Multiple DAWs on one computer?

[libertad]

This is a real simple question. Basically, does it take up a lot of space on a hard drive having multiple DAW's installed? Not necessarily running at the same time, but just installed.

I currently have Sonar and Audacity. I'd like to install Cubase and maybe even ProTools at some point. Is it a bad idea, space wise, to have multiple DAW's installed?

 

[PRHunt]

With the capacity of entry level hard drives at 500G, I can hardly see that there would be a problem space-wise.

You should be able to get an idea of the space required for each installation from the respective DAW web site.

You would have issues running a number of DAWs concurrently, I think, because each DAW would be in contention for your audio device. Also, don't expect that projects created under one DAW will be compatible with any other DAW.

If you are just planning to evaluate software demo's, then I am fairly confident that space will not be a concern. (Unless you are maxing out an old system with more limited resources?)

Paul

 

[Bobbsy]

The disk space is relatively small--I have three DAWS installed on my main sound computer (2 versions of Adobe Audition plus an early version of Sonar since Audition is an editor, not a MIDI sequencer). I can even run Audition and Sonar at the same time providing I have things set so each DAW releases the ASIO drivers in background.

Having said that, there is a lot to be said for having one main DAW and taking the time to become REALLY proficient with it. If you have a good reason to want an extra bit of software or two, so be it--but chopping and changing all the time is probably a bit counterproductive in terms of getting really familiar with any of them.