Cubase is not overly complicated.

Any new DAW you get will seem slightly complicated due to the fact you will be new to it.

I use cubase since I am all mac, but I really like FL Studio for making music. I even installed win7 bootcamp to use it a bit.

I have been using Studio One Pro for a while (beta tested it) and love it - but, to me it's missing something. I cannot put my finger on it. I was WAY more productive using Sonar, which I now hate due to Cakewalk's TERRIBLE support. Reaper crashes all the time on me, so it's very frustrating. FL Studio is fun, but I can never seem to use it professionally. However, for a quick beat, it's cool. It has really good vst integration. I probably have not really given it a chance, but I am set in my ways. I have Samplitude 11 Pro and it's really good, but more for editing audio and not really playing vst instruments (IMHO). Orion Pro is good for midi and vst's, but no audio support (in the version I own, which is the previous one).

As you can see, I own most DAWs (as a dev, I have to test on them all), but Studio One Pro (very stable) and (unfortunately) Sonar 5 Pro are the only two DAWs I have been able to create music with - Samplitude was AWESOME for audio editing - rock solid stable. I am NOT a fan of Ableton (I have light edition only) and Cubase (used to use).

I, too, am looking at MuLab 4 Pro as a possible replacement DAW. Love to know anyone's thoughts on it.

Mike

Here are some good points Mike
http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4831720#483172 0

And beside that I can tell you that I moved to MuLab from energyXT long ago because of the smoothness of the Pianoroll navigation and the REAL DEAL modular capability of it. I use Live (now moved on to Studio One Pro v2) but I still use MuLab for the sheer flexibility, portability, modularity and the awesome sound quality of its plugins which, btw, you can also build your own in it including effects.
Rewire Reason it's Perfect! The developer is outstanding in service and as a person. The forum is one of the most friendly you can find. The list goes on and on. Download the free version and ask any question in the of forum which is like: "Ask and you shall receive".

Enjoy your music

I will also suggest FL Studio -
I have reaper but don't use it much. Seems good for recorded audio.
I have Sonar, but it is just way too cumbersome to fire up and work with, especially on a whim. I use it for occasional mastering stuff.
I do love Logic, but it's Mac only.
In the end, I always come back to FL -fast and effective.
(I'll also shill clicking my sig gets 10% off your first IL purchase. There are many here who have the same deal, so ask around!)

I'd say either flstudio or studio one.. I've tried a ton of daws and these are my favorites.


However you mentioned that you dont like midi drums, and if that's the case perhaps you should try ableton. It's super efficient a working with loops. There are a few things that bother me about it, but it's pretty solid overall. It probably has my favorite solution for dealing with effect and instrument chains.

Acid DJ was the first piece of music software I bought back in 1999. It only had 8 tracks.
It's amazing that the look of Acid has not changed at all since then. I agree it was great for audio clips but the rest was and still is awful.
Anyway, I'm a Cubase user, I've tried everything and Cubase is what I would suggest to a former Acid user. I find it to be simple to use (once you get to know your way around) and it's great for automation and audio clips.
Buy yourself an elicenser if you don't have already have one and try out the demo of Cubase 6 for 30 days.

+1

If you cant afford or justify Cubase consider Cubase essentials maybe.

I've tried to get my head into other DAWs (Live, Sonar, Reason, Reaper) and Cubase is very slick and up together in my opinion. So versatile and does the job well. Reaper is worth looking into but can be over complicated, however, audio routing is very flexible one thing I wish Cubase could adopt. Never even considered studio 1. Also I like Mashine but that is more sequncer than fully fledged daw.

Ableton LIVE

Maschine and studio one working well for me; I use Maschine standalone for Live-like pattern repeat stuff, and Studio One for the linear based more free form recording. The effects in studio one look and feel fantastic, less impressed with the included synths but if I'm honest I wouldn't use them anyway.

so many options, all have demos... Spend some quality time and go with your gut on the DAW with the best feel for you.

Do what most people here have done.. try them all once. Rave about each one, move to the next because someone says the pdc doesn't work correctly or the automation isn't bezier enough. Move to Reaper and bitch about Cubase. Move to Mac and bitch about Windows. Move back to Windows and bitch about Apple. Try Studio1. Go back to start.

Exactly! Logic pc to traction to logic mac to a new pc and reaper to not liking reaper to studio one which feels a lot like logic pc....

Hehehe this is well said and true.

I keep trying to love studio one and for traditional stuff it's top. For exams I loaded a song into studio one pro y dragging and dropping over 90 stems and it automatically created tracks and so on. Attempting this in ableton was a crash not even doable.

I'm a huge fan of Renoise and have come full circle back to trackers where I started. I still adore live but it's not a beast like s1 for audio and so I'm sticking with the three hosts fr
each of their strengths.

I thought Acid was linear based, not pattern based like Ableton (and FL)?

Reason 6 and studio one for me...reason is kind of a dirty word around kvr but I get tracks rockin in no time with it,always have and always will....i polish all the audio from reason in studio one pro ehich in my opinion EASILY sounds the best DAW

+1 without a doubt!