Your Choice of DAW?

[Legion Kreinak]

I'm just curious what everyone here prefers to use. I've tried out FL Studio, Reason, and Sonar. I'm a PC user, but I've also tried Logic on my girlfriend's Macbook. I'm thinking of checking out Cubase and Ableton, as they seem to be the big hitters right now. Reason, I'm not a fan of at all. Sonar seems nice, but I didn't have much of a chance to toy with it.

What do you all prefer to use as your DAW?

[Dissidia]

Cubase 5, simply because I feel that it gets the least in my way of making music. Also I like changing keybinds and the UI is easy on the eyes.

[The Vagrance]

Ableton Live. I like it because it has the look and layout of a normal DAW (Cubase/Logic) but with some tweaks to make everything more streamlined and approachable. Not to mention session view and how easy it is to make mixes in it.

[Arcana]

I use Logic Studio 9. Good default and build in sounds, the program is very stable and solid, UI had a lot of power and flexibility.

[Yoozer]

I'm thinking of checking out Cubase and Ableton, as they seem to be the big hitters right now.

Ableton's got a pretty nice fully functional trial version that'll give you 2 weeks with no strings attached.

Big fan of Live here; but pick a DAW that suits you, not because it's popular or something.

[Legion Kreinak]

Ableton's got a pretty nice fully functional trial version that'll give you 2 weeks with no strings attached.

Big fan of Live here; but pick a DAW that suits you, not because it's popular or something.

Cool, I'll check that out.

By Live you mean Ableton, right?

I'm not picking based on popularity, though the more popular ones usually become so for a reason. As of now, I'm familiar with FL Studio, but I want to give them all a good run to really figure out where I belong.

[Flexstyle]

Longtime FL Studio user here. I started with Sony Acid, but switched to FL early on. I love its piano roll and the ease of use it has. Default sounds aren't spectacular, sure, but I'm a much better sound designer for having to learn my way around. The workflow for me has been second to none, and I'm Digidesign-certified Tier 5 in Pro Tools, and Apple Professional certified in Logic, so I've been around a bit. Toyed with Live, Reaper, Reason, Cubase, and others, but nothing's been more flexible or workflow-oriented as FL for me.

Granted, I tend to work primarily inside the box, so if you were more into recording live instruments, I might recommend Logic (my favorite recording software, also muuuuch more in-depth when it comes to editing anything).

[Chernabogue]

I use FL Studio. I think it's a good program to start, easy to use and very useful to learn. I tried a demo of Reason, but I lost myself into it.

[Yoozer]

By Live you mean Ableton, right?

Ableton is the name of the company, Live is the name of the software . It's just that "Ableton" is a more unique word, but otherwise it'd be like saying "yeah I made some fat tracks in Digidesign / Steinberg / Image-Line last night" instead of ProTools, Cubase or FL Studio.

[DusK]

FLStudio for me. I like the FPC and the piano roll.

[loomcore]

Reason for me, with either Cubase or REAPER when I need to record stuff. Basically, I <3 hardware

[AMT]

REAPER all the way I absolutely love the program, the included plugins are surprisingly good and the internal routing possibilities are amazing.

[Cyril the Wolf]

REAPER is good

I use SONAR though. I'm far to used to it, but REAPER is cheaper.

[DMaster]

FL Studio 8, mainly because a friend gave it to me. It does have it's uses, though.

Cons:

Percussion options suck unless you use MIDI, but even then that's pretty bad.

So many in-program voices rely on Sytrus, which is a little annoying.

Pros:

Piano Roll is easy-ish to use

Auomation is easy

Lots of free plugins and filters online.

[Ironblue]

Ableton Live!

