One basic decision would be, if you want a tape style (e.g. Cubase) or a loop style (e.g. Live) DAW.
For EDM loop style is more common, but it's not always a good idea to go with the crowd.
Bitwig promises to be a fusion of both, but I can't comment on its stability and workflow.

But no one here yan tell you what you need.
As others said: Download all demos you can get and record/mix at least one track on each.
After that your decision will be quite easy.

 

Charlie Sheen's seal of approval is absolutely essential, yeah!

 

Was it fl11 or 12 you tried.....i ask as v 12.2 is very very different from 11.....

 

didnt Ableton live lite come with your AKAI APC 25 ? USE it! and the added synths and stuff.
Start with the things you already have,and use it to the max, and get used how the stuff is working.
just copy a typical EDM track by rebuilding step by step, or just load some ready tracks to understand how its working (free templates))
I bet for what u want to achieve, Ableton would be the easiest way to get fast results.
Reaper? NOT (only for audio recording and mixed audio and midi maybe )
Cubase? NOT (only if you wanna run a semiprofessional Studio and also record other kind of music)

 

Bitwig Studio is $199, and supports both 32- and 64-bit VSTs (it processes VSTs separately from the main DAW); has both clip/scene view (like Ableton Live and Maschine) and the standard timeline view; has excellent beat-matching ("groove" or "warp") capability; comes with 7GB of loops and instruments (with more available); has a really user-friendly GUI; is relatively light on CPU; has lots of great under-the-hood features for editing and automation; is available for PC, Mac and Linux, so if you cross over from PC, you can take Bitwig with you.

Reaper is also really good - only $60, cross-platform, lightweight, well-supported. It doesn't come with all the "content" that other DAWs do, but there are lots of free virtual instruments and loops available now, so that's almost a non-issue.

On Mac (if you go there), Garageband is only $5 and comes with lots of free loops and instruments, and leads into a transition to Logic Pro ($200) very well.

 

just want to say REAPER !... then get yourself some decent free synths to learn with... perfect for beginner...
then graduate to some inexpensive soft synths..etc. gradually...

but if you hang around here too long.. you will find you end up with every soft synth available

Reaper is well worth it..and amazing considering the price..and gets constant improvements and updates,
ask our man @mild pump milk

peace all

 

I second what @SineWave said. Also looking at the computer specs I think he gave you the best solution to handle vsti's. You don't want to exhaust your processing power after loading 3, 4 synths. Reaper is best when handling vst and vsti. Otherwise go for Cubase with student discount and download some very pro free synths. One more thing to note that stock plugins and instruments are usually not so good and you always end up using some third party plugins. In any case best of luck.

 

A no brainer here,like Herr Durr and Ed said,if you are on a budget Reaper all the way,i would even choose it over S1 Pro.

 

Seriously, you want FL.

$300 for the signature edition which includes, among a plethora of other great stuff, Harmor and Sytrus, which are some of the best synths on the market. Not to mention FX like Vocodex and Gross Beat, and then there's Edison which is basically a pocket-sized, full fledged audio editor.

I think Sonar has some synths that people like, and Logic comes with (formerly Camel Audio) Alchemy, but other than that, I can't think of another DAW that comes with any synths that I would really want to use in another DAW. I produce in Ableton Live and I use Harmor constantly. I want to buy Sytrus before I really start to dig in with it, but I assure you that it will be a staple in my VSTi folder soon as well.

Alternatively, like everyone else said, get Reaper and Serum. Serum comes with SerumFX which could practically replace a library of FX plugins on its own.

 

About FL:
The best GUI & animation capabilities
Fastest
The most complete (if you're content and count on your creativity)
Easiest
The most precise automation curves and everything automatable
Memory friendliest
Drag & drop feature
.
.
.
If your main purpose is working with the audio files, there are better alternatives.

