Disadvantages of DAWs in comparison to others

[juno987654321]

Nothing beats Reaper, it's the best. Trust me, I've tried all of the DAWs.

Reasons? What are you missing with the other DAWs that your favorite one has?

[ghettosynth]

Nothing beats Reaper, it's the best. Trust me, I've tried all of the DAWs.

Reasons? What are you missing with the other DAWs that your favorite one has?

LV2 support.

[machinesworking]

Probably would have been better as a DAW comparison, i.e. which DAWs do what and are missing what? but likely it would have ended in people debating the topic itself, in typical KVR fashion.

I'll bite anyway since my last year has been DAW jumping to find what's most comfortable for me these days:

Logic- Does about everything, Apple throws a good amount of R&D at it. You get automapping style MIDI controller support, MPE, articulation mapping, AI drummers, best of class soft instruments and FX. It has some odd and hard to get used to shortcomings from it's days as a MIDI sequencer. Input is by port only, so no ELP moves with a MPE device in there, and all your hardware controllers and synths better be able send on different MIDI channels to go ELP. Even as an Apple device it's oddly super easy in parts, and super designed by a programer without the end user in mind in other areas. You can always learn it, it's just not everything is intuitive. Mac OS only.

Digital Performer- Really great "bones", the basics are fantastic, grouping and large track management, massive amounts of ways to process MIDI and automation. Chunks are IMO much better than other DAWs ability to open multiple projects, Chunks can be completely different projects in your open project, or just parts of songs etc. It's literally one VEP "MAS" plug in for over 700 MIDI tracks. Automation types and mangling existing automation is better than the rest. Cons- Sluggish GUI. No MPE, articulation mapping, the simplest Clips type arranger of any clip based DAW, with no support for Launchpads or Akai's clip launching controllers. Clips really feel like a work in progress. DP also does not host MIDI on soft instrument tracks, and cannot constrain the notes in a MIDI track, i.e. no splitting a keyboard between two soft instruments like other DAWs can do. Some legacy features will have you wondering, and some newer features are incomplete. Long overdue for an upgrade so this could change.

Reaper- Does everything, Reaper can be customized to a ridiculous degree. It's the most CPU efficient DAW on Mac Os, and I would bet it's the same on Windows. Export options for instance are best of class, including naming conventions for the exported audio etc. Cons- Reaper out of the box is set up without any UX in mind at all. I don't feel I'm being unkind here, it's designed by engineers for engineers. Something weird or awkward in Reaper? well they have script you should learn and you can write your own solution, or wait for someone else's. The state of Clips in Reaper is a good example of this, just halfway there, and it will remain like that until you script it yourself. Articulation mapping is in the same state.

Live- The new update solved a lot of issues for me: MPE, comping, native LFO etc. best in class clip launching, Max 4 Live and Jitter offer some insanely great features. Cons- The UX is and always will be set up to jump right in when you don't know anything and mouse around. You can get up and running with the basics in no time. The problem is that's all there is. Live offers little in the way of keyboard shortcuts, no stand alone MIDI editor, so if you use it like I do you're constantly mousing around pulling the MIDI editor sub window up to fill the screen then dragging it down to see the rest. I without a doubt feel Live is the absolute worst DAW for possible hand injuries. It's a weird hybrid at this point with this simple user experience in the main DAW, and the Max 4 Live object oriented programming environment seemingly tacked on. Of course M4L can't make the MIDI editor be a separate window, and I don't even want to attempt to use it to add in things like SysEx dumps to a song etc. No scoring environment or Event editor.

Bitwig- Does some improvements on what Live is, keyboard shortcuts, full screen MIDI and Audio editor, multiple ways to view Clips compared to the other DAWs, plug in sand boxing, arguably better modular environment for messing around with synthesis in the Grid than in M4L, great browser etc. Cons- Follows suite with Live in no SysEx and NRPN support, dumps ReWire, No scoring or Event editor. Doesn't have a movie hosting capability for scoring. No Comping, articulation mapping. No step sequencing specific functions. Some weirdness with the panel selection that takes a bit to get used to in terms of keyboard shortcuts, you have to select the panel then the shortcut etc. Bit of a CPU pig like Live. It's IMO never getting articulation mapping and scoring.

