New DAW Suggestions - If you were just starting out?

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4Bye4

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I realize many folks are confused when just starting out and they don't know what the different DAW programs offer and what their pro's or cons may be. Searching the various internet forum discussions reveals a lot of outdated and sometimes irrelevant information.

So I will pose my question in perhaps a new and different light.

If you were just starting out, knowing what you know now, which DAW would you recommend to someone just starting out. Someone who has been playing acoustic guitar for many years, who is accomplished and wants to record acoustically, who perhaps someday might want midi capabilities but not necessarily right now. Someone who has put together a well designed home acoustic studio with pro-quality gear.

Obviously, someone just starting out as inexperienced in recording but is an accomplished musician would not readily be able to evaluate different programs from a workflow or feature rich point of view.

So your thoughts and insight would be quite welcome as I have assembled a fine studio, I am ready to purchase a DAW, but have no clue as to what is good, what works, and what doesn't and I don't have access to every program available. So I ask you what you would do, with your knowledge and experience if you could turn back and start over in March of 2013.

Assume you own a fully decked out iMac, top notch mics, a top notch interface and a very sweet preamp. You will be recording two mics on an acoustic guitar and one for vocals as a singer songwriter.

What would you select....?

Thanks
Bill
 
I'd go with Image Line's FL Studio - on the PC. I honestly don't think there is a more fully featured, easy to use, value for money recording and MIDI sequencing suite in existence. Especially since it's buy once and you get lifetime free updates.

You can try before you buy. Just go to their site and download the demo. And, if you catch them at the right time, there are special offer tickets available. Before Christmas, I got the full Signature Bundle v10 for £149 and in March, I'll be getting v11 absolutely free.
 
See the posts above.

That's going to be your trouble. Everyone is going to recommend the DAW that they are most familiar and comfortable with.

In practice, just about every DAW will perform very well and do the things you want to do, so it doesn't really matter which you pick.

However, DAWs are programmed by different people, and different people have different ways of going about things. Thus workflows and operations will vary from DAW to DAW. With luck, you will pick one that matches how you like to think about things, and the learning curve (though steep for nearly all of them) will be more manageable.

As for me: Reaper wins.
 
gecko zzed said:
See the posts above.

That's going to be your trouble. Everyone is going to recommend the DAW that they are most familiar and comfortable with.
Click to expand...

Yet you've said, for you, "Reaper wins" (and haven't said why). You're right, Gecko - we can only recommend what we know best and use daily. So it's up to the OP in the end to decide and this is where the free trials come in. I can personally recommend FL Studio because it represents exceptional value for money, wins reviews for similarly priced products and is incredibly easy to set up and use 'out of the box'. Which makes it ideal for the beginner.

Of course, it has it's own unique workflow which might not be to everyone's taste - but the way to find out what suits you best is to try them out first.
 
Having said that, FL is geared up for electronic music with it's synthesizers and comprehensive piano roll sequencing. It has a wealth of effects suitable for guitars but if your emphasis is going to be on recording conventional instruments you might not find all that necessary. In that case, Reaper would be the best place to start, IMO because being free, you have absolutely nothing to lose, if, say, 12 months down the line you want to opt out and try something else.
 
I dont use it but reaper wins

Because

A) its completely uncrippled to try for free as long as you want
B) its fully featured
C) see A
 
I don't use Reaper because I've personally found it crashes rather a lot and seemed complicated to me at first. So for me, it doesn't win. Other people report great success with it, but I've only ever had trouble with it.
 
But aren't you the guy who can crash a computer by only looking at it? :D
 
Reaper.... and I'll give you a reason...

The workflow is pretty intuitive. I'm not just saying that because I use it, but because I make a living out of building GUIs on the web.

This is not to say it's a piece of cake to operate, or that you won't need help - see my numerous posts in the Reaper forum! - just that a deal of thought has gone into how to make things as simple as possible.

Seems to have been designed for musicians first, engineers second, if I could put it that way.

That said, it's the only one I've ever used, being a recent convert from standalone DAW machines.




And BTW, apropos of nothing (and GrimTraveller will agree with me on this one....) when did recording software = DAW? A DAW, originally, was a system designed to record music - an actual collection of things, of which the 'puter, and software were a part, or an all in one box such as I used... it was a WORKSTATION.

Reaper isn't a DAW, it's software you might use in your DAW...

*gets off soapbox* :D
 
Coming from someone who literally just started recording things, I would have to say Reaper due to the low price point. It was also pretty easy to figure out what I was doing. I tried trial versions of other software, and I don't know if it was the price, or the user-friendliness, but I went with Reaper.
 
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Check out a bunch of DAW app websites....most offer some form of free demo/download.
Try them out in turn....then pick the one you like most.

