What is your favourite DAW and why?

[decoherence 183]

Question for our recording ponies: What DAW do you use and why? Or do you think DAWs r lame and have a reel to reel and some ADATs sitting in your basement?

 

OK, I'll start. I'm using Reason 7. I bought 6.5 and got the upgrade for free, which was a nice surprise. I hadn't used Reason much before but I understood the concept behind it.

 

I use Reason because the interface feels very natural, and because as of version 7, it has all the features a talentless singer like myself needs to pretend they can sing better than they do.

• MIDI controlled pitch correction
• audio re-timing, taken from ReCycle.

Other DAWs have had similar features for a while, but Propellerhead has done a fantastic job of integrating them so that they feel like natural parts of the program. And Recycle is top class, for what it does.

 

So there's my Reason pitch. My background, before Reason, was Logic (haha that sounds funny) and before that, a Yamaha W7 and various other Yamaha synths going back til the DX 7 and some Atari ST sequencer I can't remember the name of *grumble* I also used Reaper for a while. It's excellent, for $40.

 

So what about you? There are so many good ones to choose from, I didn't bother making a poll.

 

EDIT: The Atari ST sequencer I used was Notator! Wow... that brings me back...

 

Edited August 8, 2013 by decoherence

[EndtheRaven 161]

I use Ableton, I just find it simplistic, familiar, and the workflow feels very natural. I use ReNoise for Breakcore though. 

I have Reason 4, I still need to get around to learning it though. 

A DX7? nice! I'm big into synthesizers myself. I have an '86 Akai AX60. And hoping to add more soon.

[Betez 1,734]

Reason's on version 7 now? Holy crap.

 

Anyway, I still use FL Studio 10. It's easy to learn how to use, and while the sounds may seem mediocre (at least they do to me) you can make them sound the way you want.

 

I've tried Ableton Live, but I felt like it's just so hard to use, and I couldn't see anything it had that was better than FL, other than the sounds, but it was really hard to find what you were looking for.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Betez

[Scootaloodle 1,622]

I use FL studio 10: I love it because it's quick to learn and easy to use and it does what I want it to do and I end up with results I'm happy with

 

I've only ever really used FL studio: I tried Sonar which didn't work, and I tried Abelton which I found a bit too hard to use

[Lisa 5,553]

FL Studio 11/10.

 

Both are extremely complex, but once you know how to use them, you can create wonderful and exquisite music. Ableton seems alright as well.

[Freewave 1,145]

I use FL10 and finally feel like i understand enough of it to recommend it. I'm sure its quite possible there could be a daw out there that might fit me better.

[DusK 1,264]

Another FL Studio user here. It's fantastic for my workflow. The best piano roll in the industry without a doubt, makes a lot of stuff easy and quick so I can keep the ideas rolling. Simple drag-n-drop functionality for recording via Edison, which is a fantastic audio editor in itself. The Signature Bundle includes some great plugins, including Sytrus, which is one of the best soft-synths out there. The FPC is one of the best pad controller plugins out there as well; simple to use, but extremely powerful, especially with a good sample set. Great stock effects plugins too.

[decoherence 183]

Wow! So Ableton and Fruity Loops are the big hits, it seems. I was expecting more Logic, Cubase and Protools as I always considered them the 'big three'.

 

Played with Fruity Loops a bit, years ago. Never tried Ableton. Thanks for the replies, guys.

[Scootaloodle 1,622]

Wow! So Ableton and Fruity Loops are the big hits, it seems. I was expecting more Logic, Cubase and Protools as I always considered them the 'big three'.

 

Played with Fruity Loops a bit, years ago. Never tried Ableton. Thanks for the replies, guys.

 

I have some scanned articles I got from a music magazine giving a little review type thing on a bunch of DAWs: I'll add them to this post if that'll help

 

[Shred Guitar Brony 85]

I currently use cubase 5 mainly because I find it's great for recording guitars as well as utilising a lot of the software and plugins I use. I also find it's great for mixing and I guess I am most familiar with it which makes it the easiest for me to use.

 

However I do also use Fruity loops 9 for programming various other instruments such as bass and synths and I find that it works great for what I use it for!

[decoherence 183]

I currently use cubase 5 mainly because I find it's great for recording guitars as well as utilising a lot of the software and plugins I use. I also find it's great for mixing and I guess I am most familiar with it which makes it the easiest for me to use.

 

However I do also use Fruity loops 9 for programming various other instruments such as bass and synths and I find that it works great for what I use it for!

 

Hooray for a Cubase user! I've never owned it but I've played with it many times and thought it was a sensible program. If I wasn't so happy with Reason 7, I'd probably be using that.

 

Nobody using MOTU Digital Performer? I know some very accomplished artists who swear by it.

 

 

 

 

I have some scanned articles I got from a music magazine giving a little review type thing on a bunch of DAWs: I'll add them to this post if that'll help

 

 

 

Gee, no mention of ProTools at all? Has it fallen that far out of favour? Of course, they can only put in so many but like I said earlier, I thought ProTools was one of the 'big three'

 

And this Apple Logic thing is weird. When I was using it, it was eMagic Logic (get offa mah lawn!!) And the user interface was a nightmare -- it made Cubase look friendly! I played around with the newer Apple version for a few minutes once or twice and it looks like it has been all Apple-ified, which is an improvement I guess.

 

Thanks for posting that. Good read.

Edited August 9, 2013 by decoherence

[Mewtew 13]

im actually in the middle of switching from fl studio to ableton, i've been using fl studio for about 4 years now, i got the demo of ableton a few weeks ago, and i have to say, i just love it. it just sorta has that feel, if you can understand what i mean, it just clicks with me.

[Bugz 159]

im actually in the middle of switching from fl studio to ableton, i've been using fl studio for about 4 years now, i got the demo of ableton a few weeks ago, and i have to say, i just love it. it just sorta has that feel, if you can understand what i mean, it just clicks with me.

 

I'm actually kinda in opposite situation.

 

I have always been using Ableton and I would love to learn some basics of FL studio. But when I open that DAW, everything just seems so complicated for my brain that i always go back to Ableton.

[Espy Vibe 4,279]

I've taken a liking to FL Studio. It's so flexible that it does seem daunting at first because (at least to me it seems like) it's expected to create your own workflow and set everything up your own way. Though you can just set a template to load whenever you open the program up so you don't have to keep re-doing everything (though that's basically in every DAW now afaik).

They've got some good stock plugins too. 3xOsc by itself is already surprisingly powerful. Wave Candy's been useful for me on more than one occasion. 

Patcher is one of their most underrated plugins, super powerful and flexible.

Really enjoy their mindset as a company as well. People pirating the program? Don't "crack" down on them. Just let them do it until they're ready to actually purchase a license, which is lifetime. Can't say that for most companies even back then when OP made this thread.

There are a few issues, most notably with stability and recording. I wish when a plugin crashes it wouldn't crash the whole DAW (like in Tracktion Waveform, as an example) and the recording process could be a bit smoother like literally any other DAW. 

It ain't no "toy," that's for sure.