KVR Audio

jinotsuh · Post by **jinotsuh** » Tue May 05, 2020 4:56 am

andypryce wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 4:50 am
enCiphered wrote: Mon May 04, 2020 9:04 pm Hello

Which ones shall I pick?
Reaper and Reaper

The question was "Which DAW Has the Best GUI?"
Not which DAW sucked the most

Spencer Maddox · Post by **Spencer Maddox** » Tue May 05, 2020 5:01 am

Nobody’s competing with this:

D753531E-D108-49CA-B937-0E10703D992D.png

ozinga · Post by **ozinga** » Tue May 05, 2020 5:05 am

Function - Studio One.
By the looks - Logic Pro (Sans old plugins' GUI ) Non distracting, not shouting, deceptively simple looking , and beautiful.

Vladislav_Gronk · Post by **Vladislav_Gronk** » Tue May 05, 2020 5:32 am

Something about the Live GUI makes it my favorite. It's not necessarily the prettiest but it does its job and stays out of the way.

I also like the monotone gray design because it makes the important stuff stand out even more, like colored tracks and clips.

BONES · Post by **BONES** » Tue May 05, 2020 5:44 am

How obvious is it that everyone has just voted for the host they use? It's pathetic. I cannot believe I am the only person to vote for Cakewalk, it's GUI is very clean, clear, uncluttered and consistent, at least from the screenshots I've seen. I also can't believe Live has the most votes, it's GUI is awful. There is nowhere near enough contrast between control and the background which means you have to stare at it closely to see what's going on. As a Cubase user, I certainly can't believe anyone thinks it's GUI looks nice. It's a horrid mish-mash of colours and styles. I think it looks awful. If it all looked like the native plugins, it would be incredible but seeing those nice GUIs feels like the devs are taunting me.

My Top 3 would be Cakewalk, Studio One and Logic. Whenever I see any of them in YT videos, I think "ooh, that host looks nice, I should try it out" but I never do. Learning Cubase was enough of a struggle for me, although switching again probably wouldn't be nearly as hard.

revvy · Post by **revvy** » Tue May 05, 2020 6:20 am

Logic/Live.

I own both.

AnX · Post by **AnX** » Tue May 05, 2020 6:21 am

Orion (customised)

jamcat · Post by **jamcat** » Tue May 05, 2020 6:35 am

BONES wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 5:44 am I cannot believe I am the only person to vote for Cakewalk, it's GUI is very clean, clear, uncluttered and consistent, at least from the screenshots I've seen.

Cakewalk is very pretty to look at. It really is a work of art. But it seems to prize form over function. It's easy to confuse which knob you're grabbing for, and there are a lot of them on the screen at once. Good GUI should make the software easy to use, not just easy on the eyes.

The kind of graphics Cakewalk has is perfect for a plugin (lets face it, synths with that level of skeuomorphism are just more fun to play with) but it can be impractical when the whole software looks like that and you're hunting for the right knob to grab.

BONES wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 5:44 amMy Top 3 would be Cakewalk, Studio One and Logic. Whenever I see any of them in YT videos, I think "ooh, that host looks nice, I should try it out" but I never do. Learning Cubase was enough of a struggle for me, although switching again probably wouldn't be nearly as hard.

If you know how to use Cubase, then you already know how to use Studio One.
Except Studio One is even easier. Everything is drag&drop.

As a former Cubase user, I can tell you:
Just think of the way you wish Cubase worked, and chances are good Studio One does it.

Also, Studio One can import exported Cubase projects directly (Cubase Track Archives.)
https://forums.presonus.com/viewtopic.php?t=4353

Come on in, the water's fine.

TheMaestro · Post by **TheMaestro** » Tue May 05, 2020 7:30 am

BONES wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 5:44 am How obvious is it that everyone has just voted for the host they use? It's pathetic. I cannot believe I am the only person to vote for Cakewalk, it's GUI is very clean, clear, uncluttered and consistent, at least from the screenshots I've seen. I also can't believe Live has the most votes, it's GUI is awful. There is nowhere near enough contrast between control and the background which means you have to stare at it closely to see what's going on. As a Cubase user, I certainly can't believe anyone thinks it's GUI looks nice. It's a horrid mish-mash of colours and styles. I think it looks awful. If it all looked like the native plugins, it would be incredible but seeing those nice GUIs feels like the devs are taunting me.

My Top 3 would be Cakewalk, Studio One and Logic. Whenever I see any of them in YT videos, I think "ooh, that host looks nice, I should try it out" but I never do. Learning Cubase was enough of a struggle for me, although switching again probably wouldn't be nearly as hard.

Why most vote for the DAW they use?
Because GUI was probably considered when they chose or got used to their DAW.
GUI is also much more than just looks, so judging a DAW’s GUI from screenshots might be the only pathetic thing in this thread.

fese · Post by **fese** » Tue May 05, 2020 7:51 am

jamcat wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 6:35 am
If you know how to use Cubase, then you already know how to use Studio One.
Except Studio One is even easier. Everything is drag&drop

For me, drag&drop isn’t a criterion for ease of use. I rarely ever use it and prefer key commands all the way.

imrae · Post by **imrae** » Tue May 05, 2020 7:55 am

There's a big difference between "best GUI" (thread title) and "like the look of" (poll question). Reason has a fun and engaging look to it, but it's not exactly a UI masterpiece once you start trying to do stuff with it. Conversely Logic has quite a subdued look but there's lots of polish that makes it nice to work with.

Have a look at Tentacrul's videos critiquing Sibelius and MuseScore to see what the difference means.

fese · Post by **fese** » Tue May 05, 2020 7:56 am

I don’t even know all of those DAWS, haven’t worked in most of them, so I voted purely by aesthetics by whatever examples I’ve seen in screenshots or videos.
I actually like the ProTools UI. It is clear and functional, and, very important, it is not dark. I really don’t like those modern gray-font-on-black-background designs.
I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t like it usability-wise, every time I see someone on YouTube scrolling and searching through endless plugin menus I am glad that I can just do an incremental search and be done with it.

tooneba · Post by **tooneba** » Tue May 05, 2020 7:58 am

imrae wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 7:55 am There's a big difference between "best GUI" (thread title) and "like the look of" (poll question).

I agree. Live has Microsoft Excel like worst looking which I wouldn't buy for the look but the workflow GUI offers is well-designed for specific purpose.

J. Smith · Post by **J. Smith** » Tue May 05, 2020 7:58 am

Voted for FL Studio, actually using Studio One. FL's fluid visuals are just pleasing to look at, and the colour palette you can use to colour your tracks and stuff is so broad and nice. Unlike Studio One's palette, which feels severely limited. Funtionally, Studio One wins as it doesn't have all that legacy stuff in it. FL Studio has quite a bit of legacy GUI elements I'd rather not see. Only weak part of FL's interface for me is the browser.

fese · Post by **fese** » Tue May 05, 2020 8:03 am

Spencer Maddox wrote: Tue May 05, 2020 5:01 am Nobody’s competing with this:D753531E-D108-49CA-B937-0E10703D992D.png

I think for a Windows 95 shareware this isn’t actually that bad.

Which DAW Has the Best GUI?

Which DAW Do You Like the Look of Best?