DAW for music and SFX production

[zerocrossing]

I'm setting up a DAW for my employer, though it will be me using it. I personally use Bitwig, but I bought it for very different reasons than what I use it for with my work. I'm thinking maybe Cubase Pro? Not sure. It will be going on a PC build. They don't own much in the way of effects and virtual instruments, so having those included would be a bonus.

[KBSoundSmith]

Depending upon what specifically you're doing, my money would be on either Cubase Pro or Reaper.

Reaper is often used in game audio and there are scripts available which are optimized for it, and of course you can do any music production you'd need as well. If you are the type who is willing to customize the DAW, it will do whatever you want it to do however you want to do it. But, it doesn't come with an army of instruments and fx. So if you are in a situation where an IT dept has a hand in setting things up and they don't understand what's going on, juggling 3rd party instruments and fx could potentially be a problem. But if they are capable of being guided by you, the money saved on the price difference between Cubase and Reaper can be put into 3rd party instruments/libraries/fx etc (eg, reaper + komplete which is currently on sale). But again, it is a tweaker's DAW, so if you don't have the time (or authority...) to make changes to the environment to suit what you're doing, it might not be worth it. Reaper supports CLAP plugins btw, although I haven't explored this myself yet (yes, recently migrated to Reaper).

Cubase is more plug-and-play (it's been a while since I've touched it, but it's one of the few I'd always be willing to consider). It also comes with a bunch of instruments and effects. Like most bundled content, it isn't going to be as amazing as specialized libraries, but if someone can't make professional sounding results with what's included, that's on them. FWIW, I have Dorico which comes with some of the sound libraries included with Cubase (eg Groove Agent SE, Iconica Sketch, etc) and they're perfectly respectable -- if your orchestral needs are limited and you don't need specialized articulations, Iconica Sketch will work perfectly fine in conservative and hybrid scores (but you won't pull off hyper-modern scoring with it or passages requiring lots of articulations). But of course, you could always angle for an EastWest Composer Cloud subscription for orchestral needs if your demands are greater. Groove Agent sounds good and you can make your own sampled kits with it, it isn't feature-limited cripple-ware like you get with some included samplers. That said, I don't know if there are differences between what's included in Halion Sonic when it comes to Dorico vs Cubase, so it may not hurt to poke around Steinberg forums and see if you can find out what specifically is included. Cubase comes with synths like Retrologue 2 and Padshop 2 as well (not included with Dorico), plus some sound libraries, loops, etc.

I don't think you could go wrong with either, but I'd say the "safe" option is Cubase, between the two. The fact Cubase has a large corporation supporting it vs the two-man team of Reaper, plus the fact Cubase has "support" for an IT dept to waste time with (XD) may seem preferable to a corporate-minded employer. And since it comes with plenty of instruments and whatnot, it may be more convenient than guiding IT to installing a bunch of 3rd party instruments/fx. And you won't need to customize it as much as Reaper, so you might be able to start feeling comfortable and productive in the environment faster. That said, if you can navigate the issues mentioned with Reaper, you'd get a cost savings plus the power of a customized environment.

[zerocrossing]

Depending upon what specifically you're doing, my money would be on either Cubase Pro or Reaper.

Reaper is often used in game audio and there are scripts available which are optimized for it, and of course you can do any music production you'd need as well. If you are the type who is willing to customize the DAW, it will do whatever you want it to do however you want to do it. But, it doesn't come with an army of instruments and fx. So if you are in a situation where an IT dept has a hand in setting things up and they don't understand what's going on, juggling 3rd party instruments and fx could potentially be a problem. But if they are capable of being guided by you, the money saved on the price difference between Cubase and Reaper can be put into 3rd party instruments/libraries/fx etc (eg, reaper + komplete which is currently on sale). But again, it is a tweaker's DAW, so if you don't have the time (or authority...) to make changes to the environment to suit what you're doing, it might not be worth it. Reaper supports CLAP plugins btw, although I haven't explored this myself yet (yes, recently migrated to Reaper).

Cubase is more plug-and-play (it's been a while since I've touched it, but it's one of the few I'd always be willing to consider). It also comes with a bunch of instruments and effects. Like most bundled content, it isn't going to be as amazing as specialized libraries, but if someone can't make professional sounding results with what's included, that's on them. FWIW, I have Dorico which comes with some of the sound libraries included with Cubase (eg Groove Agent SE, Iconica Sketch, etc) and they're perfectly respectable -- if your orchestral needs are limited and you don't need specialized articulations, Iconica Sketch will work perfectly fine in conservative and hybrid scores (but you won't pull off hyper-modern scoring with it or passages requiring lots of articulations). But of course, you could always angle for an EastWest Composer Cloud subscription for orchestral needs if your demands are greater. Groove Agent sounds good and you can make your own sampled kits with it, it isn't feature-limited cripple-ware like you get with some included samplers. That said, I don't know if there are differences between what's included in Halion Sonic when it comes to Dorico vs Cubase, so it may not hurt to poke around Steinberg forums and see if you can find out what specifically is included. Cubase comes with synths like Retrologue 2 and Padshop 2 as well (not included with Dorico), plus some sound libraries, loops, etc.

