DAW selection hardship: STUDIO ONE ARTIST v3 vs ADOBE AUDITION CS6 vs Reaper 5 ?

[musicadivine]

Hi guys,

As a total begginer in recording, I need some advice about DAW selection for my tinny home studio. Thanks for sharing your thoughts and help !

There are so many programs on the market today, so I don’t know realy what will suit best to my needs – which of them is most appropriate for one man band – songwriters - home vocal recording.

I know this is subjective but I am sure some programs excel in Mastering, others in Midi ect.

After reading tons of stuff, I am more confused than ever, but still I came up with selection of 3 Daws: Studio One Artist v3, Adobe Audition CS6 and Reaper 5. Both Studio One and Adobe support the scroll control on my Audient Interface which is great but probably not essential, so Reaper is still in the game.

My Goal: mini home studio for recording my own vocal (YouTube covers with pre-recorded backing tracks, live recording of my own songs (vocal+guitar) and recording of solo instrumental music (bagpipes over pre-recorded synth track) ect.

Gear I bought: Audient ID 14 + decent chinese LDC mike

Computer: sadly an old one for now (Intel core 2 Duo with 2,66 GHz and 2,00 GB RAM)

Most important to me is the ease of use – the Daw with »easier/shorter/softer« learning curve as I have very limited time. Also important are quality effects like reverbs, delay, echo, chorus and compression.

Sadly money IS an issue as I spent most everything for ID14 & mike, so I can't afford Studio One Professional or similar expensive Daws.

Which of the Daws mentioned would be the optimal choice for me in your opinion and intuitive + easy on nerves ?

Thank you for your help, Best Regards 

[EvilDragon]

Older computer - Reaper is probably going to squeeze every whit of power it has. Other DAWs are definitely not as CPU efficient as Reaper. S1 especially (I have both, and S1 is definitely not as well behaved as Reaper when it comes to CPU usage).


Not to mention that for $60 you get a fully-featured DAW with no limitations of any kind.

[LawrenceF]

Sadly money IS an issue as I spent most everything for ID14 & mike,

Maybe a little late to be useful but for less than $299 for the Audient you could probably have bought an interface that already came with a DAW, or a package with a DAW and a mic. Not to push any companies products... most hardware companies (Avid, Steiny, etc) probably also have some all in one starter packages like that.

$159 with free shipping... a audio device, a mic, headphones, and a daw... especially since your needs aren't all that critical...

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audi ... tion-suite?

Agree with ED also. Reaper is a great value.

Again, probably too late to save you any money but look here at GC's "recording packages" between $2-300... http://www.guitarcenter.com/Recording-P ... cyCode=USD

The Steiny one looks nice... http://www.guitarcenter.com/Steinberg/U ... Package.gc

[Vintage73]

Sadly money IS an issue as I spent most everything for ID14 & mike,

Maybe a little late to be useful but for less than $299 for the Audient you could probably have bought an interface that already came with a DAW, or a package with a DAW and a mic. Not to push any companies products... most hardware companies (Avid, Steiny, etc) probably also have some all in one starter packages like that.

$159 with free shipping... a audio device, a mic, headphones, and a daw... especially since your needs aren't all that critical...

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-audi ... tion-suite?

Agree with ED also. Reaper is a great value.

Again, probably too late to save you any money but look here at GC's "recording packages"... http://www.guitarcenter.com/Recording-P ... cyCode=USD

+1

If I were just starting out with PC recording, I'd go with this.

There are higher-quality options, but not at this price.

The only thing I'd be concerned about is Studio One on your older machine. I've noticed that the current version is better on MY system than the last major version, but not everyone is experiencing the same.

Reaper is best suited for your system, however, it probably has the longest learning curve of the three.

[aMUSEd]

For basic stuff it's pretty easy to learn though, I managed to pick it up easily enough at a point where I was a complete noob only really used to Tracktion, but I never used it for anything particularly complicated. I think it's as simple or complex as you need it to be.

[LawrenceF]

+1

Yeah. For his stated intent, recording (I would guess vocals and maybe a guitar track?) over backing tracks to put on YouTube, the daw choice is almost irrelevant. He could get that done easily enough with Garageband or Sequel or anything really.

His challenge will be probably trying not to let out of context advice lead him down the old GAS-based financial rabbit hole.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[pdxindy]

I assume you (OP) are on Windows, but you did not actually say. If you happen to be on a Mac, then Garageband is the way to go to start.

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[ObsoleteAcc99]

[DELETED]

[woodsdenis]

Get Reaper, no brainer.

[musicadivine]

Hi again,

Thanks to everyone for such a great response To answer: YES, I am on PC, using Windows 7. My 1st idea was to get Adobe audition, since I saw video about its hi quality reverb effects and read some great reviews about it.

Then I found Studio One and Reaper and the game started

Studio One has some impressive video reviews about its great workflow and ease and also that it is "songwriter" friendly, but you probably need professional version. And reaper is just great and have tons of bonuses...

The only thing I'd be concerned about is Studio One on your older machine.

So you think my old 2008 computer won't be able to make it with S1?

I am already buying new computer for long time, so I gues now is the final time to make funeral for my old box and buy something much more capable. HOW much faster should be the new one and how much RAM is decent for the job???

Thank you for your help. Best wishes...

[musicadivine]

sorry but i am going to make my official recommendation after re reading the OP:

Hi TheoM, Thanks for recomendation. I will think about this option since it sounds very good for my situation ! Thanks

[do_androids_dream]

sorry but i am going to make my official recommendation after re reading the OP:

https://shop.propellerheads.se/product/ ... entials-8/

$49

Actually a fantastic suggestion. I even considered Reason for my mixing work at one time - the console looks lovely to work with.

[LawrenceF]

Reason Essentials looks pretty cool.

To the OP, don't overthink it, just pick one and go to work. If you outgrow it later on, find something else. It's really easy to get stuck on having too many choices, like at the 200 flavor ice cream place.

Given your budget, and depending on how much of a tweaker you potentially are, Reaper may be the best long term dollar value from the choices being considered. It will be hard to outgrow it anytime soon, if ever, for $60.