Please suggest a DAW software for a beginner

  • Thread starter Thread starter neojjjk
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jimmys69 said:
I'm not sure if we are all on the same page here. You said you like 'pop and light rock' songs. FL is not really suitable for that type of music production.

I know, I paid good money for the full version, and many synths for my boy who likes to make 'trance' music. None of FL looks like something you would ideally use to actually 'record' an instrument. Which is what your original post inferred. Maybe you should change your first post, or at least be clear as to what it is you wish to do.
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I am really confused , I tried fl studio .it is good for making beats ,& I checked YouTube videos of Logic Pro .i really like the interface of both softwares . Yeah , I don't like trance , club styles.. I love pop and rock styles & wish to do it using my keyrig,nanopad2 &mic. Please advice.now I am trying master the ableton live lite version.
 
Typical rock and pop, has real 'recorded drums' in my definition of the genres. I suppose we need to clarify what that means to you.

To me; When recording a live drum kit, you need first, a real drummer, a good sounding room to record it in, mics/preamps and software to make it happen. FL Studio, is not really the best option to make this happen.

However, if your vision of pop and rock, involves artificial instruments, then yeah, FL could be good for you.
 
jimmys69 said:
Typical rock and pop, has real 'recorded drums' in my definition of the genres. I suppose we need to clarify what that means to you.

To me; When recording a live drum kit, you need first, a real drummer, a good sounding room to record it in, mics/preamps and software to make it happen. FL Studio, is not really the best option to make this happen.

However, if your vision of pop and rock, involves artificial instruments, then yeah, FL could be good for you.
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Don't have a drummer ,that's why I bought a nanopad2 , will do everything with artificial instruments.
 
neojjjk said:
Yesterday I tried reaper . I didn't like the interface & it is hard to learn.
I really liked the UI of fl studio & logic . That's why I asked about those two softwares.
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No, it's not pretty like Logic or Pro Tools, but it is incredibly functional - in some cases it's actually more so.
It is a little hard to pick up and go immediately, but actually if you give it a short amount of time, it does make sense fairly quickly.
Most functions and utilities are in menus, which I understand isn't pretty or as nice as on a user interface, but everything is there.

If you know what you want then get that, otherwise - several people have already suggested Reaper, and they all have good reason.
 
neojjjk said:
Yesterday I tried reaper . I didn't like the interface & it is hard to learn.
I really liked the UI of fl studio & logic . That's why I asked about those two softwares.
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If all that's important to you is the UI then you've made your decision.

+1 to Reaper :)

+1 to why bother with FL Studio if you're making pop/rock.
 
neojjjk said:
Yesterday I tried reaper . I didn't like the interface & it is hard to learn.
I really liked the UI of fl studio & logic . That's why I asked about those two softwares.
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Hard to learn? All DAW's have a learning curve to them. You can't know everything in a couple of minutes and 'trying' something for a day won't get you very far at all. You need to spend a lot more time with your software than a day. If you find Reaper so hard, good luck with whatever you decide to go with.

Oh and Reaper can be made to look awesome too.....

reaper.webp
 
Now I am watching YouTube videos of cubase and logic .can you tell me which one is better ?
 
neojjjk said:
Now I am watching YouTube videos of cubase and logic .can you tell me which one is better ?
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Dood, have you been listening? There is really no better between the big programs. Cubase and Logic are in there. You want easy, then you don't get 'best'. If you want 'easy (cheap)', then you get limitations.

You need to decide how much time you are willing to devote to what it is you wish to do. Good stuff, does not come without the price of devotion to learning the shiz. You want great, then educate yourself by learning to be great. You want 'easy', then prepare yourself for inadequate results, cuz that ship ain't gonna float in the ocean of others that take the time to learn a good software program. It will sink like your dreams will.

Don't ride the SS Minnow, unless you want to be a sitcom. Read, try, and learn bro! Nothing comes easy to the lazy.

Pick one, learn it, and decide if it works for you. If not, try another.

You have to take the time to figure this out yourself man. This means a whole buttload of time! There is no best, or easy.


