The title is self explanatory. Explain every major daw. Whether it's through humor, detailed history, personal takes, anything related to the software and the people who use them. All discussions are free of mind. So if you take the responses on the thread personally, try not to represent your software (*cough* FL Users *cough*)

 

• Berklee College of Music major DAWs comparison
• L&R blog - Best DAW

 

Last edited: Jul 14, 2025 at 4:04 AM

I hope no one take this seriously.

 

I don't know, it's not that far off, but sure, there are exceptions to everything.

 

I'm confused, am I getting paid for this, or at least maybe getting some college credit or something?

 

Be kind now.

 

It's not first time I'm accused of not being kind because I disagreed with someone. Well, anyways....

1. I'd say that Reaper is the Linux of the DAW world (I'm talking about DAW's here, not PD, Max, etc).
   
2. I personally prefer Bitwig over Live for live performance, I'd say Bitwig is like Live if Live was consistent from a UI perspective and didn't have PDC issues, among other structural real-time processing problems.
   
3. Renoise kinda feels like writing score sheet but in a much more intuitive and cool way.
4. FL Studio feels like ADHD in the form of a DAW, its a pop up window mess and a UI disaster... but it's kinda cool, I'd use it a lot more if it made any sense. Some people click with it instantly, if that's not you I guarantee you insisting won't really make a difference.
   
5. Pro Tools is kinda like going to college just because you parents forced you to.

 

It depends on who pays me: if Ableton gives me a thousand dollars, I'll write three pages of positive reviews about Ableton. If Studio One gives me a thousand-dollar bill, I'll, of course, write that Studio One has these and these advantages. Jokes aside, everyone should try out all DAWs and see which one suits them.

After testing them all, I landed on the following: Presonus - Studio One. I like it, I bought it; the workflow was the deciding factor.

 

I'm a little behind the times but I believe Bars&Pipes Professional is the world leader at the moment. I don't know, I'm just a musician.

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/barspipes-professional-25

 

Please please please stop with these best lists, was the editor on drugs or who paid him.
I've rarely read such an unconvincing list of lies. It's off to the recycling bin.

 

First, you need to work on your sense of humor mate. You've missed it (the humor) by a mile. On second thought, that's it.

 

You missed the point too: I was being facetious (your whatever it's called at the bottom of your post does say: "be kind" - I didn't make it up). Ironic isn't it?

 

Boolean Bonanza!!

 

Thank you captain obvious, I had no idea.

 

Choose the (open source) one that fits YOUR needs:

HyMPS project \ AUDIO \ DAWs

 

It isn't that far off.

"Beat-makers" is a dumb "category", but the response is predictable. People think it is faster than other daws, when they don't know other DAWs. You can make beats in any DAW.

Best DAW for "beginners" should also be FL, because so many people start with it. (and never progress past it).

Best Hardware Integration is definitely not Studio One. Best integration with Presonus' own hardware, sure. Compared to Protools and Avid hardware, this one isn't even close to correct.

 

I use Live, Cubase and FL Studio. Beat making is definitely more intuitive and fun in FL Studio. It sucks at other things though.

 

11. Not best but afaik ONLY DAW for recording multichannel classical or acoustic music at DSD256 or DXD format: Pyramix.
Does someone know another one...? The UI isn't really user friendly...

 

I can't guarantee it (I've never tried for) but, if you have capable hardware, I think even "my" tiny hALSAmrec can RECORD (editing/mixing/mastering are completely different matters) multitrack DSD "headlessly" since it's ALSA-based:
https://github.com/FORARTfe/hALSAmrec#readme