Do all DAWs sound the same?

gongli

New member
I use Reaper but was wondering are there better sounding ones out there, or do they all sound the same?

I know that different ones support different plugins so potentially they could sound different, but I mean inherently without plugins, do they all sound the same is my question.
 
For the most part, no, they don't sound different. There may be subtle differences in summing algorithms or something (Harrison Mixbus?). But if you can't do good work in Reaper I doubt changing DAWs is going to make the difference.
 
A good DAW should be transparent. The audio that goes into the interface should be exactly what's saved to disk.

So if one DAW does sound different from another before you alter the sound with FX, etc. it means one of those DAWs made a mistake.
 
All DAWS share the same broad processes and use the same physics. Any differences that may be present are overwhelmed by all the other factors that contribute to the sound
 
I tend to liken the variations in DAWs to the differences between paying $250 for MS Office, and paying $0 for OpenOffice. Loading a spreadsheet and calculating numbers will give the the same answers in both programs. The differences are in workflow, and other things that are sometimes never used. How many people actually write VBA macros in Excel? I have worked with dozens of people who used Excel and HAD TO HAVE Excel, yet they had no idea how to use the more esoteric portions. They could accomplish the exact same thing with OpenOffice if they would just learn the few differences in workflow between the two programs.

Likewise, any competent DAW should give the same "answer". Some people will want to have ProTools because that's what "the studios use". They may have never stepped into a studio, or sat down at a 48 channel mixing desk, and may never exchange a track with another ProTools user, but they feel comfortable because they have the "industry standard". Fine. If it's worth spending $360 a year to feel comfortable, that's good with me. I would rather spend that money on a new mic, or upgrading the computer, or buying strings for my guitar.
 
It's the before the angle to digital stage and after the digital to analogue stage where differences creep in. Once it's zeros and ones in the machine - the software just wrangles the data.
 
Guess it's been said.

DAWs all sound alike because they have no sound... or only theoretical differences at possibly a roundoff level if one wants to be entirely accurate - and again, this is theoretical. This has been true for basically ever.

Mix magazine did some data dumps of Pro Tools vs. ADAT and the numbers were remarkably identical. That was way back in the last century.

Getting the sound INTO and OUT OF the DAW is where all the variations of sound occur. Preamps can be wildly variable. Sound cards (encoders/decoders) can, likewise. And let's not even start on your monitor system and room it might be in.

Whatever the difference might be, it's not Reaper.
 
Harrison Mixbus does sound different but that's because it is supposed to sound different, like a Harrison analog console.

I think Reaper sounds very good anyway.

Alan
 
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