Choosing A New OSX DAW & Interface recommendations?

CaliGal

Music Industry Veteran
I’ll try to make this as short as possible - but some background is needed first. I started out in electronic music/recording before the dawn of personal computers/MIDI and learned it all, along the way up through about Digital Performer V5. Life got in the way and I haven’t been involved in it for the last 20 years, but am putting together a small home setup now.

I plan to get an interface and DAW software for a Mac desktop with Thunderbolt and USB 3.0 so am looking for advice based on the following -

1. Will likely be recording just 1 stereo instrument or 1 stereo mic at a time - (possibly two) but a nice, quiet warm sounding front end is a good place to start…
2. I have upgradability for MOTU’s Digital Performer to the current rev for $150... I have to at least consider it...
3. I currently have an Alesis IO2 interface new in the box (with Cubase LE) but haven’t opened it yet because I suspect it’s poor quality/crippled.
4. I’d like the setup and use, to be very simple if there is such a thing.
5. Big bonus - bundled VIRTUAL INSTRUMENTS* - to supplement my limited MIDI gear (yes I know the really good ones cost $$)
6. Budget - yes, not spending $1000s at this time. $300-400ish for the DAW and interface would be tops
7. DAW should have quality mixing/outboard software FX bundled as well (wide plug in compatibility)
8. MIDI sequencing - MIDI I/O - still important even though nothing overly fancy is required
9. While the Mac does have Thunderbolt - no sense in paying Thunderbolt interface prices if USB 3.0 can handle it - right?

While there are some interfaces bundled with DAW software - what’s the highest audio quality, plug & play budget OS X solution in 2015? (bundled or bought separately)

Thanks for input in advance!
 
Hi CaliGal,
Why OS X? Maybe I'm the wrong guy to resp to your thread here. But you mentioned Cubase LE. Don't go there. My experience with Cubase goes back 7, 8 years. I stopped upgrading Steinberg's Cubase at 6.5. C-8 is out now but offers me no more than I can use with C-6.5. The highest quality a DAW will give is 32 Bit (float) recording/mixing/editing. Steinberg/Yamaha offers this. However, I'm not sure if other comparable DAW's do. Cubase 8 comes with everything you need to compose, write, mix, edit and master all in one single box.

http://www.steinberg.net/fileadmin/...ation_8_—_List_of_included_VST_3_plug-ins.pdf


One stop shop. Keep it simple. Cubase 8 retail is about $549 anywhere. You have to deal with a dongle but since Yamaha bought Steinberg out several years ago, their support is awesome.

Good luck CaliGal.
 
Hi CaliGal,
Why OS X? Maybe I'm the wrong guy to resp to your thread here. But you mentioned Cubase LE. Don't go there. My experience with Cubase goes back 7, 8 years. I stopped upgrading Steinberg's Cubase at 6.5. C-8 is out now but offers me no more than I can use with C-6.5. The highest quality a DAW will give is 32 Bit (float) recording/mixing/editing. Steinberg/Yamaha offers this. However, I'm not sure if other comparable DAW's do. Cubase 8 comes with everything you need to compose, write, mix, edit and master all in one single box.

One stop shop. Keep it simple. Cubase 8 retail is about $549 anywhere. You have to deal with a dongle but since Yamaha bought Steinberg out several years ago, their support is awesome.

Good luck CaliGal.

Thanks - one of the ones I've found is the Steinberg UR22 which comes bundled with Cubase AI - so it would fit the bill on integration. If the software is awful them I can always just upgrade my old Digital Performer and have a higher end set up. Some people are nuts for Reaper too - but I've never used it.

Why OS X? It's the current version of what I've been using since the early 80s. I could run Linux or another alternative OS, but like you said - keep it simple. :-)

I found an interesting comparison of some of the contenders - Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 vs Creative E-MU 0202 vs Alesis iO2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjBpazR9neo

Convinces me to NOT go with Alesis!
The - Steinberg UR22 is an audio+midi choice... Also w/midi - Roland Quad Capture or Duo-Capture EX (no OS X software DAW)
 
CaliGal,
If you're planing to be professionally competitive, you're going to need to invest in reliable hardware and software. This of course includes an OS that won't choke. If you're a musician first and an engineer/producer 2ND, you could always pick up a copy of Cubase 6 on Amazon. Amazon.com: cubase 6: Musical Instruments

I'm using the 1ST generation of the Tascam US-144 MIDI audio interface. Very reliable and simple to use. I've owned mine since 2007. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvYe4gOTokw

I have a pair of Yamaha HS80M's and a M-Audio Key-Station Pro88 controller and an all-round high-end mic for recording audio when I need to. (AT-4051) That's it. I've replaced all my hardware racks with digital plugins.

It can't get any "simpler" than this. I think the most important aspect of any recording rig is your computer weather you're running Mac or a pc. A powerful OS is crucial today in the audio arts. Otherwise, you'll be blaming every other component of your system for down time and issues. My advise for a seasoned musician who takes his/her recording/mixing/editing and mastering seriously is to upgrade all or most of your hardware gear to soft-based solutions. There's literally nothing good software can't do today that real estate hogging hardware gear used to do of the past.

Gladly, struggling with i/O's and converters is a chore of the past experienced by frustrated engineers, who have been making the leap from analog to digital for the past 20 something years.
 
Reaper is $60 and I believe has a 64 bit floating point audio engine. It has some good stock plugins (which you can download free and use elsewhere), but no bundled virtual instruments. I have found it to be more stable than Cubase 6 and able to bridge 32 bit plugins where Cubase failed. It's also free to try with a totally uncrippled trial version that doesn't force you to stop using it until you pay.
 
I also vote for cubase version 8 is the best (for me) yet, and I've been using it since the early 2000s I am old enough to remember cubase SX and how innovative that was at the time...awesome for electronic music, detailed midi editing and features and audio, you'll struggle to beat it, and on a mac it's even more stable apparenly (I wouldn't know because I can't afford one).
 
Hard to beat Logic Pro X in regards to bang for your buck. Sounds like it would be good for what you are looking to do, comes with lots of FX and Instruments, and a large soundbank
 
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