Attack of the 60-Dollar DAW!

[ATS]

Haven't tried Studio One 3 yet because I don't have my DAW computer set up just yet and it doesn't host VSTi's without a $79 upgrade. So money-wise, a $60 DAW is cheaper... plus, if it handles MIDI as well or better than S1, it's even more of a bargain!

I will try Reaper first... see, I know it's easy to say "just demo all this stuff," not all of us have the time to spend doing demo's, so we appreciate all of the advanced warning we can get.

Thank peeps!

what? you don't have the time to demo a host that will you probably use for many many hours after you buy it? Or do you not have the time to make music with it either?

[jabe]

My interpretation is that he doesn't - like me - have the time to learn how to use several DAWs to such a level that he can make a fair assessment of their strengths and idiosyncrasies and weaknesses before discarding all but one.

[Ghostwave]

I played with Podium for an hour today, purchased it and uninstalled my two other DAWs. What a cracking piece of software!

[fluffy_little_something]

There is a new energyXT beta, that DAW seems to be one of the cheapest commercial ones out there.
I don't find it overly intuitive, but maybe that's just me...

[Guenon]

Renoise and Ableton, for instance, are recommending 32bit for most people on their website's FAQ, so we should tell them so they can change their recommendations.

They already did.

Ableton recommends the 64-bit version for all but those machines with 4GB memory or less (and machines with a 32-bit operating system, naturally).

The Renoise team recommends using 32-bit if you're in doubt about your system, as that version works on all machines. 32-bit is also mentioned in compatibility scenarios. For everyone else, they greenlight the 64-bit version. ("If you rarely or never use plugins, and have a 64-bit OS, go for the 64-bit version of Renoise as well. The 64-bit version can use more than 4 GB of memory and will perform a little better. If you use a lot of plugins, your OS is a 64-bit one, and most of your plugins are available as 64-bit plugins, then you might also want to go for the 64-bit version of Renoise.")

About RAM use in general:

The KVR "How much ram do you use?" poll this year: viewtopic.php?p=6412421

Some discussion on vi-control: http://vi-control.net/community/threads ... ram.49172/

My opinion: among all the people using DAWs, it's of course a niche to use a really really large (as in, film, TV, games composer large) selection of RAM intensive instruments, but it has nevertheless become increasingly more common to spice up one's arsenal with even one or two multisampled libraries. In such a scenario, something like 32 gigabytes of RAM will be overkill, but the humble limits of ye olde 32-bit systems will approach fast. Therefore, if you can realistically see yourself using such instruments at some point in the near(ish) future, it doesn't make sense to struggle with a self-imposed limitation like that.

[fluffy_little_something]

To me the workflow and efficiency of the note editor view is key. Not sure which DAW is great in that respect...
Oh, and stability of course. I hate crashes, which often mean wasted time...

[.jon]

To me the workflow and efficiency of the note editor view is key. Not sure which DAW is great in that respect...
Oh, and stability of course. I hate crashes, which often mean wasted time...

You can customize the midi editor in Reaper to fit your workflow, from what different mouse modifiers do to key shortcuts, to custom toolbars and actions as well as scripts. It can also edit or view several midi clips at the same time, which is very nice.

Downside is that midi editing is the bastard stepchild in Reaper, new editor bugs appear on top of ancient ones and it gets almost no love from the devs.

[MachFront]

Remember kids, (for Windows) the following seemingly do not exist:

Ardour
Darkwave Studio
Psycle
Buzz
LMMS
OhmStudio
Podium Free
Tunafish
Music Creator
n-Track Studio (newer, prettier and more awesome than it was previously, seriously...take a look-see)
Podium
Temper
Tracktion
energyXT
Chaotic Music Maker
Mixcraft
Reaper
MU.LAB
etc.

These are all fantasies, despite that some are abandoned and still functional, despite that some may lack this or that, despite that some are free, some are *GASP!* real and stuff and cost a lil bit of monies an' stuff!, and that some are a lil bit outside the dollar amount...be well aware as one of us has 'schooled' us on such that totally totes none of these are really, really real DAW. Please don't touch them! They are lies! LIES!

[LawrenceF]

Good list.

It's been some years since anyone had to spend $4-500 on software to make music at home. Most of us do it because we can, not necessarily because we have to.

We like shiny cool things so instead of a K-Car we buy a Corvette.

[chk071]

I played with Podium for an hour today, purchased it and uninstalled my two other DAWs. What a cracking piece of software!

Really? Fair enough if it clicks with you of course. To me, it always appeared as a rather bad choice, slow development, because the dev has to do a day job, because he can't live from Podium alone, hence there'll probably be some niggles i would have guessed. also the GUI didn't quite appear very inviting to me, but that's subjective of course.

Edit: Just saw that the latest version more than 2 years old. Not sure if i'd spend even 60 bucks on something which appears like discontinued to me...

[audiojunkie]

So, aside from Reaper, which I have, which of these DAWs use non-invasive copy protection? Meaning, a serial or keygen?

[Groundhog #31684]

I played with Podium for an hour today, purchased it and uninstalled my two other DAWs. What a cracking piece of software!

