good choice. those who need more should work on their skills.

 

I really hate to break it to many here with limited experience but Radar and PARIS sound different to other DAWs and do NOT null, and are still used by some.

So while most DAWs do null, not all do. Also, before some ignorant folks flame me, ya better do actual research yourself and not regurgitate what others blindly spew online.

 

AdmiralBumblebee had an interesting channel sad he is rather ill to make more videos

Some DAWs are better than others here is the scintific proof not that you'll be able to hear it:

https://src.infinitewave.ca/ (that author of the site is a crazy one, closed it for some countries, but I'm sure you'll figure what to do)

 

Last edited: Aug 10, 2025

Even though it’s implied that we’re talking about well known modern DAWs (which neither PARIS nor RADAR are), no one here said that all DAWs null. The argument in the video was specifically about Logic and Pro Tools. Even if I were to consider what you’re saying as true, which I’m not obliged to, since you haven’t presented any evidence, it still wouldn’t matter.

 

ah yes, of course! Radar and PARIS!! How could i have forgotten those huge, modern, relevant DAWs?!

 

Hundreds of Radar and PARIS DAW rigs are working today, so you can't make blanket statements about DAWs without actually factoring in ALL DAWs.

As to presenting evidence, we did all that some 20 years ago in professional forums. It's widely acknowledge that Radar had it's own sound due to the software/hardware integration, and PARIS was full of Ensoniq custom ESP DSP chips that were integrated with the software with hardware converters designed by the same Burl converter designer... and nothing sounds like it.

I still have and use a large PARIS rig, simply because it sounds fantastic and unique. It offers me a sound option today I enjoy using from time to time.

FWIW, the convo here should actually be that all music software calculates the math the same, which is only a part of the sound we hear.

 

Well, as you said yourself, it’s pretty clear that not all music software does the math the same way, right? Otherwise, they’d all null, which isn’t the case with these few exceptions. As much as you’d like to believe it, you’re not really saying anything new in this convo.

 

The questions is NOT "how it records", converters, DSP tracking ... but how it SUM after the tracking itself.
As long as no non linearity are included in the summing engine, 1+1 =2

 

So the answer is yes, some DAW's do sound different, but there are logical reasons why they do.

 

No, you're saying some converters and processors sound different. Which they do, but that's a different argument.

I bet the actual summing engine of PARIS would null similarly compared to others, which you could test with exported files I guess.

 

Reaper sounds creamier, warmer, more open, with fat and juicy bass, and a certain kind of lush sheen and sweetness around 24k... /s

When people start throwing words like this I usually change the video.

But I like Weaver's channel. Especially news. He seems an honest, good guy.

 

I've been keeping this for myself for a long time for obvious reasons, but now that you're pulling my tongue I'll say that importing the same audio/MIDI files in different DAWs (Reaper, Bitwig, Ableton, Logic, Waveform etc.) and doing what I usually do to them, it all sounds different to my ears. Sometimes the perceived differences are not subtle at all.

I'm not saying that the DAWs sound different per se, let alone that they can't be made to sound the same, but IME they don't do it by default. It would require some effort.

Also, in Reaper, a file played from its Media Explorer sounds quite a bit different to my ears than when the same file is imported into the project and played from its track. At least they did late in version 6, when I last checked. It goes for most kinds of sounds, although fat kick drums are where the difference was most audible to me.

 

Ups..... the word "felt"

 

Absolutely. And Pro Tools sounds the best. It's not even debatable. Chris Lorde of the Algae agrees with me- and if you don't, you don't know music. You're not a pro. And you don't have tools. Amateur.

 

Let the fools be fooled.

 

I won't be fooled. I am using Pro Fools, the Reaper update.

 

I would say that the sound is the same, but DAWs are different...

 

Last edited: Aug 10, 2025

I wish I could find this ancient ANCIENT ANCIENT article I read once where they did a comparison of the resampling algorithms used by various manufacturers at that time (AKAI, Alesis, Yamaha, Ensoniq, E-Mu, Roland, etc...) and they threw in a couple freeware algorithms to round it out...

... and Impulse Tracker won.

 

You know what?? For once i agree!! Digital Audio Waves can and do often times sound VERY different. Just yesterday even, i had a session up and running... I loaded up a kick drum sample. Ok cool, sounds like a kick. Now, heres where it gets weird. In the same exact session, even on the same track, i loaded a snare sample. Get this, the two samples sounded completely different from each other!! WTF?!?!?

I even tried processing them with eq, compressors, OTT, and a clipper, still sounded different. I tried duplicating the track, freezing them even, thinking maybe ableton was glitching or something. Nope!! still sounded different. Getting frustrated, I duplicated the track something like 400 times, until ableton was almost at a standstill, i applied different settings to all of the tracks, slightly adjusting the phase and volume of each track, trying to get them to null. Well, it was impossible....

The two Digital Audio Waves sounded different.

As a last ditch effort, i exported all 400 tracks one by one, thinking maybe the MP3 codec on the WAV export would fix everything. I listened to all 400 tracks on my custom made PMC's, that i bought directly from Serban Ghenea.

Every export, the kick and snare Digital Audio Waves sounded different. I give up.

IDK if we're being lied to by ableton or what. Can anyone try and replicate in another DAW? Protools, logic, reason, Audacity, bandlab, koala sampler, or a tascam portastudio? Seriously frustrating. Ive been producing for 20 years, and have chart topping hits, you can look my credits up if you want. Just know that i know what im talking about. Before you come at me, maybe do some research, as this is a well known fact that two different samples, these so called digital audio waves, can sound different. Sorry for the rant, i just had to get it off my chest.

TLDR - Digital Audio Waves sound different depending on the sample, i spent an entire day trying to figure it out, failed, and ultimately just decided to send a bug report to Ableton and the samples creator, Cymatics.