The Best DAW for Writing music?

illuminations said

I’ve been a logic guy for years. While I do like it I’ve had serious issues since going to mountain lion OS. The main issue seems to be playback when I have plugin gui’s open. It gets stuck playing back and I can’t get it to stop unless I move the GUI off the screen. While I don’t want to spend the time learning a new DAW I do have studio one and am considering giving it a shot if apple doesn’t fix this bug soon. Anybody else having this problem in logic?

Haven’t had issues with that on Lion. Sorry to hear that. My only issue was not enough RAM memory, but since upgrading to 16 gig (I tend to open a lot of plugins and work for extended amount of time), its been a dream machine. Good luck.

Yurkin said

The best DAW - the one that is comfortable and familiar to you.


At first thought I would agree, but then, think for a minute about typing anything here in this forum - didnt we all get used to having to insert html just for formatting text or simple line breaks ?!?

Well that’s an exact analogy that I experienced with Cubase - I was so “familiar” to doing things the way I always did, that I completely forgot that there might be an easier way… until I worked with Studio One with its ultrafast drag and drop for the first time and thought ‘oh… so adding an effect can actually be THAT easy.’

Okay, okay, before this is getting another Cubase, Logic, Ableton, Reaper etc. can do that too and better thread, let me bring it back to what really matters and that is, that it suits my personal workflow best.

That’s most of the time starting with an idea that comes from playing live, either guitar, a bass line or piano. Doing several takes with live instruments and then comping them to the best take cannot be easier than in the latest Studio One version. It’s a dream and fun to do that.

However I keep the midi editing on a real basic level. If you want to do a lot of midi editing, Studio One might not be what you exspect. Although I personally dont miss anything there, I read on several threads that SO cannot compete - and doesnt want to compete - with Cubase, Logic etc.

In the end it’s pretty easy - you get full functional Demos of all major DAWs on the market that you can try for 30 days…

Reading the last posts there’s one thing I like to add: You know, gballx, before Studio One, when working with Cubase, it was the same for me like you describe it: my workflow was adapted to the mechanics of the program.

But that’s not the way it’s supposed to be - your DAW should support YOUR workflow, right? It should be a tool that adapts to the way you like to work so you wont get thrown out of your creative flow.

So no matter what your DAW is, this is the criteria for me.

So yes, Benji, definitely give Studio One a try. But in the end all that matters is that you will find the DAW that supports you and your creative workflow best and I hope you’ll be as happy with it like me with Studio One :slight_smile:

Cheers and good luck ,

Sascha

Thanks everyone, I am trying out both Presonus Studio One, and Logic Pro 9 and will report back here what an Ex Protools guy thinks! By the way, Reaper has been fantastic, and does a lot that other daws dont do, the customisation and flexibility is second to none. So if you want power and flexibility, by all means give it a decent go. :slight_smile:

By the way, has anyone here tried the new Protools 11? What do they think of it from a writing/composing/production standpoint? Still too bloated and cumbersome?

Don’t see much love for Pro Tools here but it works for me. Been using it for about 7 years and it’s what I’m comforable with, but all this discussion about other DAWs is making me wonder what I am missing out on.

I was a Logic user in the 90s (remember v3.5?). And if I was going to move to anything else it would probably be my choice. I would be interested to know thoughts on why PT is not more popular. I must say the soon to be released v11 looks great but pricey…

dBlever said

Don’t see much love for Pro Tools here but it works for me. Been using it for about 7 years and it’s what I’m comforable with, but all this discussion about other DAWs is making me wonder what I am missing out on.

