I tried cakewalk sonar and I was blown away by how awesome this DAW is. I demoed every daw in the market and this by far is the easiest I used.

Apparently, I'm sleeping on how good this DAW is.

 

Are you talking about the Early Access Bandlab version of Cakewalk Sonar that just came out?

 

After trying them all I've settled on a combination of Logic+Reaper.

 

Cakewalk is a great DAW and I am glad to see it back. I remember using Cakewalk back in 1987. I found the program so easy to use and I became so familiar with it that when the Windows version came out in '91 I continued using my DOS version for a couple of years. That brings us to your question. Even tough your thread is titled "The best DAW" you asked the proper question. There is no single definitive best DAW. We all have an opinion on which DAW is the best. But the question that matters is which DAW is best for you? Or how you put it, which DAW do you love the most? if you tried Cakewalk and it was the easiest for you to use, learn it inside out and do not worry about anyone else telling you that the DAW he or she uses is the best or better than yours. By the way, you forgot to include CAKEWALK in your survey.

 

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Try Cubase pro or Studio one prof 3, both are really good and for mixing.

 

Musically non of them. DAWs have been developed with the engineering concerns in mind not musicians'.

Musicians are the oppressed minorities that digitally their needs aren't appreciated maybe because the humans' sensations and ways of thinking can not be coded yet.

DAWs are not intelligent and perceptive and not more than recording and manipulation tools. Perfection in sound generation and processing is 10% of the whole story. The 90% is ...you say.

 

Nuendo

 

LPX, sir. LPX.

 

Taking about the best DAW is like asking which biotype makes the most beautiful person. To quote Mr. WilltheWerdo, of Acústica Audio beta-testing fame (although if AA made a DAW, we’d know his answer ), to each their own.

 

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After some research I stopped at REAPER and Live.

 

Started with Cubase SX3 ... Still on Cubase 9.5 Pro... Didnt ever feel the need to shift to another...

 

Definitely Studio One. It has a lot of room for improvement and I love the workflow.
Although few of the stock plugins are garbage (namely SampleOne and the sampling department) and could be improved a lot, even if on the other hand some are pretty nice ones such as Mojito (but still not on par with more complex external vsts which I use).
If there is something that I would love to see implemented it's definitely a simpler/sampler-like plugin from ableton, and per-note pitch/pan support for external plugins that support them (thinking about the image-line plugins like slicex). FL Studio midi editing is something I miss every now and then but the rest kinda makes up for it.

 

I spent 2 days downloading 'cakewalk 3' I think it was ......with a dial up connection ...... from Limewire. I remember the excitement of putting it on my xp comp and firing it up for the first time. Stayed with that through all the versions up until sonar 8 and then tried Reaper and decided it was worth the effort to make the change. I still use 'w' to go to start of project as in sonar. Just recently I had a vocal that needed quite a bit of pitch correction and found the the ARA in studio one really sped things up although of course cakewalk has this now and reaper will soon.
I think I must be some sort of DAW slut and therefore ineligible to vote

 

A DAW is only a tool, it matters not which one you use, it matters what you put into it to see what you get out of it, i have in the past tried most just for curiosity, been a live user since version 7, and i stick with it, if you listen to what people say about certain DAW`s then you will never learn 1, THE question should be what is the best DAW for you period, they are all tools to produce music.

 

Obviously, every answer here will be personal and subjective...

I like Reaper for fast live recordings and composing without distractions.
I like Sonar for mixing, as you have many tools already loaded with it.
I like Fl Studio for the loop thing, witch is good and bad, loops are ... traps, loops are ... traps, loops are ... traps ... LOL

 

For electronic music:
1. Cubase
2. Live

For everything else:
1. Cubase
2. Reaper

 

It's like asking... which set of battery operated tools do I buy?

-Milwaukee
-Dewalt
-Makitta
-Ryobi
ﹰﹰetc etc etc...

Figure it out! They'll ALL do the same thing. Which one fits your vibe?

I'm about to put my vote in for Pro Tools. Back when latency mattered... long before the invention of i7s... there was TDM. I could record 48 mics with no detectable delay (latency). There was NO other option. I did a lot of work for film. Pro Tools and Logic (WAY pre Apple) for MIDI was it.

I'm familiar with most programs on the list. Many clients have brought sessions from those above... NO best!

Do you want to RUN down there and FUCK the pretty/handsome ONE... or WALK down and MAKE LOVE to them ALL?

 

The Jack Daw.

Particularly Colin.

But don't vorry. I'm usink ze best syringe.

 

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Adobe Audition would become the best loved DAW if it supported VST instruments. Sadly, only VST FX plugins are supported. A deliberate corporate decision by Adobe, whose target clientelle is majority professionals, using Premiere and After Effects for video, Photoshop for design profesionals and Acrobat in the offices. In the DAW business the target clientelle is probably 50-50 pros and amateurs, and a higher number of new youngsters trying their hand at music, compared to a lesser number of older users settled into the above mentioned professions targetted by Adobe.

 

Ha!

Please sir... can I've some more?