Which DAW Has the Best GUI?

[Jace-BeOS]

I like the graphics in FL Studio but I dislike the actual workflow.

I hate that Logic went flat and ugly, but I mostly like the workflow.

[machinesworking]

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.

You're mixing up GUI with UX.
GUI = "graphic user interface", not as much about the whole experience as UX "user experience".

And I picked DP and Studio One. I don't own Studio One, it's just much better looking to me than most, and people rave about it's UX. I don't plan on getting it ever, but it's nice to look at. I like the way Live looks but IMO at times it's adherence to a singular look gets in the way of the UX, especially with the included plug ins. I really relied on track colors and having a system more in Live than any DAW I've used.

I'll never understand the argument that something looks bad because it's dated. Not all modern GUIs are great. I love Bitwig, but I don't particularly like it's GUI, it's too toy like. Apparently I'm in the minority here.

[LoveEnigma18]

I hope people are not biased here. The poll is about the best GUI, not the best DAW.

[Calenberger]

Too bad that Bitwig isn't working smoothly on an iMAC.

[Eclectrophonic]

So currently Bitwigs in the lead, Ableton 2nd (hmmm?) lol! and Logic third. Interesting.

[trancema]

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.

You're mixing up GUI with UX.
GUI = "graphic user interface", not as much about the whole experience as UX "user experience".

And I picked DP and Studio One. I don't own Studio One, it's just much better looking to me than most, and people rave about it's UX. I don't plan on getting it ever, but it's nice to look at. I like the way Live looks but IMO at times it's adherence to a singular look gets in the way of the UX, especially with the included plug ins. I really relied on track colors and having a system more in Live than any DAW I've used.

I'll never understand the argument that something looks bad because it's dated. Not all modern GUIs are great. I love Bitwig, but I don't particularly like it's GUI, it's too toy like. Apparently I'm in the minority here.

I am Studio One user and, unfortunately, I have to warn you that in reality (especially on Windows with high DPI scaling turned on 125%/175% or any other "uneven" setting) Studio One doesn't look as nice as it seems from the screenshots (at least up to current V4).
First of all, I've noticed that Presonus, even on their own website, is photo-shopping Studio One's look in promotional pictures, adding "glass" effect overlay so it looks like interface has more depth and dimension that is actually having and they are setting up elements and colors carefully in order to look more "eye-candy" and professional looking.
In real-life situation it's really tricky to get that specific look, especially with built-in color pallete with randomly scattered (without any order) color options for tracks. And then, if you turn on see-through (translucent) events, so you can see grid through colors of events are atrocious and really uninspiring nowhere near accurate as pallete (see attached picture).
Notice different (and distracting) strength of grid's vertical lines all over the place due to wrong/broken built-in scaling for 125%. It looks terrible and misleading.
Also, with high DPI on, in Windows, fonts are really bad. You can see in attached picture that some of the fonts are very thin and tall, while others are more squashed and bolder, with uneven width between characters, like they've used 10 different types of fonts for creation of S1 and they don't work together.
I also use Studio One on OSX and it is different story. It looks much more "unified" because it doesn't suffer from font issues like in Windows (I've also noticed that when you change Windows main font, it also changes some of the fonts in S1) and scaling works correctly, where all grid lines are same width.
Besides that, I find different parts of program very weakly separated and almost melt into another with no clear depth of separation between arrangement and mixer or info view for example.

Studio One V2 was much easier on eyes and subconsciousness where elements were more clearly apart not just with colors but also bit of shading and faux 3d-ness.
Since V3, Presonus broke that separation and went Ableton's way of making everything flat (and boring/uninspiring) with even more dull colors and bad fonts. Ableton was designed with minimal distracting elements in mind, while S1 has too much text, lines and elements which are too distracting not being clearly "separated", but melted into one big mess.

Later versions of Logic suffer from same problem, trying to be "modern" and "minimal" while sacrificing separation and professional look they had in versions 6 and up until X.

Cubase seems like getting into this trend, too.

[edit: forgot to attach pic]

[antic604]

I am Studio One user and, unfortunately, I have to warn you that in reality (especially on Windows with high DPI scaling turned on 125%/175% or any other "uneven" setting) Studio One doesn't look as nice as it seems from the screenshots (at least up to current V4).

It looks like you've not enabled high-DPI in Settings:

[trancema]

I am Studio One user and, unfortunately, I have to warn you that in reality (especially on Windows with high DPI scaling turned on 125%/175% or any other "uneven" setting) Studio One doesn't look as nice as it seems from the screenshots (at least up to current V4).

It looks like you've not enabled high-DPI in Settings:

I did enable it, of course (and also my Windows scaling is on 125% (Recommended). When scaling is off, then whole interface is blurry, but lines are even. With scaling 125% interface is sharp and clean, but buggy. I know I am not the only one with this issue as there is a thread on official forum and reddit about same issue (different people).
Are you also using 125% scaling ? I am using 2K monitor with native resolution 2560x1440 with latest nVidia drivers for my graphics card.
Are your grid lines showing fine ?

[edit: picture attached]

[Scotty]

Cubase looks like a spreadsheet with coloured columns and rows, mismatched menu systems, inconsistent hdpi scaling, lack of contrast between elements, control widgets that are often too small. Visually it needs a makeover. It would be best if it could support skins as everyone's taste differs. It is my main DAW but it needs some love in the gui department.

I don't use Cakewalk but from the photos, first impressions are favorable. I like the colour contrast and tonal balance. I am not sure if it breaks down in the sub menus like Cubase or not but first impressions are good.

