Switching DAW Is Inspiring?

[hhuang9611]

Just curious if anyone has had similar experience

So what happened to me is that I have been using Ableton Live for about 7 years ever since I started making music. However, lately, whenever I opened Ableton, I just felt very uninspired... It feels like I have been using this DAW for so long that I know it too well to be inspired. Everything is muscle memory, and the UI looks too stale to give any motivation. Then, I realized that I purchased Logic Pro X a couple years ago, so I fired it up and gave it a go.

It was a bit painful at the beginning for sure: need to relearn all the shortcuts and different ways to things. But once I passed the phase, it feels great! Although I'm not feeling that I'm filled with inspiration and ideas and can put out so many tracks, at least I can continuously work on a track to push it to finish. When I use Ableton RECENTLY (I think a year ago I can still keep moving track forward without stuck in "8-bar loop syndrome"), I tend to keep listening to what I have made, then feel bored, then go do something else, then come back to listen again and repeat the cycle. But with Logic, when I listen to my current progress, I would immediately forming ideas about what to add or how to move forward and then start doing it (albeit doing it slower than if doing it in Ableton).

Maybe this could also be an UI thing? I do find Ableton's UI a bit ... too simplistic (insert joke about Ableton being Excel). Logic Pro looks a bit more vibrant and lively.

P.S. Also, big shout-out for the intuitive-ness of Logic Pro. I actually tried to switch DAW once before, but to FL Studio, and it felt like a nightmare... I know how powerful FL can be, but I do think it sacrifices a bit user-friendliness. I expect switching DAW to be painful, but at least with Logic, the painful period passed much much more quickly than FL (which I basically gave up )

[dupont]

yes I feel the same. I mainly use Bitwig because I perform techno live acts with an APC40 but also like to switch to another DAW and export the audio for me to use in Bitwig.
Each Daw makes you think different and help find new ideas. Logic for example has a huge factory library and it is easy to edit samples to your taste. Factory plugins are also very good, alchemy, compressor, limiter...
Sometimes I also use Reaper and get surprising sounds with JSFX or Tunka plugins.
Daws are like wifes, sometimes it is good to change (I don't care my wife can't read English )

[BKSchatzki]

No real way of knowing what it is that did it for you with Logic. You mentioned that FL was rough. Maybe it has more to do with how you individually get on with a specific DAW (i.e. maybe there is no pattern).

The thing about DAWs that always gets me is that everyone talks about how easy it is to get going, but what matters in a DAW is how it helps you finish. I have a super different experience with Logic; I think it's really easy to start projects, but really hard to finish. But that's more down to me than it is to Logic, no?

But I get what you're saying, and I agree that there is definitely a kind of novelty to using a different DAW, where you just think "Wow, why can't my old DAW [...] ?"

[Serhii Kot]

At first, switching DAWs is inspiring, just because of the novelty and different ways to do the same stuff. Logic after an Ableton may be a gulp of fresh air, but you did not even realize that you opened the Pandora box of "the DAW switching". After Logic you may have a curiosity about... hm I did not know I can do stuff like this in Logic... what about other DAWs, what other way to do stuff they can introduce to my curious mind?

And BOOM!!! You own all of them! Moreover, you become really proficient in most of them. You like and hate them all, just as you like and hate yourself for making a decision to switch in the first place. You work on a track and think "Oh man, I wish this DAW has a feature from another DAW" and you know that in that other DAW, you can do this in 2 clicks instead of 10 clicks, these thoughts start to irritate your creative mind, and while you were thinking about other DAW features your musical idea is gone. You are frustrated, closing the session without much progress.

So, is switching DAW inspiring? For sure. But what will it cost you in long term?

[eLawnMust]

Then you get down to the real root of the problem...It wasn't the DAW it was toxic masculinity!...We need to be more feminine with our napkins...

[nusound mind]

I could see the logic in that, I find switching vst's/instruments to be inspiring. I think artists are naturally attracted to novelty in general by virtue of their inherent disposition.

The big hurdles imo to switch daw's would be a) the time investment to learn another daw and;
b) S1 is near ideal for me already. I finally know what I'm doing, I'm learning new useful stuff lately, esp. related to workflow efficiency.

