KVR Audio

felis · Post by **felis** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:10 pm

Depends how far you stretch the definition, I guess.

I had a little transistor radio when I was a kid.
Changing the station made it a bit of an audio workstation.

But really, I think if you can't edit audio on it, then it can't be considered a DAW.

robbie111 · Post by **robbie111** » Mon Dec 10, 2018 8:51 pm

First sequencer was Notator Logic on an Atari. First Daw was Creamwares T-Dat 16 on a Pentium 400 with a 10000 rpm SCSI drive on Windows 98 back in 1999. It was way ahead of it's time and I could record 16 simultaneous tracks from 2 Adats to the computer and then edit them.

Things are lightyears ahead of that now. Used pretty much every Daw since then. Currently using Cakewalk and love it.

MachFront · Post by **MachFront** » Tue Dec 11, 2018 6:55 am

iMac G3 Special Edition (the top at the time). 600MHz, 128MB RAM, 40Gig HD, Mac OS9 (bought in '01).
In early '04 or so, I got Reason 2.5.

That over-priced thing died mysteriously in mid-'05-ish. Never did figure out what happened to it. I'm bitter to this day....but I miss it and I miss Redrum and the Matrix and NN-19 and ALL those wonderful free Refills I had found online. I used to actually come close to finishing songs back then.

I've been Windows only since '05 and Reaper only since '12 after dalliances with Tracktion 1, MU.LAB, Podium Free and energyXT.

jonljacobi · Post by **jonljacobi** » Thu Dec 13, 2018 12:05 am

Atari 400/Basic or Commodore 64/Dr. T''s if you count MIDI. Otherwise, PC and Cubase. Or Windows Sound Recorder if you want to count that.

Tj Shredder · Post by **Tj Shredder** » Thu Dec 13, 2018 2:53 pm

I would count a Midi sequencer synced to a multi track tape recorder... If its about audio editing it was possible back then with scissors and I did it... The early samplers had a way to exchange samples via sysex and could be edited in non real time.
This piece was constructed that way (though strictly not made with a sequencer, but with some homegrown algorithmic Midi magic and a multitrack recorder...)
https://soundcloud.com/ondes-memorielle ... e-of-music
Would be nice to hear some more pieces of those old times...

Silaris · Post by **Silaris** » Fri Dec 14, 2018 3:23 pm

zzz00m wrote: Mon Dec 10, 2018 5:20 pm Before PC:

But the first DAW I ran on a PC was Voyetra Digital Ochestrator Plus. http://www.oldschooldaw.com/forums/inde ... opic=534.0

It had audio recording and editing, alongside MIDI sequencing. PC was Windows 95, Pentium 1 @133MHz, with a Creative Sound Blaster Live for audio and MIDI.

I owned an Alesis MMT-8 as well. I loved using it to transport MIDI tracks between studios. It was a very convenient solution at the time.

I also owned a Brother PDC100 Pro, which I purchase mainly due to the floppy disk drive.

I sold the MMT-8 in the mid-90's, but the PDC100 I still have available in storage.

Tronam · Post by **Tronam** » Fri Dec 14, 2018 10:05 pm

Protracker on a Commodore Amiga 500. This screamer featured an 8 MHz CPU, generous 1 megabyte of RAM and further augmented with a 55 megabyte SCSI hard drive. It's kind of hilarious to think about now considering the capabilities of the phone in my pocket.

Coxy · Post by **Coxy** » Sat Dec 15, 2018 8:07 am

Can't remember the PC but it was some no brand custom built with onboard sound.
First foray into music in that capacity was Virtual Turntables by Carrot Innovations.

Later I went on to own the original Dance eJay
Then it was Fruity loops demo which I think back then was 20 minute limitation and no save or something similar.
From there I purchased Cubase SL3 as I was able to get educational discount.