Reason works but with no support for hdpi screens I can't use it with my aging eyes.

[arkmabat]

I like the graphics in FL Studio but I dislike the actual workflow.

I hate that Logic went flat and ugly, but I mostly like the workflow.

I've found the workflow is far better when you lay out everything to be visible. I love this layout almost as much as the old Temper midi sequencer.

flworkflow.png

[jamcat]

I am Studio One user and, unfortunately, I have to warn you that in reality (especially on Windows with high DPI scaling turned on 125%/175% or any other "uneven" setting) Studio One doesn't look as nice as it seems from the screenshots (at least up to current V4).
First of all, I've noticed that Presonus, even on their own website, is photo-shopping Studio One's look in promotional pictures, adding "glass" effect overlay so it looks like interface has more depth and dimension that is actually having and they are setting up elements and colors carefully in order to look more "eye-candy" and professional looking.
In real-life situation it's really tricky to get that specific look, especially with built-in color pallete with randomly scattered (without any order) color options for tracks. And then, if you turn on see-through (translucent) events, so you can see grid through colors of events are atrocious and really uninspiring nowhere near accurate as pallete (see attached picture).
Notice different (and distracting) strength of grid's vertical lines all over the place due to wrong/broken built-in scaling for 125%. It looks terrible and misleading.
Also, with high DPI on, in Windows, fonts are really bad. You can see in attached picture that some of the fonts are very thin and tall, while others are more squashed and bolder, with uneven width between characters, like they've used 10 different types of fonts for creation of S1 and they don't work together.
I also use Studio One on OSX and it is different story. It looks much more "unified" because it doesn't suffer from font issues like in Windows (I've also noticed that when you change Windows main font, it also changes some of the fonts in S1) and scaling works correctly, where all grid lines are same width.
Besides that, I find different parts of program very weakly separated and almost melt into another with no clear depth of separation between arrangement and mixer or info view for example.

Studio One V2 was much easier on eyes and subconsciousness where elements were more clearly apart not just with colors but also bit of shading and faux 3d-ness.
Since V3, Presonus broke that separation and went Ableton's way of making everything flat (and boring/uninspiring) with even more dull colors and bad fonts. Ableton was designed with minimal distracting elements in mind, while S1 has too much text, lines and elements which are too distracting not being clearly "separated", but melted into one big mess.

Later versions of Logic suffer from same problem, trying to be "modern" and "minimal" while sacrificing separation and professional look they had in versions 6 and up until X.

Cubase seems like getting into this trend, too.

Studio One went 'flat' with Version 3 for function, not fashion. This is when PreSonus switched over to scalable high DPI, making most elements vector-based. Studio One was one of the very first DAWs to do this, 5 years ago. It did not look as good as version 2, but version 4 vastly improved many of these issues, and I assume version 5 and subsequent versions will continue to improve it more.

That Studio One looks better on Mac than Windows should be no surprise. This comes down to how graphics are handled by the OS. Mac has always looked better, particularly fonts, while graphics handling on Windows has always been heavily flawed, and still is. There is a reason graphic designers use Mac almost exclusively. You are just going to have a better time with MacOS than Windows.

[antic604]

Are you also using 125% scaling ? I am using 2K monitor with native resolution 2560x1440 with latest nVidia drivers for my graphics card.
Are your grid lines showing fine ?

I don't, because I'm on a 1080p 15'' screen and 100% is fine for me. But frankly I don't see a lot of difference - everything looks the same to me: beautiful, sharp & defined:

125%

125%.png

100%

100%.png

[jamcat]

Are you also using 125% scaling ? I am using 2K monitor with native resolution 2560x1440 with latest nVidia drivers for my graphics card.
Are your grid lines showing fine ?

I don't, because I'm on a 1080p 15'' screen and 100% is fine for me. But frankly I don't see a lot of difference - everything looks the same to me: beautiful, sharp & defined:

125%





100%

I notice you have the TrackColors addon installed.

[trancema]

Are you also using 125% scaling ? I am using 2K monitor with native resolution 2560x1440 with latest nVidia drivers for my graphics card.
Are your grid lines showing fine ?

I don't, because I'm on a 1080p 15'' screen and 100% is fine for me. But frankly I don't see a lot of difference - everything looks the same to me: beautiful, sharp & defined:

125%


125%.png


100%


100%.png

Ok, thanks for answer. That makes sense, as for you 125% is scaling up from 1080p (1px is presented as 2.5px), 125% for 1440p is making it look like 1080p with 100% thus all pixels are interpolated (2.5 px are presented as 1px) and therefore it has artifacts in calculation.
4K interpolation, however, works fine, as it's rounded number -> 4px present 1px on the screen (200% scaling), so only these "in-between scaling values" are not calculated good on Windows with Studio One.
Steinberg programmers also have the same issue in Cubase, and for now, they are not allowing you to use full 125%, but they are "rounding" scaling values to either 100% or 200%. That means if you have 125% all the way up to 150% scaling, Cubase will automatically switch to 100%, for scaling everything above 150% will round it to 200%. Even with 100% Cubase is nicer looking than Studio One at 125% as it has better looking (more readable) fonts.

On the other side - Bitwig and Ableton Live works/looks perfect with 125% scaling from 1440p, both Windows and OSX.
Also, Logic looks really good and detailed with 125%, the amount of sharpness and details with retina mode in Logic is amazing.

[antic604]

I notice you have the TrackColors addon installed.

Yes, but those particular colours are from the default palette. I've only installed it recently.