Favorite DAW and why?

Discussion in 'DAW' started by scguy83, Oct 25, 2024.

  1. Myfanwy

    Myfanwy Platinum Record

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    I love Reaper for audio work, mixing, mastering and so on. But one of the things that are a bit different to most other DAWs I used is the way it handles PDC (plugin delay compensation), because it's always doing this in full blocks of the current set audio buffer size.

    Lets say you have 4 plugins in a row with just a little bit of latency, for example oversampled EQ, lookahead compressor or whatever. Waves L2 for example, with 64 samples delay and three more with 22 samples each. In most other DAWs this sums up to 64 + 22 + 22 + 22 = 130 samples.

    In Reaper it's different, if you are using a buffer size of 64 it sums up to 64 + 64 + 64 + 64 = 256 samples. With a buffer size of 256 you even get 256 * 4 = 1024 in total. Have that in mind if you get laggy responsiveness while playing a VSTi or amp simulation for example.

    You can turn off automatic PDC on a per plugin base, so turning it off, you get 130 samples delay but it's not compensated.

    Logic has a similar problem, turning off a plugin doesn't deactivate it, for example a FabFilter Pro-L 2 limiter with 65 ms delay on the mixbus results in unplayable latency. Simply turning it off while playing doesn't help, you have to completely remove it or use Logics "Low Latency Monitoring Mode", which will deactivate every plugin with a latency higher than the set value.

    In Bitwig, you can either just bypass a plugin like in Logic or deactivate it without deleting it, that's the flexibility I'm missing in Logic. In Reaper, bypassing a plugin also deactivates it's latency.
     
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  2. Synclavier

    Synclavier Rock Star

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    Continuing your analogy, the relationship with Frutty Loops is more reminiscent of a cuckold who is forced to live with his wife because she took control of his house and bank account, moreover which is rather old but weirdly wears teenager clothes, plus you cannot divorce with her.

    For an artistic person, the appearance of the environment or the room in which he works is also important, it should not distract attention and change your mood with a cartoon interface, although I say this as a user of Reaper, which looks rather harsh and I still use the Windows 95 theme. :)
     
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  3. Radio

    Radio Rock Star

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    I use PreSonus - Studio 7 - 64 bit and Presonus - Studio One v2.6 - 32 bit. The 32 bit version is only for older 32 bit plugins. I have a 4K monitor and some companies don't do their job well enough. Some plugins freeze or the mouse pointer slows down, so I play these 4K plugins in Cakewalk - Sonar. Surprisingly, Sonar plays almost everything.

    I've already tested all DAWs and then bought Studio One, I get along best with it. The workflow is very pleasant. Some programmers from Steinberg went to America at the time and founded the company PreSonus. So Studio One is actually an improved version of Cubase.

    To survive on the market, see the bankruptcy of Cakewalk - Sonar, you have to have good, intelligent employees and enough money in the bank to keep up with the competition.

    The first DAW was FL Studio 6, pattern based and for a beginner or newcomer that was fine. But the constant olive green, a few years ago they finally managed to offer other designs, including these barely legible mini buttons, drove me to other DAWs. I tested Ableton, a really stable DAW with very few errors. Pretty good what Ableton invented.

    When Studio One came onto the market in 2009 with a 64 bit, I tested it and was immediately impressed. I stayed with it and am still happy to this day.

    Another funny story at the end that needed to be written.

    It was the year 2024, the world was electrified and electricity flowed through the cables. There were people who made music at home on their PC or laptop, some even had mobile devices and made music in the summer by the lake or on the bus on the way to work, they programmed beats or filled the piano roll with the touch of a button.

    The small group of creative music makers could be described like this. The data is estimated and the exact numbers will never be known.
    93% were male and 4% were female

    this group was again divided into: 72% were Windows users and 15% macOS users and a small group of more stubborn and convinced fighters were Linux users.

    This group was again divided into: Ableton, Cubase, Logic, FL Studio, Studio One, Reaper, Pro Tools, Bitwig, Reason, Digital Performer, Mixbus, Wavelab, Ardour and Orion users.

