Which DAW?

[Atza]

You can't go wrong with Reaper

[Klinke]

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.

Or maybe start with Reaper in combination with the Playtime extension (https://www.helgoboss.org/projects/playtime/). So it's not necessary to learn two different DAWS.

[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.

Or maybe start with Reaper in combination with the Playtime extension (https://www.helgoboss.org/projects/playtime/). So it's not necessary to learn two different DAWS.

Firstly, I'm not so sure that the op would not be able to get everything done in Ableton. I only mention Reaper if projects become sprawling, and require a lot of routing, grouping etc.

Secondly, I have never seen Reaper as a beginners daw. I guess with some really stripped-down template it could be.

Lastly, that extension looks ideal for someone who really likes the Reaper workflow, but lusts after the looping view. Like I said earlier, there are many ways in which more traditional, linear apps are bolting on features to try to emulate this aspect of Ableton's workflow, but there are still going to be people who appreciate the benefits of using a daw that is streamlined around a particular workflow, rather than one that has a million options that can sort-of make an approximation.

[fluffy_little_something]

Disco and orchestral, hm, it seems to me that those genres require somewhat different approaches.

He has never replied to any posts since he started this thread...

An affordable DAW with a lot going on under the hood is Mulab. It is very small and light, but not the most intuitive one. It's from a single developer, so either you like and understand the way he thinks or you don't.

[thecontrolcentre]

https://www.slant.co/versus/6424/6433/~ ... studio-one