Hey guys,

first of all: I'm really glad having found this forum. Almost two decades ago I started making music on my Amiga 500 using ProTracker. Then switched to PC still using tracker software, later Logic Audio and Syntrillium Cool Edit Pro (now owned by Adobe/Apple??? what the hell?).

So here is my task: After a pause of about ten years (still playing bass guitar) I recently got Native Instruments Maschine with Komplete 8 to start making some electronic music on my own just for fun. Now I would also like to join/build up a live band mixing hard rock with "plastic" from my VSTIs (mix of Linkin Park, Pendulum and stuff).

Now I am really lost on this. I read a lot on the forums here and got some basic ideas like Ableton Live, Cubase, Reaper, Sonar and Sensomusic Usine. Or is waiting for Bitwig the best option? Before spending cash and a lot of time to compare all the software products I am begging for some input where to start.

TL;DR: I am looking for a DAW for live performance with a band and working in my "studio" with NI Maschine and VST(I)s. Platform: PC.

Thanks in advance.

Ableton Live easy...:-0 choice

Your best bet is to try out the demos. No one can really tell you what will work best for you and your workflow.

I personally use Cubase 6.5, but that really won't mean anything to you until you try various packages out.

The reason I chose Cubase is that it seemed the most similar to me to ACID Pro 7, which is what I started with, and got frustrated with when a bunch of my VSTs wouldn't work in it.

I know that's not the info you were looking for, but you'll find as many different opinions here as you will find people.

P.S. I missed the live performance bit....yeah, you might be best with Live.

+1
If you were just going for your solo music I'd have no hesitation recommending Live;
but for recording a band live..I'm not so sure.
anyway, demo demo demo!

Well i used to use Ableton but got so fed up with the gui. That i switched to Presonus Studio one which i prefer the look and feel of it , it has a very nice work flow.

As 4lb said try all the demo's to see what suits you.

yes, i agree, trying the demo is really the best thing to do. You have to check about performance on your system, but the most important is the work logic .

Usine is definitively, at first, done for Live performance but has a really different approach from Ableton .

Modular possibilities and Rack mode correspond more to musicians who comes from hardware world (for my point)but once again it's a work logic question and i talk here for my church

Don't forget the price question, Usine start at 39 € for a legal version..

so you are coming from a tracker? take a look at buzz.

http://jeskola.net/buzz/

You cannot go wrong with Ableton Live as a starter DAW. It's rather easy to pick up, largely due to its workflow and simple visual design. But the main advantage to Live for someone new to full-on DAWs is that it's so widely used that there are books, blogs, tutorial videos (commercial and free) out the yang for it.

Only thing is I really don't like how it works with Maschine. It's one of several reasons I went back to Cubase pretty much exclusively. As much as I love Cubase, I do not recommend it as a "My First DAW." It does everything, but it's far from intuitive.

your probably just going to get like 20 daws mentioned.

Reaper is very nice not to expensive either. Seems like it gets a lot of updates. I like it as a DAW host.

I'll do a silly thing and recommend a piece of software I don't use that much myself, but I've seen others coming from a tracker background prefering Renoise. It's got fairly flexible routing, a pretty active community, expansions others have programmed for added functionality (stepsequencers etc, and if you're skilled you can make your own) that you can find links to on the Renoise page and it's almost cheap as chips. Have a look at http://www.renoise.com/introduction and download a demo from http://www.renoise.com/demo to see what you think.

There are guides for building custom hardware controllers for it etc, and if you can wrap your head around OSC and you've got an iPad you can interact with it in interesting ways. Some tools for live use among the ones mentioned here: http://www.renoise.com/blog/10-ways-to-extend-renoises-inter nal-sequencer

This might be of interest if you'll consider Renoise, mentions a Renoise MIDI template for Maschine and stuff: http://forum.renoise.com/index.php?/topic/33533-best-way-to- integrate-ni-maschine-into-renoise/

I found the tracker-like interface slightly alien, but perhaps you'll appreciate it more.

If you buy a new controller/MIDI keyboard, it is likely to come with Live Lite, which is a great way to start.

Also consider Propllerheads Reason; the GUI is built like hardware equipment. You can even ReWire it together with Maschine I think.

Here it is:
http://www.reaper.fm/download.php

Free undongled unrestricted 30 day trial.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=reaper+tutorial

Well, the likes of Raeper and Cubase are mainly focused on track production. I think that in a band you're triggering small parts on demand, by hand. At least, I presume that's the way you'd work. Live seems to be a better candidate, as it's aimed at trigging sequences. I wouldn't dare to say it isn't possible with others hosts, but Live's workflow just seems better suited.
But since you have Maschine, why don't you use that as a standalone app when playing live? I think it might work pretty well. Or have you tried it and what's lacking?

This is a tough call. I've been a Cubase user for many years, checked out Reaper
and may buy it instead of upgrading from my current version of Cubase 5.
I do feel Cubase is easier to get my head around and am not sure Reaper is DAW
for a newbie. It is cheap and can be tweaked, re-skinned and has great audio routing options. Weak area is midi.
Tried live lite a few years back when I bought my Novation Xio and was totally lost. I got a new version with my recent purchase of the Akai MPD32. I may install and see if I can get along with it better now.
I've seen many vids of peeps using Live and they just fly around with it, especially with control surfaces as they are a few choice there.

I think it is demo time. All three of the above have Demos though I am not sure
about Live as far as limitations if any. Cubase and Reaper are fully functional for 30 days. In theory from what you describe it appears to me that Live might
be the way to go if you feel comfortable with it. Live is used Live
Good luck