    What music did these creative people make? These users again differed in EDM, EBM, pop, punk, rock music and so on and so on and so on.

    As you can see, human creativity is infinite...
     
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  4. naitguy

    naitguy Audiosexual

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    I'm turning 50 in 2 weeks :) I think there's a pretty diverse age group here. Several other older guys here too. On the Reaper forum there are a lot older guys than me, sometimes I feel young there.. the one place. haha

    I've used a lot of DAWs.. I do this amateurly, but my amateur musician days go way way back. You'd think I'd be better at this... :rofl:
     
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  5. xbitz

    xbitz Audiosexual

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    By the way, just for demonstration purposes, I’m throwing in Bitwig's XY Instrument container and the non-destructive per-note modulation of .clap devices—both are pretty cool and tough to pull off in other DAWs.




    lovely stuffs, that's why we can be forgiving, despite the obvious shortcomings in knowledge, somewhere at this level, its advantages start to show; below this, the other DAWs are better.
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2024
  6. Pisŧöff

    Pisŧöff Newbie

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    What a great thread. Got ahold of a Maschine 1 controller a couple years back...not exactly a DAW, but can be used as a VST in your DAW of choice, so it's way fun for building out automated structures and even entire tracks...just not ideal for recording vocals or live instruments.
    Love being able to work without a keyboard or mouse, and the screens let you even work without a monitor. Super sweet browser will index your sample libraries for easy browsing from within the app and it supports VST2 and VST3. There's even a standalone version of the hardware, but it's a bit pricey.
     
  7. Shasha

    Shasha Member

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    Ableton Live 10 suite user here didn't buy Into the hype of buy this buy that lol
     
  8. taskforce

    taskforce Audiosexual

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    It's not. Their offer is only second to Reaper's only FLS is more rich in featured plugs. I bought an FL license in early 2K and i never mention it, but hey this was originally a one man's project, so when i tasked by me label at the time, to produce an album with a guy who solely used FL, i had to pay homage to the dude who made FL. I very rarely use it. With that said, you cannot deny its appeal to people who make all sorts of electronic music, a little more to successful dance music creators, like Deadmouse. So if its good for J.Zimmerman who's quite the tech savvy person, it's good for anyone, at least within the boundaries of electronica. So please stop dissing, don't buy it don't use it. And by all means show us how superior are your creations to Deadmouse's hehehe.
    Lil story (old guy here) from the Maya forum. I think some yrs ago around 2016 or '17, guys were complaining about the lack of updates and whatnot, how features they see in other soft should be in Maya. They got a reply that went about: Do you remember the Lord Of the Rings Trilogy? Do your needs exceed artistically and technically what these guys did with Maya back in 1999? And then everybody complaining stfu and called it quits from the thread.
    Man you have a ton of posts which i didn't read all tbh, and you probably" skipped class in elementary school" when you were starting out music making hehe. The Atari ST series was the first personal computer that integrated a Midi I/O port on the comp itself (first model was the 520ST). The Midi Out port could be config'd as a Midi Through port too. It was not a gaming machine although it had gaming potential built-in, but a full fledged computer, released at mid 1985. It was on par with pc and Macs of the time with its 8mhz cpu, and just like the Mackintosh plus (1986), the comp could soon be upgraded up to 4mbs of ram. If you ever seen a Commodore Amiga, they look almost identical, but that's another story to tell. The Atari thing launched or helped too many careers both in soft and music. To name a few, Steinberg (creator of Cubase in 1989) and C-Lab (creator of Logic, afterwards named E-Magic, now owned by Apple) started both by making soft on the Atari platform. They had aggressive advertisement and cutoff everybody in pricing and everybody in music would buy one. The STFM model could by hooked straight into a CRT TV via scart kinda eliminating the need for a monitor, at least to start with, making it very popular.
    07157iej7i4p21.jpg
    Atari_1040STf.jpg
    Atari520ST_Interface.jpg
    Cheers
     
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  9. noided

    noided Member

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    I don't understand the FL hate. I don't like FL due to it's interface but that's just personal preference. Hating on FL's method of charging users seems wild to me because it's one of the most consumer friendly models alongside Reaper. Whatever happened to that free DAW that Behringer was working on anyways? It's been like two years since I heard about it.
     
