Is Studio one the best choice for ARA with a Mac?
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- KVRian
- 508 posts since 15 Nov, 2012 from Arkansas, USA
Seems that Logic broke ARA. If you were just switching to Mac which daw would you recommend that has excellent ARA implementation?
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qtheerearranger qtheerearranger https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=325452
- KVRian
- 923 posts since 26 Mar, 2014 from Denver, Co
Cubase and s1 are both great with ara.
Cubase has way more warping algorithms and has a built in pitch editor (like logic does) except this one is actually good and you will reach for it at different times then you will reach for melodyne. Studio one has some basic warping algorithms and doesn’t come with anything special.
Pitch shifting sounds way better in cubase and it even has some old algorithms for when you want it to sound bad like s1s (sometimes that pitched up bad warp sounds fire)
However, even as a cubase user - I have to say s1 is a lot more intuitive especially for workflow. Cubase is rock solid while the latest s1 update I still get hang crashes when using the browser randomly so kinda side tangent on stability.
Cubase has way more warping algorithms and has a built in pitch editor (like logic does) except this one is actually good and you will reach for it at different times then you will reach for melodyne. Studio one has some basic warping algorithms and doesn’t come with anything special.
Pitch shifting sounds way better in cubase and it even has some old algorithms for when you want it to sound bad like s1s (sometimes that pitched up bad warp sounds fire)
However, even as a cubase user - I have to say s1 is a lot more intuitive especially for workflow. Cubase is rock solid while the latest s1 update I still get hang crashes when using the browser randomly so kinda side tangent on stability.
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- KVRAF
- 12184 posts since 7 Sep, 2006 from Roseville, CA
I’m primarily a Logic user, and my go-to for ARA (primarily when tracking vocals) is Pro Tools. I’ve also owned Studio One since the day it was released and, while ARA worked fine on it when I used to use it (mostly for collabs), I just don’t like that DAW and would probably sell it if I could get more than five bucks for it. 
Logic Pro | LUNA Pro | OB-X8 | Prophet 6 | OB-6 | Trigon 6 | Rev2 | TEO-5 | Pro 3 | SE-1X | Minitaur | Integra-7 | TR-1000 | Analog RYTM mk2 | Digitakt 2 | TD-3 MO | TD-3 | Maschine+
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- KVRist
- 151 posts since 26 Jan, 2024
I own most DAWs, use a Mac, and think S1 is the best option for people that want ARA support.
It's funny how far ARA support leaves other DAWs behind - Logic feels so old, so sluggish, so unusable to me now, and part of that is because of no ARA support.. or having to use Rosetta etc.. no thanks.
S1's great.
It's funny how far ARA support leaves other DAWs behind - Logic feels so old, so sluggish, so unusable to me now, and part of that is because of no ARA support.. or having to use Rosetta etc.. no thanks.
S1's great.
- KVRAF
- 1583 posts since 26 Aug, 2019
What is it about ARA in particular that evokes this feeling? I get workflow, but what ARA-supported plugins are you using and in what manner, that you describe returning to the alternative without them as "unusable"?harddaysnight wrote: Tue Jul 22, 2025 2:06 am I own most DAWs, use a Mac, and think S1 is the best option for people that want ARA support.
It's funny how far ARA support leaves other DAWs behind - Logic feels so old, so sluggish, so unusable to me now, and part of that is because of no ARA support.. or having to use Rosetta etc.. no thanks.
S1's great.
- KVRAF
- 2192 posts since 8 Jan, 2005
truer words have never been spoken.cryophonik wrote: Tue Jul 22, 2025 12:10 am I just don’t like that DAW and would probably sell it if I could get more than five bucks for it.![]()
The only thing I do with it is keeping it updated, maintaining the plugin list when I get a new one... and that's basically it.
MacMini M2 Pro …… MacOS Tahoe ……… Reason 14
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- KVRian
- 919 posts since 7 Sep, 2014
Cubase of course
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- KVRist
- 151 posts since 26 Jan, 2024
kidslow wrote: Sat Aug 23, 2025 5:04 pmWhat is it about ARA in particular that evokes this feeling? I get workflow, but what ARA-supported plugins are you using and in what manner, that you describe returning to the alternative without them as "unusable"?harddaysnight wrote: Tue Jul 22, 2025 2:06 am I own most DAWs, use a Mac, and think S1 is the best option for people that want ARA support.
It's funny how far ARA support leaves other DAWs behind - Logic feels so old, so sluggish, so unusable to me now, and part of that is because of no ARA support.. or having to use Rosetta etc.. no thanks.
S1's great.
VocAlign with ARA on its own more than justifies using a DAW with ARA support.
Goodbye hours and hours spent time-aligning vocals. No thanks.
I can do now with VocAlign Pro + ARA in like, 5 seconds flat, what used to sometimes take me entire days to get "right" manually.
Can do the same thing without ARA, but it means constantly dubbing audio and probably also doing it on a track by track basis. No thanks to all that. That's still going to wind up being hours of work per track.
I spam the ever-loving shit out of harmonies and layered parts so.. I'm all in on VocAlign + a DAW with ARA support.
Didn't even touch on how awesome it is for pitch correction. lol.