Challenge - who has the most (paid) and actively used DAWs ?

[AnX]

Do you own more than one pair of shoes?

nope.

As a Hippie I'm surprised you own any shoes.

hippies don't believe ppl own shoes?

[Serhii Kot]

I am sure you have heard the expression "jack of all trades, master of none"? That is your answer

All this DAWs is pretty simple to learn. Not a rocket science. 90% they are the same. I do not tell that I have mastered them all, just good enough to enjoy the process of making my music. I prefer joy over productivity.

The question is to what standard? I could make 1000 tracks over 8 years but I am pretty sure they'd mostly be krap. Care to supply us with a link to some of your work?

I make a decent living with my music. I have a small music production library, I don't want to advertise myself here, so if you want to listen to some of my work, Google "my KVR username + Spotify".

There are infinite ways to doing things, and no right or wrong.

[BONES]

All this DAWs is pretty simple to learn. Not a rocket science. 90% they are the same.

If that's the case, why not pick one and stick with it? I can sort of use any 3D modelling/animation application but if I get the choice, I will always choose the same one because it best suits the way I like to do things. So I decided a long time ago that the energy and effort I could put into getting up to speed with several applications would be much better spent getting to be really, really good with just one of them. It really does come down to whether you'd rather be a jack of all trades or a master of one.
I've tried lots of hosts, as well as owning and using 5 different ones in production over the years, but I have always only used one at a time. When we discovered Orion, I stopped using Fruityloops almost straight away. When we decided to move away from Orion, I tried really hard to make Bitwig work for us but eventually settled on Cubase. After I ported all our songs over to Cubase, I stopped using Orion for anything. Now that I'm on Studio One, I don't even have Cubase or Orion installed any more.

The telling factor for me was that after I bought Bitwig, I kept going back to Orion when I wanted to get anything done but once I got a few songs into Cubase, I was happy to work there and it was actually annoying that I had to go back to Orion to export songs so I could rebuild them in Cubase. With the move to Studio One it was even more stark - I think I have only opened Cubase twice since I bought S1.

There are infinite ways to doing things, and no right or wrong.

Don't be ridiculous, 99% of ways of doing things are completely, provably wrong. There may be more than one way to do anything but there is only ever one best way.

[apoclypse]

I own and use the following:

Bitwig
Studio One
Reason
Logic
Ableton Live

Except for Reason I use all of them regularly.

[apoclypse]

All this DAWs is pretty simple to learn. Not a rocket science. 90% they are the same.

If that's the case, why not pick one and stick with it? I can sort of use any 3D modelling/animation application but if I get the choice, I will always choose the same one because it best suits the way I like to do things. So I decided a long time ago that the energy and effort I could put into getting up to speed with several applications would be much better spent getting to be really, really good with just one of them. It really does come down to whether you'd rather be a jack of all trades or a master of one.
I've tried lots of hosts, as well as owning and using 5 different ones in production over the years, but I have always only used one at a time. When we discovered Orion, I stopped using Fruityloops almost straight away. When we decided to move away from Orion, I tried really hard to make Bitwig work for us but eventually settled on Cubase. After I ported all our songs over to Cubase, I stopped using Orion for anything. Now that I'm on Studio One, I don't even have Cubase or Orion installed any more.

The telling factor for me was that after I bought Bitwig, I kept going back to Orion when I wanted to get anything done but once I got a few songs into Cubase, I was happy to work there and it was actually annoying that I had to go back to Orion to export songs so I could rebuild them in Cubase. With the move to Studio One it was even more stark - I think I have only opened Cubase twice since I bought S1.

In my case when I use more than one DAW I think if it like moving to another studio. By going to another environment I have another mindset and that usually breeds inspiration for me. Like the music I make in Logic is not the same as the music I make in Bitwig, or Ableton.

Don't be ridiculous, 99% of ways of doing things are completely, provably wrong. There may be more than one way to do anything but there is only ever one best way.

That's only really true if you think your way is the right way. What works for one person may not work for another. Like I'm sure someone who is left handed isn't going to think a right handed guitar is the "right" way to play the guitar. If people thought like this then so many wonderful things we have now in music wouldn't exist. Sometimes doing something the "wrong" way can lead to the right way.

[Michael L]

the music I make in Logic is not the same as the music I make in Bitwig, or Ableton.

In what ways do those DAWs change your music?

[Passing Bye]

If I want to make lo-fi music I go with Bitwig and for extra lo-fi points I boot into Linux, if I make hi-fi stuff, I go with Studio One.

[BONES]

In my case when I use more than one DAW I think if it like moving to another studio. By going to another environment I have another mindset and that usually breeds inspiration for me.

Really? It's the same set of tools all the time, how does it matter? I always kept going back to the same studio because I knew exactly what I was going to get and I could get everything done quickly and without any hassle (and it was cheap!). All my creative had been done, the studio was all about work. I'm the same with my host - by the time I start using it seriously, the idea is well enough developed and all that's left is the hard work of turning it into a finished song.

Like the music I make in Logic is not the same as the music I make in Bitwig, or Ableton.

Care to share some examples? Because while a different environment might spark different ideas, I can't say that the rest of the process affects anything. The perfect example of that was our last album. We initially finished it all in Orion but decided to re-do it all in Cubase and, honestly, the results were very, very similar and I think any differences were down to the extra familiarity and polish I could apply on the second pass, rather than anything intrinsic to either host.