That said I have been kicking tires on Reaper and Bitwig, at least in terms of watching tutorial vids and so forth. Also Cubase but the constant online & reauthorization thing they brought in recently is a deal breaker.

The flipside argument to be made is to pick the tools that most appeal to you and learn those to the degree where it becomes automatic so that you're not constantly breaking your flow trying to figure out how to do this or that.

[Uncle E]

Depends on the DAW. I find Universal Audio Luna completely uninspiring to write in, although mixing in it is great.

[Bombadil]

No. Certainly not what I would advise. But then, I'm fairly traditional in what/how I record. Logic Pro is very deep. I don't know anyone, even the pros from the Notator days, who've plumbed the depths of what can be done in the environment. Learn the DAW you use like an instrument, let it be an extension of yourself.

[do_androids_dream]

It's just relieving boredom, lack of ideas, for a while. You'll do all that work getting used to the emperor's new clothes then the same feeling will set in. Trust me.. Then, you'll start to miss your old love and you'll go back. Then something else will catch your eye.. rinse, repeat. Sorry to break it to ya

[Michael L]

I find changing my mind more inspiring.

[jancivil]

I can’t think of anything about the actual experience of a DAW I would attribute the word inspirational to. I thought of switching when Cubase performance on a MacPro was (still) hopelessly slow; Logic 8 didn’t look difficult to grok, Digital Performer kinda did, but VE Pro came out and the problem was no longer so significant and neither of those two got on real well with VEP at that juncture.
I’ve not run up against ‘oh shit, I can’t do this thing I suddenly think I must’ so there’s no need to wonder after, what, late ’09 there where my costly hardware had not improved my latency.

[eLawnMust]

If you want inspiration & motivation then probably best to look OUTSIDE your normal DAW routine... Many seem fixated by their ableton, cubase or whatever. try something simpler for faster workflow or if you haven't YET try a tracker... I find I get different results in a tracker than a piano roller & it is easier to see 'the whole picture' with the spreadsheet approach. I am not saying replace what you are using just try other shit, you may be surprised...

I hear much good compos from people using LMMS these days & it's free...Streamlined & easy to use...

Go get ChordPulse...It is great for figuring out chord progressions in a fast environment. I have tried Logic (when it was windows) & could not figger what all the fuss was about...People seemed to be more interested in 'environments' than making music....NEXT!...I have tried every version of ableton up through 9...NO THANKS!...It seems to be better suited for those who want to 'play around' with sounds hoping for a 'happy accident'. I think it would've made a great plugin but poor MIDI integration & terrible plugin scanning doesn't cut it...

MAGIX products started out as audio THEN gained MIDI like ableton...Took them awhile to get it sorted but they are A-OK starting about version 10 or 11...

Old Cakewalk Project5 was real good for fast workflow...

Presently using Making Waves Studio, very organic with ingenious features but plugin scanning is terrible as it has not been updated as developer died in 2011 but judging by version & other he must've been sick for a couple years prior. It's WAY different from most anything else with fast workflow. There was a guy who made an entire album in it in 2001 that gained financial success...

I think this was the title track for the album - Daniel Bedingfield-

https://soundcloud.com/team-slinky/24-g ... rough-this


Here is the promo interview with Bedingfield from the distant past (MP3)-

https://web.archive.org/web/20051228103 ... master.mp3

BTW I'm sure BONES will be in to say the complete opposite of what I just said, with no explanation for it, no reasonable deduction, etc...wait for it....

[pdxindy]

If you want inspiration & motivation then probably best to look OUTSIDE your normal DAW routine...

My inspiration comes from inside me. This or that software has nothing to do with it.

[james99]

I can relate, but I'm moving from logic to Ableton cos I find Ableton more inspiring to work on LOL. But the appeal is purely about how fast I personally can listen to samples & access plugins etc. So this is purely personal preference based on how I like to work. I agree with pdxindy.. inspiration comes from within, but that inspiration needs to be channelled out, so if its through a daw that makes it easier then go for it

[sQeetz]

DAW hopping can be good... I knew FL Studio like the back of my hand. I strongly disliked the way it was heading so I switched to Studio One (license sold) , then Bitwig (sold), then Logic (can't sell)... now I've arrived at Ableton Live and together with its Push controller it's all I actually ever wanted. I keep Renoise around just for fun