Which DAW Swings the best for you?

[jlgrimes11]

I own a few DAWs at this point and each one has a different approach to the Swing/groove workflow. Ableton uses Groovepools, Logic has both Swing/Shuffle and groove templates. Studio One does as well (with the added bonus that the grid reflects the chosen swing settings). Then there is Bitwig which has a pretty rudimentary shuffle workflow.

Personally my favorites are Logic and Studio One because I found them to be the most flexible. I do remember liking Reason's ReGroove to be pretty cool though I haven't played with it much.

Which DAW has the best swing workflow for you?

Its more about the workflow.

Back when I used the MPC in the late 90s and early 00s I tended to make more swing beats. The swing on the MPCs were more simpler though.

But now I use mainly Ableton. It has a more complicated swing workflow but all of the MPC swing settings are there (and other swing templates as well).


MPC workflow was more or less about recording your parts in with the right Groove and/or using Input Quantize to help aid the process of recording the right performance.

Ableton has a more edit performance workflow afterwards. It has Input Quantize but a cruder version than MPC as it has no swing Input Quantize but Abletons editing is waay better than an MPC (although there are many DAWs with deeper midi editing than Ableton).

That said you can still get a similar MPC swing workflow with Ableton using the Groove Pool and it has a Quantize effect which works similar to Input Quantize (although you don't see the effects of the notes in the midi editor).

That said I find now, these days it is usually better to just Record with no Quantize and edit afterwards especially if you want a Groovy performance. That said I'm sure my playing ability is alot better than my MPC days so that helps as well.


The main gripe with Ableton's swing system is with all of the editing flexibility and a more cumbersome Swing Input Quantize workflow, you can feel more like a MicroManager but overall you basically get a deeper overall worflow.

[lotus2035]

In my opinion, there is no best DAW. Everyone chooses the one on which they work best. I use FL Studio 20 and as for me it is very good. Don't listen to anyone. It's up to you and it has to suit you.

The topic is which DAW's swing works the best for you. As in I want to have a discussion about what people think about swing in their favorite DAW and compare them to what other people like about swing in their respective DAWs. I wasn't trying to make this into a which DAW has the best swing thread.

I think it would be nice to hear about how other folks use groove/swing in their music/DAW.

When I read the title of your thread for a second I thought you might have been someone older using "swings" as a general term borrowed originally from jazz music to describe something that is to your liking, as in, Hey this DAW really swings baby.
Maybe Pawel L did the same?

3rd listing down. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Swing

[apoclypse]

In my opinion, there is no best DAW. Everyone chooses the one on which they work best. I use FL Studio 20 and as for me it is very good. Don't listen to anyone. It's up to you and it has to suit you.

The topic is which DAW's swing works the best for you. As in I want to have a discussion about what people think about swing in their favorite DAW and compare them to what other people like about swing in their respective DAWs. I wasn't trying to make this into a which DAW has the best swing thread.

I think it would be nice to hear about how other folks use groove/swing in their music/DAW.

When I read the title of your thread for a second I thought you might have been someone older using "swings" as a general term borrowed originally from jazz music to describe something that is to your liking, as in, Hey this DAW really swings baby.
Maybe Pawel L did the same?

3rd listing down. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Swing

I actually thought about that when I wrote the title

[matthewisgrand]

I own a few DAWs at this point and each one has a different approach to the Swing/groove workflow. Ableton uses Groovepools, Logic has both Swing/Shuffle and groove templates. Studio One does as well (with the added bonus that the grid reflects the chosen swing settings). Then there is Bitwig which has a pretty rudimentary shuffle workflow.

Personally my favorites are Logic and Studio One because I found them to be the most flexible. I do remember liking Reason's ReGroove to be pretty cool though I haven't played with it much.

Which DAW has the best swing workflow for you?

Its more about the workflow.

Back when I used the MPC in the late 90s and early 00s I tended to make more swing beats. The swing on the MPCs were more simpler though.

But now I use mainly Ableton. It has a more complicated swing workflow but all of the MPC swing settings are there (and other swing templates as well).


MPC workflow was more or less about recording your parts in with the right Groove and/or using Input Quantize to help aid the process of recording the right performance.

Ableton has a more edit performance workflow afterwards. It has Input Quantize but a cruder version than MPC as it has no swing Input Quantize but Abletons editing is waay better than an MPC (although there are many DAWs with deeper midi editing than Ableton).

That said you can still get a similar MPC swing workflow with Ableton using the Groove Pool and it has a Quantize effect which works similar to Input Quantize (although you don't see the effects of the notes in the midi editor).

That said I find now, these days it is usually better to just Record with no Quantize and edit afterwards especially if you want a Groovy performance. That said I'm sure my playing ability is alot better than my MPC days so that helps as well.


The main gripe with Ableton's swing system is with all of the editing flexibility and a more cumbersome Swing Input Quantize workflow, you can feel more like a MicroManager but overall you basically get a deeper overall worflow.

I recon (bit of a guess) that some of the swing in mpc land and such is down to a lil bit o the ol’ latency on earlier recording computer systems and the placement or manual jog of the producer?

[Maira]

I used Reaper groove template. But I think ableton has the best one

[DonSantiago]

deleted.

[MuzikFreq]

Depends. I find I love bitwig's audio editing to be amazing for chopping and stuff of the sort.
Ableton has a neat approach as you can toss in grooves of many many kinds, though I feel a bit too option paralysis from it. I did also like reason's if you figured it out which is kinda a nightmare.
Studio one probably the best though I have many issues with how that daw even works.

[Jafo]

Kind of a heretical view, but I think this is a false dichotomy. If you don't know how to play swung notes, templates won't help -- in fact, they'll just make the swing mechanical, defeating the purpose. (Swing needs to vary with context.) If you do, templates aren't necessary: just swing while tracking.

[jamcat]

I swing by hand. Never used any groove/swing

If you really want to swing, you gotta swap hands.