List of Free or Open Source DAWs, Sequencers, and Hosts for Windows:

[Warpticon]

Nice idea if it wasn't for the pathetic "reviews" attached.

Yeah, the "reviews' do little but add confusion. I appreciate the effort to compile the programs, and I learned some stuff, so I appreciate that...but the editorials do more harm than good, especially when he makes up his own definitions for industry standard terms and expects anybody to know what he's talking about.

[Warpticon]

oops.

[Deathbliss]

Removed by poster

[whyterabbyt]

Nice idea if it wasn't for the pathetic "reviews" attached.

always good to see someone pissing on someone's else's efforts instead of making some effort themselves.

[Mattox]

Jokosher
http://www.jokosher.org/

Jokosher is a poor man's version of Acid. It's one of those programs where you make music by combining samples. Therefore it is not a DAW.

Not quite sure where you got that idea.

Jokosher is a simple and powerful multi-track studio. Jokosher provides a complete application for recording, editing, mixing and exporting audio, and has been specifically designed with usability in mind. The developers behind Jokosher have re-thought audio production at every level, and created something devilishly simple to use.

[Deathbliss]

Removed by poster

[deleted]

DELETED

[captain caveman]

Nice idea if it wasn't for the pathetic "reviews" attached.

always good to see someone pissing on someone's else's efforts instead of making some effort themselves.

Here are my list paid-for hosts with comments for anyone who is thinking of trying them, please feel free to add to this list and I will update this amazingly useful post.....

ProTools - Meh*

Logic - Bleh*

Cubendo - Schmeh*

Samplitude - Hiccup*

Reaper - Random farty noises*

* bear in mind that I have used these hosts either for less than five minutes or for more than that so may or may not be in the position to make any comments, extensive or not.

[Mattox]

Fair enough Deathbliss.

No midi, but multitrack audio + automation + effects it does well and I know a few bands who have recorded their entire albums on it.

[pinkjimiphoton]

Deathbliss most of the ones you state as "This is not a DAW" is exactly what they are hahaha
What do people think a Digital Audio Workstation is exactly hahaha

NAS

Well to my mind a DAW AKA Sequencer AKA Host (these terms seem to be used interchangeably) is a piece of software where you can create music. In order to allow the creation of music it either has to have a tracker or a piano roll where you enter your notes. A tracker like Psycle is a subset of a DAW.

An Audio Editor is simply that - a program that allows you to edit pre-existing music files in various ways. By default this sort of program has no music creation abilities. From my limited time with them I consider Traverso, Kristal, and Audacity to all be audio editors. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

I think a subset of Audio Editors are programs like Acid and Jokosher. They have no ability to create music from scratch, instead you use samples to build your songs.

Other programs that should be noted here allow you to enter music through a midi device or your keyboard. They don't really have a piano roll or tracker - they are in essence a hybrid Audio Editor where you create your music from scratch in the form of loops and samples using some sort of hardware, then you build a song with whatever you recorded.

So, in summary, these are a few of the features a program must have in order for me to classify it as a true DAW:

1. It must allow the user to create music from within the program using a piano roll or tracker (I prefer the piano roll, not some meaningless numbered grid.)

2. It must allow the user to use VST and VSTIs to create sounds and effects.

3. It must provide the user with some sort of Sequence Editor for putting your song together.

Of course everyone is entitles to their opinion, even if it's wrong
- Deathbliss

hey man, audacity is definitely a DAW....i've done a whole bunch of stuff with it...multitracking is a function of a daw, last i checked.

i mean, audition and god knows how many other programs like it are daws too..
a workstation is a workstation...to me, it seems you're describing more like sequencers or trackers. a daw doesn't need vsti support, really, i don't think.
just sayin', yo...
peace

[pinkjimiphoton]

Kristal
http://www.kreatives.org/kristal/

Kristal is NOT a DAW! It is more like Audacity than anything else. It is only an audio editor from what I can see.

Actually, Kristal is a Multi-track recorder/editor, with limited editing and easy mixing functionality. Audacity is for working with single tracks.

And my buddy has a standalone hardware device that has the exact same functionality as Kristal, and it's manufacturer (Yamaha) calls it a DAW.

audacity works great for multitracking...been using it for literally years, even compiled an asio version of it.
it's alot more than just for single tracks...i use it for tracking audio, mixing, even mastering stuff. alot ya can do with it...it's more for like audio recording tho than step or other sequencing...it doesn't do midi or vsti's, tho it supports a lot of vst's.

[pinkjimiphoton]

Audacity is awesome, certainly designed for multiple tracks. You can't record 2 tracks at once, assuming your have a limited amount of hands to begin with.

i've done 16 at a time with my audacity. by default, with regular windoze drivers, two tracks is it tho.
i've had 30 or more audio tracks loaded in it at once during mixes with no problems...and the undo will go back to whatever point you last saved....which can be really handy...out of all the ones i've tried, it's the easiest to use and has a lotta bang for the buck.

[Deathbliss]

OK, so I have updated the list with your suggestions. I have removed my comments and instead added only relevant facts about each program. I have also added definitions to remove confusion.

To make this thread more professional and to cut down its length I have removed the text from many of my posts. For those that have posted here quoting these missing posts I apologize for the inconvenience. Feel free to adjust your posts accordingly.

I hope this thread will now prove to be more useful, less confusing, and free from the comments of someone who has

...used these hosts either for less than five minutes or for more than that so may or may not be in the position to make any comments, extensive or not.

- Deathbliss

[sunhome]

again another suggestion for your research

Rack Performer
http://www.livefactory.com/

[RunBeerRun]

That's cool, PinkJimi. I used to use Audacity with onboard soundcard, and latency actually was fine! I still use it for various things.