Really? Fair enough if it clicks with you of course. To me, it always appeared as a rather bad choice, slow development, because the dev has to do a day job, because he can't live from Podium alone, hence there'll probably be some niggles i would have guessed. also the GUI didn't quite appear very inviting to me, but that's subjective of course.

Edit: Just saw that the latest version more than 2 years old. Not sure if i'd spend even 60 bucks on something which appears like discontinued to me...

It looks like the dev took a hiatus from it for a while, but is back in the saddle. Last beta was released in Feb 2016...

http://zynewave.com/topic/preview-3-2-5 ... ts/page/2/

[Ghostwave]

I played with Podium for an hour today, purchased it and uninstalled my two other DAWs. What a cracking piece of software!

Really? Fair enough if it clicks with you of course. To me, it always appeared as a rather bad choice, slow development, because the dev has to do a day job, because he can't live from Podium alone, hence there'll probably be some niggles i would have guessed. also the GUI didn't quite appear very inviting to me, but that's subjective of course.

Edit: Just saw that the latest version more than 2 years old. Not sure if i'd spend even 60 bucks on something which appears like discontinued to me...

Well after using it for a few weeks, I love it even more.
I does everything I need bar timestretching but since I always use it rewired into Reason 8, I can do that in there.
I really love the navigation features, the track tagging system, the zoom functions, how you can drag and drop inputs, ... but most of all its MIDI pianoroll window and the curve editor.
I have zero stability problems, performance is great and in regard to how I make music, it's lean and fast.

[MachFront]

Oh, man. I LOVED Podium. I used Podium Free for quite a while a handful of years ago. It seemed so...odd but oddly (har har) became so very, very quickly intuitive and super-fast and easy to work with. However, when it came time to (for me) plunk down a few bucks again (after MU.LAB kinda left me behind with regards to price vs. value...not to disparage an awesome DAW because, well, that's what it is), I found that Reaper, even though it left me scratching my head far more and far more often than Podium, was quite simply more cpu-efficient than Podium so..yeah. Honestly, if I had the money to have super-duper-ultra-modern machines in both desktop and laptop, then I'd worry less in this area (obviously) and Podium and energyXT would be my personal hands-down faves. Reaper really is awesome, but I have to admit, it's a port-in-a-storm (that I dig) for me.
Reaper is ultra-crazy configurable, but unless I can noodle out a way to make it work pretty much exactly like energyXT and/or Podium, I'll continue on just and only until I can magically have a gazillion dollars to spend on both a newer desktop and an easily usable laptop for someone like me (just a mere for-fun hobbiest). After such I'll happily return to one or both on those two instead of Reaper, but, damn, Reaper is so near-disturbingly cpu efficient it continues to tempt me to stay for forever... But gah...eXT and Podium both are SO easy and quick for me. Well. That's just the way of things, right?

[Iconoklast]

Seems like a bit of pause here, so I'll interject-
I have tried almost everything out there for windows & if it is close I'll try an OLDER VERSION of same usually with better results. Boy what a difference a proper choice makes especially if anyone is like me using older machines.

My top DAWs for best CPU-RAM Stability & Plugin scanning-

1. - Bremmer's MultiTrack Studio - Best piece of coding anywhere & a unique take.

2. - EnergyXT VERSION 1.xx - Almost as tight as Bremmer's. Didn't care for version 2...completely different code.

3. - Zynewave Podium - Like the first two but with somewhat crappier plugin scanning.

4. - Plogue Bidule - Different machine -like gui but very good coding, often overlooked.

5.- Propellerhead Reason VERSION 3 or less. Great DAW then version 3 still rules...total garbage on the new stuff.

6. - Jeskola BUZZ - Free & rock solid, excellent plugin scanning, great community check out what people are doing in it - http://www.buzztunes.org/

7. - Cakewalk Project5 ANY VERSION - Probably the best MIDI workflow ever, excellent plugin scanning even with the wrapper on version 1.5.

8. - Cakewalk Sonar TO VERSION 5 - Best features for the least resources. Great MIDI features.

9. - Arguru Aodix - Free Tracker-Piano Roll DAW. Great use of CPU & RAM VST only DAW. Has vertical piano roll that is pure genius. Only problem is a particular vst loading problem with some plugs upon opening a song file. Song workflow is great as there is no set pattern lengths.

10. - Synapse Audio Orion - Great piece of coding along with great stability & plugin scanning. It almost doesn't need a manual. Has an excellent mixer. It is in need of more advanced features. One still cannot go wrong with it.

Tracktion & Audio Simulation DreamStation 2 almost make the mark with honorable mention.

Well, That's my 2 cents & opinions will vary. Same views can be said of plugins too.

Reject list - Studio One/Reaper/Ableton/Cubase/Sony ACiD/MuLab/Renoise/Chaos Music Maker/FL Studio/Any MAGIX/Psycle/OpenMPT/BUZE/MadTracker/Making Waves/NEWER Reason/NEWER Cakewalk/OLDER windows Emagic Logic/Arturia Storm/RaXnTrax/Digital Performer/MED Soundstudio & MORE.