How many DAWS have you tried and what's the winner?

[chk071]

I find it really annoying when Cubase and all other "pro" DAWs take a while to start. "Pro Tools" at my client's place takes about a minute to start if not more. It just takes ages. That's just bs programming. That should be punishable by death, if you ask me.

A little bit apples and oranges there though. ProTools and Cubase load up a lot more stuff when you start them than Reaper or energyXT do. I'm pretty sure Reaper would have about the same loading time if it had all those features. I think all the DAW's are pretty much performance optimised, as it is an important thing for audio applications.

[UncleAge]

Over the years...

Acid
Bidule
Numerology
Tracktion
Sonar
Energyxt
Podium
Reaper
Studio One
Live

Nowadays, mostly Live.

[Dewaine]

Several over the past 12 years..... Own Logic 9, Reaper and Cubase 4. Really only use Logic and Maschine

[DuX]

I find it really annoying when Cubase and all other "pro" DAWs take a while to start. "Pro Tools" at my client's place takes about a minute to start if not more. It just takes ages. That's just bs programming. That should be punishable by death, if you ask me.

A little bit apples and oranges there though. ProTools and Cubase load up a lot more stuff when you start them than Reaper or energyXT do. I'm pretty sure Reaper would have about the same loading time if it had all those features. I think all the DAW's are pretty much performance optimised, as it is an important thing for audio applications.

There is absolutely a lot of truth to it. They load a lot of unnecessary stuff. They're just inefficiently programmed. Cubase these days, though, is again becoming great IMHO, but PT is where it is and it's not getting any better. I don't find Reaper lacking any features, on the contrary - I think it's got too much of them! But still lacking some MIDI features, to be honest. If I was not a former Cubase user, I probably wouldn't notice that at all now. But Reaper is doing better and better with every update lately, regarding MIDI. I found it unpleasant to work with with MIDI for years, and now it feels rather good. Nothing still beats Cubase regarding arrangement, as bduffy pointed out righteously so, but regarding the whole project and mixing I vote for Reaper. It's becoming the most "compact" and useful DAW around. Its routing is just so easy to grasp, when you take some time to grasp it. [that's a bit of a joke because I find Reaper's routing utterly confusing when I had a glass too much...] That fabulous routing should be more easier to utilise. Cubase is all kinda "pre-routed" and you really don't have to bother with the mixing and FX much, just make the track. That is actually both an advantage and a shortcoming of it... I didn't like mixing in Cubase, but making an arrangement was a piece of cake, always.

[audiosabre]

FL Studio
Pro Tools
Cubase
Reason
Sonar
Reaper

FL Studio is best for the music I make. All good DAWs in their own rights though. The one I liked least was Sonar.

[Breeze]

I have a dull story! My work has always required a flexible DAW that can handle a large variety of duties and that's limited my choice of DAWs to the big three; and since my work has always included MIDI and I always refused to buy into dedicated hardware, it's mainly been Logic and Cubendo (Cubase/Nuendo).

I ran Notator on the Atari and then Logic on the PC till Apple pulled that plug. I then moved to Cubase SX and then Nuendo and I've been working with both ever since. While I missed many things about Logic, I discovered lots of things to like about Cubendo. You can probably say the same thing about any two DAWs. Choice of DAW is really about needs, requirements and budget; different styles of music and production will require different tools and setups. And not everyone has the same budget. I did eventually afford a Macbook Pro in 2007 and I immediately got a copy of Logic. Surprisingly, I didn't find it particularly inspiring! I still use it for some of the softsynths but I found that I got so comfortable with Cubendo there wasn't much point in working with both.

I've played around with a few others, and of all of them the only one that's made an impression on me is Reaper. As many have pointed out, it's still a work in progress; I personally need music scoring and a sophisticated MIDI toolset (yep, it's getting there!), but everything else is amazingly flexible and of course naturally complex to accommodate a variety of workflows. Plus I find the honor-system licensing to be totally respectful and honorable, and not wasting any processing on checking if the program is legit probably keeps the program running more efficiently.

BTW I use programs like Bidule, Chainer, Cantabile and others which I consider hosts, not DAWs. They're amazingly useful programs but they're not compositional workstations.

I don't think there are any "winners". I think we're still in the dark ages with regards to DAWs. They're still mostly designed around rigid visual frameworks that are derived from the traditional hardware mixer. In many ways we're still looking backwards when we should be embracing the possibilities and flexibility of a virtual world, and I don't just mean touch screens...

[bronxsound]

Q: How many DAWS have you tried and what's the winner?
A: Many. Winners: Cubase and Studio One

[maschinelf]

Used: Logic 8 & 9, Studio One 2, Live 7 & 8, Pro Tools 7, 8 & 9, Reason 5 & 6.

Winners: Studio One. I got rid of them all except for Live and S1.

[Saukar30]

From start to finish:

Boss Br-8, Boss Dr-5, Yamaha DJX (I need more sounds for cheap & more tracks & control,... the visions begin LOL)
Voyetra Digital Composer (My MIDI Introduction... no in-depth MIDI equipment)
Cubasis VST (VSTs???... Plugins?... I dont NEED MIDI equipment... but only 8 tracks... What's this KVR forum?)
Magix Studio Maker (Sounds & VSTs.... it's ok... but why 2 seperate apps for mixing & MIDI?... too much time to learn)
Orion (started at version 2... PATTERNS!!!!... Yes!!!....I'm on to something... KVR & VSTs become an addiction)
Cakewalk Pro Audio (Huh? This is confusing?... still no in depth understanding of all this MIDI stuff.. back to Orion to make music!)
FL Studio (v5... uhhh... yeah sure... maybe later....)
Cool Edit Pro/Audtion 2.5 (I can finally record all the audio & songs easy.... Workflow equaled Orion for beats, Audition for vocals & live playing... HAPPY!)
Reason 3.5 (WOW... these sounds are incredible!.... no patterns? UGH... REX files... that's cheating!... back to Orion!)
Reaper 2.0 onward (I configure this how I want?... I can record input fx?... AND MIDI?.... they actually used my suggestion to make track templates? WORTH the effort!)

