How did you manage to switch DAWs?

[frnsh]

Hey,
after a long fight within myself, I finally decided to switch my main DAW.
Now I know that the one I'm using now would improve my workflow in the long run, but man, I really miss my fast workflow.
The frustration sometimes eventually brings me back to the old DAW throwing me into a never ending cycle. Feels like coming back to a toxic relationship over and over
I'm sure I'm not the first one ever to experience this, so how did you guys that made the DAW switch manage to beat this?
It's even worse considering I'm lucky enough to get paid for my music related work, so it's crucial for me to deliver a quality standard.
Have you ever felt like your productivity or even quality of your work is suffering due to the switch?

[andypryce]

I've been there. You feel like chained and strangled and just stare at the screen without writing a note
You have to forget your old DAW and it's workflow. Just force yourself to finish a song with the new one. Never open the old one during that time. If it allows match the key commands. That is the most important thing when switching. After 1-2 songs it becomes easier.

[machinesworking]

I didn't find it that hard. Over the years I've switched from Digital Performer with Reason rewired, to Logic, to Logic and Live to DP and Live, to Reaper. Now DP and Bitwig. Reason as a rack plug in. Didn't mention Maschine and MPC Live.

Mostly my question is how people stay in one DAW? I see a feature I like in another DAW and I learn that DAW until I get bored. I'm trying to stay in DP mainly, but I love the controller implementation and MPE support in Bitwig.

[andrei.tuduran]

Switching DAWs is benefic because after some time working with all you will find out what DAW your brain likes most.

Try to finish one song in each DAW.

[concealed identity]

After my computer completely dying and being forced to reinstall everything on a new one, I've decided to move on from my copy of Cubase 4 and join the modern DAW scene (and move on from Cubase, for various reasons).

Live seemed like the obvious choice for what I do, so I decided I was going to learn it from the demo and then buy it eventually. Well, literally every time I've used it has been grueling, frustrating, and about as far away from fun as you can get. Nothing in that program works like I think it should, and when I do finally figure out how to do something, I've forgotten it by the next session.

It got the point where I just didn't even want to open it up anymore, and I figured if the software is making me not want to make music, maybe it just isn't for me. This was affirmed when I went back to Cubase and had a great start to a song in an hour. So in the end, I gave up on Live, and will most likely be moving to Studio One, which still has its quirks, but just seems to make sense when I use it.

So the lesson is, maybe you don't need to change? Or maybe you need to change to something other than what you've decided?

[antic604]

Is it really difficult? From my experience, once you have your music production stuff down on a theoretical level, i.e. you know "what" you do & "why", not just automatic "how" (signal routing, editing, automation, effects, etc.) then it's a matter of figuring out how they work in particular DAW. Keyboard shortucts & settings are usually the places I get stuck the most, because they can be all over the place between DAWs, especially when the same thing is called differently. But otherwise it's been pretty smooth, although I can't get myself to properly try FL or Hollyhock, because they're too different from "normal" DAWs

On the other hand I'm just a hobbyist and trying new DAWs gives me more pleasure than actually finishing tracks, so I've no clue how would that be if there was a client waiting with a deadline to be met.

BTW, why are you switching the DAW?

[Yorrrrrr]

My workflow, creativity and quality boosted tremendously the last time I switched (from FL Studio to Live). It just needed an adjustment time.

[vurt]

bought new host, opened host, recorded stuff.

[niltonbvfilho]

it's difficult. but there are changes that are for the better. as an acquaintance said: "before it gets better, things get worse" hahaha

[EdgarRothermich]

First of all, the grass is not greener on the other side.
Nowadays, you can create a professional recording with most DAWs and it often comes down to personal preferences which one you choose.

First, you pick the DAW that best fits your needs. Most "Top 10 DAWs" lists are useless and more of clickbait.
There is always something that another DAW is doing better than your DAW. Get over it (unless it is a deal-breaker). You should invest your time to learn your DAW as much as possible, so you are being as good (fast) as you can on your DAW. If you encounter a shortcoming develop a smart way how to work around that or achieve the same result differently. Again, unless it is a deal-breaker, like if you want to do a Dolby Atmos mix in Ableton Live.

Do you want to spend (waste) your time chasing the best DAW and constantly (re-)learn a new DAW instead of actually "using" your DAW? It is a little bit like some computer nerds who constantly working on the inside of their computer, instead of actually using their computer to get some work done.

