Are DAWs Today Just Boring ?

[Smasha]

Sio I can't drag item edges to size in Reaper properly and the zoom in Cakewalk is horrible.

Now to see if Reason can do an easy function of recording a vinyl record.

P.S. Reason turns on the input monitoring as soon as you hit record so you have all this phase crap coming out of the speakers.

There is probably an option to turn that off when recording but I don't want to spend a week looking for it.

Today's DAWS lol ,all have BIG Flaws.

Zooming in Reason,disgusting! Like Cakewalk.

Reaper is the king of the throne when it comes to ease of Zooming.

Moving long wavs in Reason,really Laggy with a Ryzen 3700x ,Cakewalk the same but not so much.

Reaper has minmal lag.

Never liked the zoom in Reason ,it's horrible..

That zoom thingy mouse tool is just rubbish.

Reaper ,you put your cursor over a section andclick to put the cursor there,scroll your mouse wheel and it centres the zoom on the cursor line ,BLOODY BRILLLIANT.

And Zooming is a MAJOR PART of a DAW!!! HUUUGE!

Reason's and Cakewalk's zooms are massive oversights! Add alot of time.

But because ATM my REaper is behaving naughtily and Not allowing me to left click and drag items because of some setting i don't know how to fix,I'm in the poo house.

[jens]

Interesting that all of us who are competent at usign these DAWs have no problems at all using them daily - but you, incompetent as you obviously are, seem to completely struggle - poo house? Mayhaps - just not for reasons any developer could provide a fix for.

[xbitz]

Bitwig can continue(import presets/patterns) FLS projects that work for me (FLS better as composing/project starter BWS as tweaker)

FLS projects can be opened to non-active tabs, best of both worlds

[ATS]

not at all

[enroe]

Haha, no no, ...

... I just want to be able to implement my visions
of melodies or runs easily and without obstacles. That is
only possible if the DAW does exactly what I want in an
inconspicuous and unspectacular manner.

I just don't want the DAW to guide me and tell me what
to do.

Or in other words: I believe that the music is only created
in my head - and only there. But not in the DAW. The DAW
is only there to record my music.

The key words here: "I" and "my"

The topic isn't only about you.

Haja, of course everyone here talks about their own experiences and their
very own point of view. In this respect, your statement is a tautology (a
statement without content).

Some (many?) of us rely on their DAWs also as a source of inspiration, like you would on your piano, guitar or any other instrument, incl. plugins or hardware synths.

Well, if I play via the keyboard VSTi, that already applies. But that's
not the DAW itself, it's the VSTi instrument or the hardware-synth.

It's weird to put a strict delineation between e.g. "exciting" VST plugin and a "boring" DAW that runs it, because in a lot of ways the DAW informs the things you can do with the plugins (or hardware synth) and its output: can your DAW control all features of the device? how accessible and creative is the automation? is there any modulation available? how does the bouncing workflow looks like? can you save complex plugin chains for easy recall? does the DAW have features helping you get the idea faster (retrospective recording, quantizers, arpeggiators, step sequencers, randomisers, etc.)? does the DAW have features breathing new life into otherwise outdated devices?

Yes, that sounds like a misunderstanding to me.

I just assume that if you are serious about making music, then of
course you will know all the features of your DAW. There are no
more surprises, not even "inspiring" ones. And of course almost
every professional DAW has all the features that you list. And
much more than that.

"Knowing all the features" is important so that you can implement
musical ideas that only exist in your head at first. And quickly,
before they disappear from your head again.

The question is rather:

Are you the creator of music on a DAW that has the baton in
your hand? Or are you just a not-knowing an amateur, and then
pleased with newly discovered things in the DAW?

OK, if the latter applies to you, then I understand you.

I refuse to believe all you do is play your stuff, record it into your DAW
and do some light mix/master and that's all. ...

No, no, it's not like that.

The DAW is first and foremost the means to quickly capture ideas and
visions on the hard drive. To do this, the DAW must be quick and easy
to use and must not show any problems. So it should be "boring" - best
of all, invisible.

The second step is to arrange and mix what has been recorded. Here,
too, the DAW should not interfere with peculiarities or surprises. If you
can find all the functions of the DAW that you need just like in sleep,
then it is ideal! For complex mixes (see our songs - to be found in my
signature) it is important that the DAW can be operated almost naturally.
As if it were invisible there.

In this respect I believe - and that applies to everyone: For serious music
making - not for aimlessly playing around - for serious music making,
the DAW has to be as functional and boring as possible!

