Cons And Limitations Of "Free" DAWs

[Kumi_27]

You know, at certain point in life You start to know, that there isn't almost anything free in life.
And You start to appreciate time - Your time, somebody's time - and then You decide to pay for that time.

You can use Podium Free and waste Your time because it uses only one of Your 8 available CPU cores, or You pay 50$ to spare the time.
You can learn to compile Ardour (takes time too) - or You pay 1$ to get the latest build.
You can use other free DAW and think, how to get things done with only 8 track count. Or...
You can wait in Reaper nag screen, or...
You get the picture
And then You get support. Also worth a lot of time.

[whyterabbyt]

That makes sense

Thanks for acknowledging that, I know when I am right

Dunning-Kreuger is like that.

[Robert Randolph]

Ardour is free (as in beer), whether you can use it or not.

Regardless of that, it's free (as in freedom), whether you use it or not.

We could also just start putting asterisks by the others ones, largely that you need to spend money acquiring internet somehow to use them. But that would be silly, wouldn't it? I don't have a windows box here, so I guess that means Samplitude isn't free either, since I have to buy windows first...

[Numanoid]

We could also just start putting asterisks by the others ones, largely that you need to spend money acquiring internet somehow to use them

So you don't need internet to download Ardour, or use the package builder in Linux ?

Seems you have made up your mind that it is free, so free it is for you.

[Robert Randolph]

We could also just start putting asterisks by the others ones, largely that you need to spend money acquiring internet somehow to use them

So you don't need internet to download Ardour, or use the package builder in Linux ?

Seems you have made up your mind that it is free, so free it is for you.

I don't think you are understanding. I was pointing out that it's possible to place various limitations on any DAW listed and mark it as 'not free'.

Ardour is free, in both senses of the word. It doesn't matter if you're inept with your computer or not.

[chk071]

Ardour isn't free. But then, i dunno whether that qualifies it for this thread or not. Reaper is also mentioned in the OP, and it's not free either.

[Robert Randolph]

Ardour isn't free. But then, i dunno whether that qualifies it for this thread or not. Reaper is also mentioned in the OP, and it's not free either.

How do you guys get that Ardour isn't free?! I'm so confused by this. If you run linux, you can easily get a pre-compiled binary via your distro's package manager. You can compile the Windows or OS X version yourself as well.

If you don't run Linux, and you think compiling yourself is too hard, that's fine. Tracktion 5, S1 Prime, Pro Tools free etc.. aren't available on every platform. So shall we discount them too, since you can't easily run them on a certain OS without being a rocket surgeon (apparently)?

[chk071]

Where exactly do you see the free option here? https://community.ardour.org/download_form

[Robert Randolph]

Where exactly do you see the free option here? https://community.ardour.org/download_form

https://community.ardour.org/download

Click source code, and compile it yourself.

OR

Use your distro's package manager, which is very easy.

[chk071]

Ok. Do you think most people out there are capable of compiling it themselves? Do other free DAW's come free, only when you compile themselves?

I dunno how to compile it myself. I hardly even know what that means. And i don't know why you arguing this is free, when it isn't.

I don't have a "distro" either.

[lilyyy]

Reaper is also mentioned in the OP, and it's not free either.

Reaper 0.99 is. Not that it's even worth using.

Do you think most people out there are capable of compiling it themselves? Do other free DAW's come free, only when you compile themselves?

I dunno how to compile it myself. I hardly even know what that means. And i don't know why you arguing this is free, when it isn't.

I don't have a "distro" either.

You not being able to use it because you don't want to learn how to compile it doesn't mean it isn't free. And "compile" just means getting the tools to set up the process that will create the binary. Presumably all of which are also free.

[chk071]

Ok, then everyone is able to compile software themselves. Seriously, the arguments on the net amaze day after day. Gonna ask my mom, which is see on the weekend, if she's gonna compile some stuff for me then, then i can finally use Ardour for free.

[Robert Randolph]

Ok. Do you think most people out there are capable of compiling it themselves? Do other free DAW's come free, only when you compile themselves?

I dunno how to compile it myself. I hardly even know what that means. And i don't know why you arguing this is free, when it isn't.

I don't have a "distro" either.

I don't care if anyone can compile it themselves, it's still free.

If some dude in Tanzania is giving away tickets to a schoolyard football match tomorrow, the tickets are still free even if there's no physical way I could ever get one and go to the match.

Something being free doesn't depend on whether or not you personally can get it. If that was the case, then none of these DAWs are free, since not everyone runs Windows or OS X or has internet or... whatever.

[chk071]

Free is also about making something accessible. It's not very accessible if you require the computer user to be able to know about compiling a binary. But i'm doubtful that you're even willing to consider that.

[LawrenceF]

Technically it's free. Anyone that has it can give to anyone else. Find anyone who has it and ask for a copy, it's legal to do that because it's free.