kcearl
I see deaf people
Oh i have another three on my ipad...lol
diggy_dude
Now 169% diggier!
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
You just volunteered to be the official HR "What's the best DAW?" question answerer.
kcearl
I see deaf people
You just volunteered to be the official HR "What's the best DAW?" question answerer.
Lol...i know eff all
Oops forgot i got sony acid free with my new vaio...so its six
4
4Bye4
New member
Jeez, so many programs, hows the home life?
kcearl
I see deaf people
Chili
Site Moderator
I started with Cubase. Switched to Sonar when I switched to 64 bit. Switched back to Cubase because of problems with Sonar (probably 32/64 compatibility issues).
Cubase has a steep learning curve and the hardware connection setup is NOT INTUITIVE!!! But once you're rolling, it's easy to use. I could never get my head around Sonar's interfce, but probably because I learned on Cubase....
... which goes back to GZ's comment about recommending the DAW that a person started on.
Pick one, learn it and move on to the next technical hurdle. Your DAW choice is the near the bottom of the list of things to worry about.
Cubase has a steep learning curve and the hardware connection setup is NOT INTUITIVE!!! But once you're rolling, it's easy to use. I could never get my head around Sonar's interfce, but probably because I learned on Cubase....
... which goes back to GZ's comment about recommending the DAW that a person started on.
Pick one, learn it and move on to the next technical hurdle. Your DAW choice is the near the bottom of the list of things to worry about.
gecko zzed
Grumpy Mod
No, I didn't say why. Because the reasons why I like it might be the exact reasons why someone else doesn't like it.
I can say that I started off with Logic (after a very brief look at Cubase), and Logic served me very well. But I switched to Reaper and have been like a pig in swill since. It's cheap, powerful, versatile and intuitive. It does stuff that was difficult in Logic (5.1) so easily. It is stable and behaves nicely.
But . . . I expect the current version of Logic would have improved significantly over the one I used to use. And I daresay that other programs are also powerful, versatile etc. But I know nothing about them.
So all the OP is going to get from this thread is people's experiences with the particular software they use.
4
4Bye4
New member
Hey, I really appreciate everyones input and experiences.
So my wife almost had my head yesterday. I logged onto the MacProVideo.com site and began the tutorial on Logic and Reaper. Figured ProTools and others would have to wait. Well, I watched and listened to almost 200 videos on Logic and probably 50 or so on Reaper.
First, I realize that Reaper is customizable, but the Logic interface is clean and looks nicer. I will have to see what some of the custom template interfaces for Reaper look like.
Second, they both do a bunch of stuff very similarly. I was surprised to see how similar the basics were. I could see myself working with either quite easily. I think there is a bunch of stiff in Logic that I would never use, but I bought it for the $199 and figured it would be good to have none the less.
Today, I am going to continue with Reaper and see what I think. I know my wife wants to do some stuff, so I won't be looking at the others until tomorrow or early next week.
Cheers,
So my wife almost had my head yesterday. I logged onto the MacProVideo.com site and began the tutorial on Logic and Reaper. Figured ProTools and others would have to wait. Well, I watched and listened to almost 200 videos on Logic and probably 50 or so on Reaper.
First, I realize that Reaper is customizable, but the Logic interface is clean and looks nicer. I will have to see what some of the custom template interfaces for Reaper look like.
Second, they both do a bunch of stuff very similarly. I was surprised to see how similar the basics were. I could see myself working with either quite easily. I think there is a bunch of stiff in Logic that I would never use, but I bought it for the $199 and figured it would be good to have none the less.
Today, I am going to continue with Reaper and see what I think. I know my wife wants to do some stuff, so I won't be looking at the others until tomorrow or early next week.
Cheers,
L
ldolamore
New member
I am essentially a novice at home recording (well, maybe "advanced" novice). I've used Sony Acid, Mixcraft, and Reaper. Over the past year I've settled on Reaper because it just looks/feels the best to me of the three DAWs I've used. Plus the $60 price is nice. Reaper has been extremely stable, low RAM usage, and accepts any VST/VSTi plug-in I have. I recently stumbled upon and like the integral MIDI editor to fix keyboard recordings (I'm not much of a keys player). Acid and Mixcraft might also have that feature but I wasn't using a keyboard before acquiring Reaper. As mentioned by others, you can download and test drive a fully functional version of Reaper, although Reaper does ask that you limit the test period to 60 days. Of course, you could use it longer than, even forever, that but that wouldn't be ethical.