I think a bit later I reached the the dizzy heights and got myself a Sound Blaster Audigy with ASIO capability.

kelldammit · Post by **kelldammit** » Sat Dec 15, 2018 5:08 pm

My first was a home-built PII 400mhz (not sure how much RAM, but i seem to recall needing at least 256MB to even play mp3's at the time, so probably 512?), with an adaptec u2w scsi card, and a pair of deskstar 7200rpm scsi drives. I had a soundblaster AWE (the one with the memory slots) + joystick adapter for midi, and an Echo Darla for audio. Cubase vst 3.5 was the software. That would've been around dec of '97, i think.
My first monitors were a pair of the Roland (MA-12c?) powered ones that they used to use for the VS-880 in-store demo stands.

The PC/Cubase really only replaced my vs-880 as a tape machine, though. I didn't actually sequence midi with it till vsti's came along later.

Keith99 · Post by **Keith99** » Sat Dec 15, 2018 5:30 pm

Atari 1040StE and Steinberg Pro-24

sQeetz · Post by **sQeetz** » Sat Dec 15, 2018 8:46 pm

Amiga 500 and Soundtracker. The whole deal with the ST-00 till ST-05 disks filled with songs and samples.
After that Protracker, then an Amiga 600, Amiga 1200, OctaMED.
At that time I also had a PC. With a 386 processor 40Mhz. It had some sort of adlib soundcard with an Yamaha OPL soundchip IIRC. I mostly used it for Designer, though.
After that, 2000...ish, a PC with an AMD Athlon 1000 CPU and Fruity Loops 2.something... fun times.

ztrauq · Post by **ztrauq** » Mon Dec 24, 2018 9:42 am

My first setup, if you could call it that, was an early Mac Performa with a copy of SoundFX 0.9.1 (which a voice read out in an effected version when you started it up

I actually got sound into the thing by hooking up an ancient camcorder to its AV connection and using its microphone to import notes played on a Yamaha PSR-420. My first "proper-ish" DAW was several years later, when I got a cheap academic copy of Arturia Storm Music Studio (sort of like early Reason, but not to the same quality). Eventually I supplanted it with a MIDI notation app called Harmony Assistant and an academic edition of Logic Express, and some form of Logic has been my primary DAW ever since.

StudioDave · Post by **StudioDave** » Mon Dec 24, 2018 10:14 am

Mid-1980s I was studying music composition privately with Michael Jon Fink in Los Angeles. One day I went to my lesson, Mike had a DX7 hooked up to a little Macintosh computer. I asked "What's that ?", he replied "The future." He hit the space bar on the Mac (I think he was running Performer) and music came out of a small pair of speakers connected to the DX, with no-one playing the keys. A week later I bought a PC-XT (you know, the computer "for the rest of us") with a batch of pirated MIDI software on it. In a short while I decided I liked Voyetra's Sequencer Plus best, so I purchased a legal copy and started learning the details of making music with MIDI gear (first synth was a Yamaha TX81z). Audio recording was out of the question in those early days, but I was into Csound by 1989.

Fast-forward to the end of 2018, I'm still into Csound and I still use Sequencer Plus for any MIDI-intensive composition, though my studio (Linux-based since about the year 2000) now also includes Ardour, Bitwig, u-he plugins, and a host of other amazing music programs. IMO, we're living in a Golden Age for learning, practicing, composing, and performing music, thanks in very large part to our Machines Of Loving Grace and the fabulous software they run for us.

neverbeeninariot · Post by **neverbeeninariot** » Mon Dec 24, 2018 10:15 am

'DAW' : Atari 1040 ST with Cubase 2

Outboard gear : Yamaha TG55, Roland W30 (sampling workstation), Roland R8 drum machine, a really shitty 12 channel desk with crackly pots, several guitar stomp pedals patched into the desk... One of the most creative periods I ever had!

40watt · Post by **40watt** » Mon Dec 24, 2018 10:51 am

Atari with Cubase 3.1, still using Cubase.

Your First Ever PC & DAW Combo ?