If you had to stick to one DAW, which one would it be?

[vurt]

Reaper. All day.

you should get some sleep ocassionally.

I'd expect he sleeps during the night, like normal people do.

hes not normal people.

[zvenx]

I of course voted Cubendo. It is the only DAW that I really use and have been for almost 20 years.

Despite all the negativity it receives here at kvr, surprising and nice to see at least up to this point It is the most adequate of DAWs in this poll.
Rsp

[legendCNCD]

Live or new Reason. They let me actually do music first before tinkering with channel settings etc like cubase/logic (yeah I know templates exist but still I find them much more cumbersome and bloated)

[pdxindy]

I could stay with Bitwig, but I'm afraid they'll drift away into the quirky modular instrument territory instead, barely paying attention to the DAW.

They have always done both and continue to do both. So no need to be afraid

[chk071]

Regarding Cakewalk: They should concentrate on bringing the included plugins into the 21st century. That old DX stuff is really, really long in the tooth. Also visually.

Also, there are some things which are only half implemented. Like Maeckie HUI support.

[AsPeeXXXVIII]

I already use only one DAW.

[docbot]

Right now I'd choose Bespoke (https://www.bespokesynth.com) since it's so much fun and has a lot of features.

That's the only DAW you could see yourself using for foreseable future? Interesting

yeah not somebody who records a lot (comping etc.), love it's OpenGL Graphics Lib GUI and more importantly modules are advanced and let me get everything done I would want from a DAW, but in a modular way.

The pianoroll let's you import midi and drag notes off grid and shorten them. There's a samplemodule that's like a pianoroll but for samples, so you can drag samples around in a measure like you would in a regular DAW track. Modules can be put into a prefab, so you can quickly import clusters of modules into a patch and it has VST3 support.

You can create whatever setup you want with it and it's super fun to use (for me), because of it's ease of use.

Bitwig Grid is a toy in comparison if you are really doing music, because of how utter basic all the modules are (and support for loading clusters of modules etc..)

[Trensharo]

I hear you, and I agree that there is some of that going on re: Cakewalk being free, but the hate started long before it became free. I was a Sonar user for 15 years before it became free and people always complained about it being unintuitive, cluttered, difficult to use, etc.

Well, the over-modularized nature of the UI isn't intuitive. It creates an opaque UX where users have no clue what the software can do unless they have specific modules open to view their module-specific toolbars and menus.

Doing this was nice, in theory, but in practice is almost never works out well. It instantly becomes frustrating the minute a user needs something but isn't sure where to look for it. A fishing expedition ensues.

I think that is a lack of intuitiveness.

I think Cakewalk is less cluttered, generally, with the Skylight interface than it ever was pre-Skylight (where it looked pretty terrible, and was pretty cluttered on top of it)...

However, as they add functions, the Inspector area is getting quite cluttered. The mixer can be really cluttered with ProChannel stuff enabled and expanded. The Control Bar can be really cluttered with lots of modules enabled.

Some things that should be exposed in the general UI are hidden in settings (and sometimes behind the Advanced Toggle) - like AudioSnap settings.

Setting up Control Surfaces can be a ROYAL PITA.

The Drum Maps system is pretty terrible.

But those are not showstopping issues for a $0 product.

15 years ago, people were being asked to pay several hundreds for SONAR Producer/Platinum. When you're trying to sell this for $499, the bar for "worth it" increases dramatically because Cubase, Digital Performer, Pro Tools, Ableton, FL Studio, Studio One, Reason, etc. all exist near or even below that price point.

For $0, I think most of that can be ignored - generally - as you will delete these "issues" as you go through the learning curve.

Every DAW has its inconveniences, despite what the fanbois say

[Sascha Franck]

I actually do stick to one DAW (Logic) for a long while already. And while I'm still thinking about trying out Live or Bitwig one day, so far this day hasn't come.
It is however possible that my Apple-anger will one day be too much for me to deal with (it has been close already), but OTOH, after 20+ years with Logic, I rather partially swallow my anger for another while to come.

[Trensharo]

Regarding Cakewalk: They should concentrate on bringing the included plugins into the 21st century. That old DX stuff is really, really long in the tooth. Also visually.

Cakewalk has fabulous plug-ins, but they stopped distributing them with the DAW when it went free.

The stuff distributed with Cakewalk are legacy plug-ins.

They won't be updated, because they were already basically updated and replaced with better stuff in the past. They remained in the package for legacy reasons - so that later versions of Cakewalk could open projects created in earlier versions using those plugins.

When Cakewalk went free, they kept those and dropped the newer stuff. I don't think this is a huge issue, as many people use their own plug-ins anyways, even in DAWs with far superior stock plug-ins.

So, you're kind of missing the point, there, and asking for a pipe dream.

I think the tiny UIs for the "Creative Suite" FX they [most recently] added make them practically unusable, though. They're actually more of a blight on the overall package than a value-add, due to this.

Beyond that, you can replace the creative FX in Cakewalk for almost nothing, these days. The Mixing FX are fine. The UI isn't great, but you can't have everything. While I think criticism is always valid, regardless of price, there is a point where it's... too much.