That's only really true if you think your way is the right way.

Not at all. Any best way I do something is invariably learned from someone else. You just have to be open to improving yourself and not let yourself get stuck in a rut of doing things the same way over and over because that's what you think is the best way. That's why I spend time here and ask so many questions - I am looking for better ways to do things.

[Serhii Kot]

So I decided a long time ago that the energy and effort I could put into getting up to speed with several applications would be much better spent getting to be really, really good with just one of them.

Good for you. If it is your goal. I for example don't need that "speed". I am not in a hurry.

There are infinite ways to doing things, and no right or wrong.

Don't be ridiculous, 99% of ways of doing things are completely, provably wrong. There may be more than one way to do anything but there is only ever one best way.

Electricity was " wrong" not so long ago. And slavery was "right". I will rather be ridiculous than dogmatic about right and wrong.

[apoclypse]

the music I make in Logic is not the same as the music I make in Bitwig, or Ableton.

In what ways do those DAWs change your music?

The most obvious being the included tools. The instruments and effects Logic has are very different than the instruments and effects in Bitwig. Just like Ableton’s instruments and sounds are very different than Bitwigs etc. Logic and Studio One have a more efficient audio engines than Bitwigs and Lives so I tend to have larger track (70+) counts in either. I’ll definitely layer more. Especially with vocal or guitar tracks.

Bitwigs multiband effect devices means I’m more likely to use multi band effects than in Logic or even Live where splitting bands is more difficult.

Every DAW has there thing and when I’m looking for that thing I use the DAW the will get me there faster. I was a strictly Logic user for a very long time until Apple borked it in LP9 and LPX on release was a mess. I learned not to put all of my eggs in one basket since then. It’s the knowledge and skill that’s important not the tool.

[Michael L]

Every DAW has there thing and when I’m looking for that thing I use the DAW the will get me there faster.

Thank you.
Very clear!

[apoclypse]

In my case when I use more than one DAW I think if it like moving to another studio. By going to another environment I have another mindset and that usually breeds inspiration for me.

Really? It's the same set of tools all the time, how does it matter? I always kept going back to the same studio because I knew exactly what I was going to get and I could get everything done quickly and without any hassle (and it was cheap!). All my creative had been done, the studio was all about work. I'm the same with my host - by the time I start using it seriously, the idea is well enough developed and all that's left is the hard work of turning it into a finished song.

That’s not the way I work. I don’t even use templates or anything like that because I just want the music to come to me so I open a DAW start playing some patches or creating some maybe mess with a feature and then my ideas come. I may have a melody or chord progression in mind but I don’t make one type of music sometimes it hip hop, or pop, sometimes it’s rock, sometimes its drum and bass. So once I get the chords down I never really know what it will end up as. Sometimes it’s crap or just a kernel of an idea and it won’t be magic until it’s in the right environment for me. I have tracks done in one DAW that I’ve mined for cool things and when moved to another DAW have become some of my best songs (imo).

I’m sure when others hear my music they can’t hear the DAWs influence but I can and that’s all that really matters to me at the end of the day. I know I wouldn’t have done a specific sound or technique if the DAW didn’t make it easy or fun for me to do.

Besides I’m pretty proficient (for my purposes) in all the DAWs I own so it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day. I will never understand the mindset of someone who only ever uses one tool. As long as you know what you are doing versatility and flexibility is imo a very important skill a lot of people need to learn. Relying on one tool has burned me in the past. Never again.

[Passing Bye]

What's there not to understand, some folks use the tool to get the job done and put food/money on their table, some of them are getting worldwide recogntion and awards doing it, with same old Pro Tools for last 2-3 decades, even in the time when they had to manually PDC.

[BONES]

I don’t even use templates or anything like that because I just want the music to come to me

Well, there is something we can both agree on. Nothing kills creativity faster than working from templates.

I open a DAW start playing some patches or creating some maybe mess with a feature and then my ideas come. I may have a melody or chord progression in mind

You don't need a DAW for that, you can do it in your head. I usually work from standalone softsynths and a controller or from one of my hardware synths. I don't even think about my host until I am ready to start work. Within an hour of having to put it on a timeline, it starts to get boring.

I don’t make one type of music sometimes it hip hop, or pop, sometimes it’s rock, sometimes its drum and bass.

I think your idea of "one type of music" and mine are probably quite different. But whatever type of music I am making, I make it all the same way, often using exactly the same instruments and effects.

I will never understand the mindset of someone who only ever uses one tool.

That just tells me you've never found the right tool.

As long as you know what you are doing versatility and flexibility is imo a very important skill a lot of people need to learn.

Every DAW has versatility and flexibility in spades. I think if you feel you need to go from one to another to do different things or to do things differently, it's probably because you don't know enough about any of them.

Relying on one tool has burned me in the past.

How so?

[dellboy]

I had too many DAWs installed, so I completely re-installed Win 10 and just installed Cubase Pro. I then made a backup of the drive and called it "Cubase". A few months later and all the other DAWs have somehow managed to creep back on.

I have just counted and I have four paid for DAWs and three lite versions installed.

How do they do that ? They smuggle themselves back aboard by stealth. Time for a cull.