Just wanted to say hi to everyone and the devs for creating this wonderful forum for musicians. I'll be coming here often to learn in my free time.

The help I need from you is choosing the correct DAW. I have worked with other producers before and the all used different DAWs. I am a singer-songwriter who is from India so I want to download the DAW for which lots of plugins are easily available with a variety of uses.

Thank you for reading!

 

If you want basics covered, look at Cubase, you´ll get long way just with the included stock plugins and instruments

 

One of the least expensive DAWs that is very customizable and has a lot of additional plugins and scripts would be Reaper. You will be able to record, mix and whatever else you want to do with it. Other than that there are a lot of free plugins around for nearly everything you might need, so there is no need to spend a lot of money.

 

Hey Legotron! I didn't expect such a quick reply wow. This is the first time someone has recommended me cubase actually. I have tried my hands on Bandlab and Ableton before and felt like Bandlab is too handholding and not open ended enough for me to change things , like a test drive. and Ableton is too complex to even look at the stock plugins and instrument rack. Maybe its me being too picky or being a noob. Idk but I'll check out Cubase for sure. Thanks for replying.

Actually I stumbled upon this website and the sister site when a friend recommended Studio One to me which looks perfect but I can't afford to buy all the plugins I have seen the producers use when I'm in the studio with them. And I tried downloading version 5 of it but I can't install any plugins from the sister site using the licenses idk why.

 

it will turn to:

use cubase
no
use reaper
no
use studio one
no
use ableton
no
use protools
no
use bandlab
no
use sequoia
no
use pyramix
no
use traktion
no
use bitwig
no
use fl studio

with saussage fatner plugin

 

Hi mino45! I have tried the free version of Reaper and found it quite underwhelming. Actually maybe the lack of tutorial videos are the problem. There is a youtuber known as Mix With Vasudev. I think I'll follow his tutorials on Ableton and get over my fear of diving in I guess. My laptop is not a gaming laptop so it heats up a bit, but I think I can somehow manage for now.

The sister site is a godsent to me. Today is a very lucky day for me. Its been 4 years I've been writing songs but no musician had told me about this trade secret haha. Is there a beginner's guide to the sister site on this forum you could link me to? I was able to download Ampire and install it but it didn't show up in Studio One. Installing plugins in Ableton is much easier now that I think about it 0of

 

Hahaha bobdule. If only I could keep both Ableton and FL Studio in my 250gb ssd then all would be well.

 

I would keep it simple
if you dont hate studio one stay there it got everything you need
might be a bit complex but its good.

Maybe better for your comp would be Reason. it was always very efficent (if you stay light on routings)
Live is probably the easiest but it can be be a cpu hog quite quickly

Cubase is Fantastic but its quite a big/Steep learning curve
wich you dont need really

If you are a singer songwriter
Keep it simple and learn enough (Programs) to write and record
thats the most important

 

Last edited: May 14, 2023

The only reason that I use Reaper is for my guitar plugins. I could not find a specific tutorial so I ended up experimenting until I discovered how to do it myself which was both very frustrating and time consuming.

 

We have a winnerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

Thanks a lot dondada. I have just one question. What if I do just the arrangement and vocal processing work on my laptop in Ableton and give the project to my friend after that to finish the mix? Because he has a gaming laptop and knows mixing. Sorry for totally dumping your suggestion dondada. Its just that I have friends offline who I can call up for clearing a doubt if I have one about Ableton.

 

thats a legitimate questions and there are 2 answers.

1.)
If you want to actually cooperate, ie work together, it is usefull that you use what he has
or he can (easily) adopt your program.

2.)
If you only want to do mix/mastering @ your buddys place
You can A.
Just Export* the Audio (Stems (*track by track)
You can B.
Go with an Single Stereo WAV Export & or
Re Record @ your buddys place if he has better gear (beside computer)

But your "engineer" buddy will tell you what he needs anyway
and always have Fun!!!

 

You mention having a 250gb SSD but not your Operating System. This is a very standard size internal SSD for mac/macbook pro.

Are you using a Mac? if so, the answer is Logic Pro. They all have Pros and Cons; but many people produce their tracks inside Logic, and then Mix them in Cubase for it's Control Room and other mixing-specific features. If you are going to download from sister site, you might as well go with Nuendo. (or it is an additional 300$ or so, if you were to be buying one.)

 

With that information in mind I do no recommend FL Studio at all. Seem you'll be doing lots of recordings and will need extensive audio editing and comping capabilities, FL Studio does not come even closer to other daws on that matter.

Studio One is pretty complete when it come to these tasks, and as far as I've read Cubase has all these tasks covered plus some more functions, and both have similar GUIs, so I would recommend taking a look on those two.

Not to mention you can find both "lifetime trial versions" on sister site, so you can test them with all features available as much as needed on your own time and pace.

 

I suggest start with PreSonus Studio 1. Lightweight and quite capable on its own. It can do everything others can and a combination of text only and some graphic eye candy with colors/theme and stuff, no too much, not too little. A middle ground between mixing and beatmaking specific DAW that can do both above the average. Quite powerful I can't name even a single weakness.

 

"I am a singer/songwriter" ?

1. stay away from FL Studio and Ableton

2. choose something that is used by someone around you (friends or whatever)

3. your choise should be restricted to Cubase or Studio One (add Logic if you were on apple)

 

Of course you can try some DAWs - it has to suit you and you have to feel that this is the DAW I love.

PreSonus - Studio One is the workflow DAW for me personally.
I would test Steinberg - Cubase / Ableton - Ableton Live / Cakewalk - BandLab.