I'm fortunate enough to have a day job as a sound designer, which is awesome, but there's this one thing that really itches me.


See, I've started out, like many others in this field, by making music. The first DAW I used was FL Studio, which had run its course during my audio/music journey and I've parted ways with it, as I felt like I needed much more than what it had offer. In the meantime I went through many trial versions, demos etc. of many DAWs and somehow stuck with REAPER as my main thing. I felt like a bird let out of the cage coming from FL Studio. REAPER was so easy to get right away, the custom scripts, the amazing ability it has to grow with me and my needs, I really feel like it's the best DAW out there.


Here's the catch though – While I really really really like REAPER and am actively using it for music creation, I also happen to use it for work. Everyday, sometimes for very long work hours (sometimes up to 16 hours a day, don't even ask), most of the time it's 8-9 hours a day though.
Now, when I get off work, I'd assume it'd make sense that I might be a little bit tired and kind of want to switch environments, right?
I'm fluent with REAPER, I have templates, I'm fast, I know how to work it.
So what's the problem? Well, the aforementioned working environment. Those 8-9 hours tend to drain me horribly and I just don't feel inspired, nor motivated to start up REAPER again after work to make music.


I've been trialing Ableton Live 11 Suite for some time now and I like it, I like the session view, I like the way it looks, it's very inviting, it calls out to me to make some music, lol. The thing is, once I started making music in Ableton, I start seeing its shortcomings compared to REAPER ‍. I have my own workflow in REAPER, that suits my needs etc. But it still kinda feels like this thing I put together and is meant to fit both work needs and creativity with music etc. (yes, I am aware of portable installs, but that's not the point and a whole other topic).
Ableton, it's more of a scratch pad for ideas, for creativity, I feel it's tailored towards that specific goal. I can't imagine mixing a song there, it'd probably still bounce stems and mix it in REAPER. I've already tried the 'kinda similar to REAPER, but crafted more towards music creation' DAWs such as Cubase (too clunky, too cluttered, felt very "legacy"), Studio One (this one was cool, but didn't really feel inspiring, more like a REAPER reskin for some reason), Bitwig, Digital Performer, Pro Tools, etc. I've done a fair share of DAW hopping and I keep coming back to REAPER because 'oh, I miss this, oh, I miss that, oh you can do it much faster in REAPER', while still running into the same conclusion - just because I can do it fast, doesn't mean it's very inspiring, which to some may sound like blasphemy, but that's how I feel. Also, some of the stuff in REAPER is very cumbersome, just because of its core mechanics, it just doesn't feel so easy and fluid to record a pattern and overdub it, feels like there's always a bit more steps to do, always one more shortcut to add to cut some time off work etc.


With all that being said and I guess getting to the point of this already toolongdidntread post, I wanted to ask you guys – do some of you find yourselves in a similar situation? If yes, how do you approach things? If no, how would you approach this? Do you find the combination of creativity DAW and mixing DAW (not to say, you can't be creative in REAPER or uncreative in Ableton) a reasonable thing? A waste of time? The ultimate procrastination?

 

List all the qualities you like in all the other DAWs like ProTools, Ableton, Reason, Bitwig and the rest. Compare the lists for each and find the one that has the least similar qualities to Reaper. Spend time to learn it. The contrast should help you.

 

Hi
I found myself in a similar situation time ago.
My first trick was to decompress after work. Minimum one hour of anything but music.
But yet, it was difficult to do anything. We are human, at some point we are simply tired.
But I've done 2 things to push myself. One was to play with an instrument, a guitar, without even powering the computer so it took me in other musical mentality, then I could open my daw, which, and that's the second thing, I switched to Samplitude, but without expecting anything like Reaper, because that was exactly the point, a daw that is different.
This may be where you are trapped, you want to change the situation but with the same function as reaper, this is contradictory. Or just change Reaper'skin. Joke apart, don't expect another DAW to do the same as reaper. Each daw have their own strength.
Las but not least, don't push yourself too hard. Maybe the problem is not only the DAW, maybe you're putting to much pressure on yourself and this is a way to get blocked. Take it more playfully.

I hope this helps.

 

Last edited: Nov 12, 2023

I think you are making a mistake in comparing the daws.
I play and choose daws for fun and FOR the differences they offer
i can sketch out a tune in no time in live or reason.

but i would kill myself if i had to mix in either of them
beats and atmo in live/max, great sounds & fxin in reason
the best surprises in bitwig and reaktor especially if pulled outside the digital domain

Idgf about time or usability
super fun in live, turn of loop and record everything

 

I'd say you're on a good track here.

Over time, the brain will associate creativity with Ableton which will feel refreshing everytime you're back home. If you don't wanna mix in Ableton just don't. It just means you've just finished a track and it needs mixing.

 

actually no, I've never been in exact situation like that,
only reason I switched from Sonar to Reaper years back was operating system compatibility (needed Mac-friendly DAW, backwards compatible with Windows),
and since then I was streamlining my plugin/VST set, not because lacking features but because annoyed by sheer amount of cartoony stuff I never really learned to use properly,
DAW is a tool, just like let's say a hammer, you can get fancy nails (plugins) but it ultimately matters on what you're trying to achieve - if you lack ideas/creativity, different tool will not save you (that's an illusion made by industry to force you spend more money on things that won't help you),
speaking of Reaper - don't spend too much time tweaking it, that's a rabbit hole that kills creativity - I suggest having a piece of paper aside, write down technical matters and challenges there, but consciously postpone them for "tech time" and ignore them during "music time"

 

Whatever works for you, if working in Live gives you inspiration to work on your music, take it for what it is and don't overthink it, even if you never leave session view, it's better than making nothing in Reaper. You can always continue in Reaper if you get frustrated in Live.

Set yourself an challenge to finish all up in Live, try to embrace different workflow, I know it's hard, personally it took me a while to get out my Logic workflow when I moved to Bitwig, from time to time I realize I could do some things faster in Logic and the opposite, some things take more clicks and time, but that's just the price to pay.

Maybe try Logic, it got something similar to session view too, rest is traditional as it get's, they really tried to give it more interesting edge over time, doubt you will hate mixing or arranging in it, opposed to Live, where those tasks for my own taste are just huge no go. Logic isn't really more approachable that Studio One or more feature rich than Cubase/Reaper, it's not going to replace you anything, but only you can tell, if you open it up and it clicks with you, just like Live, than you will probably have less pain moving forward opposed to Live.

Getting out of mindset is maybe the thing you need, right now I totally moved from desktop, keyboard/mouse in front of big screen, speakers thing and it was liberating, got myself Macbook that is ultra thin, portable and powerful enough to carry on all my projects, embraced working with headphones and Realphones, started performing my music more than just arranging it endlessly, it took me some time, but it's way more fun this way than ever before. Even thinking of adding iPad as secondary touch screen (thanks to suggestion of one colleague from forum), already found touch pad to be much more hands on for tweaking synths and real time automation, touch screen will probably bring that to another level.

Did you tried Push, maybe something like that can unlock some extra creativity cookie points for you while using Live or some Launchpad or something.

Whatever works for you, get your groove on with Live, than when technical aspect come to play, just go to your trusty tool and finish it up, it's not unheard in industry that one song is mixed in one and created in another DAW, in the end of the day, work is work, you do it efficiently and put food on your table, your music is your escape, whatever works for you there, better to waste time moving projects, than not making music at all.

Have a great one.

 

I look at Cubase as a money machine and it energizes me every time. I prefer money more then inspiration.
I'm very addicted to money. I guess you could say money is my drug of choice.
t's like Cubase telling me me - ok boi, how much you can make today