Daw's & Their Instrument / FX Browsers - The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

[THE INTRANCER]

Many of you have been using DAW's for several decades, some of you will will have started ten or less years ago... however if there is one thing that has always been critical in terms of workflow, it's accessibility in finding stuff that you want to use.

There's times where I don't know what I'm going to use, times where I don't know where something I want to use is and times I don't remember the name of...( when you reach your 30's / 40's and beyond, you start to forget people's names of those you've not seen in a while so plugin's are similar in that regard)... when it comes to plugins.

If you need to wade through possible list's of hundreds of FX / Instruments you have, spending an eternity doing so and that's before even using or testing out presets... you could well of have forgot what you were going to record in the first place or to use on what....

With all that said, I think you, can get the picture in where I'm coming from...

What's your perspective in the 'The Good, The Bad & The Ugly' in regard to today's DAW's and their 'Instrument / FX Browsers', and those you've used in the past ?

[inkwarp]

Good: Reaper , FL Studio, Studio One.
Bad: Ableton, Samplitude ( Well, not as good shall we say :] ).

my favorite browser is probs. reaper. some cool options, previewing, favorites, even a function to select parts of audio files and open just that part.
it's the best one 'on the fly' imo..

[aMUSEd]

Studio One does seem to have the best support for multiple preset types and can both load and save them (as all DAWs should) and the thumbnail based plugin browsing is also nice

Bitwig's 'hot swap' browser is smooth to work with and can also load quite a few native plugin formats as well as being the only one that loads u-he presets - but can only load, not save, presets (except in Bitwig's own format) which is just stupid.

[EnGee]

For me it's Cubase. The only DAW I tried that has midi review in both the original tempo and the host tempo.

[jancivil]

If you need to wade through possible list's of hundreds of FX / Instruments you have, spending and eternity doing so and that's before even using or testing out presets... you could well of have forgot what you were going to record in the first place or to use on what....

I simply do not do this. You have described the pitfalls of a dire lack of focus yet you seem to think this is a cool way to be. I know where everything is, which is much more feasible for me as I don't collect things except where I feel I'm going to work with it. And I create the soundsets myself typically. More doesn't always equal more if it's a quagmire, is it.

BTW, plurals don't need, or use an apostrophe before the s. I never comment on that but it's getting on my nerves lately.

[soulone82]

For me it's Cubase. The only DAW I tried that has midi review in both the original tempo and the host tempo.

You didn´t try REAPER then.

[No_Use]

Agreed, Reaper's is pretty good (IMO) but I sorely miss global preset management / tagging (like e.g. Cubase Media Bay has I think.)

[dark water]

Good: Logic - I'm jealous of it, but I don't have a Mac.

Ugly: Ableton Live 8 and Reason 4 - these are the ones I use and actually they're pretty good for me, but I admit that there are better options (and more up to date ones too) out there.

Bad: Sonar for obvious reasons, and Bitwig is half finished.

[.jon]

You simply have too many plugins if browsing becomes an issue.

Ableton is by far the best with the shortcut method, it separates the installed plugins and their file locations from those I actually use in a neat, custom folder structure. Reaper has something similar with the folders, but the way it prints the plugin names is retarded.

[chk071]

I like Studio One's instrument browser the best. Never liked Cubase's much, and it didn't get any better when they implemented custom lists. Reaper's is nothing special either, don't understand the rave about it. Like anything in Reaper, it looks and handles like Windows 98 (sorry).

[EnGee]

For me it's Cubase. The only DAW I tried that has midi review in both the original tempo and the host tempo.

You didn´t try REAPER then.

Reaper is an excellent DAW. I have it

It doesn't switch successfully between the midi file tempo and the host tempo. I did asked one of the developers, and he said that it depends on the tempo of the midi file info.

Anyway, to be honest, last time I checked was several months ago, so I'm not sure if there is a change recently.

[pdxindy]

For Instruments and FX, Bitwig pop-up browser is my favorite.

Say I am adding a track, I don't even need to click once with the mouse. Cmd-T creates a track and opens the pop-up browser. It opens with the search highlighted so I type the first 3 letters of the plugin I want, hit the down arrow key to select it which demos it on the track, then return to confirm the choice. Most of the time I never even look at the screen and total time is like 3 seconds.

If I am putting say an EQ between a synth and a delay, then one needs a single mouse click on the little + between devices to define where you are inserting the new device. Then the same fast process.

[Winstontaneous]

Reason 10 browser is pretty comprehensive, Logic Pro X is extremely full-featured. I wish Ableton Live's did a bit more - at least in 9 it's not a true browser per se - it doesn't let you fully traverse directories at will, only add new shortcut locations. More a hassle for files/samples than instruments/FX.

The Bitwig popup browser they added on 1.x was one of the things that drove me away from that DAW, I don't want something taking over my screen when adding devices. Maybe it's improved in 2.x.

[beatmangler443]

Native Instruments Maschine, and Presonus Stuido One end of discussion.

[Winstontaneous]

Native Instruments Maschine, and Presonus Stuido One end of discussion.

Good, bad, or ugly? Inquiring minds want to know!