Good DAW to start with.

[elxsound]

Ableton currently has an extended demo, which will give you long enough to work out if you like the workflow. Pair that with the two month demo of Reaper, to give you the opportunity of testing out a completely different workflow. Bitwig has a 30-day demo. Other DAW also have demos, including Logic (if you happen to be on a Mac)

Watch tutorials on Youtube to help get the most out of the demo periods.

Either way, don't go spending money yet; especially on the opinions of other folk on the internet. It's not that they're wrong, per se, it's just that workflow is such a personal thing. I'm not saying to ignore advice, either. Just don't rush into it. Between demos and cut-down versions, you could be making decent music for years before having to commit.

All DAW are great tools. You just need to find what fits

More great advice!

[machinesworking]

Hi there,

What's a good DAW to start with?

Making mostly synthwave

Do you own any hardware synths?
If so are they modular or do they have patch banks?
Are you planning on playing guitar and vocals etc, into tracks?
Do you own any other music software programs?
Are you the type to want everything included in one package or would you rather pick and choose plug ins separately?
Are you on OS X, Linux or Windows?
What's your budget?
Finally, do you want something easy or something that has lots of power/features?

I can't think of a single reason to recommend anything to you until some of these are answered. I don't think there are any "bad" DAWs, just different strengths and weaknesses that cater to different needs.

[billzero]

One important thing tho, when choosing a daw, is how many tutorials there are on the internet. Right now, if I had to start over, I would probably choose fl studio because of the amount of video tutorials there is on YouTube. I think Ableton is not very far from fl studio in that field of number of tutorials.

[Starship Krupa]

Another route that I saw work very well for someone was that they had a favorite producer and simply invested in the same tools. They're doing their own thing (own style) now, but that method works too.

The advice to develop your own sound/workflow and then obtain the tools, it's good in theory, but then how does one do that without the tools. Ay yi yi.

When it comes to specific genres, I think it's possible to narrow the field. And elxsound's advice to find out what the people who are making music you like are using and get that is tried and true in all genres.

In the case of Synthwave, check out what one of the maestros of the genre was using a couple of years ago: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/com-truise-tour

From that article, I'd say that downloading Ableton Lite and demos of Reason and some virtual Oberheim synths would be a good place to start.

(I'm a cryptster who digs Com Truise and BT and Tipper and Telefon Tel Aviv and am trying to work their production techniques into my stuff using tools I'm more familiar with. Cakewalk handles Acidized loops a treat, so at least I'm ahead when I choose to work with loops.)

[Pacific05]

Another route that I saw work very well for someone was that they had a favorite producer and simply invested in the same tools. They're doing their own thing (own style) now, but that method works too.

The advice to develop your own sound/workflow and then obtain the tools, it's good in theory, but then how does one do that without the tools. Ay yi yi.

When it comes to specific genres, I think it's possible to narrow the field. And elxsound's advice to find out what the people who are making music you like are using and get that is tried and true in all genres.

In the case of Synthwave, check out what one of the maestros of the genre was using a couple of years ago: https://www.soundonsound.com/people/com-truise-tour

From that article, I'd say that downloading Ableton Lite and demos of Reason and some virtual Oberheim synths would be a good place to start.

(I'm a cryptster who digs Com Truise and BT and Tipper and Telefon Tel Aviv and am trying to work their production techniques into my stuff using tools I'm more familiar with. Cakewalk handles Acidized loops a treat, so at least I'm ahead when I choose to work with loops.)

In this regard, I remember an interview by Washed Out (another chillwave/synthpop master) in which he said he only used Reason for his "Within and Without" album.
Well, I think it could be a starting point, but the risk is also to feel frustrated if you cannot achieve desired results.
Synthwave/80s vibes was my first love and I made some music (as a hobbyist) with different DAWs. Ableton Live, FL Studio and now S1, which I really like.

