KVR Audio

Vehrka · Post by **Vehrka** » Wed Feb 20, 2019 9:30 pm

Hello there everybody, I've been researching DAWs and I'm currently demoing Ableton & Bitwig. However, I recently came across Tracktion's Waveform 10 & I'm curious what you're personal opinions are on the DAW.

How would you say it stacks up against the big names like Ableton & Cubase? Do you find it as feature rich or as "usable"? Are you able to finish big projects in Waveform (as in many tracks & fx inserts)? How do you find it creatively? Compared to Bitwig (the other relatively "new" DAW) how does it fare?

I will demo this after I'm done demoing Ableton & Bitwig but I wanted to get your opinions beforehand so I kind of have an idea of how good it can be...I'd love to hear your thoughts on Waveform 10!

scalawag · Post by **scalawag** » Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:04 pm

In my opinion, demo W10 first. Don't be fooled by the price of it.
I've used Ableton before but now i'm on Waveform 9. I like it a lot.

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Wed Feb 20, 2019 11:53 pm

I have not used Waveform since the name was changed from Tracktion. But I had Tracktion from v2 through until the name changed and it was always unstable and crashed a fair bit on Mac. Based on user comments the Windows version was more stable. I finally gave up on it cause the upgrade price went up and the stability never did.

If you are Mac based, look for user feedback at this point from Mac users to see if that has changed.

jonljacobi · Post by **jonljacobi** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 12:36 am

I just took a quick spin with the latest version. I'm impressed by the progress on the interface, including the scaling and ability to choose your own font and key commands, as well as the one-stop shop for showing/hiding various panes. It's very clean and uncluttered as well. To be honest, these days it's mostly about the interface for me.

One thing still missing for me is multiple time signatures, but it seems you could work around this with markers. I wish there were a context menu for the arranger/timeline area, but learn the keystrokes and that might be moot.

Much, much better than my last look which was a couple of versions back. Real potential.

jonljacobi · Post by **jonljacobi** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 12:40 am

Just noticed the price. More impressed.

fedexnman · Post by **fedexnman** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 2:23 am

If you are NOT gonna use a Push2 , Push , or Launchpad or Launchkey type of midi controller and launch clips with Ableton Live or Bitwig then there is NO point in buying into that kind of DAW eco system , it'd be like buying a Mac to run Linux or Windows on it and not use OSX or iOS ..... Waveform 10 is nice it's kinda like StudioOne , Tracktion , and Mulab all mixed together ... Just make sure you demo your plugins with it and make sure they all work ok before buying into it .

jonljacobi · Post by **jonljacobi** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 2:57 am

I take back the time signature comment. It does support multiple time signatures, you just do it from a different location. A lot of editing I was expecting to be inline (at the point of the marker/time signature/etc.) is actually done in the bottom pane. Not my ideal, but certainly doable.

To be honest, I'm kind of digging it. I may plop down for the basic and try it for a tune or two.

jonljacobi · Post by **jonljacobi** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 3:14 am

Holy crap. Pop-up panes that stay off screen until you mouse beyond the border. Brilliant. If you haven't looked in a while, you need to take a look.

jjpscott01 · Post by **jjpscott01** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 4:09 am

Waveform at this point should be up there with the best of big DAW's. I for one, love the GUI and the new features added in 10 really make this an incredible value. I'm using it more and more these days

GearNostalgia · Post by **GearNostalgia** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 7:00 am

I have Cubase9 and Waveform9(which I picked up for peanuts on sale). I am torn cause I am used to using Cubase, but there is a lot I like better in Waveform like the drag and drop tools to draw chords and melodies in Waveform (awesome and way better than Cubase). I work faster editing individual midinotes and cc values in Cubase, but that is probably just by habit. I have not worked so much with audio and VSTs in waveform. It seems a little bit less elegant, but I have been able to setup and do what I want so I can not say that anything is missing really.

All in all. If I would start from scratch today I would get Waveform cause it is cheaper and has a more modern appoach. Cubase has a huge legacy and a lot of old users which I think makes it harder for Cubase to transform much and really change stuff in new directions.

dave dove · Post by **dave dove** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 7:53 am

waveform is not like ableton/bitwig
waveform is a linear DAW
the others have variations on ableton's session view (there's a few more out there too...)
session view is not predicated upon the use of a grid controller
it is a workflow environment that many find important
many don't... YMMV

just so you know:
I'm an Ableton user and don't use grid controllers

Dave

Topcheese · Post by **Topcheese** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:43 am

Yeah, that's a tough one for me. You know others DAWs are doing their thing, but Traction has the open-source engine that's a part of and built on Juce; which also happens to be a part of Roli. I think because of how strong the support for Juce has been, Traction turn out to be a better choice if you looking to do any serious development for the platform.

I like what they're doing, but I wouldn't say it's the best out there. Other than that I would pick Studio One 4 or Mixcraft over it. I have Waveform 8.

dupont · Post by **dupont** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 10:27 am

I have stopped purchasing a licence after T7, too buggy on OSX, crashes very often.
I tried demos of W8 & W9, was very buggy on OSX and UI laggy.
Tried W10 and UI still laggy with some plugins, for example micro tonic morph slider is stuttered.
Also found a bug within 5 minutes, midi input don't always follow selected track.

jonljacobi · Post by **jonljacobi** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 3:34 pm

At this point, every DAW has something to recommend it. I didn’t mean to gush, but I really do like the interface. I hadn’t tried it in several years, and was very surprised. I can’t say how stable or reliable it is and I’ve only tried the Windows version so far. But as far as UI and workflow are concerned, it’s top notch.

However, it doesn’t seem to have the clip arranging and launching found in Live, Bitwig, Mixcraft, DP 10, etc. if that’s your thing.

jonljacobi · Post by **jonljacobi** » Thu Feb 21, 2019 9:02 pm

Finally fired it up on macOS. I have an older i7-3xxx machine, and the rendering is noticeably slow, almost painfully when panes pop out during playback. DP10 isn't too swift either so I'm guessing that both are doing their drawing with the CPU. I've never been a lover of Apple's choice of "realistic" fonts rather than those the play well at lower resolutions, and upping the scale doesn't help. That's not Waveform's fault, but the look on Windows is much better and the rendering acceptably swift.

I also had to set the buffer larger for playback than with Logic. But that was at 96kHz.

This machine is actually a generation newer than the one I tested Waveform 10 under Windows on.

The whole point being that you'll probably be much happier on the Mac if it's newer and Retina. (duh) I may actually install Windows on this Mac to use it. But Logic will remain my goto for macOS for the time being. Still impressed with the overall interface concepts.

Waveform 10 vs other DAWs?