New to DAW

[rax2112]

New to DAWS. I've been recording on a Tascam 2488 forever, and four-track cassette before that LOL. I just broke down and bought myself a computer. HP with 16G/1TB and four USB inputs in the front. I want to use a recording program that's user friendly and not too expensive. I have friends who have Pro tools, presonus, reaper, GarageBand Etc. And I'm sure that there's a learning curve there. But I'm not really well versed in audio interfaces. My ultimate goal is to put my music on a streaming app somewhere, and I would eventually like to transfer what I have from the 24 track to the computer. Although, That may be better addressed in three different threads. Where should I start?

 

[TalismanRich]

Reaper gets high marks around here. A lot of us use it, there's a huge support system online, you can try it for 60 days for free, after which it will put up a nag screen at startup but still run 100% (no crippleware!!!). It's $60 to register and that will get you two full versions. It's currently near the end of V7, so I would recommend you try it until V8 is released and you'll have through v9.99 which is probably about 6-8 years of registered software.

Here's the history of releases. Versions typically run 3-4 years between major releases. Minor updates are released as needed.

• v7.0 - November 2023 - ???
• v6.0-v6.83 - December 2019 - October 2023
• v5.0-v5.99 - August 2015 - November 2019
• v4.0-v4.78 - August 2011 - December 2014
• v3.0-v3.78 - May 2009 - August 2011
• v2.0-v2.58 - October 2007 - March 2009
• v1.0-v1.888 - August 2006 - August 2007

 

[R D Smith]

+2 vote for Reaper. It's well worth the $60.

 

[DM60]

I will be honest, most of the hard part about the DAW is knowing how to record and mix. The learning part is about all the "other" stuff you can do that you couldn't previously. Stuff like, complex routing, editing, hundreds of takes, the ease of everything. But the recording principles that you already know, remain pretty much the same.

I always recommend Reaper like the others. If you download the trail version (not crippled), learn how to record and monitor (since you can monitor with plugins live, just be aware of the delay that can be reduced to near nothing), once you have that, then the other areas you can look up the information of how you want to do it. You should be up and running within a day (recording, mixing and rendering, that should be your first focus point). Don't let yourself get overwhelmed and you will grow right into it.

I can't overstate enough, you already have the hardest part understood, the art of recording. The software should be rather easy for you and most of the terms already understood. You just need to learn how it is done in that software.