Three Top DAW's

[aubreyz]

Cool that this thread has some new life--- some great info here. Since this thing started in January, I've done a lot of homework. Partially for gas, like Ern's thread, but mostly to be home more, I've decided to put together an away from the studio, studio. And this diehard PT guy is going......................................................................LOGIC! (gasp, groan... hic!)Okay, to be fair I'm going to run a hybrid PT/Logic system to be compatible with my main studio, but the bang for the buck with Logic and the new 8-cores just can't be beat. If I could afford to go TDM, then I might go PT all the way, but the comparison with PT LE and Logic was just too lopsided to ignore. I haven't used Logic seriously in about 4 years, so there will be somewhat of a learning curve, but for about 1/5 of the cost I will be able to equal the virtual instrument and track count capabilities of my main studio.That said, in shopping I came across the Focusrite Saphire interface. For someone starting out, the $300 version has great preamps, extensive monitoring capabilities and geat sounding AD convertors-- plus comes with a pretty powerful version of Cubase. Definitely worth checking out.Aub

[sgs4u]

You'll never regret it Aub. And of course, you're such a PRO. Logic and Protools together sounds like an awesome combination of power and flexibility. Maybe Logic's not for everybody, especially people who don't like handling all the little details that go into high-end, in-the-box mixing. I used to think ProTools would've been a better choice for me. That was when I first joined Taxi. Haven't had any thoughts like that for almost a couple of years now. I'm gonna upgrade mine this summer.

[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.

[heinsite]

thanks 468--i'll keep pluggin' on the boss for now, and need to actually LEARN WHAT IT CAN DO, but in the future, i gots to get into this century--hopefully before the next one...thanks to you all for your advice, i've noted it, (believe me, and i don't note much of the techie stuff..).thanks again, the best to all that spoke wisdom!warren

[mazz]

Since most modern DAWs (Live being a notable exception) are based (some more loosely) on a linear track/mixer channel concept, a hardware unit such as the Boss is actually a great tool for learning the basic principles of recording and mixing. The concepts and skills you learn on your Boss unit are directly transferrable to pretty much any computer DAW. Of course, there are different names for the same things depending on which program you use but if you learn the basics well, you can learn the terminology pretty quickly because you understand the underlying concept.If I were teaching recording, I'd make every student work with a mixer and tape machine for a little while before transferring to a DAW. At least until the next generation of software designers comes along (those who've never seen a tape machine or a mixer), that seems to be the dominant paradigm for music production software. Once you understand signal flow on a mixer, you'll have a deeper understanding when you transfer to any DAW.Just my 2 cents!Mazz

[heinsite]

thanks mazz-ster!wh

[fusilierb]

Although all of the DAW's mentioned here are great for various reason's, I'd like to throw another option out there to people evaluating recording gear - Ableton Live 7.0I use a mac (and highly recommend them to anyone considering purchasing a new machine dedicated to audio). I also own Cubase Studio 4. Although it is a really great DAW with LOT's of features, it suffers from the main thing that all of the DAW's suffer (except possibly the new version of Logic) - too many windows! Trying to get anything done in these DAW's is an exercise in window chasing, as every time you need to do anything another window opens and stays open only to clutter up your workspace. Ableton Live has a really unique interface where EVERYTHING is done from one simple (takes a bit of getting used to if you are familiar with other DAW's) screen. And besides the clean interface, it is one powerful sound manipulator. If you are doing electronic music, I couldn't imagine not using Live. As a DAW, it does everything I've ever needed and mostly does it much quicker than the other DAW's out there. As far as a writing tool, I couldn't imagine trying to use anything else to write on.The only shortcomings of this application, for me, are a lack of notation and a lack of a "few" midi tools. Other than that, Ableton is definitely worth checking out. You can download a free demo copy from their website to evaluate.Bryanhttp://www.taximusic.com/hosting/home.php?artist=bryanfusilier

[mojobone]

For the record, I'm also a Tracktion fan. I find the interface and built-in side-chaining capabilities to be superior to some feature-rich but clunky alternatives when tracking and mixing, which is most of what I use a DAW for. I was up and running with it in less than an hour and it was the first DAW that I could really get work done with-I did manage to record some stuff in Cubase after a couple days worth of head-scratching. I think Reaper behaves a little better for comping, but neither of the above have truly comprehensive MIDI editing, which could be a deal-breaker for some. (I believe billg is a fellow Tracktioneer, too)