I was a Logic user in the 90s (remember v3.5?). And if I was going to move to anything else it would probably be my choice. I would be interested to know thoughts on why PT is not more popular. I must say the soon to be released v11 looks great but pricey…

From what I know PT is actually very popular and is an industry standard. A lot of studios that I’ve seen were using either Pro Tools or Logic, or both. My wifes friend is a well known artist in Russia (I don’t know the dude very much) but his studio uses PT. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCcHfAn2jas <— one of their Videos.
But I think that a lot of people do not use PT simply just for their price, it cost more and a lot of people start recording as a hobby rather than a professional career ladder. And so they look around and pick something cheap. :slight_smile:

I’m working with Ableton Live 9 in the Suite Version. It comes with a massive collection of instruments, samples and synthesizers, also a lot of midi and audio effects. I will share some experience…

For me the best tool in this DAW is the Session Mode. Often I play some chords and short phrases with my digital piano and then I wait a day. For me it’s the case, if I can remember my chords and melody then something inside me like this new idea :wink:
And then I play in some clips in the session mode and use some functions of ableton like overdubbing, follow actions and so on. And after all I recorded my elements, I begin to arrange the clips to the arrangement view with the launchpad. Simultaneously I mix/automate some elements with the launchpad and a Korg nanoKontrol. That’s the “Live” principle of Ableton… so it is very flexible with the functionality to create his own workflow.

But sometimes I miss some functions from Studio One. Especially the multi track midi editing. For this I built my own instrument rack in Live where I can edit multiple instruments in one clip. But it is not comparable.

working with Logic Pro 9, and simultaneously learning Pro Tools

Yurkin said

The best DAW - the one that is comfortable and familiar to you.

+1

Cakewalk Sonar X2 - i work with it for years, and it also has really helpful bundle of built-in plugin.

cubase rewire with reason

I know a lot of people say “well whatever works best for you”… but I couldn’t disagree more. I’ve worked with visual software since I was about 10 years old, and there’s really nothing else on the market that can compare to Live’s interface or workflow. To me, comparing working in ProTools to Ableton Live is like comparing riding a ducati motorcycle to riding a bicycle with a seat that’s been completely rusted off. There’s lots of different ways and methods to produce music, sure, but if you’re looking for flow…for a program that gets out of your way so you can focus on your intuition… go Live and you’ll never go back to anything else… promise.

I really try hard not to get involved in these kind of threads, for fear of ‘fanboyism’, etc, but I have to completely agree with you RecycledRecitals. Couldn’t have put it better myself.

I’ve been using Ableton Live for around 5 years now and haven’t looked back once, simply because I was blown away with it’s completely unique and creative approach to music making, yet still retains all the power of the other ‘industry standard’ DAWs. Not to sound too pretentious, but it really did open up a whole new world of producing and forces you to think in a different, if not more creative way.

At the same time however, I’ve known quite a few people coming from the more popular DAWs who’ve given it a go, but just weren’t ready for that change of environment. Time (something most of us are short of) is something that’s needed to switch things up to Ableton’s workflow. But once the learning curve has been met and everything ‘clicks’ as it were, I think most people would be kicking themselves they hadn’t moved over to it earlier!

AlumoAudio! I’m so glad you feel where I’m coming from. And to clarify, I don’t think our devotion to Live stems from Fanboyism, it’s from a well rounded perspective (and honest assessment) of the tools we need as artists. I used ProTools and Logic for about 2 years before starting Live, and I even kept Logic installed on my computer for another 2 years just incase… it wasn’t too much longer before I realized I really didn’t need anything else. I do sympathize with the time constraints… learning something new takes time… but if you’re in the position to chose… I don’t think there’s anything that can come close. I also can’t imagine doing the different kinds of work I do without Live… from live performance, to programming a theatrical production… producing music or even just doing mass amounts of editing…it’s by far the most flexible. Not to mention it truly is the photoshop of sound.

really interesting topic, I take this opportunity to ask you guys a question… I’m working with logic x and just its libraries and au at the moment and i would like to make a step forward, i was thinking to try studio one after reading here, before i was about to buy kontakt and reaktor but they more expensive, what do you think is the best choice?

Definetely Logic Pro X
Easy and intuitive, fast in editing and workflow…full of native virtual instruments and plug ins.
To me is the the best DAW specifically for writing and producing/arranging music.
All the best