In my day job of remodeling, there is a common project management triangle. You only get to pick two. In this case, you don't get much at all, if you do not plan to invest the time into learning the trade to begin with.


HERE
 
jimmys69 said:
Dood, have you been listening? There is really no better between the big programs. Cubase and Logic are in there. You want easy, then you don't get 'best'. If you want 'easy (cheap)', then you get limitations.

You need to decide how much time you are willing to devote to what it is you wish to do. Good stuff, does not come without the price of devotion to learning the shiz. You want great, then educate yourself by learning to be great. You want 'easy', then prepare yourself for inadequate results, cuz that ship ain't gonna float in the ocean of others that take the time to learn a good software program. It will sink like your dreams will.

Don't ride the SS Minnow, unless you want to be a sitcom. Read, try, and learn bro! Nothing comes easy to the lazy.

Pick one, learn it, and decide if it works for you. If not, try another.

You have to take the time to figure this out yourself man. This means a whole buttload of time! There is no best, or easy.


In my day job of remodeling, there is a common project management triangle. You only get to pick two. In this case, you don't get much at all, if you do not plan to invest the time into learning the trade to begin with.


HERE
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I never asked for an easy & cheap method / software. I know that it will take time.
I don't have a Mac machine to check logic .I would like to have a large library of great sounding Virtual Instruments,I need to be able to create the drum ,guitar parts that sound good and realistic. First I have to decide which software to use ,that's why I am checking reviews and YouTube . then ill buy a laptop / Mac mini or book pro .
I don't know why apple is selling MacBook Pro for 1300$ (basic model ) . Crap hardware specs.
For that price I can buy a asus g series laptop ,which is really powerful.
 
Well, I took it that way, as you keep moving around, as to what you want to try.

You have many opinions here already. And you have Youtube crap to sway you.

You just need to take one, and actually use it, before you will know what works for you. The fact that you haven't already, compelled me to infer the 'easy'.

The fact that you mentioned Garageband earlier, and a budget of $200-300 on DAW, and $600 on a lappy, tells me you want things cheap.

I am not judging you man, you just need to put some time into figuring out what 'you' want, and what will work for 'you', by spending the time to find out yourself. No opinion here, will make a bit of difference, once you have formed your own opinion. You just need to start doing.

Start trying/demoing software. You will only get those who use a particular software, recommending it, because they use it. It does not make it right for you personally. Only YOU can figure that out yourself.

Other than Reaper (freak of nature), I would say, if it is cheap, it probably has many limitations. Whether those limitations affect what it is you wish to accomplish? Well, I cant possibly answer that for you. Yer call man.
 
A couple of slightly contradictory thoughts...

First, being happy with the GUI is important because you'll be spending a lot of hours with it. Years back I used Protools at work but, despite a week's formal training and five days a week using it, I never felt really happy with PT. When I decided to set up a home studio, I went with Cool Edit which just felt "right" to me.

That said, besides being happy with the interface you also have to be aware of the feature set. I could move from PT to Cool Edit (which has no MIDI functionality at all) because my use is purely recording live instruments and vocals. I don't need sequencer functionality but other people's needs are different.

And this is where you need to consider whether FL Studio is right for you. It's great for MIDI and manipulating samples but, as several have warned, isn't nearly as good using "real" instruments and voices. You really need to think about how you will work and whether FL Studio has all the features you need. Depending on the answers you come up with after thinking about it, maybe it'll be worth going to something else.

The same applies to Cubase and Logic. Both have their fans but they also have different strengths and weaknesses. I don't know them well enough to advise but you need to dive under the hood and think about which fills your personal needs best.
 
Try Presonus Studio One this DAW is great, and sounds awesome. They have a free version so you can check it out and you can also download the Pro version for free which is the one you want to get but the actual free version is limited and the Pro version has everything but you can't save what you are doing. Check out the comparisons and video tutorials.
This software is really easy to use and alot of people are switching over to it. I have tried all the DAWS out there and to me Studio One is the best one.
 
dgvoiceovers said:
This software is really easy to use and alot of people are switching over to it. I have tried all the DAWS out there and to me Studio One is the best one.
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Care to name a bunch of people switching to it? And you've been busy if you've tried ALL the DAWs! Sorry, Presonus Studio One isn't particularly popular and hasn't attracted a very big user base. By all means try it but be a bit suspicious of effusive recommendations.

radiocycle said:
I like Audacity...
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I like Audacity too...as a simple (and free) bit of audio editing software. However, try to use it for multitrack recording and mixing and you quickly bump your head on the limitations.
 
