So the first DAW I ever used was Cakewalk. It had bugs..... lots of bugs... moved up to Sonar... lots of bugs and then I was introduced to Cubase SX. Since then I've never turned back. I tried Logic, ProTools Ableton and Reaper and I have settled on Cubase 6 for a while now (all the while saving for Nuendo 5.5). After opening the same project in a Trial version of Nuendo 5.5 I heard a difference. I bounced the file from Cubase 6 and Nuendo 5.5 I sent it to a couple producers and asked which one they preferred. All of them preferred the Nuendo bounced track. Something was different. In my emails with the guys from Steinberg they insisted that both programs Cubase and Nuendo use the same audio engine.... whatever. Some friends of mine have been telling me about Presonus Studio One. I think I tried it out before but was not impressed with it's early development. By now I moved up to Cubase 6.5.3. I got a copy of Presonus Studio One 2 and I was impressed. What drew me were the implementations that could speed up workflow. Things which would take 4 clicks in Cubase 6.5 took one drag and drop action. no need to create fx busses anymore just drag the Effect to the send of the Channel you wanted it on.... Instant FX... My jaw dropped. My jaw dropped even more when I realized that all your virtual instruments were in one window with tabs of the various instruments. They had tabs like google chrome. No more Stylus in this corner, Superior drummer in the next and Kontakts here there and everywhere. One Kontakt that could be morphed into a Stylus RMX etc. I was thoroughly impressed, but did it have chase midi notes so that even if the cursor was in the middle of a chord it would play it... the lack of this function prevented me from giving other DAWs a chance ( I produce orchestral based music a lot... I MUST HAVE this function lol) Studio One had it! Then the real test I copied the MIDI from Cubase and put it in Studio One. I saved all the settings for the virtual instruments which were mainly Kontakt modules and when I pressed play in Studio One it was unbelievable! I had no effects engaged and no panning and it sounded great. My mastering engineer commented on this new clarity and robust sound I was now achieving. So it's settled I use Studio One 2. It makes my music sound better. It's faster to work in. It doesn't distort at 0db and it's just solid! If you're considering a DAW consider Studio One v2. That's what I'm using. I just had to open a project I did in Cubase after working all day in Studio One. I heard the difference... the meatiness was not there. Whatever you do use your ears. treat your acoustic space to get the best results and if you can't do that get Beyerdynamic DT880 Pro headphones and a Focusrite VRM Box. It should help ​

 

what a long strange trip you've had!

what makes a great DAW for me is the ease of use, the intuitive design- while still having all the depth you need when you need it..

ive used and still use cubase, ableton, nuendo, FL Studio, and Acid Pro.. alot of hate goes around about FL Studio, but honestly i have no idea why...

Ive heard great things about pro tools, but never used it, and people freaked out when Sequoia was released on Audioz (i dl'd it but havent fired it up yet)

i will have to try out Studio One 2 as well

 

I am in the middle of the process of switching from Cubase 5 to Studio One 2

I don't care about sound differences, these are all myths imo, which mostly go back to some different settings, if people can hear a difference.
Import some audio tracks into any DAW, make sure all settings like pan-laws and export options are the same... then make mixdowns.
Import these mixdowns to any DAW, turn the phase on every 2nd channel, and they will cancel each other out completely = no sound difference.
(mr music, import both mixdowns of Cubase and Nuendo into a DAW, turn the phase of one, and see what happens. if they don't null, you can begin to search for reasons, like pan-laws set differently).

For example, Studio One automatically applies dithering when you make a mixdown.
Also, if you use real-time effects like modulation, they will sound a bit differently each time you make a mixdown (also within the same DAW).
These are things that you have to know and consider, when comparing the "sound" of different DAWs.

But please let's not talk about that...

The reason for switching is mainly the workflow in Studio One, which mrmusic described.
A lot of things are a breeze compared to Cubase... automation, for example, to just name one.
The "browser", where you can find anything you could need in the DAW, at one single space, is amazing.
Effects, instruments, files, the pool... all at one place. You never have to think about in which menu you have to look for something, you always go for the browser.

The new "Macro toolbar" is also amazing.
You can fire up an unlimited chain of commands with one single click (or key command).
That is a killer feature, imo.

