Hi,

New to DAWS though I did use calkwalk circa 2008. Currently we are waiting for Cakewalk next to get past the beta phase and announce the cost.
I am not going to count on cake walk. Here are my goals:
1. I have my voice and my guitar which will go into two separate tracks.
2. Since I don't have any friends to play drum and bass (and I don't want to pay for studio time) I am hoping to get fake loops/vsti or whatever they are called that I can manipulate to create a fake drum and bass track.

I am really quite new to this and I don't know what DAW and what other software I will need to do what I want. Any recommendations would be appreciated. I am trying to keep the price down but I realize it might not be easy to do.It may also involve me adding another eight gigs to my lsaptop.

Thanks for listening.

Neil

 

Studio One. It has everything you need, lightweight, pretty GUI and easy to learn/use than you thought it is. Subscription plan is affordable ($180 annually) and comes with tons of stuff, great customer support, awesome Youtube channels, frequently updated and you can learn everything in 1 day with tutorial video or youtube and get to work right away since you already familiar with Cakewalk. The best DAW to program realistic drum IMO, from simple Loop style to advanced MIDI & even notation if need it, especially when laying out ideas.

 

As far as DAWs are concerned, Reaper will be the cheapest DAW out there at $60.

 

I agree with Steve, Studio one is a friendly environment.

But you mentioned the price and I understand that you are lacking resources in your computer.

I went through many DAWs in my life and seeing how Reaper's efficiency is changing the way of working for many, If I had to do it all over again, that would be my choice.

In the end, any DAW will be the same if you start from scratch. You will search your way around and wont be very efficient.

Invest your time in Reaper.

 

Reaper !
Easy to record everything.The only thing is that you should already have a library for drum samples, because Reaper does not have sample library. Sister site can help you.

 

Studio One and Fl studio and Reaper is pretty easy to work with for newbies.....Studio one might be the easiest one out of the other 2 even tho the other 2 is easy as well ...studio one interface is very direct and straight forward ......sometimes in Reaper tho if u might run across some things that u want and then u will have to customize Reaper to your liking

 

I would start with Reaper, it's free to try indefinitely with only a nag screen at the start and then cheap to buy. If you don't like that I would try Studio One, it's a very clean interface and easier to learn than Cubase or Ableton etc., ease of use with comprehensive features seems to be their aim.

 

Last edited: Sep 9, 2023

You want something like Cakewalk? So I would lean towards linear and suited for audio recording, fx processing, and mixing. Like a digital multitrack with basic midi features. I think Studio One is what I would pick to learn first on PC. Reaper can do anything you want, but does the more complex featureset also make it a steeper learning curve for a beginner? I think it might.

Since you also need virtual keys, bass, and drums; i would look into those 3 EZ instruments from ToonTrack. they would be good to learn midi, patterns, arrangements, and they are all nearly the same.

 

If you want an all inclusive DAW with drums, loops, VSTis, Reaper is not the way to go. Then you probably have to look for something like Cubase.
If you don't mind getting 3rd party pluggies for this, I'd recommend Reaper. Small, light weight (performant), cheap.

 

I'll also say Reaper, but just want to warn that it can be a bit difficult to wrap your head around and can be a bit cumbersome to use until you really get used to it. I'm not sure I'd say that's a unique flaw though... but I have used many different DAWs (FL, Reason, old original Cakewalk, Cakewalk Sonar, Cubase, and a couple others) and it was definitely up there in difficulty to learn, for me, but I would never switch now.. too many features for this price tag.. and no limitations, really. I think it's a little more difficult for people that use MIDI/VSTis exclusively, like me.

Anyways, it does everything any other DAW can do, performs super well doing it, is VERY customizable (modable) and as other said, is cheap. It technically has a 60-day trial in which you're expected to pay or stop using, but you can still just use it anyways. Your conscience is the only road block there (mine made me buy it though, it's well worth the price tag, 10 times over). But, you can try it for free to at least see if it will work for you and go from there.

 

Personally... I'd say Cakewalk.

