If you had to stick to one DAW, which one would it be?

[EnGee]

Generally, ...

I don't think FL Studio and Reaper users are the same segments like say Bitwig and Ableton Live! FL Studio has completely different 'everything' from Reaper!

I have both and sometimes envy those who can work fast with these DAWs! Maybe because I can't understand or memorize how they are working, but definitely I prefer learning FL Studio because it is very fast to do great beats in it. It also has a great Piano Roll with lots of useful functions and comes with so many tools and effects. It is just so different from the DAWs that I know and I don't want to spend lots of time learning it!

Anyway, from performance point of view (Windows), I prefer to spend my time with Bitwig mostly (and sometimes S1). There is no need for any modifications for the system to get them running well and stable. The only thing is that I hope they don't have a show breakers (bugs) that prevent me from continuing making music with them.

[machinesworking]

I don't think FL Studio and Reaper users are the same segments like say Bitwig and Ableton Live! FL Studio has completely different 'everything' from Reaper!

Yeah there's no comparison at all between the two, the dorks trying to act like "pros", are reaching so hard their heads are up their asses, which is no great surprise.

My good friend is the owner of a local recording studio with some big name bands using his services, his own band had two major label records and world tours with Soundgarden. He recently scored a few animated movies and full feature releases. He uses Reaper. Without any malice meant, some people on internet forums have no clue at all what they're talking about, and they say it with total conviction like that somehow makes it fact.

Oh and he bought Bitwig a while ago.

[EnGee]

Bitwig is really nice. I left it in the past because of two reasons, the expensive update plan for the Studio edition, which I can swallow! But the main reason was their management of trying to sell native plugins some time ago. Anyway, it seems all ok now and the new editions is a good move. I went with the producer edition and it's great I don't miss anything from the Studio edition. The update plan is cheaper as well.

[_leras]

I'm sure Studio One is full of features I am completely unaware of but I am fine with that.

Tbh this is probably the case with all DAWs these days. Covering a wide range of functions, but most people only using a smallish set of them.

[Trensharo]

Generally, ...

I don't think FL Studio and Reaper users are the same segments like say Bitwig and Ableton Live! FL Studio has completely different 'everything' from Reaper!

I'm talking about in terms of the types of users they attract - where from the market they are farming their users. FL Studio and REAPER have both pulled heavily from the lower economic tiers of the market.

The people using "Free" REAPER are generally not the same people who pay $750 for Ableton Live Suite or $2,600 for Pro Tools | Ultimate. Yes, I know there are switchers, but not to that extent (not even close). That is a much larger market than the professional market, but it probably generates less revenue. Those people can use what they want, and they often bias heavily towards more accessible (read: cheaper) options.

There is a reason why the cheaper things tend to skyrocket in popularity, and also have the most grassroots evangelism on web forums. Well... Cheap, or easily pirated. A good recent example of this is DaVinci Resolve, which has a $0 option and has skyrocketed in popularity as a result. However, it still hasn't seen that much traction in the professional markets for film editing (we all know it's used for color), because that market segment does not care about the cost differential. It's a drop in the bucket for those users and organizations. Other infrastructural elements actually factor in more, there.

This is also why every time something similar to another DAW comes out, people on the internet claim it a XYZ Killer, but the market rarely reacts as such.

I don't think you actually understood what I meant in that post, and LOL @ the person bandwagoning your response.

And Finally. It makes 0 sense for professionals to debate these things with hobbyists on a web forum. It's literally a waste of time. They have no skin in the game, so they can take the most extreme uninformed positions and die on a hill trying to push them. They aren't living in the same "world," and there are workflow and business considerations that they simply cannot comprehend.

[pdxindy]

Tbh this is probably the case with all DAWs these days. Covering a wide range of functions, but most people only using a smallish set of them.

Yeah... Bitwig's Note Expressions are exceptionally powerful and quickly allow all sorts of stuff that would take a complex setup with multiple tracks and instances to do in most DAW's. Yet I almost never hear anyone even mention this capability.

[EnGee]

Generally, ...

I don't think FL Studio and Reaper users are the same segments like say Bitwig and Ableton Live! FL Studio has completely different 'everything' from Reaper!

I'm talking about in terms of the types of users they attract - where from the market they are farming their users. FL Studio and REAPER have both pulled heavily from the lower economic tiers of the market.

The people using "Free" REAPER are generally not the same people who pay $750 for Ableton Live Suite or $2,600 for Pro Tools | Ultimate. Yes, I know there are switchers, but not to that extent (not even close). That is a much larger market than the professional market, but it probably generates less revenue. Those people can use what they want, and they often bias heavily towards more accessible (read: cheaper) options.

There is a reason why the cheaper things tend to skyrocket in popularity, and also have the most grassroots evangelism on web forums. Well... Cheap, or easily pirated. A good recent example of this is DaVinci Resolve, which has a $0 option and has skyrocketed in popularity as a result. However, it still hasn't seen that much traction in the professional markets for film editing (we all know it's used for color), because that market segment does not care about the cost differential. It's a drop in the bucket for those users and organizations. Other infrastructural elements actually factor in more, there.

