Picking a DAW is hard…

[seafire]

I feel like I’ve trialed every DAW, but none of them is for me.

Give up then, music is not for you. Any one who is really into music, or any artwork, will jump through fire hoops to create....

[kanoharuayu]

just do it already

[_leras]

I feel like I’ve trialed every DAW, but none of them is for me.

Give up then, music is not for you. Any one who is really into music, or any artwork, will jump through fire hoops to create....

Well no DAW is perfect, and not everyone needs to be a producer.

Maybe a simple digital multi track recorder is enough. Some people are concentrating on playing instruments or singing.

[SoundOutWest]

DAWs are instruments, your commitment to learning them matters more than which one you pick.

Note that FL studio (and somewhat reaper) are the only DAWs that you may not find in a high-end studio, so bear that in mind if you want to work for the big boys.

I’m an FL studio veteran and it does basically everything I want whilst also being by far the least ugly DAW (which others may consider distracting). The only issue I hit is when I started recording classical. At that point, I found the lack of fast cross-fade tools quite annoying.

Most DAWs are like that now. They do 90% of things easily but the last 10% is a bit more specific to the DAW. It’s hard to predict these things ahead of time though.

I’d strongly recommend FL studio or Ableton to anything which is MIDI heavy and especially if it’s electronic/techno. Otherwise, make use of trials but then commit to one DAW confidently.

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[stoopicus]

I feel like I’ve trialed every DAW, but none of them is for me.

Give up then, music is not for you. Any one who is really into music, or any artwork, will jump through fire hoops to create....

This sounds snarky but is a completely valid take. While no DAW is perfect, in 2025 they are all - even the less than great ones - so many orders of magnitude better than the very best we had even just 20 years ago that saying *none* of them are for you... yeah at that point, just give up. Producing music is not going to be your thing. Pay someone else to do the producing and sound engineering for you and focus on your craft.

[BlackOctopusSteve]

Being an artist is all about exploration until we find our medium.

It's possible that working with a DAW isn't your medium.

Have tried something like Native Instruments Maschine?

Perhaps something more hardware centric and tactile is your medium?

Good to go try them out at a pro audio store and see how it feels.

Don't listen to people who aggressively tell you to quit btw

I feel like I’ve trialed every DAW, but none of them is for me.

Give up then, music is not for you. Any one who is really into music, or any artwork, will jump through fire hoops to create....

[Michael L]

Being an artist is all about exploration until we find our medium.
It's possible that working with a DAW isn't your medium.
Have tried something like Native Instruments Maschine?
Perhaps something more hardware centric and tactile is your medium?

Yep.
Many songwriters compose with their voice because it is fast and involves the body.
They sing each part into a recorder and then transcribe it.
The DAW is used just for writing, not for composing.

[seafire]

Don't listen to people who aggressively tell you to quit btw

Aggressive? What a sensitive soul you are

[Tracewidth]

I've tried a bunch of DAWs, too, and I have the button on my hat to prove it. Let's break it down:

-*-*-

Cubase is a beast from past the mists of time
It'll do everything that a DAW can do...
As long as you ask it in meter and rhyme.

-*-*-

Ableton is fun and easy to learn on
Great stock tools, designs and so on...
Then it crashes, leers at you with gurn on.

-*-*-

Bitwig is 'Ableton Plus': the mods and the Grid are ace,
but try to do anything real and you'll find
that its manual is bad and it falls on its face.

-*-*-

LUNA is great! Free, if you can believe it.
A lil studio-in-a-box: with its paucity of features
you'll either be relieved or peeve it.

-*-*-

Reason DAW is for the Techno.
Wires and screens and buttons and wires--
Do we hate skeumorphism? Heck no!

-*-*-

Reaper is wild: it gives you the tools
and the blueprints, and bricks...
Once I get this built I'll show them for fools!

-*-*-

Logic is the DAW by Apple Corp.
If GarageBand is awful, Logic's a double-dorp.

[zldx871112]

Nothing is perfect. I have used several DAWs so far. Personally, I might choose Ableton.

[_leras]

Don't listen to people who aggressively tell you to quit btw

I think people are saying more like, if you can't get your head round a DAW you're going to struggle.

If someone wants to make music, you could give them any DAW and they'll make music.

There are plenty of free cut down options and demos to try. Don't waste your life complaining about how many options there are. If you do choose a DAW and you eventually find it doesn't work for you, you can always change to a different one.

but you'll never know until you have got your hands dirty and actually made some tracks. Unless there is a very specific function you are missing, it would take a long time to find a DAWs pros and cons.

[_leras]

I've tried a bunch of DAWs, too, and I have the button on my hat to prove it. Let's break it down:
Bitwig is 'Ableton Plus': the mods and the Grid are ace,
but try to do anything real and you'll find
that its manual is bad and it falls on its face.

I like not sure you've used Bitwig recently. The manual is fine, it also has great built in tool tips and help.

If I haven't been able to find something a quick Google will either summarise quite well or link to the manual, worst case you might need to watch a short video.

And there seem to be examples of everything with even niche topics and usage coverage YT these days.

Perhaps the only weak point could be the built in devices, but these have gotten much better and the integration with modulators, voice stacking actually makes them very powerful, and people use better third party tools with all DAWs, so what's the problem.

The upcoming v6 that is in beta has also really levelled up the UI. Improving the already best DAW workflow.

[orand]

I'm enjoying the process of learning Bitwig more than I enjoyed the process of learning Ableton or Logic.

[mixyguy2]

I feel like I’ve trialed every DAW, but none of them is for me.

Give up then, music is not for you. Any one who is really into music, or any artwork, will jump through fire hoops to create....

What an asshat answer. Fortunately, some adults responded on a better course of action.

Also I doubt seafire has tried every DAW...it would be interesting to know which he/she has tried.

[seafire]

Would it? Why?

I use the one that works for me, and put the effort into learning how it works.