[User sharing] : Why do you have a seconday DAW (or even more to use?)

[GaryG]

Consistenly using the same environment/workflow may lead to proficiency, but at the same time can sometimes lead to creative stagnation.

This. I can do everything I need in Reaper for sure but sometimes it's just fun to fire up Live Lite and play around with loops and it's drum racks. Also I find it a neat 'demo' environment; easier to quickly audition vsts with it's midi loops and midi keyboard (whereas I much prefer Reaper for audio editing, arrangement tasks etc).

I think they compliment each other well, would have a hard time justifying another DAW similar to either unless it had a feature I really needed (which I understand others do).

[mcbpete]

I use Ableton as my 'making music' DAW, and Reaper as my final mixdown/mastering DAW

[K-Bee]

I've used FL for many many years and will continue to do so as it's just the best for what I want to do. That said, I was forced to learn another DAW since I needed full MPE support for my Roli Seaboard and FL doesn't support that technology at all
I've demoed both Reaper and Bitwig. I'm so used to FL that even the most common tasks seem like writing a phd. Cutting op and stretching a sample in Bitwig seem like rocket science to me and I wonder why something so simple have to be so fiddly and tedious to work with. The basic workflow in Reaper just doesn't make sense to me at all. I don't get it. I know others will say the exact same thing about FL though.
My point is....switching DAW is very hard work Here's hoping that FL will support the MPE (Five dimensions of "touch" as Roli calls it) in the future.

[inkwarp]

inspiration.
breaking habits.
playfulness.

[Guenon]

For me it's Reaper for "traditional" composing and production, and Live for sound design and more experimental material, prototyping, and so on. Pretty much the same deal as multiple other people here are saying, it seems . Additionally, Renoise for a completely different perspective and workflow. I love the way it has that distinct separation of sound sources from the downstream signal chains, which is pretty uncommon in modern DAWs like those other two, and that can be a great inspiration starter.

[Hink]

fl studio, started on the computer with it and cool edit 2k around 2001-2002 (from being long time hardware guy) and moved on to samp 9 pro in 2007. FL, free updates...why not keep up wih it?

[toonertik]

Why... very good question and answerable on a few levels...
Basic level>>> I'm not into monogamy
2nd level>>> Although I value human loyalty, I have no affection for S_W loyalty
3rd level>>> I'm a self confessed DAW_Slut
Serious level >>> I started in 1997 with Samplitude_Media.. was only 4 stereo tracks..
then I discovered Acid... changed my life (in many ways)
Then, with a new sound card I got Cubase_LE, Sonar and Live4_OEM, I also bought Cakewalk's Project5
I had a work flow... Sketching in Live... beat construction in Acid .. synth_workshop in P5 and mixing in a linear DAW....
I also had a studio at the time and worked with others who were using CubaseSX, Sonar and others...
So one ends up learning the DAWs...
Now I am back with Samplitude (due to their recent offer) Reaper, Acid, Live and still keep P5 around and have added Harrison Mixbus >> 'coz it sounds so good for stem mixing.
All the above have their strengths and weaknesses and I use them all for different things!
Does that help?

[Jim Roseberry]

It's different for each individual/circumstance.

ie:
If you're doing all kinds of tempo matching, you don't want to use a DAW where that process to slow/laborious/tedious (Sonar)... when a different DAW handles it much more gracefully (Cubase).

Ableton Live has some really cool functions that are geared toward live performance (Session View with Scenes).
A traditional DAW just doesn't have those exact capabilities... and isn't well suited to that scenario.

If you need Batch processing/conversion, there's only a few DAW applications that do that type of thing.
If you have to convert/process hundreds of files, the convenience/time-savings easily justifies the cost of Reaper.

Having multiple DAW applications may not be 100% necessary... but for some folks/scenarios it can save hours of time/effort.

[sin night]

I used various things in 17 years... Sometimes it was a matter of adding some features at a good price (for example when I bought Reason 4 as a crossgrade for Cubase users... it was a decent amount of synths/devices, though it had to be used with Rewire); sometimes I decided to change my main daw (I used Logic Express 9 for a few years instead of Cubase, then I went back to Cubase by upgrading to version 7).

If I had a commercial studio, multiple daws could be needed for compatibility (so I could get more clients); but since mine is a personal project studio, I think it's better to concentrate on just one daw (if it does everything that I need, that is!) and to be proficient with that. Other daws are part of my setup only for historical reasons, for compatibility with older files, but I never use them...

I have only another current daw, Cubasis on iPad, which came bundled with a synth and which I upgraded to full version when discounted. Actually, it's sort of a mobile version of Cubase, so I may consider it an extension of my main daw on a different device rather than a completely different daw. But it doesn't get much love, even if I'm a Cubase user...

[virtualpt]

I was a long time Reason user, but switched to Logic for access to the general plugin market & for better CPU usage.
I use Ableton Live as there are some M4L instruments that I want & I also love Live's sampler & time stretching. Live is great for being creative in different ways & I have written whole tracks in Live. Mixing in live is a pain though. So, I always export & mix in Logic.
I recently upgraded to Reason 10 as I got a great upgrade price, which was a no brainer to get Grain & Europa.

I rewire Reason &/or Live from Logic, eventually bouncing the tracks to audio in Logic when I start running out of CPU!