Three Top DAW's

[gatorjj]

Quote:Here's an interesting development that speaks to our portability question. Of course, it's by SSL so it probably costs a bundle:http://namm.harmony-central.com/WNAMM08 ... ator.htmlI wonder how well it works?MazzThat is really cool...and hopefully some studios would use it on their end to expand the client base (instead of us poor hacks doing it to fit their environments ). And yep, being SSL we probably couldn't afford it anyway

[prez]

All great advice even though Dryan stole my thunder. But it's all good. I'm a Cubase fan and ardent user. When I was looking for a DAW (after getting the preliminary things like a decent soundcard, making sure my PC would support it, etc.), I began to looking at the DAW that fit me. Downloaded demos of Logic, Sonar, Pro Tools and came to the conclusion they weren't for me. Especially Logic (nightmare!).Having said that, it may be the total opposite for you so I encourage you to take your time, figure out exactly what you're going to be doing with the DAW mostly (think about this long and hard and write it down if you have to), look ahead a bit and think about things you may do with it, then see which DAW comes closest to helping you accomplish those goals.And just to add more onto your plate , there's one more DAW that no one has mentioned that's insanely easy. FL Studio. And the price is reasonable. Jude 2

[mojobone]

Yep, to each his own; in my sitch, it's what makes sense for me. Plus I don't care to be saddled with proprietary interfaces and a hefty TDM surcharge on all the software I wanna buy. Now if I could just get the cat outta my lap when I'm tryin' to work.

[mojobone]

You can use native versions on an LE system? I did not know that.

[gatorjj]

I gotta throw my semi-annual plug in this thread for Tracktion, though if I was intending to go beyond my own 4 walls I think ProTools would be my DAW of choice, just like Windows...I'm over fighting the man!

[timmcallister]

Jul 16, 2008, 5:44pm, heinsite wrote:i am a very very very NON TECHIE person, so what would be the easiest thing to switch to without taking a month of my damned creative time to learn? again, i am dense in this area. this traction thing sounds good, i've of course heard of protools, and was considering it. what course would you recommend to a beginning, Based on your statement you are using hardware device (Boss 1600) you might find it easiest to use a "linear" DAW. Protools, Traction, Sonar, Reaper and others operate in this manner. Ableton Live is a completely different animal. And that can be good or bad depending on what YOU want. In a nutshell, Live's session view is set up to allow you to write one or multiple versions of the verse, chorus, bridge, intro, etc, etc and then "string them together" anyway you want while the song is playing. For ME, this works best as it is how I write songs with a band. That is, as the band is playing the song, you can call out what part to go to next and try stuff out. But better yet, ableton is set up to easily record stuff as you are jumping around. Sure, you can rearrange stuff in a "linear" DAW; essentially, you copy and paste stuff around. I assume your Boss can do this as well. But you can't do it on the fly.In todays age, I believe (if you will be recording yourself) learning your DAW is just like learning another instrument. If you put some time into it, it will serve you well, and if you stick with a DAW, you kinda know it, so after the learning curve, you'll just stay productive.Jul 16, 2008, 5:44pm, heinsite wrote:who does mostly rough home demos, but needs that pro sounding stuff/gadgets to HELP me sound like you guys more.The truth is, there is little difference in SONIC quality between DAWs. It's really that last 2% thing, meaning about any "pro" DAW will sound 98% as good as the very best. And "the very best", whatever that happens to be, is debatable.What WILL make a difference in sound quality are the plug-ins used to process the audio you recorded. And sorry to say, this is where you have a real learning curve if you want to become proficient. We can argue plug-in's to death, oh my... UAD, Duende, Sonalksis and Waves commonly acknowledged as being on top, but there are others. Ugghh. Now I opened a whole can of worms.Ya know what, the Boss 1600 is a decent piece of gear. It's more than Bruce Springsteen used to record Nebraska. Its more than the Beatles used to record Sgt Peppers.Yeah - I've totally changed my mind. Save your self the headaches of a computer. Stick with your Boss.

[ibanez468]

Jul 16, 2008, 10:40pm, timmcallister wrote:Ya know what, the Boss 1600 is a decent piece of gear. It's more than Bruce Springsteen used to record Nebraska. Its more than the Beatles used to record Sgt Peppers.Yeah - I've totally changed my mind. Save your self the headaches of a computer. Stick with your Boss. HAHAHAHA. That's funny. I think I've made that same statement more than once before. Heinsy, I have a habit of dabbling between all forms of workstations, computerized & standalones. I like both. Each has it's strengths & weaknesses, as others have mentioned. I think the standalones are probably the easier of the 2. What I would suggest is, continue using your Boss 1600 ta' pump out the serious TAXI tunes (or other serious tunes) while you FIND the time ta' get acclimated to a computer DAW. I have several. Cubase LE, Sonar 5.0, ACID 5.0, Tracktion 2, & Ableton Live Lite 4 Korg Edition (which I haven't used at all, but that doesn't mean that it's not a good one). I find that ACID, IMO, is the easiest ta' work, but it's more of a loop-based application, but you can just as easily record audio & work with midi in it as well. I plan on getting ACID 6.0 and hope that it still is easy ta' work with. I do alot of my final tweaks in ACID just because of the ease of use. I usually start out in Sonar, and end up in ACID. I get the midi stuff recorded & converted in Sonar. I get the live stuff recorded on my standalone (TASCAM 2488). And I generally bring it all together in ACID. Crazy system, but it works out well for me. I can really fine tune & line tracks up individually in ACID. You can snap 'em to measures or move 'em freely. I like it's simpleness. They've kept the complications out of the equation thus far. Don't know what 6.0 is like, but I hope it's just as simple.There's my $.02. Hope it's worth sumpin'. I-468

[ibanez468]

Uuhhh, Steven, do ya' mind tonin' down your picture a little? It's really hard for me ta' read the board without adjustin' things.

[sgs4u]

I thought it sized out fine when I posted it. No prob, it`s deleted.Jul 17, 2008, 4:50pm, ibanez468 wrote:Uuhhh, Steven, do ya' mind tonin' down your picture a little? It's really hard for me ta' read the board without adjustin' things.

[ibanez468]

Well, I will say that, for me, Sonar 7 has been quite a bit quirky. Alot of weird things have been happening ever since I made the upgrade to 7.0.2. If not for my familiarity with DAWs, I probably would've scrapped the thing by now, but so far I've managed to get past any problems that I've encountered. And I got a new computer and everything. Don't think it's the computer though, I think it's Sonar. I've been lucky enough to salvage 2 tunes now using Sonar 7. Something that I didn't have a problem with when I was using Sonar 5.0. Oh well, what're ya' gonna do? Press on, I suppose. I-468