best daw for interweb collaboration

[TheRealPatrickAdams]

Just wondering how those who are collaborating online with others are doing it. I am extremely new to Daw's and doing the research to pick one to start learning to use. What are the pros/cons of what you use? Thanks for the help.

P.S. Hoping to find new collaborators at the Rally this year.

[hummingbird]

Hi Patrick - I don't think the DAW matters. If I am collaborating musically I'm going to be sending / accepting stems that are wav files for mixing into the project.

We always start out with a rough worktape that has a count-in at the beginning, and is setup according to the agreed arrangement. I put that into my DAW and write/record my contribution using it as a guide. I then mute the worktape and run off the stems and send them (without removing silence from start)... I'll usually put the countin at the start so it's easy for the mixer to line up the tracks.

JMHO.

In terms of what to use - Tracktion just announced that Tracktion 6 is now free to use. This is a great DAW imo, easy to use and relatively low priced as well. I have used Tracktion for years.
https://www.tracktion.com/products/t6-daw

[Len911]

I agree, it doesn't matter for collaboration, I'm not sure anyone swaps project files very often if at all, and even if you did, sometimes older versions of the same software might prove troublesome.

Your best fit daw depends on a couple things really, first thing is what OS you have, Mac, Pc, Linux? Price. What you primarily do, like a lot of samples, or mainly just straight forward old fashioned console recording, or everything,lol!

It's hard to beat Logic on a Mac for price/performance. Cubase imo is more of the everything, especially if you do a lot of midi or sample manipulation. But then there's Reaper $60. Harris Mixbus maybe if you are the old fashioned console guy that just wants to record tracks in a straight forward fashion. Pro Tools, the pro, high dollar edition if you want to operate a pro studio. The list just goes on and on, and for most of the mainstream type everything daws, there probably isn't just one that reigns supreme over all others and are becoming equally adept at performing all major tasks. Once you get familiar and learn one of them, if you decide to change later, it isn't as arduous a task as it will be with the first one.

I'm still on Cubase 5. It's one of those $500 daws, that's probably the biggest con, but as far as versatility, Mac or Pc, stability and stalwart, been around forever, always on the leading edge, it's right up there in the top tier of daws.

The other thing to consider, is that there are many other third party effect and instrument vst's, notation software, that you might not prefer or use in a full featured daw like Cubase. Otoh, if you tally the price of notation software, the melodynes... they can cost more than Cubase...

Many interfaces come bundled with a free lite version of a daw like Cubase, for some that's all they need.

[mojobone]

The DAW doesn't matter all that much, as long as as you can capture at 24bit-48kHz or better. Try downloading and reading the manuals to DAWs you think you might be interested in. I don't always use a count-in or a click track, but I always use Tracktion, unless I'm in someone else's studio. It has two unique features; t's extremely easy to learn (especially if you've ever used any kind of analog mixer) and you can bus any track to any other track or stereo pair, meaning you can have as many subgroups (and sub-subgroups) as you need and unlimited tracks, to your machine's capacity. At version 2 it was the 1st DAW with 64bit internal architecture and floating-point calculation and handled the highest sample rates long before Pro Tools could. One non-unique feature is that it's platform agnostic; PC/Mac/Linux are supported. Linux, since T5, IIRC. Supported plugin formats include VST, AAX, AU and more and you can output BWAV, AIFF, FLAC, various flavors of MP3 and Ogg Vorbis.

If you're doing trailer music or huge orchestral mockups, Digital Performer is a great bet. If you're on a Mac, and just starting and need instruments, Logic gets you farther, faster, cuz you can do pro work with the built in instruments and plugins.

Reaper is probably the most advanced, fully featured DAW available for the money. If you work primarily with beats, samples and loops, Ableton and Fruity Loops have some advantages.

[TheRealPatrickAdams]

Thanks for the reply! I have looked into most all of them and will make a selection after the Rally. I plan to talk to alot of people there and get all their input as well. Really looking forward to seeing everyone there. I plan to get my dots!

[billhewett]

The only thing I have to add re: choosing a DAW is that you might want to try as many as you can to see if any one feels particularly intuitive to you. While you can switch anytime you like, I have found that after years of using Reaper I find it difficult to jump into something else... I would bet the large majority of users (not EVERYBODY, but most) stick with one of the first few DAWs they use, simply because it is more comfortable than anything else. I started Reaper back when it was full-featured shareware with a "suggestion" to purchase, so I jumped in because of the price point even though at the time it wasn't very intuitive to me. Now that I know my way around I love it, but had I tried other options back then and money wasn't a concern I might have gone with something else.

It's kind of like the question my IT clients often ask "Should I switch from a PC to a Mac for home use?" My answer is, go down to the Apple store and play with one of the Macs... if the interface resonates with you then go for it. Personally I can't stand them, but not because they aren't AMAZING computers... I'm just too comfortable on PC and Linux.

Happy DAW shopping, and I'll see you at the Road Rally!

-Bill

[TheRealPatrickAdams]

Well, I have a program that I got with my old digitech gnx4. It's called Pro Tracks Plus. Looks like its an early type version of Sonar. Slightly related you could say. Maybe my plan should be to work on that stuff. I believe it can record 24 to 32 tracks. Should be all I need for now. I've got a Craig Anderton book about it besides the digitech manual. The manual that comes with the Pro Tracks software is very dry and bland. It'll be a jump in and see where we go kinda thing! That stuff is (old), but it still will work for me for now. That way I don't have to fork over a chunk of money for the latest and greatest daw and such. I've been watching taxi tv and am now motivated by the episodes with "Crawdaddy".

Maybe just concentrate on getting my music recorded with what I already have.

What do you guys think?

[Len911]

Well, I have a program that I got with my old digitech gnx4. It's called Pro Tracks Plus. Looks like its an early type version of Sonar.

Sounds more like a precursor to Pro Tools.

[TheRealPatrickAdams]

That's what it sounds like to me as well but it's made by cakewalk. I've asked about it on other forums and there isn't a lot of knowledge on it anywhere.

[Len911]

I was thinking digidesign instead of digitech, oops!