Best DAW user manual?

[oneway]

They get the job done, but don't seem to be written with any particular entusiasm.

I do really enjoy how in old manuals some companies really put in a personality and enthusiasm. Mackie's manuals were great. I guess when you don't have third parties on YT making video content all day and night it matters a bit more as people were likely to actually read the manual.

[chk071]

They get the job done, but don't seem to be written with any particular entusiasm.

I do really enjoy how in old manuals some companies really put in a personality and enthusiasm.

Waldorf.

[Bysta]

Live and Reason are great. Pressing F1 in FL Studio is a great addition, merging the manual with the online information and taking me to the exact spot in the book.

[Winstontaneous]

Live and Reason are great.

Haha, I was going to say the same thing! Ableton Live also has the best contextual help of any program I've used, and Reason manuals feature super-comprehensive MIDI documentation.

The content of Apple Logic Pro X documentation is good, but I don't like the lite browser/app thingy it runs in. Its search function really suxx! I prefer a PDF or link to an online webpage.

[middle_color]

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.

Even then you can tell which manual you like the most or provides the best information when you look for a particular topic. If you cannot find all the details quickly it's a bad manual for example.

Still cannot answer which on is better.
But after a lot of thinking i realized question could be rephrased: Best DAW user manual for...?

For discovering DAW: Reason, Live, Bitwig. Very wide and descriptive manuals.
For coming back to refresh knowledge - Cubase. Short exact description.

[anomandaris1]

Fl...

[joeyfivecents]

A little off topic but, I used to consider Ableton Live's manual the best because you could actually buy it from Ableton in book form. For some reason, they've decided to discontinue that. Logic used to print the manual back in the day too. I guess I just like having a physical book. Now that that era is over, I'm gonna have to say Reason has the most readable manual.

[fese]

Can someone please define “best” in the context of DAW manuals?

[antic604]

Can someone please define “best” in the context of DAW manuals?

The most complete, but easiest to search & find stuff? And visually pleasing, at least for me. See Reason's or Live's manuals for reference

...Ableton Live also has the best contextual help of any program I've used...

You've not used enough DAWs

https://youtu.be/DWjYedds-RQ

[chk071]

Can someone please define “best” in the context of DAW manuals?

I'd add well written, clear and orderly to what antic604 has written.

[vurt]

Can someone please define “best” in the context of DAW manuals?

for me, a good manual is easy to understand for a beginner, but also goes deeper for the more experienced user.

if it works properly, it can take a beginner to intermediate in a short period.
so a musician who has never used a computrr, can load up and get at least something down on day one.
but can have them up and running within a couple of weeks, editing/mixing/midi and so on.

then later chapters would get in to the deeper functions, the things that make that host a bit different from the others.
the language can be a bit more formal here as if youve worked through the early stuff, then spent time working with the programme youll pick up nomenclature along the way, before you start desiring functiins you didnt understand before.

and yes, as mentioned, a bit of character and humour can help too.
too "clinical" can be a bit boring.

[fese]

Can someone please define “best” in the context of DAW manuals?

for me, a good manual is easy to understand for a beginner, but also goes deeper for the more experienced user.

I kinda agree, but I also think that we might be talking about two very different requirements here. The novice most likely needs a tutorial of some kind whereas the power user probably needs a precise technical reference.

What I definitely don't need in a manual are instructions like "to open the editor click the "open editor" button"... or similar redundancies. That sort of nonsense is surprisingly often seen even in the documentation for "enterprise software" that is usually installed and configured by IT professionals like me. Yes thank you, I've worked in IT for twenty years, I know how to click a button...

[fese]

Apart from all that, I usually follow the golden rule "real men don't read manuals" and instead fumble around while cursing at the "badly designed" software for quite some time.

[vurt]

Apart from all that, I usually follow the golden rule "real men don't read manuals" and instead fumble around while cursing at the "badly designed" software for quite some time.

well of course.
i know what a good manual should be, but cant give an example, because ive never read one. who has ime to read???

[jancivil]

I definitely did not learn Cubase from RTFM.
After I'd bought Cubase SX1, I printed the whole thing out (there was none in my box), 700 some pages even then, which was intimidating and led me pretty much nowhere except a kind of paralysis syndrome