Is it worth learning another DAW for collaborating?

[SoundGoddess]

I'm using Bitwig Studio as my main DAW but I find that it's hard to collaborate because not many people use it. I like it because it's intuitive enough that the DAW gets out of the way and I can just focus on making my song.

I own a license for FL Studio Signature, but I never really wrapped my head around its workflow...I haven't really used it for much since version 10 but I opened someone's project file in version 12.2 and it seems like there are some good UI updates. Since it's been around a lot longer it seems there are more people out there willing to collaborate. I'm just not sure how much commitment I'd need with it to get to a point where I can just make music with it vs. trying to figure out how to do something. Seems like Splice is pretty active for this DAW. Admittedly I'm much more comfortable making music now than I was a couple years ago when I was banging my head against FL 10...so maybe some of that experience will translate over?

If I could afford it I think I'd try to learn Ableton, since it seems the most popular for the type of music I want to do, but it's a bit too expensive for me and I think I'd get frustrated with the limitations of the $100 version.

I also own Reaper 5 but I'm not sure that I'd have any more luck collaborating with it than I do with Bitwig.

Is anyone out there a poly-daw user who can offer some insight?

[Naenyn]

Greetings, fellow Arizonan!

I've used four DAWs now if you count Garageband (GB -> Logic 9 -> Live -> LPX & Renoise). I've recently run in to the collaboration problem myself. A friend of mine on the other side of the planet wants to work with me but we're not keen on bouncing tracks down to audio every time. I've also worked with a local friend who is teaching me production. We started on Live together (he's our resident certified trainer). It definitely made learning easier when we used the same software.

To answer your question ... I think I'd say it depends on who you are collaborating with. If you know it'll be a good experience and will further your mutual musical goals, then yes, I'd say it would definitely be worth it.

Now if only my European friend and I could work things out and agree on a DAW... Maybe then I'll have a better answer for you!

Best of luck with your collaborating!

[cryophonik]

I use multiple DAWs (e.g., Sonar, PT, Logic, Studio One, FLS, Bitwig, formerly Cubase and Live) and some of them I bought/learned primarily for collaboration. I think you'll find that, once you've gotten comfortable with 2-3 DAWs, it gets pretty easy to learn others since they all share so many common features. The main thing to consider, though, is that it's not a necessity - you can collaborate with users of other DAWs by simply sharing audio stems and MIDI clips and, in many cases, that's the most efficient route in my experience. But, learning a new DAW by collaborating is also a great way to force yourself to get up to speed and learn the workflow of a new DAW pretty quickly, in my experience.

If you do decide to use the same DAW, you typically want to make sure that you're using the same plugins for convenience. I've usually found that it works best to use the same plugins throughout the composition/arrangement phase (i.e., while you're creating the song, sending it back/forth, going through multiple iterations), then have one person handle the final mixing using whatever plugins they have at their disposal. Sometimes it works best to have one person handle the final mixing and the other person handle the mastering/finalizing. Of course, these are just some thoughts - no hard rules here.

[Lejurai]

Personally I use Reason and Bitwig as main DAWs but I also have Reaper that I use sometimes. I also know my way around with FLStudio (I started with it), Live, Sonar and Cubase. It's nice to know different DAWs since not every friend uses the same. And it's nice to work together when I don't have to spend time learning the basics of their tools.