I'm not familiar enough with the other DAWs out there to break it down like this, but I actually think it's an entirely valid point to look at where the strengths and weaknesses of various DAWs lie. I'm still in limbo on where I'll fall with the above, because some of it does matter. Years ago I did not know you could SysEx dump a patch from a hardware synth into Logic or DP etc. and the fact that I would need a third party application to do that in Bitwig and Live does impact my choice, since songs from 15 years ago can't be recalled patch wise because of that. Articulation mapping in Logic, Studio One and Cubase VS what I think is a better interface for 150 tracks in DPs Tracks Overview. Better automapping style behavior and built in samplers in Bitwig and Logic, plus more controller support etc.

Anyway, hope this breakdown helps someone make a choice, I 100% approve of comparative DAW 101 because I think it's as important to know what features you can live without, as it is to know which features you want/need.

[rardier]

i talk only about the soft i use and i lke, no bashing here

Cubase (i still love it but) : audioengine drop out when adding a new track, no custom midi api , no splitter or parallel processing inside a track (need to create another track or bus), no macro knob ( one knob could control more than one parameter), workflow could be sometimes easier (for example if you want to perform the same action on multiple track you have to link them), the dongle, automation aren't always accurate

Studion one: not really beautiful to look, lack of meter, some strange bug (sidechain), automation aren't always accurate


maschine (which is not really a daw) : for its purpose the only pb is that there's no plugin delay compensation
_

[machinesworking]

You guys love to whinge. Every "DAW" I've tried has been awesome. The things they can do are unbelievable. Honestly, if the biggest gripe you have about a DAW is "no track icons", as per J. Smith's comment, then you really don't have anything to complain about. The first thing I did when I started using Cubase was get rid of those stupid, childish track icons. It's not a Speak 'n' Spell, it's a serious professional application.

You hated Reaper and DP10, so your point is kinda lost right there. You actually could give a pretty decent breakdown of why you ended up on Studio One (I believe?) after trying a few before that, but instead you choose to complain about the posts before you.

Personally I like the track icons in Reaper and Logic simply because it's quicker to look for an image than to read a name or look for your particular color coding of tracks. I get why someone would not have a use for them though, since there are other ways to differentiate tracks from each other.

[machinesworking]

i talk only about the soft i use and i lke, no bashing here

Cubase (i still love it but) : audioengine drop out when adding a new track

That one is a big advantage of Bitwig and Live to me. All the other DAWs I've used are likely to stutter or throw up a warning when adding a new instrument or audio tract etc. The uninterrupted audio engine that truly lives up to it, but at least in those DAWs you pay for it with higher CPU usage.

[chk071]

Nothing beats Reaper, it's the best. Trust me, I've tried all of the DAWs.

Reasons? What are you missing with the other DAWs that your favorite one has?

LV2 support.

Mmh... ok. Have fun with all those LV2 plugins then?

[xbitz]

Bitwig- Does some improvements on what Live is, keyboard shortcuts, full screen MIDI and Audio editor, multiple ways to view Clips compared to the other DAWs, plug in sand boxing, arguably better modular environment for messing around with synthesis in the Grid than in M4L, great browser etc. Cons- Follows suite with Live in no SysEx and NRPN support, dumps ReWire, No scoring or Event editor. Doesn't have a movie hosting capability for scoring. No Comping, articulation mapping. No step sequencing specific functions. Some weirdness with the panel selection that takes a bit to get used to in terms of keyboard shortcuts, you have to select the panel then the shortcut etc. Bit of a CPU pig like Live. It's IMO never getting articulation mapping and scoring.

+ Bitwig has a mixer and the modulation curves inside clips can be seen in the arranger, so sound transitions can be managed easier for ex. as you add new layers>

which is a nice quality of life stuff

[SLiC]

Studio One doesn't do surround, the colours menu is random, no track icons, ripple edit behaves unusually, no video timeline, no middle mouse button drag/pan, no MPE support for VST3, autoscroll doesn't have a centered playhead.

But other than that it's great The only one that bothers me personally is 'MPE support for VST3'

I like DAWS and I have a lot of them...Studio One is my main DAW, but that primarily as I am a guitar/bass player I I record a lot of live instruments and vocal comps etc and I find S1 the easiest to use for this (and I quite like Melodyne).

