Torn between DAW options.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave-Curran
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Dave-Curran

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So, I know that the topic of DAW and questions like, "What DAW do I use?" are thrown around a lot BUT I'm royally stuck.

I play in a 5 piece Indie Rock band, who I want to record and I also, in my own time, make electronic music. I know that Pro Tools would be a great DAW to record my band and that Ableton would do wonders for my house tracks.

Should I get Ableton and Pro Tools?

Should I only get Pro Tools and deal with the fact that my MIDI options will be very much limited?

Or should I get a programme like Cubase which is okay at live recording and MIDI but isn't exceptional at either?

God this is a hard choice. Help/advice would be very much appreciated!

Dave.
 
Forget all the above and get Reaper and be satisfied in all areas (except notation).
 
Huh, Cubase is likely known as one of the best at MIDI and also great at live recording...

Yeah, get Reaper.
 
It's purely a personal choice. YOU have to be happy to get something done.

I personally prefer Reaper but it's solely up to YOU.
 
Pick up a few free trial versions. I'll throw Reason into the mix (free version is here
Reason is excellent for house and EDM, but also great at recording live bands. You have a digital SSL 9000j at your fingertips (with unlimited channels); I mean, my goodness, you really have to SEE this thing. :eek:
Parallel processing, spectrum analyzer on each channel and on the main, channel compression, master compression, unlimited subs....too much to list. It's just like using the big board.
Add an easy to use transport, midi in and out (with the latest version), SIMPLE arming and recording...
Now add an effects rack that's an actual rack. You place rack mount equipment--everything from synths to dynamic processors to reverb/delay/echo to vocoder to chorus/phase/flange, Amp sims, samplers (all included with more available)
You can actually turn the rack around and reroute to your hearts content. Send a CV from one source to the LFO of another, side chain, etc. Those CV (control voltage) channels are EVERYWHERE!
Add a full mastering suite
Add three different kinds of drum machine, regroove mixer to humanize and "unquantize" your stuff,
And we haven't even talked about editing yet!!!


:facepalm: Wow, I like this software!
 
For the cost of PT 11 you could have Cubase Artist 7.5 AND Reaper AND change! And Reaper will rewire to Cubase.

If you want a DAW that is said to do just about everything (at a price) do check out the trial of Samplitude Pro X.

Dave.
 
I use Ableton as my primary DAW, I use Reaper as a mastering DAW, mainly because I wanted to learn it. You can use Ableton in both Session and Arrangement mode and it will pretty much meet all of your needs. The only reason I would suggest Ableton is I think there is no other software that comes close to Ableton in a Live situation. Especially when you put it with a MIDI controller(s). Either foot pedal controller or something like an APC40.

Session view I use mainly as a way to start a song. I am still working on taking it out for live performance but I am still lacking a pair. Once I get some sequences going, I hit record and get a performance to arrangement. Once in arrangement I treat it like a normal DAW, even though you can then break up pieces of that and map that to play and jump around as needed. (Verse, Bridge chorus, solo, loop sections, etc.)

The only time I recommend Ableton is when it comes to live, I don't think there is better software out there for that and that is why there are so many using it.
 
I've been a Cubase user since Atari days in black and white, and find it can do everything I have ever wanted and this is without me ben using 90% of the latest features stuck in in the past maybe 5 years?

Realistically, try to think what you want to do it can't? It's MIDI facilities are very comprehensive, and the audio recording has never been an issue for me. I had Pro Tools for a while on an XP machine, years ago, and saw no need to swap to it. Unless you wish to share frequently with protools users, I can't see the importance. Cubase, and Logic were for years the established sequencers because they could do the most. Loop based products appeared and others that offered prettier environments that appealed to the youngsters do quite well, but fall down if you need to record out of a certain genre. Logic and Cubase can cope with pretty well any style of music, or recording system.

I suspect there really are few duff ones now, just narrow user base ones.
 
Thanks for all of the advice. I'd like to make it clear that I didn't mean that Cubase wasn't a good DAW, well established or worse than anything else, I just thought that it was the kind of "middle ground," DAW. But I don't know much so...

I think i'm going to download the free and fully functioning trial of Reaper. If, after using it for the 60 day trial, I don't like it then I'll get Cubase.

Thanks again guys!

Dave.
 
BroKen_H said:
I'll throw Reason into the mix (free version is here
Reason is excellent for house and EDM,
Click to expand...

I second that. I'd get Reason for electronic bits and Reaper for any other tracking and mixing.

Reaper is awesome.
 
Well, I only use Reason, except to do scoring in an old version of Home Studio XL (which, BTW is not great at scoring, but it's better than nothing), so I might be a little biased, but

Reason IS THE BOMB!

Sorry, got a little carried away there...:facepalm:
 
Dave-Curran said:
Is Reason better than Ableton for house?
Click to expand...

To do house live? I don't have Reason, so I can't say one way or another. But I know with Ableton, they way it uses a term called Session view, with a grid controller, you can take your sample loops or MIDIs, select each one individually, loop count it, or select an entire scene all on the fly, with real time, glitch, effects manipulation, beat, etc. So you are actually performing and not just playing a backing track. Do a Youtube look up on it. Then take a look at Reason, should be enough information on them both to give you a good idea.

For live performance and about as much control as one can handle, I have to give Ableton a lot of praise. It is just a good live tool and a pretty good recording DAW when switching to arrangement view. Plus, you can hybrid the Arrangement for live control as well.
 
I personally love Cakewalk Sonar X3. The only downside to it is that magazines don't cover it much, but just about anything you can do in any other DAW can be done in Sonar and then some. Seriously, check it out before you buy if you haven't already.

And they've got tons of tutorial stuff available on their site, both free & paid content.
 
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Any DAW will do just fine. Depending on your budget Logic X might be the best bang for your buck and cover all your ground very well.
 
I generally record and mix in Pro Tools but produce and write in Logic.

They're all great DAW's these days.
 
I thought that asking on this would bring me closer to choosing, "my DAW," but really, after all of your wise-words/wisdom, I'm still lost. I still don't have a clue. I think that I'm going to use Reaper for recording my live stuff with the band and then use Reason to do my house stuff. I'll never be performing my house stuff, it's merely a side-hobbie. But the plan is to release and gig the album that I record with the band so that's obviously the harder DAW to choose for... It needs to be the right choice. I don't have the money to make a mistake with whatever I buy.
 
Dave-Curran said:
I thought that asking on this would bring me closer to choosing, "my DAW," but really, after all of your wise-words/wisdom, I'm still lost. I still don't have a clue. I think that I'm going to use Reaper for recording my live stuff with the band and then use Reason to do my house stuff. I'll never be performing my house stuff, it's merely a side-hobbie. But the plan is to release and gig the album that I record with the band so that's obviously the harder DAW to choose for... It needs to be the right choice. I don't have the money to make a mistake with whatever I buy.
Click to expand...

Majority of the DAWs out there are really first class, you can't really make a bad decision. I think going with Reaper for a traditional recording approach you will not be disappointed. Really, $60 bucks and some time. Most of what you learn can be applied to any DAW. The software is the easiest to learn verses learning recording (at least iw was for me).

You probably did well by making the split, but I am rather sure Reason would serve you well with both objectives. But Reaper won't let you down either.
 
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