I've used studio one for the past few years and love it. I just got my hands on live 10 the other day and have messed around with it. I've used live in the past but never liked it and used acid to make beats. Also, I mostly use waves plugins. So my questions are.... which DAW is better in your eyes and if their is a better plugin suite better than waves? I'm just curious what everyone has to say and would recommend.

 

Which DAW to use is a pretty personal question. If you like Studio One, stick to Studio One.

If playing with Ableton made you feel like you were missing out on some feature or workflow by using S1, maybe download the demo or the crack and see how you feel about it after you get used to it. I'm a strong advocate for buying software if you can afford it, but I'm not certain 30 days is long enough to decide whether a DAW is for you, and that's a major monetary commitment.

 

☝ What @Cav Emp said. You'd be better asking the man in the mirror (out loud or writing it down on paper to yourself). I did what he said. I bought S1. I like it. I liked the feel of my Ableton trial. I bought it. But, if you are like me, you will use it, weigh pros & cons and make your own choice. There are thousands of comments on hundreds of threads like this. I've read them all~ You'll come away from them with less conviction for either choice. Just test and then buy or drop it/them.

 

I recommend using as many DAWs as you want. There's no law saying you have to use just one. DAW loyalty is so weird to me. I use DAWs like plugins. If I need a feature from one, I go and use it. Music is the goal. Don't let the software get in your way.

 

in OUR eyes?
the question is what is it YOU can't do with the daw you already use.
see, mostly this kind of questions are a result of lack of focus and knowledge on what it is you want to do in music.
its then you start asking others what daw is best, hoarding vsts etc..

I've done it myself, but, as soon as you start having deadlines you quit spending time with this type of "existential anxiety"

still, often this is a path you have to travel anyways, at least until you find the direction, focus and discipline to avoid escaping the actual music-making.

 

Last edited: Feb 11, 2018

I think I am a great candidate for answering your question.

I have been a Studio One user since version 1.*. I have also used Ableton off and on since it's inception.

What I love about studio one over ableton at this point is the interface, the ability to quickly drag multiple samples into the browser to export, the audio editing features are pretty handy, such as the slice out empty audio to retrieve multiple samples from a single audio track to name a few. I never really used the stock plugins all that much. I love my 3rd party plugins.

I can't put my finger on it exactly, but I am currently feeling more inspiration with Live 10, specifically. I produce Techno and for some reason, the way I work, I'm getting amazing sound and ideas with Live 10. Maybe it's because I'm just tired of Studio One at this time (for now), and I can't really put my finger on it, but I'm just having more fun using Ableton 10. I don't know why 10 is doing it much better for me than version 9 was... it just is.

I notice a significant improvement with the way Abelton 10 handles CPU and RAM over Studio One. Some plugins recalled slowly in S1, whereas in Live, the pop up quickly. Also scrolling through patches would chew my CPU using some synths in S1 - no probs at all in Live. I use MAGIC A/B on my master bus with 9 tracks loaded into it - recalling it in S1 will take about 3-4 seconds to pop up the GUI, whereas in Live it pops up almost instantly. It's a refreshing change, for me.

I think the audio engine, specifically with the way audio is stretched and looped is piquing my interest more in Live 10 over Studio One... again, it could be simply because I'm too familiar with Studio One and am happily looking for a change to jog my inspiration.


At the end of the day, I love both DAWS, and will continue to use both... sometimes at the same time via ReWire. I think I'll exclusively be using Live 10 for the next while, specifically to do sound design and building beats.


My advice is to give both a go and figure out which one does "it" for you.

Have fun, mate!

 

Last edited: Feb 11, 2018

Thanks for the feedback Eddie and User. Any better plugin suite better than waves?

