Single screen DAW wanted

[dermichl]

Which DAW makes best (read fastest) use of only one screen? Waveform comes to mind first but I‘m sure there are others aswell. Nice bonus would be a key command driven design.

[eLawnMust]

When Waveform was older as Tracktion then it was authentically a single screen affair... There is also Chaotic Music Maker which is abandonware set free & open source, weak MIDI... there was Cakewalk Project5 which was 3 panels on a page slide them up-down to reveal whole or portion... DreamStation 2 was same way except you could also have all 3 panels detached into separate windows in preferences... DS2 also had the ability to change plugin type like a VSTi could be changed & then recognized as a VST effect or other way around... MED Sound Studio, SVArTracker, Aodix 4.2 now open source & improved is single piano roll-tracker with the only other window to flip to is the connection view available by keyboard shortcut... Didn't Orion have ability to have any panel brought up by keystroke?

[Michael L]

Check out MuLab.
https://www.mutools.com/index.html

Single screen with tracks, racks, browser, looper that can appear/disappear with a click.
Tons of key commands that do everything.
Stock plugins are customizable in a modular way.

Its on version 10. This video shows the latest features:

Has a kvr forum with very active developer:
viewforum.php?f=79

[jens]

When Waveform was older as Tracktion then it was authentically a single screen affair...

Yeah, but then it - thankfully - changed, because in all truthfulness was a really daft idea to begin with.

There is absolutely no advantage whatsover in being forced e.g. to use a tiny inline MIDI-editor (that's being accessed via a double-click) when you can have a window with the size&position of your choice via the same double-click instead. It may seem like funny&interesting paradigm in the pub after have had a generous number of pints, but then when being sober again one should posess the insight, wisdom and strength to admit in front of yourself that it's rather the side-effect of a drinking problem than evidence of your brilliant mind.

[El°HYM]

Check out MuLab.
https://www.mutools.com/index.html

Single screen with tracks, racks, browser, looper that can appear/disappear with a click.
Tons of key commands that do everything.
Stock plugins are customizable in a modular way.

Its on version 10. This video shows the latest features:

Has a kvr forum with very active developer:
viewforum.php?f=79

MuLab is the very best!

Buy now.

[Benedict]

I still gotta say that (IMO) Reason is the easiest to simply get stuff done in. It was initially designed for three screens and excels there, but if you can handle working on one screen, their solutions are elegant.

You have the option to have several panes open (looks cool in adverts with headphoned hipsters roller skating with a latte on the train) but it is a lot easier on one screen to use the F keys to focus on Seq-Rack-Mixer, one at a time.

The only real negative with Reason is the negativity of the userbase. For some, um, reason, they seem far more negative and derogatory than other DAW communities (especially compared to DAWs with known issues).

Bottom line though: If you can't do it in Reason, you are not ready to do it.


If it helps, this is a thorough (10 video) look inside what Reason has to offer and how it all works together:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=P ... 9kOmjxyKL2

[jamcat]

Studio One

[pekbro]

+1 to give MuLab a try…

[jens]

I still gotta say that (IMO) Reason is the easiest to simply get stuff done in. It was initially designed for three screens and excels there, but if you can handle working on one screen, their solutions are elegant.

Indeed indeed - because you can detach and maximize all three main windows and toggle between them using the standard OS tools/commands. (This has gotten slighty worse with Reason 13 though.(It's not like the negativity is coming out of nowhere.))

[PTV]

Not a classic DAW - but BespokeSynth

[heliacal]

Cubase

[machinesworking]

Ableton Live was designed to be a single screen DAW. They fought for 20 years to not allow two open windows, their embedded plugins are all docked, and they even facilitate controls to have third party plugins keep their GUI's closed. If you aren't interested in the Session view, the latest version even allows you to open the mixer in the Arrangement page. The caveat is a goos amount of the key commands are too pane dependent or lacking to fully run it with a keyboard, you will be reaching for the mouse for some actions.

Someone mentioned Reason being designed for multiple screens, that's just not true, for the longest time it was a single window, even to this day you're not required to use three screens, just a bit easier that way.

[jens]

Someone mentioned Reason being designed for multiple screens, that's just not true, for the longest time it was a single window, even to this day you're not required to use three screens, just a bit easier that way.

I disagree - we have had the discussion here before. If you use multiple screens you have to keep turning your head around. If you instead detach and maximize the windows and then simply switch between them (via shortcuts*, mouse-click (programmable buttons) or some other means (e.g. Streamdeck)) that's gonna be both faster and more comfortable and ergonomic.
Multiple screens make usually only really sense if you need to constantly read-out data in one full window app that you need to enter in another one or if there's a lot of drag and drop (and such) happening between two (or more) full window apps. In DAWs there isn't really much of a point in using multiple screens. You'll only end up having neck-problems.


*To me using alt+tab (Windows) has become second nature (also due to my daytime job) so it's happening a lot faster than you could ever turn your head from one screen to the other.

[machinesworking]

Someone mentioned Reason being designed for multiple screens, that's just not true, for the longest time it was a single window, even to this day you're not required to use three screens, just a bit easier that way.

I disagree - we have had the discussion here before. If you use multiple screens you have to keep turning your head around. If you instead detach and maximize the windows and then simply switch between them (via shortcuts*, mouse-click (programmable buttons) or some other means (e.g. Streamdeck)) that's gonna be both faster and more comfortable and ergonomic.
Multiple screens make usually only really sense if you need to constantly read-out data in one full window app that you need to enter in another one or if there's a lot of drag and drop (and such) happening between two (or more) full window apps. In DAWs there isn't really much of a point in using multiple screens. You'll only end up having neck-problems.


*To me using alt+tab (Windows) has become second nature (also due to my daytime job) so it's happening a lot faster than you could ever turn your head from one screen to the other.

I had no idea for some of us a two inch or less head turn VS key commands was that much faster? I'm pretty sure I must have the worlds fastest head movement then. My three monitors are within 3 feet of my chair, there's not a lot of movement to be done, mostly my eyes. Plus, your understanding of the human body is nil here, freezing your head in one position for hours on end is far more damaging than actually moving it. Repetitive stress is the enemy, so personally I try to mix it up a bit. I'm firmly in the multi window camp, and the keyboard shortcut camp, it's my main issue with Live, it's weird shortcut issues, the dual monitor support is pretty much the best I've seen though, including super fast switching between monitors for those of you with slow heads.

I haven't use Reason to create a song from start to finish in years, my point was Reason 1.0 did not have multiple windows, everything was done in one. To your point I find the new GUI a bit cluttered compared, but if keyboard shortcuts are fast enough then you can still work like in 1.

[Opaque]

Ableton is the obvious answer here.