What's your favorite DAW?

Ask questions and get answers about how to make music in any particular way. Hardware or songwriting or whatever.
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BoffoYux
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What's your favorite DAW?

Post by BoffoYux »

Updated listing that was pretty well thought out here.
I"m still on the training wheels for mixing, but looking at some things.

https://theproaudiofiles.com/daw-guide/
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Lunkhead
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Re: What's your favorite DAW?

Post by Lunkhead »

I've been using Cubase forever. I got started on it because Ken was using it (or maybe Nuendo?) and I was able to pirate v1 of it for the Mac back in like 2002-2003. It seemed like a pretty easy DAW to jump into for me coming from a background of using cassette 4-tracks and then an early MIDI/audio app "Studio Vision" on Macs in the late 90s. I'm sure I've only barely scratched the surface of what it can do even. I have done most/all of my mixing for my Song Fight and Nur Ein songs for many years using just its stock plugins and mostly their presets. The vocal pitch editing stuff mentioned on that page has been hugely helpful. The way you can go in and tweak the pitch of the individual syllables in a vocal track make it relatively straightforward to turn a rushed so-so vocal into something good enough for Song Fight. ;)

That page's Cubase section linked to this guy's YouTube channel, and now I'm drooling over his studio, especially the giant wall of modular synths, amazing!

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ujnhunter
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Re: What's your favorite DAW?

Post by ujnhunter »

Thanks for the link. I've got three DAWs (Reaper, Reason & Mixbus) from the article installed on my main recording rig... (and one that hasn't been added to their list yet, Samplitude) and I've used Cubase LT, Sony Acid, N-Track, SawPlus, FruityLoops, ReBirth RB-338, Trackers (Impulse Tracker, Scream Tracker, Fast Tracker, Buzz), Cool Edit (by recording tracks solo and then pasting them into existing tracks!), Windows 3.1 Audio Editor (Or whatever the included "Record" program was with Windows 3.1? by recording everything as a single take) & a Cassette Deck (Dual which was great for overdubs & Fisher Price before that as single take awesomesauce!) in the past before switching to Reaper as my main DAW (Thanks Reve!). I guess I also have Pro Tools First installed on my main recording rig as well as that came with my Avid Eleven Rack but I've never even run the program... I do remember back in the old days how everyone used to think it was Pro Tools or bust... like even though we had perfectly capable DAWs in SawPlus & N-Track, etc... how if you didn't have Pro Tools or a Mac you couldn't record "real music". It's also funny how a musician (producer, recording engineer) I know still uses Saw Studio for everything he does. It looks like 199X to me, but it's what he knows. ;) I'm Reaper or bust as of now... considering I have all my own customization suited to my workflow... Reaper w/ SWS Extension is the only way to go. The scripting engine (which even allows for stuff like "VocAlign" style 'plugins' for FREE) and custom actions make editing/recording a breeze for me and I don't think I could live without them.
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fluffy
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Re: What's your favorite DAW?

Post by fluffy »

I still love Logic Pro and I have no intention of ever switching, unless Apple ends up completely ruining everything at some point. It is the only DAW I've used that absolutely makes sense for my mental model of how to make music and it's always getting better, plus it comes with some incredibly amazing stuff built-in plugin-wise and it makes it the best deal in professional music software, period.

Yes Macs themselves are "expensive" (they really aren't compared to similarly-equipped PCs but that's a different rant) but the cost of a Mac + Logic Pro is still less than buying the equivalent stuff on Windows. That $300 gets you a LOT.
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ken
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Re: What's your favorite DAW?

Post by ken »

I agree that Logic is a great value if you already have a Mac. I've used it and owned it but never really felt comfortable with it. I'm sure some of that is being a Cubase user for nearly 20 years.
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vowlvom
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Re: What's your favorite DAW?

Post by vowlvom »

I moved from Cubase to Reaper about 8 years ago when I started to get uncomfortable with using cracked software and wanted something reasonably priced, but 8 years down the line I'm happier with Reaper than I ever was with Cubase and it really fits my workflow very well indeed.

I flirted with Ableton Live towards the end of last year after getting the Lite version free with a USB controller and I'm keeping that around as the session view is a really fun and different way of working. After making an album worth of songs with it last November though I've definitely swung back towards using Reaper for most things, I just love it and understand it and that's hard to beat.
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rone rivendale
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Re: What's your favorite DAW?

Post by rone rivendale »

My favorite DAW is when I see a cute baby "DAAAAW!" :)
From spoken word to actual singing, I can screw up any style with style. :D
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fluffy
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Re: What's your favorite DAW?

Post by fluffy »

ken wrote:I agree that Logic is a great value if you already have a Mac. I've used it and owned it but never really felt comfortable with it. I'm sure some of that is being a Cubase user for nearly 20 years.
I switched to Logic from Cubase, which I never quite got comfortable with for some reason. Its keyboard shortcuts never made sense to me, mostly.
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ken
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Re: What's your favorite DAW?

Post by ken »

fluffy wrote:
ken wrote:I agree that Logic is a great value if you already have a Mac. I've used it and owned it but never really felt comfortable with it. I'm sure some of that is being a Cubase user for nearly 20 years.
I switched to Logic from Cubase, which I never quite got comfortable with for some reason. Its keyboard shortcuts never made sense to me, mostly.
I have that same problem using Adobe Premiere.
Ken's Super Duper Band 'n Stuff - Berkeley Social Scene - Tiny Robots - Seamus Collective - Semolina Pilchards - Cutie Pies - Explino! - Bravo Bros. - 2 from 14 - and more!

i would just like to remind everyone that Ken eats kittens - blue lang
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fluffy
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Re: What's your favorite DAW?

Post by fluffy »

ken wrote:I agree that Logic is a great value if you already have a Mac. I've used it and owned it but never really felt comfortable with it. I'm sure some of that is being a Cubase user for nearly 20 years.
oh god I just realized I've been using Logic in some form or another since 2004 which is 14 YEARS holy fuck

I think the only Song Fight entries I did using Cubase were Five Minutes, and Paper Cuts & Spilling Guts. I also used Cubase to mix down the live recordings from SF Live Austin 2004. Then I was using GarageBand for Song Fight for a while (up until 2005 when I switched to Logic 7 full-time). In 2004 I was using a stripped-down version of Logic 6 while working at Ubisoft and that's where I started to really admire it.

Also in 2005 GarageBand wasn't yet Baby Logic, it was closer to SoundTrack Pro in its operation. And I was using SoundTrack Pro for my music for a while too (Violet Wants It Her Way thru Put Cindy Back on the Bus were done in that, and that's also what I used to mix Frontalittle's Goodbye Monster and a bunch of other things). Before that I was using CoolEdit Pro and Impulse Tracker for most of my music, and before CoolEdit Pro it was Impulse Tracker and a Tascam Portastudio 4-track to dub in my shitty fuckin' vocals (recorded on a Radio Shack dynamic microphone which I still have around here somewhere). I think my earliest songs I just used Impulse Tracker entirely and had a really cumbersome means of recording my vocals and synchronizing them with the track!
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Jerkatorium
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Re: What's your favorite DAW?

Post by Jerkatorium »

Headline from today's The Onion:

Researchers Observe Chimpanzees Using Pro Tools
"Yes, I am a Muppet with B.O.; this song speaks to me." - Manhattan Glutton
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Lunkhead
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Re: What's your favorite DAW?

Post by Lunkhead »

Jerkatorium wrote:Headline from today's The Onion:

Researchers Observe Chimpanzees Using Pro Tools
LOOOOL
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