Computer crash/upgrade

Audition 3.0 (What the hell did they do? It's better... but different... not fun!)
Orion (Know it backwards and forwards... I'm beginning to understand what I want for features but no one wants to implement them.. frustrated but still creating)
Sonar (Hooked up a friend's computer with it... just can't get into the workflow)
Macaw (Hmmmm... a free host & effects... AND you route polyphonic after touch & bank & channel messages to anything?... WOW... No support... DAMN... could've been fantastic)
FL Studio 8.0 (WOAH.... talk about grown up & sexy!!! No wonder every hip hop head uses this.. VERY professional... still kind of stuck by the workflow but very useable)
Pro Tools (Gimme a break!... Everything is proprietary, Uninspiring.... Reaper is way more open..)
Phrazor (I'm in LOVE!!!! This is almost what I want! It's easy.. keeps everything together.. just needs audio...they shut down???? DAYUM!)

Computer Crash / Upgrade / Rethink

I want easy again... I need to make it simple... but I'm making ANY kind of music that comes to mind with ANY tool I have:

Orion (At 800 beats, 6 albums, but starting to be inflexible for what I want to do, audio recording still convoluted, great program but anyone gets bashed mentioning a request for a new feature)
FL Studio (200 beats, lots of remixes & mixtapes for others, almost too much going on to focused though)
Reaper (All recordings mixed & mastered, Development keeps getting better especially with MIDI, it's growing... user defineable skins... GREAT routing!)
Audition 1.5 (editing & older projects)
Phrazor (GREAT as a pattern beat maker, feels solid & Demo is still available from 2006 & still works on Windows 7!)


Computer Crash / Drama / Children / Incarceration / Thumb Drive & Laptop

Only necessities: I need to work with a faster & smaller footprint, had over 300 plugins, reduced to 50... mostly effects, no more cracked & illegal stuff, need the most flexibility, best workflow, low restrictions from DAW(s), FINAL:

Reaper with Phrazor (Orion for nostalgia), (Audition 3.0 for editing.. Thanks for making it free Adobe!)

[DuX]

Nice read Saukar30.

It's an interesting combination, using a flexible MIDI VST host like Phrazor or EXT1 in Reaper, isn't it? I love it.

[faun2500]

Tried most over the years, Sticking with REAPER for now - Its great!

[ZINO]

Cubase wins, flawless victory, FATALITY!

[Crackbaby]

Cubase SE
Reason
EnergyXT
Orion
EnergyXT
Maschine
Mulab

[sin night]

I tried various daws (especially back in the day, when I had no internet connection and I tried almost any software I could find on magazine cds; right now I demo only if I'm almost ready to purchase) but I mostly use software by Steinberg (I started with Cubasis VST 3.7 - which, despite the name, was the first Cubasis VST generation - in december 2000... then it was a natural progression).


This is - more or less - my software history:
- Cubasis VST 3.7
- Cubasis VST 3
- Cubasis VST 5
- Cubase Studio 4
- Reason 4 (crossgrade from CS4)
- WaveLab Elements 7 (well, this is not a daw but a complimentary tool... I liked WaveLab Lite for audio editing, so this was almost a no-brainer when it became avaible on Mac... I waited two years without a proper audio editor since leaving the pc platform!!!)
- Logic Express 9 (I tried to switch two years ago... very bad move, because Steinberg released C6 less than a month later and I would have bought it if I had not spent my money on Logic... 199 € and right and it's not even the full version, which right now costs 179 € on the store... )
- Cubase 7


I tried also some products by other vendors, like Samplitude Se and Ableton Live Lite (thanks to special offers, so I could get them for nothing), but they were almost "install and forget", I kept on using the tools I spent my money on because I knew them better and they had less limitations than those entry level versions).

I also use(d) Mixcraft, but against my will (I collaborate with the webradio of my University and they use that software on their studio because it's very easy, but I hate it because I'm used to way more powerful tools so I'm pissed everytime I can't do this or that... almost all the students love it because it's very simple and straightforward, they are not technical people at all and they are almost afraid to face any tool that is just a little bit "complicated":?)


The winner for me is Cubase 7... at least for now!


Anyway I think it's a just a matter of needs and habits; there are other great products on the market, you just have to choose the one that seems to suit you best and then stick with that platform as long as possible, so you can minimize the learning curve (just the new features between upgrades) and spend less time/money into making brand new setups (because you may need a new controller which works better with a different daw, or change some plugins due to incompatibilities, or you may just have to setup things to communicate/integrate with the new daw), so you can be more productive at making music.

[solidtrax]

We currently work with Steinberg Cubase 6.5 and Renoise 2.8

In the past, we also worked with (or tried):
Ableton Live
Propellerheads Reason
Propellerheads Rebirth
Jeskola Buzz
Fasttracker
Impulsetracker
Screamtracker