Which DAW has the most advanced Piano Roll editor?

[v1o]

I've been writing a jazz keyboard solo and trying to make it sound realistic. Most DAWs just have a pencil and an eraser tool for writing on the piano roll. Whilst this most basic toolset is all that's needed to write music, it would be nice to have other tools as well that help us get the job done faster without head scratching.

Look at Photoshop that has all kinds of different brushes and erasers. The different brushes in Photoshop pretty much act like presets and draw lines with customized shapes. You can draw the same lines with just the basic brush but it will take you much longer.

How about pen tool that only draws notes with the tiny timing variations, pitch and loudness inflections that give jazz music its feel? How about a tool for writing notes that have certain probabilities and conditions?

[spaceman]

I think FL Studio is probably the clear winner

[mxbf]

bitwig has good probabilities.
cubase is known to be fully featured and good for midi editing.

personally i think Logic is the best for composing. just how I feel. switching windows, navigating, best looking roll, most ease of use and velocity editing. works for me. cubase might come close but i have never really found that to be the case.

haven't tried fl studio. ableton sucks for piano roll editing.

[Serhii Kot]

Cubase, S1 goes second(because of not intuitive velocity transform tool).

Worst is FL, maybe if you work only in FL it is great, but in comparing to Cubase for example, it is nightmare to use.

[skijumptoes]

Cubase, S1 goes second(because of not intuitive velocity transform tool)

But S1 offers instrument parameter automation within the piano roll, that for me is massive over Cubase which can only handle MIDI data.. On top of that Presonus really nailed it with Sound Variations, too.

For those two reasons alone I find it so much more pleasant to use vs Cubase. (Which I've used for years and years). I do like the colour coding in Cubase though, if you're working to a chord track structure.

[Obsolete187521]

[DELETED]

[Bartone]

Just to keep in mind: Bitwig does not have retrospective midi record. All the other DAWs mentioned have this option. Just something to keep in mind.

[andypryce]

Cubase is missing range tool ( To have repeats by range) or note stretch in the key editor which I hope will come with the next update.
Other than that it is pretty good to work with.

[chk071]

Everyone. Post your favorite DAW here please.

[FakeNatty]

Everyone. Post your favorite DAW here please.

This is the best TLDR of the entire thread.

Everyone is taking 3 things they like about one and naming 3 things they hate about the other, as if a comparison like that is comprehensive.

The best and only answer is try it yourself.

[Bartone]

Try it yourself is the only true way to feel it the DAW is for you. But naturally it is good also to ask opinions (maybe some DAW is missing something that you need for your music creation and other DAW/DAWs offer that so it is clear you are better to try the ones offering what you need).

[chk071]

Every DAW's piano roll is good enough to make any kind of music.

But, if you're asking for "advanced features", you should maybe at least specify what these features are supposed to be.

[BONES]

I think they are all about the same. If you want to add variation, use the HUMANIZE tool, they all have one.

[spaceman]

None of them have a "Paint a combination of notes that result in a guaranteed commercial success" tool

[vertibration]

FL piano roll has things that other piano rolls dont have, and vice versa. To say a piano roll sucks, or is worse than another is bias and makes no sense.