What DAW are you using?

Well?

  • GarageBand

    Votes: 8 2.3%
  • Logic Pro

    Votes: 33 9.5%
  • Mixcraft

    Votes: 11 3.2%
  • Pro Tools

    Votes: 21 6.0%
  • Reason

    Votes: 7 2.0%
  • Sonar

    Votes: 23 6.6%
  • Reaper

    Votes: 86 24.7%
  • Studio One

    Votes: 44 12.6%
  • Cubase

    Votes: 41 11.8%
  • Ableton

    Votes: 14 4.0%
  • FL Studio

    Votes: 16 4.6%
  • other

    Votes: 44 12.6%

  • Total voters
    348
I am surprised that GB is still pitching the shutout. I thought that was a popular one.

Yeah, I see quite a lot of guys coming through here with GB, but they're usually here asking for something better.
There's a V/O guy right now doing exactly that.
 
1st vote for Garageband! It's all I have ever used. Now that I am getting more heavily into home recording, I will be upgrading to Logic Pro X.

I know Garageband probably looks goofy compared to the more clinical sleek DAWs out there, but I really like the interface, and it's easy to learn. I figure Logic won't be too hard after messing with Garageband for awhile now.
 
I use audacity also, good for quick edits and eq and it sees my audio interface input in LINUX! but lately I've been using avconv at the command line, never thought I'd be doing that!
 
I use Samplitude as my go-to DAW - I'm on the latest Pro X3. I also use Logic 9 on occasion. I also own an older version of Studio One - it was one of the easiest DAWs to learn, in my experience.

I started on Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 many years ago, and stayed with Cakewalk until Sonar X2. Around that time a mastering engineer friend who used Magix Sequoia did an audio test between Sonar and Samplitude... the difference was quite obvious, and I moved to Samplitude after hearing that.

I've used Linux for a long time and several years ago I set up a Linux audio machine, using Ardour. It worked and sounded good, but the hassle of setting it up and updating it wasn't worth it - too time consuming. Also limited support from hardware and software companies.

I've tried a lot of DAWs - I didn't care for Reaper, and it's not as full featured as the big DAWs, but of course that's why it's so cheap. I didn't care for Cubase (a version ago) either, but I got along a bit better with Nuendo (several versions ago). I still own the first version of both Reason and Audition as well as Cool Edit Pro, which was nice for its time. I've even used Kristal, N-Track, and Wavosaur. ;)
 
I use reaper on the windows pc and Harrison mixbus 32C on the linux pc (ubuntu studio). I use the reaper for some mix projects when I'm not using it just to run vst plugins and my UAD quad via AES67.
 
I began on Mixcraft (4 & 5), tried using Logic Pro but found it a bit too technical, then gave Ableton Live a whirl which is now what I mainly use (on Mac). I like the session view because you can experiment with clips, and also the audio editing features. Still a lot to learn on the technical side, but for creativity and 'happy accidents' I think Ableton has a lot going for it. I do revisit Logic now and again to use some of the synths and sounds. I also dip in and out of Mixcraft too (on PC) mainly because some of the sounds seem to have a warmth to them that I don't get with the others.
 
I too I'm still rocking ProTools.

With everything being subscription based nowadays, it just makes sense to get a software that has been around since the 90's for a monthly price. There is also the capability of learning online at YouTube too if you come across some issues.
 
Unless Reason dramatically changes AND my computer with the version of Reason running now just dies, I will never ever change Reason. I love it so, so much.
 
Interesting, I just looked at this for the first time today. I was a little surprised at how few people replied GarageBand. I guess a companion poll would be to ask what platform, Mac or PC, people use. I really have no idea what the split in the forum would be. I used to think that the majority of people interested in computer recording would have gone with Mac, or maybe that would be more so 10-15 years ago than now. Does GB get treated like the redheaded stepchild because it's free and comes with a Mac?

I'm using it because it is free, lol. I've spent enough money on gear over the years and I don't have much discretionary spending power at the moment. I've been using direct recording a lot more lately since the change in the household now that my mom is more or less home 24/7, I don't get anytime I can play out loud. I'm trying to learn my recording chops on GB and after checking a bunch of youtubes I think that i would like to try Reaper for my next DAW. As it turns out, Reaper is pretty popular in the poll.

I used to have PT LE (6.0 IIRC) that had to have a PCI card and a breakout box in a G4 tower. Actually, I still have them, they're in boxes in the attic. I couldn't use them for live recording in the room because the fan in the tower was waaaay too noisy. Now I'm doing almost all my recording direct, hmmm. Dig it out again? LOL. The sound I got direct back then was so awful and PT had (has?) such a steep learning curve. Probably not worth the effort.
 
Well, certainly in the home recording world, you can figure finances probably have a pretty big impact on platform choice, and Wintel boxes have always been cheaper. (I bought my first PC in 1986 and, though I was amazed at what the Mac could do, I got an x86 simply because of price.) Today, there's no reason to choose a Mac for audio recording, since even the most basic PC has enough power for that kind of work and there are so many DAWs now that run on Windows.

But, even with a rough guestimate of a billion Windows PCs and 100 million Macs (numbers pulled out of the internet air last year), the breakdown of pure OS X DAWs is about 11%, so not a shabby showing, and shows a 23/77% split toward Logic, which doesn't surprise me. And, there might be a few folks running other DAWs on OS X, since, as you note, there's no platform breakdown.

Today GB is essentially a defeatured version of Logic Pro X and supports all the same 3rd party plugins. The UI enhancements would be the main reason for a home recorder to upgrade at this point.
 
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