Oh, btw...
I have a PreSonus Faderport, which I used with Cubase, and Studio One was like an "upgrade" for my faderport as well.
Now I can use the fader not only for controlling the faders of the channels, but actually for any parameter that I wish to. Very useful for writing automations.
Or, the pan knob can be used in S1 also as a jog-wheel *yes*

@ mrmusic

Make a new paragraph from time to time, man... makes texts a lot easier to read

 

My approach was much less complicated:
I started years ago with Apple Garageband, then discovered LOGIC Express, after that LOGIC PRO.
That was it – I found the best DAW for my needs! Of course i've also tried Reason + Studio One,
but i never liked them.

That's one of the "dark" sides when you're on a PC/WiN: there are so many different
software + Applications that you soon get lost in that Jungle! On MAC it's much easier + you don't
have so many choices. So you have to do your best with what you have or get.

 

DAWs for Mac:

Logic, Cubase/Nuendo, Digital Performer, Pro Tools, Studio One, Ableton Live, Harrison Mixbus, Adobe Audition, Reason, Reaper...

I'm sure there are some more I forgot.

 

LOGIC is the only one with a real "MAC feel"!
All the others are PC ported to Mac DAWs. I.M.O. :dancing:

 

Erhm... ok.
Everybody is allowed to have an opinion

 

You are so right and I as well have a faderport. I haven't gotten into all the assignment as yet but the browser and all the other stuff blows Cubase and other DAWs out of the water. My only sore point with Studio One is when I switch a track I would automatically want that track (AUDIO) to be record enabled. Maybe I just don't know how to do it as yet but it stops my workflow a bit when I'm tracking. Do you have a solution? By the way I'm getting the 1818 VSL as well. I may still get the focusrite liquid saffire 56 for the virtual preamps but it's clear that Presonus knows what they are doing. They think about workflow. There are things I wished in Cubase that I would just think of and it would do it and in Studio One it's just the case

 

I purchased Studio one pro im on PC I started with Logic till they went mac
I have Cbase stopped at 5 went to Ableton and got sick of the stupid little issues here and there daily UGHH!

The speed improvement alone shocked me and my musical friends
for instance in any other daw you have to export your midi to share it with another person who perhaps isn't using your daw
Cubase is the worst it could take you an hour or more to export all the parts and some of them may export null nothing there at all UGHH!
Ableton wasn't too bad but if you forget to consolidate a part that is bigger then what you see in the arrange it can cause
havoc

Now move into 2012 and Studio one
say you have a track with 8diff midi files for variation of say a synth line
now you can grab the first 1 drag it to the browser window and you get the choice of musicloop which when saved this way includes the VSTi preset the inserts on the channel if any the .mid file as well as the .flac file or the other choice is just the midi file ..
WOW!

Also the improvement on system load was significant when comparing songs done in Ableton transferred to Studio one
I could in some cases double the usage big plus for someone who HATES bouncing down before final mix...

Another Plus when browsing your vsti's they become almost folder view and all presets that were saved while using Studio one are listed so you can load directly what your after

now don't get me wrong as I'm not trying to sound like a fanboy Studio one is still very young compared to any other daw it has some issues but none that effect my work flow thankfully so make sure you check the forums to see if any of the issues would effect your workflow

But all in all I have never installed a daw software so young V2 that was this stable ever period!

 

Read my post it might be of use to some of you

http://audiosex.pro/index.php?/topic/4660-sampling-rate-converters-between-daws/

 

LG,

I have read that but the video I never saw thanks!

yeah comparing the sound of daws is mute it comes down to other factors .. and now that the loudness war levels are the norm
it will come down to what gear Analog effects etc and plugs you have when comparing to others ....
Anyone can use a brick-wall limiter but brick-walling a sterile tin will never compete with brick-walling a warm blanket all around you..


I recently did a remix for an artist and my mix was excluded only due to the fact I didn't squish it! I left headroom thinking they would master ... they literally said it wasn't loud enough LOL!!

the biggest difference between a track that is squished to the limits and one that isn't .. on bigger PA's the one that isn't squished can be played louder

cya

 

FL Studio

 

I must add that as an avid cubase fan
After watching youtube clips I took the plunge and tried S1
For a couple of months now.
This grieves me now because i'm having to convert the songs that i though sounded
good in Cubase which clearly sound pants compared to S1
It's given me a new perspective on the way of mixing
The workflow speed is so blisteringly quick

i.e F3 pull your mixer up put a gate on channel 1
I want another gate on channel 2 just drag it from channel 1 to channel 2 as simple as that.

 

you export as xml in CuBase it then loads in S1 Just save your Preset's for synths and effects other then the Cubase ones