All in all, maybe the best thing to do is to try different demos and workflows. There may be an unexpected surprise.

[Robmobius]

All of them would do really... But I personally use Studio One.

[chk071]

Might be a good time to hop on board the Studio One train, when version 5 will surface at the end of May.

[djstean]

I started a couple of years ago with Cubase and I still stick on it. I also bought Ableton Live and I like it for the alternative workflow. But in case of mixing and finishing tracks I always switch back for the DAW I started with. So choose your first DAW wisely!

[Eclectrophonic]

Only 1 person here has mentioned Reason. Reason is by far the easiest daw to learn for a novice. It has a lot of features missing (100+ I can name them lol!) but at the same time has everything you need for someone starting out. It has audio, midi, a great SSL emulation mixer built in, vst support, about 50 instruments and effects which are fantastic and has probably the easiest synth to learn subtractive synthesis on (Subtractor) and then move on to Thor etc. The added bonus is in a year or 2 when you get more into production and want more advanced features like track folders, track grouping, auto-punch etc the software may have them by then but also you could switch daw's and using the new Reason Rack Plug-In you can now load Reasons rack into another daw provided it has VST3 support.

It isn't the cheapest daw at around £300 but it isn't the dearest either. I'd recommend it for a beginner.

[Distorted Horizon]

My first daw is bitwig, then reason, then reaper and then flstudio. Okay I also have studio one prime, I occasionally use it to make a track with hardware only. Trying to sell it to myself if I'd buy a full version.

[thecontrolcentre]

Hi there,

What's a good DAW to start with?

Making mostly synthwave

What are you currently using to make synthwave?

[chk071]

Only 1 person here has mentioned Reason. Reason is by far the easiest daw to learn for a novice.

While I can understand why it appears to you that it is "by far the easiest to learn for a novice", I don't agree on that. Reason is quite a unusual DAW, with it's modular approach, and its in the box thing. I don't really think it makes life easier either. Many things which are very easy in other DAW's require a workaround in Reason, or are just not as straight forward. Sidechaining for example. And, by the time you will have learned Reason, and you will reach its limit, and you might want to try another DAW, it will all be very alien to you, simply because Reason is pretty alien.

Anyway, to each his own, and, everyone has to try out which works best for him/her. Just my opinion.

[Eclectrophonic]

Only 1 person here has mentioned Reason. Reason is by far the easiest daw to learn for a novice.

While I can understand why it appears to you that it is "by far the easiest to learn for a novice", I don't agree on that. Reason is quite a unusual DAW, with it's modular approach, and its in the box thing. I don't really think it makes life easier either. Many things which are very easy in other DAW's require a workaround in Reason, or are just not as straight forward. Sidechaining for example. And, by the time you will have learned Reason, and you will reach its limit, and you might want to try another DAW, it will all be very alien to you, simply because Reason is pretty alien.

Anyway, to each his own, and, everyone has to try out which works best for him/her. Just my opinion.

Yeah sidechaining is an advanced thing though. Probably not even used in synthesis as well.. Not as an effect anyway.

What do you mean by "in the box"? you did see the part where I said Reason has vst?
I'd also like to add that Reason is quick to just get your ideas down without so much complucation too. Set up your midi controller, drag an instrument in, choose a preset and go. Drag in a dr.octo.rex and stick a loop on (It plays without you needing to sequence it and it's tempo sync'd), quick easy rhythm.

Anyway, we all have our opinions and I get what you mean about it being a little different in some ways than most other daws in some ways and yes it's whatever suits the OP. They need to demo a few and find out.

[thecontrolcentre]

OP has made 3 posts asking questions but has never returned to any of his threads ...

[Passing Bye]

Yeah sidechaining is an advanced thing though. Probably not even used in synthesis as well.. Not as an effect anyway.

Advanced if you can't set it up easily, it's used anywhere from synths to effects and as an synth effect, it's most used thing after auto tune and supersaw.