Hello people. I am a very average user of FL Studio, which I do like and find visually very appealing, but it feels crowded and complicated and I am not getting a lot of joy easily recording from external sources (guitar and vocals). I can get it to work but it's laborious, especially for a newbie like me.

I read a lot of good things about Studio 1 and Bitwig (for the latter, I have been tomd to wat until version 2 to try). Since Studio 1 isn't cheap, would you please give me your advice as to whether it is suitable and welcoming for a relative newbie who needs a very intuitive framework.

Thank you for your confirmation, approval or disapproval: any pointers welcome.

rem

 

Yes, studio one was created for recording purpose. You can run a 30-days demo full working (export to mp3 is disabled). If you need only for recording stuff you can use Studio One Free but no 3rd party plugin support.

 

Hello,

Let's just start by saying that I'm also a newbie. I 'used to use' Cubase, the first version of Reason or Gigastudio (this is a hint about how old am I).
AFter that, almost ten years went on without me touching anything related to music production (don't ask me why).

Suddenly (last year), I felt the urge to get back to this hobby and I started to use Cubase again, because this was one if not the most known sequencer (and also because Logic is only for Mac now).

After a short time, I felt frustrated by Cubase complexity and I started to look for an alternative. One Audiosex member (thanks again Demon!) then suggested to look at Studio One, which I did.

It was night and day: S1 might be less powerful than Cubase (not even sure about this, but anyway) but for me, it was like someone was able to know how my brain works and then built the sequencer that would match my workflow. It's been a year that I use S1 but I believe I'm able to do much more than when I used Cubase for three years. It feels easier to accomplish things, you don't have to open many windows and click on many different buttons: You are just working on your music and the sequencer is just a tool that will not stop you from being creative.

I also tried FL Studio a long time ago and felt it wasn't built for anything else beside EDM and 'modern' music. That's one of the reasons I never bothered with FL.

 

I bought the first version of Fruity Loops. That tells you how old I am! Not to mention the old Yamaha handheld music machines. I had the same experience: I played a lot but never graduated.

Thank you both for your answers. This helps a lot. I do use plugins but if S1 is right, I don't mind going for more advanced version.

 

Studio One is mostly drag and drop and it really have a fast workflow, at least for me.
After all, DAWs are subjective, workflow "tastes" differ from producer to producer.

@MR Psanter, the "powerfullness" of a DAW is user-related. There's nothing unachievable both musically and creatively with Studio One.
For me it actually kick ass, but i'm not going to call it a "holy-grail", because let's face it. YOU are the secret weapon behind your music, not the tools you use.
A producer can come up with a chart topping hit no matter what tools you throw at him. Guess what, the former The Cataracs guy (actual KSHMR) made "Like a G6" with Acid Pro 7 and Reason 4 and the whole song featured like 4 elements and it got no.1 place in Billboard Top 100, overlapping even Bruno Mars's "Just The Way You Are" song.
Then he kept working with Reason, he even made a class video for Propellerhead talking about his productions, and guess what, now he's using Ableton for his EDM songs under the name KSHMR. He really doesn't give a fuck about the daw he's using. That's how you can tell he is really passionate about the music he's creating, by creating it no matter what. He's looking right at the end result, not at the process behind the end result. That's the right mindset we all need to approach.

Evo

 

Well, you don't need professional version in order to use studio one for producing, you can use producer version which is more cheap and is not that different from the pro version..
If you work with guitars and vocals s1 is the best for you, but also if you produce, mix and so on..

I'd also suggest you to wait few days before try it, because a new version is coming really soon.. and it's really coooool

 

Let me say that Studio One is a great choice for a newbie but also for a professional
Plus:

• great layout
• intuitive workflow
• intensive drag & drop functionalities
• good for mixing as well for mastering
• many included tools, some of wich really powerful: pro version gives great results without any additional plugin
• and above all: great stability (at least under windows)

For all above points my opinion is it's better than Cubase and Cakewalk (other DAWS I know) , surely more professional than Fruity and Ableton, and the learning curve is really faster for a newbie

Minus

• Gui: the interface isa little bit critical, too small characters, too dark and not so clear colourings, some unintuitive naming optons
• Some professional routines and functionalities are not included if compared with other pro DAWs
• Scoring not included, you need rewiring to presonus Notion
  

My suggestion
Test it, wait for coming version 3 and buy it (that's what I will do.......)

 

Thank you both for the heads up and pointing me in the direction of the best version for me. I will wait for he new version and definitely try it.

Thanks again for very useful feedback, as always on this site.

 

@Evorax didn't know that KSHMR was in the The Cataracs, really enjoying "Like A g6" track, great vid also

 

Have U Taken A Look At MixCraft? It Iz Low Cost, Pretty Powerful (Especially With The New Version 7 With 64Bit VST Support), & Pretty Easy 2 Use.

 

No, I haven't. Is that the Acoustica stuff? I remember trying that out a few versions ago and finding it quite stilted, but I haven't tried lately. Good idea. Thanks.

 

I used Adobe Audition for a long long time, and when I decided to try out some other DAWs Studio One was the first one I used. It was super easy to get the hang of and has incorporated some really awesome ideas for making editing quick and easy. I use Samplitude now for recording, but if it didn't have a couple features that I just couldn't live without, I would be using Studio One without a doubt.

 

Good to know. I am trying to find some good intro videos on their site now. Their video playlists are a bit of a mess but there is plenty. Maybe there is a full commercial training vid. Anyway, thanks for the confirmation.

 

I used Studio One for the past few years, its a really great daw to be fair . I went back to Cubase after the Pro 8 Update though - No regrets....Steinberg have finally started listening to their user base! there are still areas in which it can learn from Presonus though!

 

there are lots, also try youtube, you just missed out on Groove3 giving out free month passes for ALL their tutorials (other tuts sites are available), also plenty of tuts available over on the darkside if you know where to look

remember you need to take your time in learning how your DAW works, there is no quick way to learn, watching a few 5-10 minute vids does not make you an expert

 

Yep, missed out. And yes, I will make time once I am sure. Oh and nice to see your name in print again. You may not remember, but you helped me out more than once, Sir.

 

Never used Cubase so the recommendation is good enough for me.

 

Regarding the full commercial training you mentionned, I would recommend looking at Groove3 or AskVideo materials as they are both top notch and basically cover most of the sutff you would need to know (at least for the beginning).

 

It's really not what DAW you use - but how well you know it, use it and abuse it.

There. I said it.

 

This is the absolute TRUTH.