K
kevin6string
New member
DAW is like Ford Chevy Dodge in my opinion. Did he say he had an iMAC? Why not try Apple Logic?...A very good friend of mine uses Logic on his power mac pro and it sounds great! Even recorded one of my own acoustic style songs on it and it just sang ( all be it i finished it in Sonar when i went to sing the final vocal and ditch the scratch vocal ) The Apple Logic just made that Taylor cedar top sing!!! I use Sonar 8.5 Producer (and haven't upgraded to X1 or X2) personally. since i am on a PC format i went with Sonar especially since Pro-tools was pretty much pro-tools friendly hardware only...but like Ford Chevy Dodge...it's my prefernce and know how it works. They all have midi and sequencing available as needed. I would agree that DAW "choice" is up to the user how they wish to operate, edit, etc. and the needed preamps and converters of choice are more important with what they will support and work with to get to your hard drive. Correct me if i am wrong guys
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
I agree, I agree !
I've yet to come across anyone who has gone through 5 or 6 demo versions purely for the purposes of testing them out to see which they prefer.
As someone once daubed on one of the walls at the infamous Graham Park estate ¬> "So many girls, so little time....."
And not only that, that they actually spent a considerable time getting to know the ins and outs of each. "So many DAWS {sorry, Armistice !} so little time.....".
This is often the route people take that explains why they end up having used two or three programmes, unless you're a DAW junkie like KC, in which case you need no reason !
^^^^This is the bottom line for me.^^^^ It's pretty much like anything else ¬> once you start to learn whatever on something, generally one of two things will happen. Either you just learn and after a while you become used to whatever it is you're learning on and don't question whether it's easy or hard. Or you find difficulties or get itchy feet and move onto an alternative.
This is really the case with standalone DAWS. I remember when I was researching into digital recording back in 2003/4 I found the computer stuff hard to get together in my head. I liked some of the concepts but being an analogger I was perhaps still too close to that mindset and way of working. Then I discovered that they had standalone DAWs which seemed to me to be a wonderful halfway house between the cassette portastudio and the computer. I bought one {a Zoom MRS 1266} on a whim one day. It had all the bells and whistles but there were 2 things it couldn't do. In the grand scheme of things, they were minor. But for me they were deal breakers. I loved the MRS 1266 and it was one of only 2 DAWS that did backwards recording but you couldn't alter the speed or monitor non bouncing tracks during bouncing. I say it was minor in the grand scheme of things because hardly anyone you listen to in recording today uses varispeed or bounces onto one or two tracks but these are two mainstays for me.
So after trying out a recording and liking digitalia, I decided to look for a machine that had varispeed and allowed me to hear the playing tracks while bouncing the tracks that I wanted to bounce to one track. I took my time {a couple of months} and researched tons of machines and unlike software ones, they were not all the same. Every machine literally had pros and cons and unlike the software ones, you couldn't say "they all do pretty much the same thing".
4
4Bye4
New member
I AM DONE!
After spending 20 hours over the past 3 days watching tutorials and videos I can do it anymore.
I am going insane! First Logic, then Reaper and last but not least Protools. Finally shut it down, can't watch another tutorial and play with another program.
I settled on Logic. It seems like it works for me, I can feel it and it speaks to me.
In fact, I recorded a few tracks this afternoon and emailed to a friend who is an engineer. He said I did good.
Just a kind thank you to everyone who responded and helped. It made me realize that there is no one "best". But at this time, for me, Logic seems to work.
Bill
After spending 20 hours over the past 3 days watching tutorials and videos I can do it anymore.
I am going insane! First Logic, then Reaper and last but not least Protools. Finally shut it down, can't watch another tutorial and play with another program.
I settled on Logic. It seems like it works for me, I can feel it and it speaks to me.
In fact, I recorded a few tracks this afternoon and emailed to a friend who is an engineer. He said I did good.
Just a kind thank you to everyone who responded and helped. It made me realize that there is no one "best". But at this time, for me, Logic seems to work.
Bill
D
Doctor Varney
Cave dwelling Luddite
Congratulations! I'm glad you found something that 'speaks to you' which I think is important. At some point, all the questions merge into a brick wall, so good on you for breaking through and making your choice.
Happy recording!
Dr. V
kcearl
I see deaf people
Get stuck in, Logics a great DAW, the more you invest in it, the more enjoyable it becomes
grimtraveller
If only for a moment.....
Just enjoy your recording, make great music and be done !