DAW recommendation for electronic music please. Reaper? Reason 8?

Rykachu

New member
I just bought an Akai MPK mini mk2 and have a macbook and looking at making electronic music. Examples of inspiring bands containing music\noise\sounds I enjoy would be Crystal Castles, Teen Daze, Gold Panda, Blackbird Blackbird, Junior Boys, and Fuck Buttons.

I have the trial version of Reaper at the moment and have spent a couple days with it. I've been doing some research and one thing I've heard a few times is that Reaper is great for recording and that Reason 8 is great for electronic composition, sequencing, etc.

I don't know what Reaper is capable of so I am wondering if anyone has the experience to direct me to Reason 8 since the feeling I get is it's more appropriate for my goals, or if Reaper is worth sticking with.

Here is a dumb question: When speaking about Reaper and its emphasis on recording, does that literally mean it's better at recording actual instruments and refining it for export or CD, etc?

Thanks for any feedback and advice! Oh and also, if there is a recommendation on additional\supplemental hardware feel free to share. I was looking at the Akai MPC Studio but not sure how much I'd gain from it at this stage. Thanks!
 
I'm surprised that the Akai Professional MPK Mini Mk2 didn't come with a free copy of Ableton Live Lite, as Live Lite is often included with Akai Professional and other MIDI controllers. You might want to download the free trial of Live to see what you think of it-- but be warned that Live is (in my opinion) incredibly expensive.

There are many DAWs out there, and most of them have free trials available so you can give them a test spin. Choosing a DAW can be a very subjective experience, because there's no way to know what will appeal to you the most. Try the free trials of the various DAWs to see which ones strike your fancy, or which ones seem too difficult to use, etc. Also, some DAWs have free (non-trial) editions that you can use without having to worry about the trial period expiring-- e.g., PreSonus Studio One 3 Prime, Sony ACID Xpress 7.0, or Zynewave Podium Free. Cockos REAPER is very popular around here because the trial version never expires, but it isn't actually free-- if you like it and want to keep using it, you're supposed to pay for a license, although there's nothing (other than your conscience) to prevent you from continuing to use it for free forever "for evaluation purposes."

If you're planning to use a MIDI controller to trigger loops live, then you might want to take a good long look at Ableton Live, Acoustica Mixcraft, or Bitwig Studio, as they have features which are designed specifically for that type of thing.

But as for creating electronic music per se, that isn't necessarily something that's DAW-specific, because it's more a question of virtual instruments and soft synths. Some DAWs are known for the awesome virtual instruments which are included with them, but the software companies that make DAWs often sell their virtual instruments and soft synths separately, so you don't necessarily need to buy their DAW just because you like their selection of virtual instruments. Plus, there are companies that specialize in making virtual instruments rather than DAWs, and there are individuals who like to create soft synths and other virtual instruments and offer them for free, so you can buy or download a wide selection of plugins that can be used with just about any DAW. (Some DAWs don't let you use certain types of plugins, so make sure you check their specs to see.) So unless you're specifically looking for a DAW that will be good for live performing, you should be able to use just about any DAW and focus more on buying virtual instruments and soft synths.

If there's some electronic musician or group who you especially like, you might want to see if you can find out which virtual instruments and soft synths they use. There are magazines that focus on electronic music-- e.g., Future Music, MusicTech, Computer Music, and Electronic Musician-- and they frequently interview electronic musicians to talk about what they're up to and what equipment and software they're using, so you might check their web sites to see if any interviews with your favorite artists are available to read online.
 
Thanks for your feedback! I downloaded the trial of Ableton and so far I really like it. I am curious about the live aspect, it's something I'd be interested in experimenting with. I will definitely have a look at those links you provided. I do have a handful of musicians that represent the sounds and songs I'm interested in exploring (Blackbird Blackbird, Teen Daze, Junior Boys to name a few). I am a visual artist by profession, a glassblower, and took a sound class a decade ago and really enjoyed capturing my own sounds and playing with them. It's an approach I'd like to take with electronic music.

Thanks again for your guidance, huge help!
 
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