Help deciding what DAW to get

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2Charlie

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I'm stuck between FL Studio, Ableton Live, and Cubase. I really like the layout, flexibility of FL Studio, lifetime upgrade; however, I'm also looking into purchasing Native Instruments KOMPLETE KONTROL S88 MKII MIDI Controller. At this point I don't know, but I may be heavily invested in Native Instruments. So taking this into consideration, what is the best DAW in my situation?
 
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Two of those DAWs are what I call "cut and shunt" types where the main mode of operation is moving blocks of audio around.
Cubase is more a conventional linear 'tape machine and mixer' format. Cubase is however the dog's dangler's for MIDI.

But then I haven't messed with this stuff for some years, maybe they are all pretty much the same now?

Dave.
 
I don't think there's a wrong choice.
I started with a free version of Sonar, which I quite liked.
When I wanted to buy a full up-to-date version, they were no longer available, so I switched to Cubase.
Now Cubase is the devil I know.
I'm not much help.
 
Yes, I have seen some people don't like Cubase. I have play around with Cubase back in the day but that was really long time ago. Thanks for the input.
 
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Cubase needs a bit more effort, but I've used it for nearly 30 years now so cannot change. The Kontakt MKII keyboards works really well with it on my system. The good thing with cubase is the three versions at different price points but all sharing most of the same systems. Artist and Pro are really good in terms of what they can do. There frankly aren't any bad ones now. The problem is finding the one that works for you. The snag is that I probably use 25% of Cubase pro. Another users might also use 25% of the features, but they will be totally different ones. Just editing a few notes can be very different. Some display things very differently than others so years back when I first used Cubase, I tended to edit on a score display - and that I did for ages until I swapped to editing on a normal edit screen with pitch vertical and time horizontal. Cubase Pro has a list edit - every event listed under the previous one, thousands sometimes, but that's still the best for some edit operations. If you record from start to finish, or copy and past and then edit - your needs are different. If you do EDM, you might hate one DAW and love another, and me, as somebody who never does EDM would hate using yours and love my own.

If you have the dosh - and the time. Download the trials and spend a solid day starting from scratch and seeing how far you get. Then repeat on any others you think you might like. Spend the same time on each one and the choice will become far easier.
 
If you have....the time. Download the trials and spend a solid day starting from scratch and seeing how far you get. Then repeat on any others you think you might like. Spend the same time on each one and the choice will become far easier.
This is possibly one side of the best advice on this topic. You've got nothing to lose putting aside 2 weeks {even if that fits into an actual 7 week period} and getting to grips with each trial version for a day. Don't do anything fancy and complex, just see how you get on with each one for a day.
The other side of the best advice I've seen is just choose one and stick with it. It soon will become 2nd nature to you.
 
I didn't even bother investigating FLStudio or Ableton, since they seemed to be designed more for assembling "beats" than setting up instruments and mics and recording songs. I've played with Cubase LE years ago (v5 or 6... can't remember now). I ended up using Reaper. I don't really do any midi stuff, except for drum patterns, either in MTPDK or with my Alesis SR18. Rob is really well versed in Cubase, so I would value his opinion. Reaper seems to handle midi perfectly well.

Your preference might be governed more by what your workflow is. If you are creating snippets and patterns, then assembling them, you will probably find Ableton or FL more to your liking. If you are recording music in a realtime situation, using midi instruments, then you might prefer another system.

Since they have "free" versions, why not use the test versions to see which fits your purpose bests?
 
Thank you so much for all the help. I have decided to give Ableton Live a try since I do not do a lot or any live recordings.
 
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