Do You Recognise The Sound Of The DAW?

[gentleclockdivider]

Do you ever feel that you know what DAW was used in the production of a piece of music?

No, but I do recognise a pointless thread .
Don''t give up

[Jac459]

Whoop whoop it's the sound of Cubase

That's exactly why Cubase is not the number one DAW anymore.

Check this out:



That's would not have been possible without their polyphonic modulation system and their special backed voice stacking on CLAP plugin.

[Monsieur_FyP]

as a software developer I can tell you that it's very difficult to write a calculator in a way that wouldn't be reproducible by any other calculator.

[Tomchitecture12]

I have only used 2 DAWs, so it is kinda hard to say. I can tell the AGE of the DAW. Before 32 bit floating point processors, there would be a degradation of signal every time you added a plugin. After a while, it would just sound mushy.

[Michael L]

What I find easy is to recognise the CPU used. In particular Apple silicon, I can recognise in the first 3 seconds of the song. Most of the time I am also able to hear if the disk used is SSD or HDD.

I have only used 2 DAWs, so it is kinda hard to say. I can tell the AGE of the DAW. Before 32 bit floating point processors, there would be a degradation of signal every time you added a plugin. After a while, it would just sound mushy.

Of course, hardware has a recognisable sound but we've known that since the days of outboard racks.

KVR experts need to be more specific about the 'DAW Sounds' they recognise. 'Mushy' is a good start for sure, but what about its opposite, crispy?

[Dionysos]

I do remember when Soulja Boi's Superman blew up and I instantly recognised the FL Studio stock sounds prominently used in it. But that's not really "the sound of the DAW".

[kritikon]

I can recognise the sound of the plug sockets. Down here in Australasia we have those little thin plug pins, often only two pins without an earth and they're real easy to bend out of shape. And the music sounds quite noticeably thinner with glitchy stuff going on often - I suspect because the plug pins are so thin and close together that the electricity arcs between them or something. UK have those chunky rectangular-shaped big bastards that take up half a room with the earth pin twice the size of the live/neutral pins and made out of adamantium rather than aluminium tinfoil. It just sounds beefier. I've been able to A/B the sound as I still have the odd rack unit that's UK spec from years back and I can compare them against each other.

One noticeable difference was the Lexicon that was on a UK wall wart as heavy as a brick. I eventually changed it over to a weedy little Australasian one the size of a pebble and the lexicon immediately sounded like an Alesis. Tinny little wooshes rather than the old lush washes it used to make.

[koalaboy]

You have to plug them in upside down in Australia. It's a phase issue.

[seafire]

Do you ever feel that you know what DAW was used in the production of a piece of music?

No, but I do recognise a pointless thread .
Don''t give up

He got the attention he craves

[Jac459]

Do you ever feel that you know what DAW was used in the production of a piece of music?

No, but I do recognise a pointless thread .
Don''t give up

He got the attention he craves

I think it is an excellent thread actually.

In particular in 2nd degree.

[jens]

KVR experts need to be more specific about the 'DAW Sounds' they recognise. 'Mushy' is a good start for sure, but what about its opposite, crispy?

If you want cripsy, then you need to put the DAW's installation-file on a USB-drive that you expose to the sun for a good while - this works best in the summer (or otherwise you can also put it on a sunny window-sill for a couple of days). Then after doing that install the DAW and you'll be surprised how crispy your mixes will end up sounding.

[ghettosynth]

I think most daws don't have their own sound, they shouldn't if made right, but I think bitwig does have its own sound

So bitwig is made wrong?

With a name like that, how could you think otherwise. I mean there's bullshit, and then there's science.

[jens]

there's also shitence... (some shitentific studies stink to high heaven though... )

[ghettosynth]

there's also shitence... (some shitentific studies stink to high heaven though... )

Yes, already classified, as bullshit.

[revvy]

Panning laws, innit.

I can hear them a mile off. In fact, I can smell them a mile off, too.

Bitwig is a bit lopsided IMO. And smells like aniseed.