This is also why every time something similar to another DAW comes out, people on the internet claim it a XYZ Killer, but the market rarely reacts as such.

I don't think you actually understood what I meant in that post, and LOL @ the person bandwagoning your response.

And Finally. It makes 0 sense for professionals to debate these things with hobbyists on a web forum. It's literally a waste of time. They have no skin in the game, so they can take the most extreme uninformed positions and die on a hill trying to push them. They aren't living in the same "world," and there are workflow and business considerations that they simply cannot comprehend.

This poll is not only for wealthy professionals! Actually, the whole forum is not, so your post doesn't make sense.

[skijumptoes]

The people using "Free" REAPER are generally not the same people who pay $750 for Ableton Live Suite or $2,600 for Pro Tools | Ultimate. Yes, I know there are switchers, but not to that extent (not even close).

Those people paying for Ableton is probably, other than a controller, their entire music investment.

Everyone I know who uses Reaper have thousands invested in instruments, mics, amps, cabs or outboard. So the price paid for software doesn't mean much at all.

In fact, I can't think of one Reaper user I know who just uses it on it's own self contained DAW as a Fruity/Ableton user would.

[sQeetz]

The people using "Free" REAPER are generally not the same people who pay $750 for Ableton Live Suite or $2,600 for Pro Tools | Ultimate. Yes, I know there are switchers, but not to that extent (not even close).

Those people paying for Ableton is probably, other than a controller, their entire music investment.

Everyone I know who uses Reaper have thousands invested in instruments, mics, amps, cabs or outboard. So the price paid for software doesn't mean much at all.

In fact, I can't think of one Reaper user I know who just uses it on it's own self contained DAW as a Fruity/Ableton user would.

Generalizations...

[vurt]

ffs, any one of the hosts in the list, and a few besides, can and probably have been used by people, to record "professional" music, theyre glorified tape machines, all of them!
now stop it!
repeat after me "my choice isnt every bodies choice" then get to bed!

[neverbefore]

the different DAWs - not meaning to be too shocking here - have different capabilities. Reaper is a much better audio editor than FL Studio / Ableton or Bitwig. But Ableton has the incredible Max4Live and clip launch functionality. FL has clips and its workflow/beat sequencing and Bitwig has its own unique modulation and grid etc etc.
They are all great tools used by a lot of people in professional, semi-professional and hobbyist contexts.

[BONES]

I'm sure Studio One is full of features I am completely unaware of but I am fine with that.

Tbh this is probably the case with all DAWs these days. Covering a wide range of functions, but most people only using a smallish set of them.

Absolutely, so the difference becomes one of emphasis. Live and Bitwig put a lot of emphasis on a certain type of workflow, while Cubase and Logic emphasise a more traditional, linear workflow. When I had Bitwig, for example, I had no doubt I could get my work done but it always felt like that workflow was an afterthought, not the way the creators had envisioned it being used. SO after 6 months \I decided it wasn't for me and found something that emphasised a workflow wanted to use.

[machinesworking]

I'm sure Studio One is full of features I am completely unaware of but I am fine with that.

Tbh this is probably the case with all DAWs these days. Covering a wide range of functions, but most people only using a smallish set of them.

Absolutely, so the difference becomes one of emphasis. Live and Bitwig put a lot of emphasis on a certain type of workflow, while Cubase and Logic emphasise a more traditional, linear workflow. When I had Bitwig, for example, I had no doubt I could get my work done but it always felt like that workflow was an afterthought, not the way the creators had envisioned it being used. SO after 6 months \I decided it wasn't for me and found something that emphasised a workflow wanted to use.

Completely agree. One thing I find is the non linear DAWs do not emphasize their arrangers. You generally can get up and running with a part really quickly, but arranging a song and finalizing it is super basic and clunky. Quantization is simple, and even bog standard features might be missing. They of course make up for that in features their users love, like the mentioned MPE note expression capabilities of Bitwig etc.

[muzicxs]

Completely agree. One thing I find is the nonlinear DAWs do not emphasize their arrangers. You generally can get up and running with a part quickly, but arranging a song and finalizing it is super basic and clunky.

It's great that we're spoiled with many choices in DAWs! My experience is the exact inverse of yours. I've been pushing out music much more since I work in Bitwig. It just works in the way I can work best. Reaper, Cubase, and Studio One were all DAWs I used at one stage, but I'm super happy that I found Bitwig. It's great that we have a plethora of DAWs that people can try out to see what works best for them.

[Shangsean]

I do only use one and that's Reaper. Not because I think it's better than everything else out there, more because I know how to use it (well I think I do). When I was testing DAWS after Tracktion died many years ago it was the one that I got up and running the quickest. I briefly had Sonar as well and then that kicked the bucket too, at least commercially. So I just use Reaper and I don't really care what else is out there because it hasn't stopped me making music with the very limited time I have to commit to it. Everyone's wired differently and will like to approach things differently, but I just found Reaper the easiest to use at the time and stuck with it.