KVR Audio

antic604 · Post by **antic604** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:31 am

Yes, I know it might be surprising to many of you that DAWs have manuals, but they do and some of them are awesome - pleasure to read, easy to find stuff, often containing lots of helpful tips & tricks.

Here are my picks and some thoughts about them. What are yours?

Great

Reason 11 [on-line] <- it's beautiful, very exhaustive, full of in-text links to useful places and pictures illustrating the topic; almost any chapter has tips & trick section

Live 10 [on-line] <- equally good, very informative and well laid-out

Ok

Studio One [on-line] <- seems hurried, but it's good enough to quickly find stuff in it

Bitwig [.pdf file] <- has some good moments, but lots of stuff it outdated (especially screenshots) + there's barely any info about devices, Grid modules, etc. (although to be fair, just press F1 in Bitwig to see their description)

Bad

MPC Software
[.pdf file] <- has awkward structure, but the most annoying thing is that core of the document is for version v2.0 and if anything was added or especially changed in v2.1 - v2.8 then it's only found in the annexes

Cubase Pro 10.5 [on-line] <- it's an annoying excercise for your patience, because finding anything in labyrinth of links is infuriating, with each page having only few sentences and avoiding using of screenshots for as long as possible

xbitz · Post by **xbitz** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:45 am

I like the FL Studio one, it contains links to third-party books like this free one for Harmor http://support.image-line.com/redirect/ ... sis_Manual

always up2date, contains youtube links, many clickable pictures etc.

mabian · Post by **mabian** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:05 am

Have you tried REAPER?

- Mario

antic604 · Post by **antic604** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:19 am

xbitz wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:45 am I like the FL Studio one, it contains links to third-party books like this free one for Harmor http://support.image-line.com/redirect/ ... sis_Manual

always up2date, contains youtube links, many clickable pictures etc.

Good call! But even the best manual won't convince me to FL

antic604 · Post by **antic604** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:23 am

mabian wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:05 am Have you tried REAPER?

- Mario

Surely you meant:
"Have"
"You tried"
"Reaper"
"?"

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... lft4nVki39

middle_color · Post by **middle_color** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:45 am

antic604 wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:31 am Cubase Pro 10.5 [on-line] <- it's an annoying excercise for your patience, because finding anything in labyrinth of links is infuriating, with each page having only few sentences and avoiding using of screenshots for as long as possible

Cubase has PDF which in my opinion easier to read.
https://steinberg.help/cubase_pro/v10.5 ... ual_en.pdf

I agree they could put more illustrations.

As of original question "Best DAW user manual?" i cannot respond to it, i don't read manuals from the beginning, but rather look into it when interested in particular topic to get specific details.

SLiC · Post by **SLiC** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:59 am

Also not a big manual reader (I have the all copied on my iPad and kindle for long flights or times without WifI etc and still never read them!). I also have lots of books on my bookcase like 'Live 9 Power tools' that I have also never read!

I do use 'press F1' in Bitwig to see description/animation/ use etc - this is fast and easy when in the 'grid' where there is potentially real complexity.

Mainly like many I assume I learn 'by doing' and watching a few YT videos- for me the 'ideal' learning aid is built in help with built in examples and walk though in the software (example projects etc)- Live does this pretty well with its right hand 'getting started' column. I don't like leaving the software to see 'on line' manuals.

Passing Bye · Post by **Passing Bye** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:10 pm

Logic

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:13 pm

Reason's PDF manual is good, but, massively long and comprehensive.

Actually, I don't find Cubase's user manual half bad. If you're looking for something, try the PDF manual, and search in the PDF viewer. There's never been anything I haven't found.

Mediocre: Studio One's manual. It's not bad, it's not good either.

Does Reaper even come with a manual?

antic604 · Post by **antic604** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:26 pm

SLiC wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:59 amMainly like many I assume I learn 'by doing' and watching a few YT videos

Yeah, nowadays I do it too, because I can figure stuff out from experiene. But in 2017 when I purchased my 1st DAW (Live 9.7 Suite) it so happened that my son hurt his ankle at school and I had to spend several hours in hospital (nothing serious in the end), so I've read almost all of its manual on a tablet and I LOVED it!

antic604 · Post by **antic604** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:27 pm

chk071 wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:13 pmReason's PDF manual is good, but, massively long and comprehensive.

How is that a "but"??!

chk071 · Post by **chk071** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:28 pm

Because it makes finding a specific thing you were looking for, and try to learn quickly tedious.

You can write a good manual, and keep it simple and small. Reason's manual always has been more of a lecture for students who learn music production (I already read them, only partly of course, when I used version 2.5).

xbitz · Post by **xbitz** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:35 pm

antic604 wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 11:19 am
xbitz wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 10:45 am I like the FL Studio one, it contains links to third-party books like this free one for Harmor http://support.image-line.com/redirect/ ... sis_Manual

always up2date, contains youtube links, many clickable pictures etc.
Good call! But even the best manual won't convince me to FL

have the same feelings

antic604 · Post by **antic604** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:44 pm

chk071 wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:28 pm Because it makes finding a specific thing you were looking for, and try to learn quickly tedious.

That's likely because a manual has to be useful to both novices and experienced users, therefore it has to assume basic level of knowledge for the former and be easily searchable & hyper-linked for the latter. Which, in my experience, Reason's does very well.

The biggest problem I always have is different terms used for the same thing by different DAWs, or using the same term of different things

mabian · Post by **mabian** » Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:46 pm

chk071 wrote: Wed Sep 16, 2020 12:13 pm Does Reaper even come with a manual?

http://reaper.fm/userguide.php

- Mario