Also I never rely on the DAWs for notational purposes. It's hard for me to credit what Logic and Cubase users tend to oversell about the notation-analyzing abilities of their DAWs.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 18, 2016

Either FL or Live, Choice is yours.

 

I've been messing around with various DAW trials for a few months- I just decided to ask for some advice before making my final decision.. Thanks for the advice though~.

This is an excellent idea actually! I wasn't aware that komplete was only $225- I had only seen the $1000 version.

I should definitely look more into the customization options, Reaper is actually sitting in my computer right now since I haven't totally rejected it, if at all.

hmmm I shall keep this in mind. It just so happens to be a producer I admire uses komplete a lot in his music. I tried installing a kontakt crack once, I couldn't get it to work.. I probably made a stupid mistake or something though, ha.

(she btw.. "Wow, there's a teenage girl who wants to spend her money on a DAW instead of makeup?! What???") Hmm, well I haven't completely tossed FL Studio. If it's my best option, I don't see a reason why not to go for it. I found the most success I had while composing was in FL Studio and my limited version of Cubase.

Oh my, I didn't know that! How essiential! Cubase is like the ultimate multivitamin! (I'm actually tempted to make this the best answer!)

I've tried both, I hate how they changed the plugin picker in FL Studio 12, it was easier to install new plugins in 11. But other than that, 12 is very nice.

I have the mpk, which is pretty small and basic, so I don't think it did, but I might look into Ableton Lite anyways, I'm sure it's on some pirating site... I might upgrade to that later on though.


Okay, so basically I feel like I've narrowed down my choices somewhat now! I'm thinking of either getting Reaper and Komplete, or just going for FL Studio. I think the next thing I'll save up for after that will be an audio interface, as many have suggested. Thank you all for all of the advice, suggestions, and humor!

 

Best part is, it doesn't have AIDs!

 

Best DAW my choose:

*MIDI Sequancer/Midi editing/Midi Sound Design = Apple Logic PRO
*Audio Edit (unique object base realtime editing) = Magix Samplitude
*Live/Performans= Ableton Live
*Mastering= Magix Sequoia

 

Dawishers are divided into 2 major groups based on the genres:
1- FL lovers
2- FL haters (mostly people that their source materials are lengthy audios)
What I can conclude is try it out first.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 19, 2016

FL and Reaper are daws that open the fastest,followed by Sonar Platinum i believe.
Cubase opens slower,that is the only thing i dont like about it.
Steinberg get your ass to mars and improve this.

 

It really does not matter what you choose. Anyone who tells you different just doesn't know how to use what they have or isn't actually musically inclined and pretends to be by making what I call LEGO music. There is an entire industry catering to LEGO music, loops, packs, per-generated arps, song in a box, ect...

If you actually understand how music works, doesn't mater what you pick up, if you want to learn how to make music by using a DAW they will suck to certain degree, and then you'll find yourself DAW hopping blaming the hammer for not driving in nails straight when you should be looking at the hand wielding it instead. I've never been a fan of the Studio One instruments, the FL ones can sound nice if you understand how to work with them though the workflow in FLS has never suited me personally the quality of its bundled effects and tone generators is excellent.

There is only 1 issue though, if you are on a Macintosh, Logic is no brainer, if you are not, finding something you can call end-game in your price range it gets a bit more difficult. Reaper is more than usable it is a great product that you can grow into and regardless of what people say you do not need every tone generator and sampler under the sky, finding something you can explore and grow with is just as important. I would separate the DAW from the instruments and just choose the best you can afford of both worlds and force yourself to live with it. Acknowledge the limitations and be creative within their boundaries, that is how humans have been making music for all of recorded history and remind yourself often that you have a lot less limitation than they did for the amount of work, time, and capital you have invested in your work.

 

Another alternative to consider is Acoustica Mix Craft Pro. Easy to use and comes with lots of instruments and tools. http://www.acoustica.com/mixcraft/mixcraft-pro-studio.html