called Timeline view that allows standard audio DAW usage. I did use Garageband for these tasks, but Zenbeats has very completely kicked it to the curb.


    For standard recording I use Ableton.

  • Cubase users I need you're help.How can I use s/pdif in stereo?I use a focusrite scarlett 8/6 and cubase sees one tulip connection as mono and want me to use the outputconnection to make it stereo.