As others have said...these days most DAW apps do the same meat-n-potatoes stuff...so the real differences and personal preferences only show up in the details, the small stuff, the GUI....and that you can only discover for yourself by trying them out.
 
Doctor Varney said:
Having said that, FL is geared up for electronic music with it's synthesizers and comprehensive piano roll sequencing. It has a wealth of effects suitable for guitars but if your emphasis is going to be on recording conventional instruments you might not find all that necessary. In that case, Reaper would be the best place to start, IMO because being free, you have absolutely nothing to lose, if, say, 12 months down the line you want to opt out and try something else.
Click to expand...

Glad this qualifier was in there.

moresound said:
But aren't you the guy who can crash a computer by only looking at it? :D
Click to expand...

Hahahaha, that was the first thing I thought when I saw it too...
 
Doctor Varney said:
I don't use Reaper because I've personally found it crashes rather a lot and seemed complicated to me at first. So for me, it doesn't win. Other people report great success with it, but I've only ever had trouble with it.
Click to expand...

Its not for me either...but due to the feature list and uncrippled demo, you lose nothing by trying it out...as long as you like :)
 
moresound said:
But aren't you the guy who can crash a computer by only looking at it? :D
Click to expand...

MrWrenchey said:
Glad this qualifier was in there.



Hahahaha, that was the first thing I thought when I saw it too...
Click to expand...

Yes, and that's the first thing I thought of when I posted. You guys are so predictable... :D (No offence; laughing at myself)

You have to think, before you post stuff of this nature, that you only have a mental picture from reading posts in a forum. The reality is somewhat different because you can't know all of the variables of my situation from where you are sitting. To cut a long story short, there are just three things worth mentioning: Wear & tear on otherwise stable hardware that's come to the end of it's natural life cycle. User errors and bad purchases. My own propensity towards seeing the negative side and lashing out at the technology in general, in moments of unbridled frustration.

I've had several different systems in the last two years. I have had stable systems which have run FL Studio without a hitch in which Reaper kept on crashing if I used certain plugins. That might be a fault of Reaper or it might be the plugins themselves. The choice to use those plugins were down to my preferences, which might not be the case for you and many others. So all I can say is that in my experience, Reaper was not ideal for me.

At the end of the day, for all my muck ups with hardware and mistakes, the old Fruity Loops has been the most stable factor in my chequered history of computing. If it can stand up to me, then it must be pretty good. ;)

Back to the salient stuff; the only thing of concern to our OP, is that Reaper is free and if he don't like it, he has lost nothing by trying it. If it works for him, then Bob's his uncle. Same goes for the FL demo and if he wants to add textures, synths and drums to his guitar, (even as a rewire into Reaper) then I believe it's a serious step up in that respect, due to it's completeness as a suite and affordable price.
 
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Thanks all...
So here is what I did. First, I am on a Mac so FL STudio wasn't a major consideration. I really have no desire to run a VM and Windows.

My biggest issue with downloading and trying out software is that due to my lack of experience with this type of software, just playing around really doesn't tell me much. I was hoping that folks with experience in several programs could be of help.

Sooo, purchased a monthly subscription to MacVideoPro Training. They have Logic, Protools, Reaper, and a few others. I started watching and comparing Reaper, ProTools and Logic to begin with. I can download some demos, but Protools makes you but a $50 dongle to try out their "free" demo. Are they serious? I was up until 3AM watching videos.

I think that once I seem to get a warm and fuzzy with one of the programs, I will then download or buy it and begin working with it. I don't mind paying ProTools the $50, but it just seems a bit off base to make you pay for a free demo.

Today is Friday, looks like it will be a movie watching weekend. :)
Thanks

Bill
 
Presonus Studio One is a favourite of mine..they have a great free version to try out too...i never gelled with protools...i have MP9 and it rarely gets opened...Logic is another one Ive never gelled with but it has a great set of features and is one of the big boys, plus Id guess other than Reaper is one of the best bang for bucks since thy dropped all their prices.
Digital performers another good one for mac based recording...try as many as you can, they all do pretty much the same you just need to invest time.

My choices are Ableton Live 8, and Presonus Studio One Pro...great tools :)
 
gecko zzed said:
Everyone is going to recommend the DAW that they are most familiar and comfortable with.
Click to expand...

Doctor Varney said:
You're right, Gecko - we can only recommend what we know best and use daily.
Click to expand...

That's the problem with all of these "What's the best _______?" type of questions. They presume that someone has experience with a wide variety of _______ from which to make a comparison.
 
I have five Daws if you include garageband...i had six but i removed sonar studio..ill be adding bitwig when it comes out, im kinda addicted a bit :)
 
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