ah you see the title and perhaps ask "wtf again question about daw, everyone use what you want bla bla bla.." ...but hey seriously, I am asking this very specific question because I do want to know your opinions,

I've been using Reaper as my primary daw for all audio-related work, especially recording and mixing, that choice is settled and I am by no means planning to replace it with anything else,
I left Windows and now I'm totally happy running MacOS on MBP and a decent hackintosh rigs, reliable and stable RME interfaces, so no worries about performance, FINALLY :D

but, since I can spare some time learning more than just audio, making use of various midi instruments, synths, kontakt libraries etc.., I would like to ask if you prefer to use some particular DAW for composition, arranging and other virtual instrument workflow?

I'm not lazy to render stems and mixdown elsewhere, so as long as raw wav audio export is possible, I'm in

oh and no, it's not a coincidence to ask these days when FL Studio released for MacOS natively, Studio One offering some serious updates, Bitwig Studio going through improvements and huge contenders like Logic, Ableton and Cubase are not going anywhere forward at reasonable pace....

(ps: I do have Seaboard RISE49 as a usb midi controller, if that matters for a specific daw choice)

thx in advance, cheers

 

i use reaper and love it!
with your setup and gear i think you are golden

 

Studio One 4 with Melodyne Studio and your set bro.

Studio One has great midi routing not to mention chord player functionality. And it has integration with Melodyne thru ARA.

In case u don't know what Melodyne is, it can turn ur Wav files into midi notes. I don't need to tell u what kind of crazy possibilities this open up. You can change pitch of each note and since studio one has ARA, it opens inside studio one seamlessly.

This is my main current set up, I use FL Studio as well for early stages of beat production. I just love working that piano roll. And finish everything with Studio one 4 and fab filter Plug-ins for mixing and mastering.

Hope that helps your decision, good luck!

 

I'm investigating non-DAW MIDI composing options . . . SunDog, Numerology, MidiYodi, Odesi, Captain Chords, Liquid Notes, Liquid Music, Rapid Composer, InstaChord, etc.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Jul 22, 2018

OH man I am all up on that. I have instachord, scaler, orb Composer, Rapid Composer, obelisk.

But my main secret weapon IS Melodic Flow, Ableton 10 midi routing, with Serato Sample and Scaler. It's insane what I do after I find a sample I like. I can go on and on bro...

 

Among the Daws I tried: I would say Cubase is better than Studio one, and both better than Reaper, Digital Performer, Pro Tools, Sonar, Bitwig, Mixcraft, and Magix.

* Cubase has the vst expression, logic editor, chord track, note expression, and lots of other editing tools, which make it easy for programming. Studio One has fewer options but good yet.

* I have not tried Logic Pro, so no idea.

* Ableton Live, and Fl studio, the workflow was just awful and complicated, and I hated them at first scene. However Ableton Live has very deep options for programming midi and synth, and it has Max Cycling 74 embedded in.

* Digital performer for windows requires a big screen because of resolution problems.

* The only five program that has embedded score are Cubase, Logic Pro, Digital Performer, Reaper and Mixcraft. It may matter if you are into classical music. Protools and Studio One have separate software which links with daw.

* Reaper by default lacks lots of options but if you buy this template with lots of scripts, you can strengthen the reaper. It is 130$ which must not be huge for a person that has a seaboard
http://otr.storyteller.im/

 

Last edited: Jul 21, 2018

Cubase on Atari ST1040 :D as there was no audio haha.. no purely for midi i would give cakewalk Sonar (free) a go

 

Reaper has embedded score.

 

My favorite "DAW" for MIDI programming and sequencing is hands down FL studio's PRV.

 

I never tried Cubase. How's the work flow like? Any other reasons u prefer Cubase over other daws?

Is Cubase elements their suite edition? Or the cheap package?

 

My usual go-to "DAW" for composition is rather a pattern-based MIDI composer: Genome Midi on iPad.
When using the piano roll a lot, hands-on control combined with a rather quick monophonic/polyphonic step entry working simultaneosly with manual note placement and removal is all I need.
When done, all patterns can be exported as MIDI files and imported e.g. in Live.
Using Bluetooth MIDI, you can even play/control all your instruments/synths/kontakt libs wirelessly.
It supports MIDI clock sync and Ableton Link too, so you can continue working on your main DAW simultaneously even without any MIDI file export.

 

I'm checking out orbital composer, AI composer, look-mom-no-hands composer, works great IMO, especially with melodyne.

 

Are you an egg? Is this question so hard to google? Like wtf are you 12?

 

For me, Cubase key and logical editor is an unbeatable combination.

 

https://www.steinberg.net/en/produc...duction_software/music_composition_tools.html

https://www.steinberg.net/en/products/cubase/comparison.html

 

Cubase for me. Started on an Atari st1040 and am now using Cubase 9.5. It works how I expect and want.

 

Cubase for me too. It's outstanding when it comes to MIDI, MIDI plugins, tools and editing.

 

This is as good a place as any to ask this type of question! These forums are here for this type of information so keep your wig on mister.

 

Ableton

 

I don't think this fellow musician is an egg at all. Human to Human is better. I also don't use self check-out at stores. As far as I'm concerned, there are no stupid questions. Why would anyone take the time to insult someone for asking advise and/or opinions? Even worse, why am I taking the time to respond to the response?