Which are the "most" normal looking DAWs?

[JonSolo]

If I follow what is being thought out here: for sure FL Studio and Ableton probably fall into NOT normal. Reason is a close second.

Because of that I think you can sometimes be a bit more creative because you are way outside the normal box. Or maybe not. Ha.

[woggle]

Rather than looking at the whole DAW it is probably better to think in terms of design patterns.
For example one really common design pattern is the track, another is the clip (which might be generalised out to container). Some DAWs allow all sorts of material in different containers on a track, other DAWs are more restrictive.

[do_androids_dream]

Yes, I also believe that FL Studio is the most powerful and deep DAW out there.

Interesting comment. Depends how you assess it I guess but I would say Reaper and Samplitude are much 'deeper'.

[ShawnG]

The reason why Tracktion's gui isn't for everybody isn't really how it looks, it's that Tracktion does not have a horizontal mixer option, and it's hard for some to adjust to mixing vertically.

But why is it more "normal/familair" to have a mixer horizontal instead of vertically?

That is kind of the whole point of the OP, what kind of DAWs has made a mixer horizontally "normal"

the horizontal mixer is just a hangover from hardware - makes no sense at all to me in software where the link between track and meters can be explicit

Yes, but why was hardware designed that way? There is a bias in humans to prefer horizontal orientation for scanning, its how our eyes and fov are oriented, also why each track in arrange views are oriented horizontally. It would be interesting to find how people in cultures that write vertically (japanese?) would think of it, and certainly if you put in some time, you can get used to vertical mixing, ive never had an issue with tracktion myself. But there are valid reasons why mixers are preferred horizontal.

[woggle]

The reason why Tracktion's gui isn't for everybody isn't really how it looks, it's that Tracktion does not have a horizontal mixer option, and it's hard for some to adjust to mixing vertically.

But why is it more "normal/familair" to have a mixer horizontal instead of vertically?

That is kind of the whole point of the OP, what kind of DAWs has made a mixer horizontally "normal"

the horizontal mixer is just a hangover from hardware - makes no sense at all to me in software where the link between track and meters can be explicit

Yes, but why was hardware designed that way? There is a bias in humans to prefer horizontal orientation for scanning, its how our eyes and fov are oriented, also why each track in arrange views are oriented horizontally. It would be interesting to find how people in cultures that write vertically (japanese?) would think of it, and certainly if you put in some time, you can get used to vertical mixing, ive never had an issue with tracktion myself. But there are valid reasons why mixers are preferred horizontal.

I think the hardware design is more to do with physical reach than with scanning.

[Kumi_27]

Hardware console ...

[whyterabbyt]

Yes, but why was hardware designed that way?

Try leaning over the side of a 48-track mixer to change the controls on the middle channels, and find out.

The way hardware mixers are laid out, with vertical track strips, the distance between the nearest control and the furthest control on any given channel is defined by the number of controls, not the number of channels.
If track strips were horizontal, then on larger mixers, the proximity (and this accessibility) of -all- of the controls for a given track would be different, and on mixers with larger numbers of tracks some would not be reachable.

[BertKoor]

There is a bias in humans to prefer horizontal orientation for scanning, its how our eyes and fov are oriented, also why each track in arrange views are oriented horizontally. It would be interesting to find how people in cultures that write vertically (japanese?) would think of it

Interesting point... My wife likes that type of games where you need to put three of the same on a row and bang (think JewelQuest, CandyCrush, etc etc.) It's so much fun if we sit together at such a game: she sees the vertical options sooner and I see the horizontal options sooner. Or it was vice versa but that doesn't matter. Because what does matter is that even with my wife and I both being brought up in Western left-to-right culture, we have different scanning algo's in our mind.

BEEEP !!! Next...

[LawrenceF]

I'm not a fan of the inline mixer there either tbh. Tracktion is a really nice product though.

With modern computer screens being wider than they are tall you'll probably see more mixer channels in a standard design though. There is some benefit to having a mixer on a seperate computer screen and/or filling up the main screen with a mixer.

[woggle]

I'm not a fan of the inline mixer there either tbh. Tracktion is a really nice product though.

With modern computer screens being wider than they are tall you'll probably see more mixer channels in a standard design though. There is some benefit to having a mixer on a seperate computer screen and/or filling up the main screen with a mixer.

I find the disconnect between the mixer and the tracks disconcerting in the traditional setup - in the old days one had that of necessity as the tape tracks were not really visible anyway.
I can see how the traditional mixer would work for people mixing bands and other sorts of work but not so much for the work I do where it is handy to have a visual cue for where on 20 minute track a segment is

[Numanoid]

Yes, I also believe that FL Studio is the most powerful and deep DAW out there.

Interesting comment. Depends how you assess it I guess but I would say Reaper and Samplitude are much 'deeper'.

I am just a FL Studio fanboi after all

[do_androids_dream]

Yes, I also believe that FL Studio is the most powerful and deep DAW out there.

Interesting comment. Depends how you assess it I guess but I would say Reaper and Samplitude are much 'deeper'.

I am just a FL Studio fanboi after all

I was very productive in FL years back. It's a great creative environment.

[ls1xxx]

I will say this. The piano roll in FL 12 is by far the best one out right now. Period!

[Numanoid]

I will say this. The piano roll in FL 12 is by far the best one out right now. Period!

Maybe the best, but is it something that will work best on average for everybody ?

[bermudagold]

The reason why Tracktion's gui isn't for everybody isn't really how it looks, it's that Tracktion does not have a horizontal mixer option, and it's hard for some to adjust to mixing vertically.

But why is it more "normal/familair" to have a mixer horizontal instead of vertically?

That is kind of the whole point of the OP, what kind of DAWs has made a mixer horizontally "normal"

the horizontal mixer is just a hangover from hardware - makes no sense at all to me in software where the link between track and meters can be explicit

This part Tracktion got right. Making the linkage explicit is better human factors. It is one less cognitive computation that has to be performed. Problem is now you have no immediate relative understanding of metering between tracks which adds a new cognitive step.

What I don't understand is if you made the vertical mixer deliberately with explicit track linkage to metering in mind, why would you not understand that in order not to exchange one problem for another, you clearly need to rotate the volume filters (meters) 90 degrees clockwise?