Are DAWs Today Just Boring ?

[antic604]

So if you need new colorful exciting supadupa DAWs doing fireworks and belly dance etc... Then maybe you have even more dopamine deficiency than me

No one is saying that (not me, at least). But I find it curious that someone can find it exciting when they get new guitar, new synth or FX; but can't feel the same excitement when getting a new DAW (or a big update) that usually opens the door to much more creativity than yet another guitar can.

Also, if DAWs were not exciting, this forum would be ghost town, with just OPs informing of new DAW release followed by dead silence...

[antic604]

I get that angle (of kiddos expecting stuff), but you somehow imply that DAWs getting "easier" to work with and more feature-packed - therefore more exciting, as per the topic of this thread - are somehow less professional and more of a toy, rather than a tool.

Now it worries me that you think that a more feature packed DAW is universally a more exciting one. Not to Bones and not necessarily to me either, depends on the features needed and that is individual. Your false premise undermines a lot of your assertions here.

I never said "universally". And I also mean "features" in a broad sense, not just new instrument / fx / loop pack.

Example? In v4 Bitwig added a feature to import Live and FL sessions, which made a lot of people... excited?! ...about them now being able to collaborate with their friends, open their old projects, easily access sounds provided with the other DAW that they have, etc.

Actually, if you follow DAW update threads you will see a common thread - when the update revolves mostly about added content, then usually it's a badly received update. People want features that make their workflow faster, easier; or allowing them to do things they couldn't do so far. I'm sure @BONES was excited when S1 added the Show page, but I understand in your eyes such a feature is dumbing down of a DAW to the level of talentless kiddos.

[TribeOfHǫfuð]

And I read your comment as a bit of snobbery - "Once upon a time I had to go to school / course and take a mortgage to record and produce music and only the brightest & most blessed of us could pull it off. Nowadays 10 year olds have access to more than I did for the price of their lunch money. And they all want to use it and be the next X or Y. Those damn talentless, spoiled kids!!!"

Yeah, well, exaggerating it like that tells me I have hit a soft spot. Sorry about that, mate, I was not thinking of you in particular, but I will take your sensitivity into consideration for the future

[antic604]

Yeah, well, exaggerating it like that tells me I have hit a soft spot. Sorry about that, mate, I was not thinking of you in particular, but I will take your sensitivity into consideration for the future

What soft spot? That I don't have talent, have very little skill & lack dedication to my hobby? I'm grown up enough to be well aware of that!

What strikes me as weird though, is that you lot pretend to be taking your DAWs all so cold & professional, but shit your pants with excitement for new version of a VST, new guitar pickup or firmware update that lets you use LFO in your hardware synth as additional oscillator...

[TribeOfHǫfuð]

I never said "universally".

Then the statement concerns you only by default and you should use a to-me prefix.

And I also mean "features" in a broad sense, not just new instrument / fx / loop pack.

Broad or small, the argument more features = more exciting is a fallacy unless you are only referring to yourself by which your discussion with Bones is pointless.

I'm sure @BONES was excited when S1 added the Show page

And so what? That does not necessarily make this feature exciting to everyone. Thought you were on the road to drop the universals, but instead you are just self contradictive: There are no universal exciting features except that there are. Right.

but I understand in your eyes such a feature is dumbing down of a DAW to the level of talentless kiddos.

Yes, cling to your hilarius strawmen and distorted readings, that will surely be to your benefit

[antic604]

And so what? That does not necessarily make this feature exciting to everyone. Thought you were on the road to drop the universals, but instead you are just self contradictive: There are no universal exciting features except that there are. Right.

What gave you the impression I was EVER talking about universal and objective things here? Especially if the topic is about excitement?! I thought it's a given I'm expressing my subjective opinion and there's no need for "to me" or "IMO". Stop being ridiculous. Should I put a trigger warning too?

[antic604]

but I understand in your eyes such a feature is dumbing down of a DAW to the level of talentless kiddos.

Yes, cling to your hilarius strawmen and distorted readings, that will surely be to your benefit

I asked you to explain the logic of your original post, which you failed to do. Perhaps I read it wrong, but it seems for you the world looks like that:

1) Cold (wanna be) professionals - "Bummer, they've added ARA integration and now I won't be able to any longer charge by the hour for meticulously aligning & pitch correcting audio. Those f**kers!!!"

vs.

2) Easily excitable, talentless kiddos - "Awesome, fire bro! They've integrated ARA so now I have a fighting chance to finish my banger before I phase out completely when this heroin I just snorted kicks in"

[TribeOfHǫfuð]

What gave you the impression I was EVER talking about universal and objective things here?

That you are discussing it with everone as if it was and sneak a lot of universals into it like the “show page” or features in a “broad” sense. If you are exchanging your own views only, there are no point to discuss them with people as if they could be right or wrong, or discuss their views if they could be right or wrong, and that is what you do, including your answer to my post.

It is the usual net mess between subjectivity and objectivity and is all over the internet, so do not dispair. Without this mess there would be a much less discussion and internet exciting so to speak.

[TribeOfHǫfuð]

I asked you to explain the logic of your original post, which you failed to do.