I have Live for historical reasons (I bought in back at V4!) and I have so many packs and MAX things that I just keep it and view it as an instrument/sketch pad most of the time...I thought 11 was a pretty good update however and should give it more time now they have comping I could probably use it exclusively for what I do, but then I would also need an external audio editor....

I bought Bitwig as a replacement for Live as it did all the things I wanted Live to do at the time (better linier editor, in clip editing etc) and Bitwig has become the DAW I boot up to mess around and experiment with (electronic music, CV to modular, ambient etc). It couldn't replace S1 for me at this time (no ARA, no comping etc) but I really love its workflow. If I had to choose between Live and Bitwig it would be Bitwig.

So then there is Renoise- I bought this (it is very cheap) as I was thinking about getting a Polyend Tracker and I wanted to see if I still liked trackers (I did, now have both ) - is it limited, yes, its a tracker...but what fun

And last (and most recently) - FL Studio all plug in edition! I just thought it was amazing value (about £330 I think I paid) to get the DAW and all of the amazing Image Line FX, Drum Machines and Instruments (and midi and audio editors etc)...it is its own ecosystem (a bit like Reason Studio) with all of these plugins and it also works as a plugin in any other DAW. I find the new workflow quite interesting (and sometimes frustrating) but Image Line have gone their own way for over 20 years and not just copied every other DAW. Free updates to the DAW and all of the plug ins forever is pretty amazing, I would hate to think how much I have spent on say Live updates over the years!

I guess you could say I have Live and FL Studio for the 'content' (sounds and fx) as much as the way it works as a DAW.

Anyway- my conclusion- have as many as makes you happy

[SLiC]

Nothing beats Reaper, it's the best. Trust me, I've tried all of the DAWs.

I think I own all the other DAWS and the only one I really didn't like much was Reaper!

[ghettosynth]

Nothing beats Reaper, it's the best. Trust me, I've tried all of the DAWs.

I think I own all the other DAWS and the only one I really didn't like much was Reaper!

Reaper is like an ugly girlfriend with a great personality. She doesn't get your attention in the bar, but after some period of time, you really come to appreciate all of the subtlety of her ways and the genuine gifts that she possesses.

[xbitz]

Bitwig- Does some improvements on what Live is, keyboard shortcuts, full screen MIDI and Audio editor, multiple ways to view Clips compared to the other DAWs, plug in sand boxing, arguably better modular environment for messing around with synthesis in the Grid than in M4L, great browser etc. Cons- Follows suite with Live in no SysEx and NRPN support, dumps ReWire, No scoring or Event editor. Doesn't have a movie hosting capability for scoring. No Comping, articulation mapping. No step sequencing specific functions. Some weirdness with the panel selection that takes a bit to get used to in terms of keyboard shortcuts, you have to select the panel then the shortcut etc. Bit of a CPU pig like Live. It's IMO never getting articulation mapping and scoring.

and IMO easier to build small devices in it for ex. a device which modulates another one with two ADSR envelopes on every first-third incoming notes

for ex. can open a filter, programming in max(m4l) was always a bit complex for me

[MuzikFreq]

So far Bitwig gets close to this feature but still not

Reaper can have midi effects from cthulhu, ana2, ect. Before the midi record so when you record the midi it records the transposed notes/chords while all the others just transpose after the midi recording.

Reason has features of its own that work like this but cannot use ana2 or cthulhu as far as I know for this. But pretty much has their own version of chord players with tons of options and can record direct. Jack of all trades that one.

[zoidkirb]

Great DAWs with some bugbears....
Cubase: No gapless audio engine and a very average modulation system.

Ableton Live: Missing many key commands, small Midi editor is annoying. Crashes (highly subjective that one)

Reason: lacks VST3 and Midi out. F8 window is annoying. Reason Sound (just kidding!)

[SHall1000]

Ableton is close to perfect with the exception of 2 things:

2. The solo buttons dont work independently.

Not sure but is this what you are looking for:

Clicking the Solo switch (or pressing the S shortcut key) solos the track by muting all other tracks, but can also be used for cueing (see 15.6). With multiple tracks selected, pressing any of their Solo switches will solo all of them. Otherwise, tracks can only be soloed one at a time unless the CTRL(PC) / CMD(Mac) modifier is held down or the Exclusive Solo option in the Record/Warp/Launch Preferences is deactivated.