I don't think you could go wrong with either, but I'd say the "safe" option is Cubase, between the two. The fact Cubase has a large corporation supporting it vs the two-man team of Reaper, plus the fact Cubase has "support" for an IT dept to waste time with (XD) may seem preferable to a corporate-minded employer. And since it comes with plenty of instruments and whatnot, it may be more convenient than guiding IT to installing a bunch of 3rd party instruments/fx. And you won't need to customize it as much as Reaper, so you might be able to start feeling comfortable and productive in the environment faster. That said, if you can navigate the issues mentioned with Reaper, you'd get a cost savings plus the power of a customized environment.

Thanks for this. I hear what you are saying, and I did consider Reaper, and am sort of still considering it. I'm leaning towards Cubase for a few reasons. First, money isn't a huge object. When I got the request, I threw out a high number and the response I got was, "do you know how much we spend a month on Maya?" So they don't seem to be that concerned.

Second, I do feel like my personality is more geared towards learning how something works, than customizing something to work like I want it to. I've played around with Reaper a little and I do find it kind of awkward. I'm not super slammed with audio tasks at the moment, but I sort of have to hit the ground at a decent pace.

Configuring software will be on me. For all the talk of security, they're oddly lax about this. They're going to configure a machine with a hardware encryption system on board, and I have a feeling it's going to be an issue. That said, it's not like I'm going to be recording a full orchestra at the same time, or even a live band. The owner thinks this will work. I have a feeling I'll end up turning it off and air-gapping that machine and just transferring files by a removable drive of some sort.

In terms of plugin instruments and effects, I do think it will be good to have the ones that come with Cubase Pro. I thought it came with Halion... I guess not. I've included other bundles in my proposal as well, so while maybe not necessary, it seems like the increase in cost would justify it. I would use Padshop Pro a lot. (we're making a sci-fi shooter) Not sure I'd use Retrologue much, but maybe. I also have a fair amount of hardware instruments that I can conscript if needed.

Thanks again for the advice.

[CapnLockheed]

You might give Presonus Studio One a look. It comes with quite a few good effects & instrument plugins, it has an easy learning curve and, tho I guess money is not an issue, Studio One Pro is nearly $200 less than Cubase Pro. Persoanlly, I use both. I've used variouus flavors of Cubase/Nuendo, (and still do), for years but I do a lot of work in Studio One as well. I find that, for some projects, it's workflow suits me better. They have a somewhat simiilar feel as Studio One was coded by former Steinberg employees. It's "undo" function is a lot more accessible and straight forward IMHO. That being said, if a project is MIDI intensive or involves video, I'll like likely go with Cubase or Nuendo. I also do some multimedia project in Magix Vegas.

[Broken]

For your use cases, and the fact you mentioned a preference for learning a program rather than tweaking one to your liking, Cubase seems like the clear choice.

[mothra]

I thought it came with Halion... I guess not. I've included other bundles in my proposal as well, so while maybe not necessary, it seems like the increase in cost would justify it. I would use Padshop Pro a lot. (we're making a sci-fi shooter) Not sure I'd use Retrologue much, but maybe. I also have a fair amount of hardware instruments that I can conscript if needed.

Thanks again for the advice.

Nope, no Halion with it, but it does have 'Sampler Tracks' which are kind of like a one layer 'Halion Lite' directly on a track (which can then be exported to Halion, PadShop or Groove Agent later). It comes with Halion Sonic (I think that's what its called now) that's basically a 'Player' version. The full Halion is totally worth it though FYI. Padshop is pretty awesome itself, Retrologue is just a good old 'vinstage style' subtractive synth. I've only used it for a couple things, but it does make some nice 'Reeses'..

[zerocrossing]

I thought it came with Halion... I guess not. I've included other bundles in my proposal as well, so while maybe not necessary, it seems like the increase in cost would justify it. I would use Padshop Pro a lot. (we're making a sci-fi shooter) Not sure I'd use Retrologue much, but maybe. I also have a fair amount of hardware instruments that I can conscript if needed.

Thanks again for the advice.

Nope, no Halion with it, but it does have 'Sampler Tracks' which are kind of like a one layer 'Halion Lite' directly on a track (which can then be exported to Halion, PadShop or Groove Agent later). It comes with Halion Sonic (I think that's what its called now) that's basically a 'Player' version. The full Halion is totally worth it though FYI. Padshop is pretty awesome itself, Retrologue is just a good old 'vinstage style' subtractive synth. I've only used it for a couple things, but it does make some nice 'Reeses'..

Yeah, seems an oversight not to include Halion in the "Pro" version of Cubase, but I included it in my proposal because I feel I need at least one Swiss-Army-knife style synthesis/sampling playground, and I really liked the spectral stuff I heard out of it.

[mothra]

Yeah, seems an oversight not to include Halion in the "Pro" version of Cubase, but I included it in my proposal because I feel I need at least one Swiss-Army-knife style synthesis/sampling playground, and I really liked the spectral stuff I heard out of it.

I was a little irked at that when I moved back to Cubase at v11. Coming from Logic, I guess I was spoiled (even though I actually DID buy EXS24 20+ years ago when it still was a $250 addon). At the time everything I was doing was MPC/EMU based so I only needed the DAW to track the 'finished project'. After getting sick of Akai refusing to actually fix the MPC and just releasing more plugins, went back in the box completely and had to get it, but honestly don't really regret it. I waited until 7 came out and jumped in so it was a little bit cheaper.

It can cover the Padshop/Retrologue stuff too, I think Padshops engine is built into it, and its got a VA engine along with the FM stuff too. I've really only used the sampler side of it (it can import Akai/EMU discs too!!), so there is a lot I still have to explore in it.