KVR Audio

s3renity · Post by **s3renity** » Thu Apr 23, 2020 4:48 pm

Hello! New member on the forums here!

I'm trying to decide which DAW to invest time and money into and thought I'd ask this community

I have very little experience using DAWs, been primarily playing guitar and piano a bit thus far. I would like to jump into composing music for tv/movies/video (in the future) and video games - I've got a long way to go but I'm stuck trying to pick basic software

I'm on PC and am trying to choose between Bitwig Studio (I have an old license for 1.3.x lying around, could potentially upgrade) and Cubase. I played around with both and found that in Cubase most things just work out of the box and the workflow seems more intuitive to me. Bitwig seems to not support video playback at all thus far so it's a bit sub-optimal, and feels more oriented towards electronic music and perhaps live performances, which I have no interest in.

When it comes to Cubase, I'm also not sure which version would I want to go for. Do you think Elements is enough to start with? I have LE and saw that 40% promotion for upgrade to Pro and was kind-of tempted, but I'm not even sure I'd be able to use any of the Pro features.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on this - would you go Bitwig or Cubase? And if Cubase, what version do you think makes most sense for a beginner/intermediate user interested in film and video game scoring?

Thank you in advance!

lotus2035 · Post by **lotus2035** » Thu Apr 23, 2020 5:02 pm

If you are in it for the long haul Cubase definitely.
Starting with Elements wouldn't be a bad idea, you can always upgrade later on to Cubase Artist if you don't want Pro and beyond that again is Nuendo which is tailor-made for film and video game scoring, expensive though (but affordable if you are crossgrading from Cubase Pro).

Kongru · Post by **Kongru** » Thu Apr 23, 2020 6:16 pm

Cubase Pro seems to be the "industry standard" for composers, so definitely worth checking that out.

I use Bitwig personally but don't think it gives me the edge, the midi and things like expression maps are very powerful for composing in Cubase.

Studio One is kinda similar to Cubase in some ways, but with a more fluid workflow. Some old school Cubase composers are switching over to it. You can also get the full version on Splice for $16.99 a month.

Also check out VI Control, it's a forum similar to KvR but for composers. Mostly film composers there I'd say.

Picking a DAW/version for film and game scoring (for a newbie)