What's a good DAW to switch to from Cakewalk?

[3ptguitarist]

I currently have Cakewalk and ableton live lite 10. I'm a little interested in switching DAWs to something that has more of a userbase and is updated regularly such as Cubase 10 pro.

I'm into metal, electronic, hiphop beats, and piano all through software except guitar. I'm not a serious musician. I'm just doing this for fun right now.

I've used cakewalk for a long time and I wonder if I should just stick with cakewalk for my musical needs. But I feel like the userbase and interest with cakewalk has gone downhill. Seems like pro audio manufacturers don't support cakewalk anymore when they tall about daw support. For example, arturia's keylab mk2. So this kinda makes me want to get a new daw.

What do you guys think?

[JerGoertz]

It all depends on your preferences!

Demo, demo, demo

[Apratim]

Huge userbase and frequent updates......feels reaper to me but i will warn you .sometimes the update may cause your system to crash for a few days .but again there will be an update for that and even the dev is ultra active.

[george]

Logic Pro or Reaper. Both good alternatives.

[xbitz]

should check your prios
http://www.admiralbumblebee.com/DAW-Chart.html

Reaper has a bit garage-tuning feeling (needs some time till your customize) , I would check Cubase and S1, and Logic if u have Mac

S1 has a rent-to-own option https://splice.com/daws/38650984-studio ... y-presonus don't know the others

[excuse me please]

Oh really?

http://forum.cakewalk.com/Use-the-Artur ... 77955.aspx

[Kongru]

I've heard that Studio One is similar to Sonar, I can personally recommend Logic if you have a Mac.

[EvilDragon]

After the whole Gibson fiasco, Reaper got a decent influx of Sonar users...

[mrcleats]

You might want to check this out...

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=202667

[Burillo]

Huge userbase and frequent updates......feels reaper to me but i will warn you .sometimes the update may cause your system to crash for a few days .but again there will be an update for that and even the dev is ultra active.

hasn't happened to me in... well, ever, now that i think of it.

[xbitz]

You might want to check this out...

https://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=202667

https://www.reaper.fm/guides/SONARtoREAPER_2017b.pdf

[Distorted Horizon]

They're all good. Demo them all!

[chk071]

I'd second that. Nothing worse than wasting your time with advice from people who don't know what you want, or never used Cakewalk in their life.

[Jim Roseberry]

I currently have Cakewalk and ableton live lite 10. I'm a little interested in switching DAWs to something that has more of a userbase and is updated regularly such as Cubase 10 pro.

I'm into metal, electronic, hiphop beats, and piano all through software except guitar. I'm not a serious musician. I'm just doing this for fun right now.

I've used cakewalk for a long time and I wonder if I should just stick with cakewalk for my musical needs. But I feel like the userbase and interest with cakewalk has gone downhill. Seems like pro audio manufacturers don't support cakewalk anymore when they tall about daw support. For example, arturia's keylab mk2. So this kinda makes me want to get a new daw.

What do you guys think?

Read up about each DAW application... as that'll help narrow down the choices.
Then, demo the applications that remain on your short-list.
Each DAW application has strengths/weaknesses.
One will appeal to your workflow more than the others.


Studio One is very easy to use (has a nice drag/drop UI)... but lacks more esoteric MIDI features you'd find in Cubase 10.

Samplitude and Reaper are both extremely powerful on the audio side (having Object/Item based realtime processing). MIDI is fairly well developed on both (including basic notation).
If Reaper has a downside, it's configurable almost to a fault.
For the less tech-savvy, initial configuration can be daunting.
All that said, Reaper is the most CPU efficient DAW currently available.
Reaper is the closest you'll find to a DAW that can actually be, "all things to all people".

Samplitude (IMO) is the best-of-the-best when it comes to slice-and-dice editing of audio.
If you get their Suite, you've got great tools for cleaning-up/sweetening audio for video/etc.
Samplitude's UI is a bit different... and that puts many people off.
Pro X4's UI and plugin-browser are a step toward (IMO).

If esoteric MIDI features are important, you definitely want to look at Cubase 10.

ProTools 2019/2019 offers a good balance of features.
One of it's weaker points is that it's not the most CPU efficient (especially when working at small ASIO buffer sizes). IMO, ProTools approaches a project more from an engineering perspective... rather than a creative/production perspective.

Ableton Live 10 is amazing for working with loops, audio segments, triggering virtual-instruments, and triggering samples (especially in a live/stage environment).
What Live lacks are the more fundamental audio editing functions that you'd find in a more traditional DAW. Live allows you to Warp audio in realtime (pretty decent quality)... but that comes at a cost (higher CPU use).

[3ptguitarist]

Thanks guys. I'm hoping to find something that is more industry standard other than pro tools. I've thought about Cubase as I want good midi editing. Ableton live is also on my list.

I've heard of reaper, but never showed a real interest in it. Maybe I'll try it out.

I don't have a Mac so I won't be able to get Logic.

Demoing sounds like a good plan.