Time to switch DAW?

[maarkr]

been doing this starting with my 486 machine... I started with Acid 2.0. I have Cubase 4 but stopped using it years ago because it was so unfriendly... good quality daw tho. Cross-graded the Cubase to Sonar and have kept up with the latest version of it. I like the work-ability of it and the built-in system. I also have used Reaper for many years and still use it as my main backup. Very inexpensive and good features for the money. I also tried Reason for a few years, but it was a different learning curve than most daws, so I moved away from it. Also tried Ableton a couple of times, but I never could get used to the workflow on that either. Theres many on the market now that look inviting, but my brain doesn't have the capacity to learn another new system. So for a quick arranging and messing around, I have always used Acid and resurrected many old projects that I started through the years. What was easy about it was dropping samples and loops in the grid and pitch-shifting them with one keystroke, quickly changing keys... basically generating song ideas in a short time. It handles samples better and quicker than any other daw and can easily render useable song portions for use in a high-end daw for further building and development.
That's how I've done it over the years... obviously its all about your personal workflow and the style of music that you build. I would finally recommend keeping it to just a couple of daws to be able to focus on the details of those systems.

[lolilol1975]

You can also get a used studioone2producer license for + or - $50 .. New Reaper or New Tracktion for $60 . Live Lite 9 used for real cheap .

Especially since Tracktion t7 is around the corner and could prove a serious competition to Ableton.
For half the price of Ableton, you could afford Tracktion + REAPER.

edit: Live Lite is so limited it's a joke, unless you are okay with recording yourself with one guitar and one voice and that's about it. you can't do 1/10 of what you can do with either Tracktion or REAPER.

[Rajah]

MOK19 wrote:
Thanks for the replies fellas. I'm already trying demos, but that's a time intensive process. I'm starting out with the Bitwig demo.

But more opinions are helpful, as demoing everything is... not entirely practical. So I love hearing suggestions, with the caveat that it's only useful if you can qualify why a particular DAW is your choice(like Suloo, chk071 and garryknight did above - thank you!).

Side note, per Rajah's mention -
As for iOS, actually I've spent a lot of time on that lately, trying to help out a friend's band situation. The tablet scene is neat, and has a lot of potential, but at present it's mostly all strictly inferior in every way to what's already developed for PC(mobility aside). Unfortunately.

After wrestling with issue after issue after issue, a new one every day, for months, I doubt I'll ever be tempted to use an ipad for personal music use. Better to use a tiny laptop and a good midi controller, especially for live use. Tapping on a tablet on a live stage, or even simply LOOKING AT a tablet display when on stage is, surprisingly, not at all practical. You have to try it out to see how damned problematic it is. And there's more issues beyond that. Though, the situation could partly improve with time...
But I digress.

Well, went out and got an IPad... and Beathawk..
Must say, with a few updates (Midi Import in particular), it is the future.. and one will not have to leave the DAW that they feel most comfortable with, as Beathawk has a nice Export feature (Midi, Multitrack wav, etc.), you can import your song into your DAW and 'perfect' it.. Shocked that Beathawk has not generated much discussion on KVR..
Peace..

Edit... Hope Version 2 comes out soon..

[Rajah]

You can also get a used studioone2producer license for + or - $50 .. New Reaper or New Tracktion for $60 . Live Lite 9 used for real cheap .

Especially since Tracktion t7 is around the corner and could prove a serious competition to Ableton.
For half the price of Ableton, you could afford Tracktion + REAPER.

Did not see anything about 'Performance Mode' in Tracktion 7... It's what Ableton is famous for (Clip Launching)...