[dellboy]

In this respect I believe - and that applies to everyone: For serious music
making - not for aimlessly playing around - for serious music making,
the DAW has to be as functional and boring as possible!

I agree with everything you say, but I think we might be old school.

It seems that nowadays you no longer need to be able to play an instrument. Just mess around with knobs on modular synths and get something going. And if that is not you bag just drop in loops until something happens spontaneously. The days of composing songs using pencil and paper and a guitar or keys and then recording it into a DAW seem to be disappearing.

[enroe]

In this respect I believe - and that applies to everyone: For serious music
making - not for aimlessly playing around - for serious music making,
the DAW has to be as functional and boring as possible!

I agree with everything you say, but I think we might be old school.

It seems that nowadays you no longer need to be able to play an instrument. Just mess around with knobs on modular synths and get something going. And if that is not you bag just drop in loops until something happens spontaneously. The days of composing songs using pencil and paper and a guitar or keys and then recording it into a DAW seem to be disappearing.

Haha, yes, you may be right: There seems to be more and more
people who simply try out wav loops with drag and drop and put
fragments together and try and error to create something. And if
they enjoy it, great!

But I still believe that most of the time nothing emerges that lasts.
Songs that others like to listen to, songs that stand out with a
distinctive melody that make people sit up and take notice. To
achieve that, you have to invest more brains, you have to really
compose!

[vurt]

Bitwig can continue(import presets/patterns) FLS projects that work for me (FLS better as composing/project starter BWS as tweaker)

FLS projects can be opened to non-active tabs, best of both worlds

can it do my dishes or nip the shop for me?

[whyterabbyt]

Imagine a little man running around on a sequencer lane pushing things around and destroying blocks for you, or sent on a mission to build musical creations for you which you can then change yourself. Built-in AI characters you can control and command to do certain jobs. An AI character that you con compete against in creating a piece of dance music, based on algorithmic programming.

sounds like something aimed at very young children.

[vurt]

Imagine a little man running around on a sequencer lane pushing things around and destroying blocks for you, or sent on a mission to build musical creations for you which you can then change yourself. Built-in AI characters you can control and command to do certain jobs. An AI character that you con compete against in creating a piece of dance music, based on algorithmic programming.

sounds like something aimed at very young children.

fruity loops?

[whyterabbyt]

that implies solids. we're much more sippy-cup level here.

[vurt]

[antic604]

Haha, yes, you may be right: There seems to be more and more
people who simply try out wav loops with drag and drop and put
fragments together and try and error to create something. And if
they enjoy it, great!

But I still believe that most of the time nothing emerges that lasts.
Songs that others like to listen to, songs that stand out with a
distinctive melody that make people sit up and take notice. To
achieve that, you have to invest more brains, you have to really
compose!

Let's be honest for a second.

I'd say every famous and revered true musician (of the kind that needs a "boring" DAW to just record what's in their head ) has probably 5-10x more material that they ever released. And of what's released not 100% is gold, usually maybe 20% with the remaining 80% being good, average or filler.

So if that's correct, how does that differ from the process of non-real musicians that "try out wav loops with drag and drop and put fragments together and try and error to create something" and use their DAW to help them do that? Out of hours doing the above they'll maybe consider 10-20% worth keeping, out of that maybe 10-20% worth finishing and releasing (whatever that means today). Isn't that the same artistic judgement at work here? Just that the tools are different?

Why do you consider the 2nd group inferior?

Also, I don't get your definition of "exciting DAW" - it's not about finding new features or learning new stuff all the time in it. It's about having fun using it, about discovering new applications or workflows for the features you already know, it's about the DAW tools that you can use in a surprising way, because they're built to be universal and invite experimentation.

[antic604]

Imagine a little man running around on a sequencer lane pushing things around and destroying blocks for you, or sent on a mission to build musical creations for you which you can then change yourself. Built-in AI characters you can control and command to do certain jobs. An AI character that you con compete against in creating a piece of dance music, based on algorithmic programming.

Let me just establish that the above is NOT what I define as "exciting DAW"

[whyterabbyt]

Imagine a little man running around on a sequencer lane pushing things around and destroying blocks for you, or sent on a mission to build musical creations for you which you can then change yourself. Built-in AI characters you can control and command to do certain jobs. An AI character that you con compete against in creating a piece of dance music, based on algorithmic programming.

Let me just establish that the above is NOT what I define as "exciting DAW"

Educated guess: you're more than three years old, amiright?