I've used cool edit, reason, a couple different trackers (renoise mostly), logic and live.

i think i naturally decided to go with live because it felt similar to a tracker in how simple it is to navigate and immediately begin writing but had the production power of something like reason or logic. it allows for immediate mixing of midi/audio tracks and really lets you go to town. if i had a mac, id probably go with logic though

[prophetik music]

an update to the previous post.

if you're only using stock sounds, the drum samples as a whole suck. the fl interface, however, is possibly one of the easiest to get in and make beats with, simply because it's so streamlined. since samples are so prevalent online, however, you'd be pretty dumb to use stock sounds only.

same statement regarding the basic included synths. fl's soundfont player, however, is excellent.

[ella guro]

I used MODplug to start with, obviously it's very limited, but I've always liked it a lot. I used Reason after that for the longest time, but the interface has started wearing on me and I'm finding FL a lot more to my liking now (the interface seems friendlier to me). REAPER I like too, though I've only really been using it when I record audio, and I'm sure there's a lot more to explore there.

[Skyline Drop]

Seconded on the comment about the Reason interface. I know a lot of people dig that sort of thing, but I'm not really from a hardware background, so having to navigate an ever expanding synth rack to tweak the filter on one bloody instrument is starting to wear thin on me.

I'm working in Renoise mostly now, but just the demo, since I have yet to obtain the money for a license key.

[OverCoat]

watch one of my songs in action and see if you can figure it out.

[dimsuM]

FL Studio for me. I've been playing around with it for about 2 years just as a fun hobby at first, really getting into it for the last few months. I've been told to look into other DAWs, such as Cubase, Ableton and Reason, but I've seen no need to move away from FL Studio - I really like its capabilities.

[OverCoat]

but I've seen no need to move away from FL Studio - I really like its capabilities.

Yeah, true that, i've seen how FL Studio evolved from version 2.7 to now, and the transformation is absolutely amazing, though certain design changes helped my decision to move to Renoise, I think FL Studio is a solid DAW that has just as much capability as Cubase, and honestly it's a lot easier to get into.

The main problem I have with FL or most other DAWs is the way everything's hidden in right click menus [anything requiring context menus is just bad design imo, as it disrupts workflow], and how annoying it is to manage all those windows when the project starts piling up instruments and effects... In renoise, everything is in front of you and accessible with hotkeys. Though if you're not used to the tracker interface, you're going to be confused for a while.

[Nase]

all DAWs suck.

neural interface, what's keeping you so long??

[Malkyre]

watch one of my songs in action and see if you can figure it out.

I never understood how a tracker worked vs a sequencer, but the Renoise website explains it pretty well. Actually, I remember looking into trackers years ago and I did not understand how they worked/what they did at all. I did not know that they could be used with VST instruments.

I'm in the process of evaluating DAWs right now, I may have to give this a shot...

[Legion Kreinak]

Yeah, true that, i've seen how FL Studio evolved from version 2.7 to now, and the transformation is absolutely amazing, though certain design changes helped my decision to move to Renoise, I think FL Studio is a solid DAW that has just as much capability as Cubase, and honestly it's a lot easier to get into.

The main problem I have with FL or most other DAWs is the way everything's hidden in right click menus [anything requiring context menus is just bad design imo, as it disrupts workflow], and how annoying it is to manage all those windows when the project starts piling up instruments and effects... In renoise, everything is in front of you and accessible with hotkeys. Though if you're not used to the tracker interface, you're going to be confused for a while.

I don't even know what a "tracker" is nor have I ever heard of Renoise. I'll check it out, just 'cause I like expanding my knowledge base with this stuff.

Regarding all the windows, though - dual or tri-monitor setups make that a non-issue.

[Moseph]

Regarding all the windows, though - dual or tri-monitor setups make that a non-issue.

Sonar is actually a little inconvenient on my dual monitor arrangement because my second monitor is in portrait orientation. Sonar contains all of the panels (but not plug-in displays, fortunately) within a single master window, so I either have to waste space on the portrait monitor or resize the master window so that the status bar along the bottom (which includes the save/load progress bar and the global mute/solo status) is off-screen on the main monitor. I really wish everything was free-floating.