 

I've been a logic / pro tools user for a long time, and before that my first tracker was Acid.

despite they're trying to push ( ^^ ) ableton in the direction of being a DAW, in the "composition tools " sense of the term, the youngest don't realize it was made FOR LIVE PERFORMANCE FIRST.

the way it's organized in scenes and clips screams it, yet people want to use it as a composing tool, but it's far to be the best for that.

there are 3 ways in my opinion to look at DAWs and ways to use it :

- for composition
- for recording / mixing
- for live performance

FL Studio, reaper, cubase, Logic, S1 are more "composing tools", with audio / midi integration.

ableton is far best used in a live environment.

waves are a good plugins suite, with basically everything you need, same for ik multimedia T Racks.
there's a few others plugins you can find with very specific effects ( such as sugar bytes, Kilohearts, Sinevibes..)

all depends on you goals and if you are an "old school musician " ( you can play an instrument ) or a "new school musician" ( you use loops and midi ) ... an Artist do both and turns every tool to his advantage

if you don't have the intention to go live, I'd say stick to studio 1 and third party plugins and soundbanks / instruments.

 

if you have 2 pcs why not use studio one as the master and send midi clock to the transport of ableton live.....clk ext in live
then just grab a stereo pair out of live and into a stereo track in st 1

 

DAW's are tools and each have their strengths, we must each determine if those strengths fit our workflow and desired end results. I use 6 DAW's for different tasks.....

Studio One v3.5 for production, some pre-mixing and mixing.
Live 9.7 for off the cuff creative inspiration.
Pro Tools HD for low latency tracking.
Reaper 5 for CPU efficiency and all things Nebula.
Wavelab for Mastering.
Ensoniq PARIS for the amazing sound.

So my answer would be to use BOTH!

 

It depends. Do you like chocolate or vanilla?

I like Pistachio but they always mix these damn almonds in with it and I have to eat around those. Though, sometimes I have this insatiable need for nuts and then I could eat almonds all day.

Why don't they put actual pistachios in pistachio flavored ice-cream?

 

I'm pretty sure there's a 12 step group for that...

yeah yeah, it's low hanging fruit and I'm not funny or original. Just let me have it

 

I forgot about this, but this is why I switched from S1 to Cubase. I remembered that some of my frequently used plugins started crashing S1 around the time they were adding the console shaper or whatever it's called. Those feature updates made things really unstable for me. But more importantly, Studio One would run at 100% CPU for projects that would take up like 30-50 percent in Live. I have an i7 7600k. It's not brand new anymore but dammit I'd have to actually make an effort to redline that thing. I heard people talk about memory leak but this was really egregious and after a buch of troubleshooting I just cut my losses and thanked the gods that I hadn't actually bought Studio One yet.

It was a joy to work in though. Hopefully they've ironed out all those problems by now.

 

You should take a long trip and I believe you'll find answers for all of your questions on that path...
By the old legend, everyone who steps ...
... and this one with socked-hat on head is master-in-chief.

 

in my oppinion they are both great daws, roll a coin and pick your shot ...

 

I'm using Live as a slave into Studio one. You can add folders of S1 "songs" into Live and all your projects will appear in Live's browser, thus you can use all bounces from S1 in Live and do whatever you want.

 

Whatever makes you feel more comfortable to work with!
There's no "best" or "better" DAW....

 

Thanks everyone for the great and yet colorful feed back.

 

Stop toying around and get a real daw!!!
Puts his helmet on ....




just kidding ...
If you work a lot with samples - Ableton. If you record a lot of audio - s1. It really depends what kind of music you make and what kind of workflow you have.
But you might consider cubase or reaper as well.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Feb 11, 2018

Hi. I personally like exclusive features from both DAW (e.g. Clips View in Live 10 and S1 Scratch Pads, etc). Along the way, I discovered Reaper which offers the solution to customize its functionality, and have that features from Live 10 and S1 (and from other DAWs too). I'd personally recommend Reaper for that reason—only (i.e. getting your favorite features from several DAWs, into one DAW). Cons only on the learning curve that is quite steep if trying to customizing it w/o patience. Little by little should be alrite.