Which DAW do you use and why?

[alexreinhold]

Had a conversation with a friend yesterday who told me Studio One is better than Ableton Live and I argued against. Turns out he never used Ableton Live and I never used Studio One.

So my answer to my own question: I use Ableton Live because I'm used to it.

Anyone with better insights on how to choose a DAW?  :guitaristgif:

 

[swarfrat]

Currently using Ardour, but I might purchase Mixbus next time it's on sale, just for the plugins.

 

[mayfly]

I'm guessing they all pretty much work well.  I'm using reaper because of a recommendation.  I like it.

 

[alexreinhold]

I mean... Does it even really matter which one?

 

[mayfly]

I mean... Does it even really matter which one?

I kinda don't think so.  Except for Garageband, which is the worst because of the low recording quality.

 

[alexreinhold]

I mean... Does it even really matter which one?

I kinda don't think so.  Except for Garageband, which is the worst because of the low recording quality.

I'd also add Audacity to that lsit  :laughing7:

 

[stratamania]

I have Logic on a Mac. In the past I have used Cubase on PC. I think Logic with all of the extra stuff it comes with is very good value if you have a Mac. Though there is plenty to choose from nowadays.

 

[swarfrat]

There are two camps. Tape recorder based and Sequencer based.

If you're asking in a guitar forum or over 40 you probably want the recorder paradigm. If you're doing EDM/primarily a keyboard player or 24, then Ableton is probably your thing.

Although at times the back of my brain suggests that you can still make rock n roll with cranked Marshalls and B-3's flying in 2 bar snippets. But I don't understand how people compose with loops and stuff.  Mostly because of how in the world to do search a bazillion libraries for "badadootbam" in Em at 127.3bpm.

 

[swarfrat]

Check out this thread at DFO. Some big names on it.

https://www.drumforum.org/threads/convince-me-which-daw-i-should-get-into.188587/post-2164875

 

[Jebberz]

Logic, because it is the cheapest full fledge option for my Mac. And still runs flawlessly on my 2012 MacBook pro.

 

[swarfrat]

Ardour is free. Mixbus is cheap on sale. It's based on Ardour with some Harrison plugins that are pretty cool

 

[J-Bones]

Had a conversation with a friend yesterday who told me Studio One is better than Ableton Live and I argued against. Turns out he never used Ableton Live and I never used Studio One.

So my answer to my own question: I use Ableton Live because I'm used to it.

Anyone with better insights on how to choose a DAW? :guitaristgif:

I mean... Does it even really matter which one?

Broadly speaking, all the major DAWs are capable of the same things, these days. But the workflows are different.

I would ask: What are you wanting to do that you cannot currently do in Ableton?

I've been using Cubase since 2006 after discovering how much easier it is to work with MIDI--specifically drum programming--in it compared to Pro Tools. If I didn't rely on MIDI much, I'd probably be using Studio One. I've tried pretty much all the major players at some point (Sonar, Ableton, Reaper, Studio One, Logic, Digital Performer, etc.), and while they technically can do what I would need, none of them let me do it as quickly as I can with Cubase.

Unless you use a lot of MIDI, try Reaper. It's very customizable/flexible, low-cost, the free trial never actually locks you out, and there are tons and tons of tutorials for it on YouTube.

 

[aarontunes]

I don't have any experience at all with Ableton Live, but I have massive experience with Studio One and Reaper. All DAW's these days have similar functionality. The real thing to consider IMO is workflow.

I recommend Studio One Pro.

It's geared towards making music in a pleasant, nice-looking environment with a smooth and simple workflow.

You can certainly make good music in Reaper, but I think it looks like crap, and I find the endless tweakability and colossal menus for everything very distracting. It feels like recording in Microsoft Excel.....the 1995 version.

 

[TBurst Std]

Well I bought a new audio interface today (a Black Lion Revolution) and it comes with iZotope Music Production Suite 4.

It should do what I need.

 

[new-killer-star]

Im currently using ableton. I’ve used logic, luna and cubase a bunch.

I started using ableton last summer because I hadn’t really used it and it’s different, and I wanted to play around with some of the advanced looping features. It’s definitely easier to mix and match sounds - and layer them together.  I’m also getting a live set together and expect to do a mix of looping and some backing tracks with it.

They all pretty much work great these days - even garage band - and I still switch between logic, ableton and sometimes luna.

 

[alexreinhold]

I recommend Studio One Pro.

How have you dealt with migrating old songs (say, from Cubase) to Studio One? Just by copy/pasting individual audio tracks?

 

[Sadie-f]

Audacity has been fine for my not very sophisticated needs, and when I've wanted to marry better than cellphone audio to video, cinlerra has done the trick.

I've only touched reaper, and liked what I saw, however as I haven't needed more tool, it's not been a priority.

 

[aarontunes]

I recommend Studio One Pro.

How have you dealt with migrating old songs (say, from Cubase) to Studio One? Just by copy/pasting individual audio tracks?

I've migrated tons of Reaper projects into Studio One. It's a simple as exporting the stems, and dropping them into a S1 project. Same with MIDI tracks.


S1 is very "drag-and-drop" oriented.

 

[NedRyerson]

Funny that this topic comes up now.  I just bought my license for Reaper a week ago!

 

[alexreinhold]

And I just pulled the trigger on Studio 1 Pro. My cousin and Aaron did this to me.