Cubase 7

I never used a DAW before when I acquired Cubase 5 LE for free with my Zoom R16. I just received a solicitation from Steinberg to try Cubase 7 for free. I don't know if you have to be a current user or not, but may be worth looking into. It took a solid month to get up to speed. Tons of youtube videos were extremely helpful.
 
+1 Reaper! Why? The user-interface in totally customizable to way YOU want it and that's one of the many plus points of Reaper is the fact it works the way YOU are wanting to 'flow'. There's actually a great DVD instructional that's hours long on Reaper 4 by Kenny Gioia that can be had for pretty cheap at groove3.com/str/training-videos/Training Videos for Audio Software and Music Technology and matter-in-fact, that page am directing you to has ALL the available and awesome to follow pro training videos by people that know there shiz, like most that are responding to your query here.
I am a recently Disabled Military Veteran and wanted to get back into a home synth-based studio and being perhaps a bit old school, I prefer hardware rather than softsynths, effects, etc. I indeed tried ProTools MP9 as it came with the audio interface at time and decided to not upgrade to the non-limiting version because I personally found it to be incredibly picky as far as what computer you have, what motherboard, what video card, and AVID Support's solution every time was basically in a nut-shell, "...buy a PC that we *officially support*, which would be at least a few grand..."; THEN after lurking for a while, reading HOURS of posts on this forum and others, I took the advice of Reaper and will be honest with you, that was 6 months ago, am still learning, IN-SPITE of having to take plethora of meds for chronic health crap, but am loving it and the work-flow. If I can surely persevere, there's no reason you cannot, esp. given the many tutorials free on youtube or ones I suggested on weblink.
Now, I may prefer hardware synths and effects, whereas you seem to want vsti/au, YOU never know in the future, you may want to learn/use say a hardware synth or piano as an example--and the same goes for myself in not completely shutting the door to possibly experimenting with some great software in future. You want a DAW that can handle MIDI as well as Audio equally and with that said, an audio interface that can handle that with the lowest latency. Having a dozen keyboards/rack synths does not make ME a better player rather, it takes practice AND T I M E. At some point I may very well want to revisit Pro Tools and/or use ReWire if it's supported with Reaper now or at some point but you could not find a less expensive, fully-featured DAW than Reaper for it's price if you like it at $60. and that comes with a long time of free updates. ALOT of DAW's charge a lot of money for new editions/features.
This is not your 'cheapest hobby-with-aspirations'~! You would do yourself service by spending money on a quality audio interface and great reference studio monitors and read the Reaper, ProTools, Cubase, et al, Forums, making intelligently targeted searches on these sites (as well as homerecording.com), as I can tell you I learned more by reading via MANY searches on THIS very forum without to date, never yet posting a question!
Just like how a college/academic paper takes research/time/skills, not to mention advice from the professor (or mentor's as I view the folks on this and other forum pages), you have to do the work.
You may want to be researching at the *same time* which audio interface and DAW you want to ultimately use because as someone wisely answered you and honestly; this is NOT a *cheap* road you are starting on. You need to consider a pc/mac that has fast memory and 7200rpm hard drives, etc, etc. as well and until then, Reaper is incredibly light on processor intensive work. You could use Reaper until you can afford the pc/mac that will not ultimately be your bottleneck. I did and have since had a custom monster dedicated pc tower for recording only.
In no way did I mean to come across crass nor snarky. Just thought that my rather unique experience in setting-up a proper home studio given my physical limitations at times, would perhaps present you with WHY people are advising you as they rightly are on this great forum! Good luck and make music! FYI--Pro Tools is one of the few DAW that do not let you try a free demo of a program before you purchase--you need to approach this pragmatically as well.
 
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