The only thing I hate about DX plug-ins, is how they force their way into other software that support DX plug-ins (Sound Forge/VEGAS Pro). You end up having to disable a ton of plug-ins in all of that software if you don't want that stuff showing up outside of the packages they were distributed with (and a lot of Sound Forge/VEGAS stuff is actually vendor-locked).

Cakewalk also installs a Vendor-locked version of TH3 in the global VST3 Plug-in Directory, which I find to be extremely bad form.

Also, there are some things which are only half implemented. Like Maeckie HUI support.

Do agree with this. Setting up control surfaces can be a PITA. The workaround is to get a Nektar Controller with DAW integration for Cakewalk/SONAR. I do think they should at least implement Komplete Kontrol support, though.

Generally, this is one of the weaker aspects of Cakewalk, especially for people who want to be able to use a controller with Buttons/Faders/Knobs/Transport/etc. The things some people on that forum went through to get an Oxygen Pro to work with Cakewalk... when it is like a 2 minute affair in a dozen other DAWs (or anything with Mackie Control/HUI support)... is kind of scary.

[Trensharo]

Whereas the same work in Studio One would only take me half a day and the result would sound betterer.

Lol. Not this again...

[chk071]

Regarding Cakewalk: They should concentrate on bringing the included plugins into the 21st century. That old DX stuff is really, really long in the tooth. Also visually.

Cakewalk has fabulous plug-ins, but they stopped distributing them with the DAW when it went free.

The stuff distributed with Cakewalk are legacy plug-ins.

They won't be updated, because they were already basically updated and replaced with better stuff in the past. They remained in the package for legacy reasons - so that later versions of Cakewalk could open projects created in earlier versions using those plugins.

When Cakewalk went free, they kept those and dropped the newer stuff. I don't think this is a huge issue, as many people use their own plug-ins anyways, even in DAWs with far superior stock plug-ins.

So, you're kind of missing the point, there, and asking for a pipe dream.

I don't think so. I enviously look at Cubase for its built in stuff, for example. Not for quality (I'm sure there is better third party stuff), but, how well it feels integrated in the DAW. Might sound pedantic, and superficial, but, I really do think that it's important to have a consistent feel, instead of stuff which just looks and feels alien in the DAW. E.g. I love that Cubase and Studio One show the EQ curve for the built in EQ's. That's a great touch, and feels as if the plugins are part of the features of the DAW.

I really think Cakewalk has some homework to do in that regard. Same with other DAW's, Mixcraft, for example.

[chk071]

Also, there are some things which are only half implemented. Like Maeckie HUI support.

Do agree with this. Setting up control surfaces can be a PITA. The workaround is to get a Nektar Controller with DAW integration for Cakewalk/SONAR. I do think they should at least implement Komplete Kontrol support, though.

Yeah, I think that's rather in the hands of NI though. Unfortunately, it also shows what they consider as "industry standard" DAW's (and which ones they don't...).

[BONES]

I like to see what I'm gaining and what I'm giving up by making a decision

And you can't simply intuit that? Adding and subtracting is a pretty cold way of making what should be an emotional assessment, don't you think?

But music-making is my hobby, a way to spend my free time & money on, so inevitably I like the new & shiny, because it's exciting!

This is the exciting for me -



A finished album full of songs of which I am immensely, inordinately proud is exciting, the process of getting to that point is just hard work.

I could even stay with Studio One, but they seem to focus on non-electronic music and mix/master engineers - I don't think there was anything for me in 5.0-5.5.

As someone who has been making electronic music for 40 years, I have to disagree with you. People were making incredible electronic music long before their were DAWs, using techniques that translate as well to Studio One as they do to Live. And Presonus are pretty good at hedging their bets - they have Joe Gilder to cater to us old fogies and Gregor Bayerle for the kiddies. I find I get more from Gregor's videos than I do from Joe's.

you will gonna love it instantly after you will be able to finish your projects with it...

That's interesting because the whole reason I ditched Fruityloops was because I never finished anything in it (same as Bitwig for me).

[voidhead23]

This topic comes at a good time for me, as i've been testing out some alternatives to Live after eight years with it. In that time i've made a ton of music: electronic, pop, ambient, soundtrack, techno-metal...i've DJ'd with it, i've run live sound with it, backing tracks for bands...then one day last year i woke up and realized i had completely lost any desire to work with 'electronics': synths, samples, drum machines...for now anyway. I just wanted to throw some guitar riffs together, put some bass guitar in there, program an acoustic kit in Kontakt and call it good. Basic metal garbage. And i thought 'crap...i should change to a DAW that makes all this stuff easier', because Live sucks both in CPU consumption and recording audio (re: latency and monitoring). I had workarounds but wanted to see if i could gel with a program where these basic things weren't such an issue.

So i looked at Studio One, gave Reaper and Logic a go...and just went back to Live. It's certainly not designed to make metal, but it solves most of my creative problems while every other program just solves practical ones. At its core, i feel that it has been designed by musicians who value simplicity and limitations and that aligns very closely with my own vision, even if those musicians are techno guys or whatever. That was the lightning bolt moment with Live eight years ago and why i think i'll be sticking to only using Live, barring it becoming an unstable bugfest (possible) or i need to use something else for work. It's expensive, unintuitive for 'band in a room' projects, and CPU hungry, but i just click with it.

Every DAW is amazing and every DAW sucks somewhere. Fundamentally, illogically, intuitively, which one do you click with?