DAW development stopped ?

[Harry_HH]

Live is still so primitive in some aspects, that there´s no danger that it had reached its limits in the development.

[kelldammit]

Once a certain level of robustness is accomplished, there's not a lot of major changes to make (definitely not just for the sake of change, please).<snip>

Actually it depends since when you stopped making music. If it was years and years ago, there has alot of changes happened with the DAWs that were released, but in theyr updates, just do your research and check the latest versions, whats new or since the last version you left.

Pretty much that. For me, since the advent of native processing, followed by the introduction of virtual instruments, it's just really been incremental changes, versus industry-wide, earth-shattering innovations. Computing power improved, DSP followed, and DAWs added those DSP features...over time.

If you've been away for 20 years though, that succession of relatively small changes over those 2 decades pretty much adds up to a completely different universe at this point.

[kelldammit]

Gah, sorry for the DP. Once was enough!

[SJ_Digriz]

I wish developers would just focus on speed, efficiency, bug fixing, and general usability, but they're convinced that this doesn't make them money.

They are convinced because they are right. As a user, I wish that wasn't the case. As a software developer I know the business case. At any scale beyond extremely small one offs, you have to have a feature backlog or you are dead.

[enroe]

Would it be a reasonable assumption to say that there isn't much more room for innovation - rather like the petrol engine in cars ?

Yep.

-- Cubase on the Atari in 1989 gave us most of the stuff needed for midi.
-- Ableton Live 2001 gave loop based midi.
-- Hardisk recording in the early 2000's gave us the ability to record audio.
-- Vst's gave us instruments and fx.

Job done.

But there are some more topics:

-- Melodyne gave us full pitch-control
-- Izotope gave us spectral-editing

Most DAWs have these integrated, and they have groove-
template-organization and harmony-creation tools.

There's nothing left to be invented! "Job done" .

[felis]

Record and play back midi.
Record and play back audio.

That's pretty much all you need if you use hardware instruments and fx.

With vst instruments and fx you pretty much don't need hardware either.

It's been a long trip, but for those just getting into it, it's a piece of cake.

[W23]

Didn't Ableton, Bitwig, Cubase, and Presonus just release new DAW editions this year? I don't know much about the others but, Ableton's update was pretty significant, AND it actually worked (Live 9 was kind of a hairball upon first release). I don't know if they are developing by leaps and bounds but, at least the DAW industry seems to do well if stable, incremental progress is a yardstick to measure by

[enroe]

Didn't Ableton, Bitwig, Cubase, and Presonus just release new DAW editions this year?

Concerning Logic and Cubase these updates are veeery incremental.

I don't know much about the others but, Ableton's update was pretty significant, AND it actually worked (Live 9 was kind of a hairball upon first release).

Haha, here I'd like to quote Harry_HH:

Live is still so primitive in some aspects, that there´s do danger that it had reached its limits in the development.

There's a little truth in it.

I don't know if they are developing by leaps and bounds but, at least the DAW industry seems to do well if stable, incremental progress is a yardstick to measure by

Yes, but mostly it is "incremental" - that means there are very small
steps. So the Colouring-features are improved a little, or the
browsing-functionality gets a new knob - just things like these ...

[Jim Roseberry]

DAW software development (at this point) is more "evolutionary" than "revolutionary".

[sjm]

Once a certain level of robustness is accomplished, there's not a lot of major changes to make (definitely not just for the sake of change, please).

It's not just robustness (well depends on your definition I guess), but also that once a problem has been solved, there is absolutely no incentive to look for an alternative solution. After many years, the software is mature and the basic workflow is tried and tested. There's no need to reinvent the wheel for its own sake.

After the initial "invention", changes are generally evolutionary rather than revolutionary. So yeah, the car analogy works quite well (in fact, pretty much any technology will do). If you look at a car 60 years ago and a car today, they fulfill the same function of transporting someone from A to B using more or less the same control mechanism. That doesn't mean that a modern car isn't a completely different beast under the hood. Radios are not what they used to be. Maps are not what they used to be. There's climate control, airbags, automatic braking, rear-view cameras. Lots of microchips at work.

If you look at a car as "something that gets a person from A to B under its own power", and a DAW as a "tool to record and compose music and create sound", then all those additional developments don't factor in as being particularly revolutionary. After all, refinement is by its very nature not revolutionary.

But there's another way of looking at it, and that's asking whether you'd willingly give up on all the mod-cons that make things easier/more comfortable and go back to an older DAW/car? If no, then development hasn't stopped, it's just entered a different, less revolutionary, phase.


Caveat: I don't drive, so forgive my very limited knowledge of what the state of vehicle technology and what the interior of a car is like these days.

[W23]

Yes, but mostly it is "incremental" - that means there are very small
steps. So the Colouring-features are improved a little, or the
browsing-functionality gets a new knob - just things like these ...

It's a little more than new knobs and coloring options . New effects, multi-clip editing, Wavetable synth. I admit that I didn't jump right on the Live 10 bandwagon at first release but, I got a deal on an upgrade from an online merchant, and it's pretty good

[felis]

Concerning Logic and Cubase these updates are veeery incremental.

Ya - they'd be considered 'mature' programs. Establishing the paths that others would later follow.

I haven't kept track of Logic since it went mac only though.

[dformd]

See also Hollyhock 3
http://www.sensomusic.org/

+1

[starise]

Even if a daw is static it needs to be innovated right along with OS and computer requirements. In that sense daw development never stops.Computer development never stops.Hardware development never stops. Look at cars as a comparison. You could say the same thing about cars, that they stopped developing as transportation a long time ago. I'm glad they haven't stopped development.
The thing about creativity is it never ends because it is endless. This applies to any kind of creativity. Coders can be creative. If you decide not to be creative you may stop but the rest of the world will leave you behind.
Sometimes I think some daw users want a daw that makes the music for them. They tire of the feature that was added two years ago and want something else. Do you want to make and record music or play with features? We are really spoiled now when it comes to daws. There isn't anything you can't imagine that can't be done.
I think we may actually be on the cusp of another major daw move. There are so many things that could be done I wouldn't know where to begin. Voice command similar to Alexa for daws, more connectivity with apps and other devices.Continued improved interfacing with popular hardware. A.I. built into the GUI. Things just keep getting better and better.We might see something besides ASIO and WASAPI that make those pale in comparison.
No daws haven't stalled...I think they are just getting warmed up.

[sjm]

Voice command similar to Alexa for daws.

Isn't that a recipe for disaster?

Singer: Oh baby, I want you to stop messing around.
Alexa: Playback is being stopped.
Singer: WTF where's my take?

Hardcoa Wrapper: Yo! Yo! Turn that shit up!
Alexa: Turning up the volume to 11.
Hardcoa Wrapper: F*!@ man, I'm deaf!