DAWS....pros and cons of each

[joey2000]

with Cakewalk, you must have an account and be logged in to use it. ? That's stupid. Not enough in itself to scratch if off my list, but

.....but when I finally "signed up" and logged in, I found I didn't have Sonar installed, just this idiotic "command center" of theirs (apparently there are some serious soldier wannabes on the staff ) and now I had to download whatever I wanted, which I clicked on......and after 10-15 mins only 2% of it was installed (no my connection is not that slow, or those files are silly big), so I quit and decided to uninstall. Get this; no uninstall feature, doesn't even show up in my installed programs list under Control Panel. POFSs. Too bad for them I know workarounds. Apparently they are really into turning people away from their products before they even try them. What a joke. They are the last company/products I would advise to anyone.

I have some limited experience with older versions of Protools and Reaper. I now am happy with Cubase but it may not be the right DAW for everyone. If you are programming drums tho, I would say it does that better than the other DAW's I have used.

Great, again the kind of into I'm interested in, thx. My percussion will be limited and I think (hope) I can do what I need on the keyboard, ie no intention of getting some drum kit etc.

 

[JimmyS1969]

Great, again the kind of into I'm interested in, thx. My percussion will be limited and I think (hope) I can do what I need on the keyboard, ie no intention of getting some drum kit etc.

That is my point, Cubase has a completely separate drum editor. Like the piano roll type in most DAWs but it way more intuitive for drum programming.

Worth a free download of the trial version. Sucks it ain't so cheap as Reaper, but I got over giving a shit about cost a long time ago. Not because I have a bunch of money, I just had to go with what felt right to me.

You may find another DAW is good for you personally. Nothing wrong with that and actually-I would say you do what feels right for you.

 

[joey2000]

Yeah got ya, thanks. I'm also on a budget and their "Elements" is probably the only one I could realistically afford. Hard to tell what the real diff's are between their 3 products though, as they don't simply put them side by side so you can see which has what, which is annoying. All are the sites so freaking user-unfriendly? The main diff appears to be the # of tracks you can record, but even Elements supports plenty, so unless you have an orchestra/really big band, unlikely to be an issue.

Anyway, should be able to do whatever percussion I need with most any DAW I pick, even though it might not be as good or easy as it would with Cubase. I'll check the demo

 

[SweetDan]

I think you can also learn a lot about various DAW's by watching YouTube videos of people using them. Look up things like "How to do ____ (make beats, eq background vocals, etc.) with ____ (some brand of DAW)."

 

[Bobbsy]

In the end, if you're on a tight budget, may I suggest you just go with Reaper and do a bunch of recording and mixing. Get to the stage where you know it well and, at that point, you'll be better equipped to decide whether it's right for you or if certain features are missing or awkward to use then take an informed decision about a next step. As all of us have said, what suits you and what doesn't suit you is a very personal thing but every DAW is going to require a learning curve--you may as well go with a cheap learning curve. Once you know 1 DAW well it'll be much easier to decide what you like and don't like.

Just to give an example of preferences, up above RFR has said he likes ProTools. I used ProTools for a number of years at work, and despite many 60 hour weeks on it and several formal training courses, I could use it quickly and well but never actually enjoyed it. However, when I tried Cool Edit (now Audition) I slipped into it like an old glove. (I don't use MIDI so that's not a problem for me). Neither RFR are right or wrong. It's just what suits each of us.

 

[joey2000]

Thanks, but as I mentioned, I tried Reaper and didn't care for it. I may give another look though.

 

[joey2000]

I think you can also learn a lot about various DAW's by watching YouTube videos of people using them. Look up things like "How to do ____ (make beats, eq background vocals, etc.) with ____ (some brand of DAW)."

Good idea......