Yeah, well, this is also a matter of opinion, but since you have shown no cababilities, nor will, to grasp the corner of that, I think I will just leave the statement as is and wish you the best excitement in the world with your DAW

[antic604]

What gave you the impression I was EVER talking about universal and objective things here?

That you are discussing it with everone as if it was and sneak a lot of universals into it like the “show page” or features in a “broad” sense. If you are exchanging your own views only, there are no point to discuss them with people as if they could be right or wrong, or discuss their views if they could be right or wrong, and that is what you do, including your answer to my post.

Sure. Discussing things is a tool with which I'm trying to understand other view points and perhaps change my own, if I find it to be wrong. Therefore all I'm doing here is expressing my surprise that people somehow defined a hard line between DAWs and synths/fx/hardware and decided that the former are just a tool and nothing to be excited about. I don't get this distinction & try to understand it.

So far all I'm seeing is ridiculing the idea of "exciting DAW" by equating them to hammers, to needing belly dancers to be exciting or having to cater to entitled talentless kiddos. I remain unconvinced

[antic604]

Yeah, well, this is also a matter of opinion, but since you have shown no cababilities, nor will, to grasp the corner of that, I think I will just leave the statement as is and wish you the best excitement in the world with your DAW

DAWs. Plural. You forget I'm easily excited, therefore I've 7 of them.

[TribeOfHǫfuð]

DAWs. Plural. You forget I'm easily excited, therefore I've 7 of them.

Oh…that may explain a thing or too, I’ll give you that Well, for your info, I find Reason quite exciting compared to the DAWs, I have used. I like to play with it too for the sake of playing and getting inspired.

This could be the part of it where I can understand your approach.

But mainly I love it because it gives me what I need to make and finish a tune. There are also features I could do without. And now comes a really pragmatic point: Sometimes it can be a hindrance to finishing anything when there are so much to play with, a distraction.

This could be the part where Bones’ approach makes sense to me.

So with a little dynamics and fluency, I really have room for both of you. It all depends on the goal of the day. Sometimes I do not want to do anything but play, and then I indeed allow myself that.

[kvotchin]

Okay, as my question was ignored ...

I’ll just add my 2c on DAWs these days. I think we are truly blessed, to have all these amazing options. Almost all of them are great, IMO. And the others obviously appeal to some people, so .. yay!

Personally, I see Ableton as very interesting, especially Suite, with Max and various other coolness.

Reaper is a “swiss army knife”, and so can be just about whatever you want it to be.

Bitwig has its patching kinda thing, and that’s pretty awesome.

So does FL, in its own way. Not quite to the same extent, but still.

Reason’s rack is meant to be purty. Um, never tried it, but sounds good.

And so on.

[pixel85]

So if you need new colorful exciting supadupa DAWs doing fireworks and belly dance etc... Then maybe you have even more dopamine deficiency than me

No one is saying that (not me, at least). But I find it curious that someone can find it exciting when they get new guitar, new synth or FX; but can't feel the same excitement when getting a new DAW (or a big update) that usually opens the door to much more creativity than yet another guitar can.

Also, if DAWs were not exciting, this forum would be ghost town, with just OPs informing of new DAW release followed by dead silence...

Well, due to OP, none of DAWs are exciting. Question is why? What DAW need to have to be exciting? It looks like for OP, new features in DAWs, that you're finding exciting , are not exciting to him (and some others). Don't get me wrong, I like new features in DAWs but I don't find them to be exciting (not to that extend).
Instruments? It depends. You don't play them so you don't find them exciting but for those who do, they may see them more exciting than another feature in DAW.

Btw. I was half-serious about dopamine deficiency. But I know that on KVR nobody gives a flying f*** that GAS, acquiring new plugin every day, 3 seconds-long excitement of a new toy... It may be a result of underlaying physical or mental (or both) issues. Also it's similar to stereotypical girls who are buying new dress every day to feel good for a few seconds. DAS

[recursive one]

I never tried Bitwig (and probably never will) but for almost any feature that could potentially interest me in Ableton or FL Studio and which Studio One lacks there's a better 3rd party alternative or a simple workaround.

I'd say that's not true, factually. But whether it matters for the quality of the end result is obviously debatable and the average listener definitely wouldn't care

I talked about features that could potentially interest me, not all the features available. I actually think everything tends to have too much features these days. Imagine a combo of Bitwig and Phaseplant, that would be a worst nightmare for me lol (well, not really but there seems to be quite a bit of redundancy in there).

Whatever sound generators and processors a DAW may have, they most likely will be sonically inferior to the best 3rd party stuff (of course, except vb-1 and the old quadrafuz ). I think I could make some use of something like Fruity Envelope or Peak contollers (if there's something Studio One really lacks, that's internal controllers of that kind), but most of the synth and effect plugins I use have their own advanced modulation tools, so it's not that I really feel I miss a lot.

Not to say FL looks too much eye-candy to be functional and Ableton is too ugly too look at it for more than 20 minutes.

Doesn't that contradict your earlier point, though? If DAW is just a tool, then it shouldn't matter how it looks as long as it has all the tools & workflow you require

That wasn't meant to be serious Visual aesthetics is far from the most improtant factor, but it does matter somewhat. If something looks too pretty, as if the design was borrowed from an anime or some console game or the like, or too hideous (imagine an Ableton and Synth1 combo ) that will likley distract me somewhat