 

Thank you everyone for so many really helpful answers. I never thought this would be a "calkwalk" (pun intended). I will have to look further"
1. Reaper sounds great but doesn't seem to have any vstis or whatevver you call the functionality to create fake bass and drum tracks. However it could be that the ability to create fake tracks may require a "sister" site as has been suggested but that doesn't mean that Reaper itself might not be the best DAW. I will have to give it a try as it seems I can do that wthout much trouble. I doubt any DAW reaveals all it's merits though advice from other people so I have to pay my dues.
I did use calkwalk year sago and found it incredibly simple. However Calkwalk next which is their nex supposrted version is in beta and the proce is not yet decided.
The other possibly critical issue is that I may have to increase my ram. There are a number of factors that are gray areas. But your suggestions allow me to move forward in terms of what I should try first: Reaper. I will call them and ask how much ram is need. I also don't have a solid state disk which I assume will affect the running daw.
Thanks you again. I can move forward. It may take ma a few months do finalize my DAW but you have helped me quite a lot.

Thanks,
Neil

 

It's just basic features that any DAWs can do it.
But since you came from Cakewalk (I still use Cakewalk too) maybe Cubase and Studio One like other said.

 

@Neil Newton Since you came from Cakewalk, why dont you continue using it while you await NEXT. I do not think that ch Nobody needs the newest, baddest, DAW to make good music music. ange in workflow will be as big from Cakewalk to NEXT as it will be to a different DAW. Learning a new DAW will take away from creativity. Better to stick with what you know, unless you wish to say goodbye to Cakewalk forever and NEXT forever. Indeed, it will be crazy to learn a new DAW, and when you are halfway there to learn NEXT. You do that, and you are not going to be making music. You will be learning new DAWs. Just my 2 cents.

 

I've used many DAW's over the years and my personal choice is Studio One for my needs but...

I strongly recommend Reaper to all newer users as it's the most CPU efficient DAW, fully customizable, easy to use, is updated often, great user community, and cheap as hell (free).

 

Last edited: Sep 11, 2023

I would say use what you already know to avoid wasting time.

Otherwise, check out Ableton if you want an easy learning curve and more importantly daily workflow, with a ton of great plugins and samples all included in one package. You wont need anything else. There are 'how to videos galore covering everything, and a forum if you ever get stuck.

But of course, the best thing to do is demo these and see for yourself which one gels nicely. If there isn't a full demo, then try "option 2"

Also, when ready to purchase, if there isn't a special or holiday sale going on, look around forums for a secondhand license to save some cash!

 

If you want a cheap (less than $180 and free updates for life) DAW that has lots of high quality stock sounds, devices for you to create drum machines/drum patterns and different instruments for you to record bass I'd recommend you get FL Studio Producer Edition during this year's Black Friday (it will probably drop to half the price of at least 30%)... BUT it's a bit of a quirky DAW and you might struggle with its workflow or love it... give it try.

Reaper is $60 (if you're just a regular guy doing regular shit) and it can actually change your life and even save your failed marriage but you gotta be patient and learn the thing and it takes time. It's wonderful but there's no instruments (Reasynth should be burned), stock sounds, instruments or drum devices (besides it's barebones basic sampler) so you'd have to rely in third party tools and sounds,

These are the cheap DAWs... what you're looking for doesn't get cheaper than that so if I were you I'd take some time to test all the DAWs that interest me and simply... save the money to buy the one I liked more. It might take a while but I think it's worth it.

 

my vote goes to Reaper. they even give you hundreds of video tutorials to teach you everything, but five of six and you're go to go.
I changed from ableton and won't go back. I tried studio one and Fl and cubase.

 

If you are considering Reaper you should know that there are web sites that have many free instruments available. More than you can use, you just download them separately.

Tukan plugins are a complete set of free effects with GUIs tightly coded to run with reaper. Fantastic for Free.

There are youtube tutorials for everything including how to set it up. Just Google it or ask for help here.

 

Reaper or Bitwig..
Reaper is an amazing Daw that does just about anything. Large community, Flexible and scalable most of all, its cheap and well supported for both Mac & PC