Will Daws Eventually End Up As Hardware ?

[jamcat]

There is nothing about that Gameboy that lends itself to music composition.
It's a deathbox for creativity and inspiration.

You spend all your time fighting the technology instead of expressing yourself artistically.

I could say the same about Reaper

Yes. And Pro Tools, too.

A DAW should take a minimum number of steps to get setup to record when inspiration hits. (That's why I use Studio One.)

[fairlyclose]

A DAW should take a minimum number of steps to get setup to record when inspiration hits. (That's why I use Studio One.)

Horses for courses - I use a few DAWs, Studio One included, but it is not great for internally sending midi from plugin to plugin. Reaper and Bitwig are much better/quicker for doing complex midi work where devices interact. S1 has other strengths.
All of which , re OP, says no to hardware DAws as I would then need 3 bits of hardware and have to freely send files one to the other, interact with audio editors etc etc. What a nightmare

[jamcat]

In Studio One you just select one VST plugin as the MIDI input device on a MIDI track, and select another VST instrument as the destination. I've done that a few times to play MODO DRUM with Jamstix.

[fairlyclose]

In Studio One you just select one VST plugin as the MIDI input device on a MIDI track, and select another VST instrument as the destination. I've done that a few times to play MODO DRUM with Jamstix.

S1 cant send midi directly from an instrument to an effect. For example, to get a sequencer like Thesys to control an effect on an audio track you need an intermediate instrument track , like you do with Jamstix and modo drum.
Other daws do this with no need for the intermediate track. Reaper just has a single track and you can chain stuff however you want.

[vurt]

I actually own one of these as part of my setup... it something that's 20+ years old now... but it shows how much can be contained in a box the size of a VHS Cassette.

and do you use that over the software/computer combination?

if not, then i think you have your answer

[TribeOfHǫfuð]

My Ex-MPC one came close to a basic daw. My Ex-Fantom 6 did eventually get upgrades enough to work (around) like a basic daw. In both cases, only internal plugs and engines, though. The flow of Fantom 6 was highly improved beyond the legacy of workstations. Really good work, imo. However, at the end of the day, I must confess, there is no DAW like Reason to me, and with the Nektar P4 I can control 80% of it like a workstation, so I have pretty much gone hardware with Reason already.

[jancivil]

my mind comes close to a basic DAW

close is good in horseshoes, not sure where else it counts.

I doubt the musician I'm collaborating somewhat with does a lot more in Pro Tools than arrange audio, but he's def not doing that in the Yamaha Motif. a live performance kind of guy, but it's actually a workstation keyboard.
probably a subscription to PT at that, but when he did not have Pro Tools after selling it and his mics... I learned how to specifically be him on piano for the track, with my setup.

[THE INTRANCER]

I actually own one of these as part of my setup... it something that's 20+ years old now... but it shows how much can be contained in a box the size of a VHS Cassette.

and do you use that over the software/computer combination?

if not, then i think you have your answer

I can use it in combination as it has MIDI In and Out ports and obviously a headphone/line output, but it also has a guitar / mic and foot-switch inputs as well. I don't have an electric guitar but if I did I'd be plugging it through it I think. I can obviously connect to Studio One which I have on occasions which makes it more fun than using my keyboards keys, even if they are not velocity sensitive. In any case I can switch off the computer and do all the creative drum programming elsewhere, on top of a grassy hill on a sunny day near the beach. It's got a contrast knob as well. If the battery in my laptop worked, I could take both out and connect them up but then that defeats the purpose and escapism from using a computer.

It's about having options, and having freedom to do what you want to do.

[justin3am]

I have an all hardware recording setup (24 channel console and 2x HD24s) and while it's really nice to do tracking that way, I still want a mouse and keyboard for editing.

I would love a turn-key DAW setup, which boots directly into recording software and interfaces with my Dante network for audio and RTP MIDI. I imagine something like that would cost $$$$$ but it would be well worth it to me. I suppose it could be done with the really specialized version of Linux and Bitwig or Reaper but I don't know what it would take to get my Dante stuff working.

[CapnLockheed]

Standalone hardware recorder for basic raw live tracking.....maybe.
I've used several in the past but then you've got to get them into the
DAW to overdub,edit, mix master etc. Real PITA. So now I record live
tracks with a mini pc and a Tascam US-800 interface. As compact as any
dedicated hardware DAW could possibly be and a hell of a lot easier
to use in and out of the studio.

So no....I would have no use for a closed system that was nearly impossible
to add on to. If that's what I wanted.....I'd be a Mac user....LOL!!

[justin3am]

Yeah, I would have no use for a system that's not expandable. I really need to be able to record 24 tracks at once, if not more. That's why I think a turn-key solution with support for Dante (or at least for class compliant USB audio interfaces) would be good solution for me.
I would probably pay more than $10k for a system that booted directly into my DAW and allowed me to use whichever audio/MIDI interfaces I want.

[jamcat]

In any case I can switch off the computer and do all the creative drum programming elsewhere, on top of a grassy hill on a sunny day near the beach.

You can do that with an iPhone and GarageBand. And you’d have a larger screen with way higher resolution and way better workflow, better sounds, more control, and a way easier time exporting your work product. All in a way smaller footprint. And you could even post nonsense on KvR between takes.

If the battery in my laptop worked, I could take both out and connect them up but then that defeats the purpose and escapism from using a computer.

You’re still using a computer—just a primitive one with very little power and an extremely limited interface.

And if you had a working laptop you could just cut out the toy recorder completely and work right in Studio One on the beach.

[pekbro]

I only use a DAW to send midi really. If I even do that.

[jancivil]

"I only use a DAW to send midi really. If I even do that." and many of us could not be more different than you.

One impression I get from those remarks is someone thinking that those of us who need massively more in a computer interface and workstation are somehow stuck for ideas without having it all set up. (I could go anywhere and write music down on whatever, I have rhythmic ideas all day and all night, but executing them with completely convincing drums needs the power it needs. I'm not interested in half-assed, some of us were traumatized by half-assed for decades.
If for some reason I want to work with the ideas by actuating notes and recording and I have stupidly ventured out into the wild, one supposes iPad as well-sufficient.)

thing about this thread, no one in it is actually using "hardware" as their DAW, are they. The advocate side is doing kinda sorta but... and doubling down. If this comes true for yous, more power to ya. As a general goalpost it's still standing, no score.

[jamcat]

The bottom line is it will never happen because no one is going to bankrupt their company reinventing a square wheel.