[Jafo]

I went from Audacity to a free NFR of Tracktion 1 back in... 2003? But then, my DAW needs are simple (maybe even minimalistic), so I doubt I'm using even 10% of a DAW's capabilities. I'm probably an edge case.

Anyway, I've tried other DAWs -- Sonar, Studio One, N-Track Studio, Ableton/Live/whatever the hell they're calling it, Bandlab/Cakewalk/whatever they're calling it, Reaper, and a few others -- but they always seemed bizarre to me; I'll never understand why the same information needs to be duplicated horizontally and vertically. If I actually used a DAW as a DAW, I'd surely have experimented more.

[frnsh]

BTW, why are you switching the DAW?

I feel like everything that could be done in 1 click actually takes 3 more in FL. The browser sucks so much I started using ADSR Sample Manager instead.
Every record take starts in a new track line. I’m not a huge fan of patterns and sounds “live on their own” even if they’re not routed to mixer. You have to make everything unique for every small little change and unchangeable hotkeys layout suck

[frnsh]

First of all, the grass is not greener on the other side.
Nowadays, you can create a professional recording with most DAWs and it often comes down to personal preferences which one you choose.

First, you pick the DAW that best fits your needs. Most "Top 10 DAWs" lists are useless and more of clickbait.
There is always something that another DAW is doing better than your DAW. Get over it (unless it is a deal-breaker). You should invest your time to learn your DAW as much as possible, so you are being as good (fast) as you can on your DAW. If you encounter a shortcoming develop a smart way how to work around that or achieve the same result differently. Again, unless it is a deal-breaker, like if you want to do a Dolby Atmos mix in Ableton Live.

Do you want to spend (waste) your time chasing the best DAW and constantly (re-)learn a new DAW instead of actually "using" your DAW? It is a little bit like some computer nerds who constantly working on the inside of their computer, instead of actually using their computer to get some work done.

Exactly how I feel. This kinda does keep me away from making the full switch.

I also think that maybe you just eventually hit the ceiling of every DAW you use, if you use it long enough. Meaning that you’ll find something that bugs you in every DAW. Nevertheless, I just find some of the FL workflow limitations insanely bizzare for my personal taste.

[Passing Bye]

Have you ever felt like your productivity or even quality of your work is suffering due to the switch?

Switched because it was the opposite, I made music more easily and it was even better than before because of it, it didn't happened over night, but once I unlearned all stupid workarounds and really got into different mindset with new DAW, it all made much more sense on almost all fronts, realized I'm wasting time on unnecessary things instead of just getting stuff done.

[Unaspected]

Whilst I tried a number of other DAWs in the late 90s, I settled on FL Studio - after initially purchasing Fruity Loops. I had no issues picking up Pro Tools and Logic when I had to - though I favoured Pro Tools at the time. The skills were transferable. Maybe some different terminology. But when I wanted to move to Reaper (dropping FL Studio and Pro Tools) I found it more difficult.

Maybe one reason was that I was professionally tutored to use Pro Tools and Logic, so I was very focused as I paid good money. Reaper was on my own time. I really wanted to find something that compared to FL Studio's mapping formulas and quick and easy side-chaining audio to any plugin parameter but found Reaper lacking. So I reluctantly returned to what was comfortable.

However, after recent updates to FL Studio presented audio issues and it became clear that audio editing would never be approached in a sensible manner, I had to force myself to open up the sea of menu options that is Reaper. And I'm enjoying it more. Not just because I have to but now I'm more up to speed, I can actually edit audio quicker than I could in Pro Tools - and that is really impressive to me.

FL Studio is also extremely inefficient as a DAW. I never had issues with loading up plugin after plugin in Pro Tools but always favoured mixing in FL Studio due to those mapping formulas and automation clips. However, after tracking some bass into Reaper the other day, I started adding some plugins, adding oversampling and didn't hit the wall. Then I realised I had also forgotten to set my buffer back up for processing. I had a buffer of about 1ms and was loading up plugins that bring FL Studio to its knees with a buffer of 512 samples.

I don't know how interesting this is.

Anyway. I'm happy with Reaper now. Still using some templates in FL Studio and bouncing to Reaper for tracking and mixing - but I should be attempting to replicate them (somehow) in Reaper so that I can finally keep everything contained in one DAW.

The latest default skin for Reaper looks very nice also.

The options in Reaper are a little overwhelming at first but it isn't as much of a camel as FL Studio. Which is a camel that I love - and I will still be helping people out with FL Studio related matters here and on The FLipside.