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  10. Shasha

    Shasha Member

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    I own live 10 suite and FL Studio I've never seen a need to upgrade Ableton since it's always gonna work on whatever system I put it on since Im a windows user anyways
     
  11. noided

    noided Member

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    Ableton 10 is great and so is Studio One 4, FL Studio 11/12, etc. If you don't feel the need to upgrade you don't have to. Nobody is forcing you to and I don't think anyone here is implying you should.
     
  12. Radio

    Radio Rock Star

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    A message was sent on November 3, 2022, saying that they are still working on it and that development will take some time. AI will also be integrated. Behringer brand software plugins are expected to appear before the DAW.
     
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  13. Thotu

    Thotu Kapellmeister

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    It's kind of superiority complex. It goes like I am superior because I use a specific software and you are dumb because you don't and then they come with something to hate about it.
     
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  14. Synclavier

    Synclavier Rock Star

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    That's a really vicious way of thinking suitable for marketing departments, just because you like him doesn't make Furty Loops or some any other software he uses good and suitable for anybody. As for me his tracks are commercial rubbish so that kind of argument would be more of a downside to me.

    I'm not dissing, but discussing. We are here free to share our thoughts and fun aren't we? I dislike their "license which you can't resell" practice. To be clear, used FL starting from very early versions with SimSynth DrumSynth TS404 and now from time to time, since then it went bloatware direction, what should one do with the software which is developing in the wrong direction that he dislikes... nothing investments lost, but really I think there are some cool features in FL which other DAWs could envy.
     
  15. Synclavier

    Synclavier Rock Star

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    No need to be Dr. Freud here, everything is much easier. People are free to criticize anything they feel wrong, get over it.:bow:
     
  16. Thotu

    Thotu Kapellmeister

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    Your analogy doesn't even make sense. Its time you check the definition of cuckold. Anyways, I don't hate Reaper. It is a tool and a personal preference. Its the man behind the keyboard, who makes the music. However, had I owned a company/business, I would love to have customers like you. Who does refuse some dumb free money??...:rofl:
     
    Last edited: Oct 26, 2024
  17. Radio

    Radio Rock Star

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    Market law: Anyone in the world can or may develop a DAW and offer it for sale. Only the user makes a purchase decision. If your DAW is not purchased, it disappears from the market.

    It is welcome if DAWs are made accessible to a poorer group of buyers. Even those who do not have the money to buy a DAW can still make music thanks to Team R2R and other teams. This is a good message for all creative people worldwide.
     
  18. Synclavier

    Synclavier Rock Star

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    I'm rather aware of the original meanig of this word but in our days the use of it is much broader and its more funny.

    You should remember a well known saying: "the only free cheese is in the mousetrap". Thats what I'm trying to say to those who fall into the trap of a generous "lifetime license")
     
  19. aphelion

    aphelion Newbie

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    I can only answer for dance and electronic music, but you're pretty much dead on with Ableton. It's everywhere and the norm for both hobbyists and professionals. FL Studio is definitely still popular, but I don't really see many big producers using it. Cubase is a name I haven't heard in ages. What seems to be gaining popularity on the other hand, is Logic. Eric Prydz, Disclosure, Fox Stevenson, many big names are using it.
     
  20. Radio

    Radio Rock Star

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    I've now got the impression that some of our fellow human beings are a) resistant to advice b) can no longer listen and c) are getting more and more stupid

    Before Christmas, the "order today and pay later" nasty marketing trick starts again. A horde of psychologists have tried to invent new tricks to get customers' money, more and more people are in debt these days or buy things that cannot be exchanged. Sometimes they change their operating system but can no longer find a driver after reinstalling it or they have a technical problem with their software and either have to deal with the AI or have to spend hours or days laboriously getting help in forums.

    You shouldn't support these companies and you should make your negative experiences public.
     
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