Which DAW?

[TripleSpiralAudio]

I second the statements earlier to demo some DAW's and check which suite your workstyle and workflow. I switched from Sonar to Cubase around 6 years ago and a very happy user and it has some awesome features and not only for the orchestral/film style of composing.
Though I never used it first hand, but knowing some people who I respect a lot, Reaper is something worth checking into as well and a good option when you are on a tighter budget.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

In your position, I would probably go with a combination of Ableton and Reaper. Ableton for the dance/loop stuff, and maybe for live performance. Reaper for a daw much better suited to routing and mixing larger compositions e.g orchestral projects.

The second daw could be anything - Personally, I don't jive with Reaper - but I think it's a very cheap way of maintaining a second daw

[chk071]

Why a second DAW anyway?

[starflakeprj]

Why a second car, or a second computer?, or second of anything.

I would call it a change (every now and then), for inspiration maybe?

[chk071]

Well, OP asked for an option for a DAW to get started. Why waste money and time on two DAW's?

I'd recommend Studio One 3 BTW. IMO, it has a nice workflow, and a good price/performance ratio. Plus they don't release new versions every, or every second year, so, you won't keep buying, most probably. It also runs very stable here, on Windows 10 Home.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Well, OP asked for an option for a DAW to get started. Why waste money and time on two DAW's?.

Because the two types of music he wants to create have workflows that would benefit from different applications. You can do both styles in another daw, but sometimes using a tool designed for a specific purpose, rather than the 'jack-of-all-trades' approach, might work out better.

Ableton is very commonly used as a second daw, for it's unique workflow, and it's performance aesthetic. All I am suggesting is reversing that idea. I am also not suggesting that both need to be bought right from the start. I just feel that Ableton will get someone off the block really quickly, but at some point an orchestral composer will likely want to break out of Ableton's limitations.

[chk071]

Fair enough. Even though i would not say that it necessarily has to be Ableton. Not sure why that one is always recommended for the respective genres. AFAIC, many people producing for such genres use Logic, or Cubase as well. Live always rather appeared to me as a live (sic)/quick sketch/loop application. And to me is rather unusual/unintuitive, and something, which probably makes it difficult to learn another host, after you used it exclusively. Logic, Cubase, or Studio One, or also Reaper, have much more in common with one another.

[starflakeprj]

I love Studio One 3 as well. It was that DAW (or v1.5) which got me into "producing" again, after a lot of years. For me it has the best workflow of all DAWs, and is the easiest DAW to learn of all I have tested, without reading the manual or watching tutorials. It's the perfect DAW for beginners, yet pretty powerful. Since the latest updates (v3.5x) it has got rid of almost all CPU spikes as well I had before.

Studio One is my primary DAW, but it's not as stable for me as it seems to be for you. It crashes using unstable plugins, so they doesn't seem to use sandboxing for the plugins. None of my other DAWs crash as much, but due to its wonderful workflow, it's still my primary DAW. Sometimes I think it's my sound card drivers though, which are a big part of the instability.

But why not waste money and time on two DAWs, if you have the money and time? And if you don't have a certain goal, being a top producer for instance, then I don't think it's wrong having both two or more DAWs. When inspiration run short running Studio One, why not go for run in Reason, or Bitwig (which are DAWs i like playing around in).

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Fair enough. Even though i would not say that it necessarily has to be Ableton. Not sure why that one is always recommended for the respective genres. AFAIC, many people producing for such genres use Logic, or Cubase as well. Live always rather appeared to me as a live (sic)/quick sketch/loop application. And to me is rather unusual/unintuitive, and something, which probably makes it difficult to learn another host, after you used it exclusively. Logic, Cubase, or Studio One, or also Reaper, have much more in common with one another.

Well, these days it might also be Bitwig. The reason that Ableton ends up recommended for certain genres is because it's been designed from the ground up to be used for dance/loop-based music, and performance. Most other daw's emulate the linear tape/timeline format, and have certain other features bolted on.

Ableton can be a great sketch app, but also a very serious production tool. And while it's session view might seem alien to anyone who came up on a linear timeline, Ableton also has the timeline workflow included. As such, I don't think it is as difficult to go from Ableton to a 'trad' daw as it might be the other way around. And I don't see it as any benefit to stick to a 'familiar' format just because it is what most of the other daws do.

You are coming from the point of view that the end product is the same regardless of daw. However, workflow is key. Some workflows will get you there faster, or even just offer inspiration from being forced into a different paradigm. Just like listening to differing opinions, often you can come to conclusions that you never would have considered with your 'known' paradigm

I know I can produce everything I want in Logic, but Ableton offers workflow benefits and other advantages that make it the perfect add-on. Maybe it helps to view these daws as plugins, rather than complete environments. Logic is my 'base', but there are things that Ableton offers that make it the perfect adjunct; It's like an external sampling environment. Then there is Renoise - Programming beats with that brings me to places I wouldn't even think of in Logic. Add in some Holllyhock 3 for it's fantastic quality audio mashing algorithms/modules, and you have many different sonic playgrounds to create content that can then be bought back into the daw that you normally use.

Or...just use Cubase

[Kalamata Kid]

Cubase is the king of MIDI.

+1

See Which DAW is MIDI king?
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=445626

Which of the following DAWs best for heavy MIDI editing & arranging?
viewtopic.php?f=7&t=442232

To save $$ get an older version of Cubase.
If you are a student they offer a student discount.

[Zexila]

Well, these days it might also be Bitwig.

For me it certainly is, coming from Logic background, it's just the right amount of everything done "right", it's not "deepest" one by any stretch, but what it does, it does good, I never done stuff so quickly and effortlessly.

[CTStump]

Hello All,
i want to start produce music, i like Funky Nu Disco.
And some time i like to do make music for movies, like Orchestral.
I will using only VSTs,and maybe some time will use real guitar that all of hardwares i want using only MIDI.

I think about Studio One 3 or Ableton?

What will be the good choose? Thank you : )

If can afford it get both otherwise demo, demo, demo and demo again.

These thread topics most of the time always turn into DAW flame wars dissing one DAW over their own prejudices which in turn goads others to chime in to defend the offense of "Their" own DAW preference, over and over and over again.

Entertaining as all that is the answer you seek may not be found in threads such as these but one hopes you will find some relevant info anyway.

[jinotsuh]

If can afford it get both otherwise demo, demo, demo and demo again.

Entertaining as all that is the answer you seek may not be found in threads such as these but one hopes you will find some relevant info anyway.

Yes indeed, there is only one way to truly find out which is best for you and your situation, and that's demo products for yourself, and find out for yourself. It's all well and good asking on forums, but that wont necessarily lead to the answer you seek. I see people often go on to a DAW developers own forums and ask which DAW they should get, which is the best, I don't know what answer they are expecting to get, it's a bit like going on to General Motors centric board and asking which is better Ford or Chev. At least you asked on a DAW nuetral (well ) forum

[inkwarp]

it is also worth noting the issue of economy or what you can afford.
some of us are never going to use certain apps because their cost is prohibitive.
this is why, again, i would recommend reaper. it's cheap, but not lacking in features.
it has a 60 day unlimited trial period.. it has a wealth of learning material which for me is a really important. if cost is no issue then you may as well jump into samplitude.. or ableton.. then the field is wide open.

[Googly Smythe]

Yet another thread where the op poses a question and then sits back and watches the rest of us fight it out.