I want to find a DAW to utilize my 16GB of RAM. I immediately turned to Cubase 6 but it appears the only thing available is a trial.

What else is there?

 

Presonus Studio One v2 ...Fantastic software and very light on the system to boot!

 

Reaper

 

Sonar

 

Buy the full 64-bit version Reaper for $60 it's a bargain

 

Samplitude

 

PreSonus Studio One 2 I moved from sonar love this software + integrated Celemony’s Melodyne and mastering section as well

 

R.E.A.P.E.R. FTW!

 

yep i second that too....reaper....well worth the money! *yes*

 

Reaper 64bit is free. . Just hit the "still evaluating" button. Also, the 32/64 bit bridge is excellent and for me has worked 100%. Hope that helps.

 

Reaper!!!
I strongly recommend the groove 3 tutorials, when you get stuck just watch a short tutorial on the procedure you need to know about and then you are back in business.

 

Since OP didn't say what sort of music he works with, and for anyone reading:

Unless you're working with midi -very- heavily... as in full virtual orchestra work, I'll put in a vote for Reaper. I'll gladly switch over to Reaper myself once their midi editing shapes up a bit (members are contributing great ideas on their forum so I'm sure it'll happen by this time next year) but 'till then, Sonar X1 is your best bet with cracked DAWs if you do most of your work with midi. Cubase 6+ is probably better, but you really do want 64bit if you're gonna work with full orchestral stuff, and AFAIK the cracked Cubase is 32 bit only.

 

I have used Reaper quite a bit and the MIDI editor seems fantastic and full featured to me.

I can't see any shortcomings with the MIDI editor. I produce Pop, Funk, and Rock music mostly.

When using the MIDI editor be aware most of the work you do utilizes mouse modifiers to change actions, This leads many people to wonder where all the tool icons are.

Reaper doesn't use them. You just press a certain key down while editing with the mouse. This way of MIDI editing really increases the work flow dramatically.

 

Another great DAW is FL Studio. While it is a 32-bit program, As of version 9 you can now load 64bit VST plugins which have full access to the RAM installed on your computer. Personally, I prefer Ableton because it's workflow is so damn simple and logical, but until they offer 64bit support I can't use it when I'm doing some of my larger orchestral pieces.
Also, if you use Kontakt then be careful with respect to reaper. I spent forever trying to figure out how to create tracks that could individually control particular midi channels, and in the end I gave up in frustration. Reaper is a very powerful DAW and i highly recommend it as a worthy DAW, but it can definitely be a bit overwhelming to the passive user.

 

I highly recommend the groove 3 tutorials for Reaper. They are in small sections and have helped me out a lot. Just look for it.

Also their forum is very active and might have helped you with that Kontakt Problem.

It comes with many MIDI plugins. You can do almost anything you want with MIDI, just use them like VST plugs but they only affect MIDI. Changing channels is a breeze.

Hope this helps,

 

I second that. Reaper wins the battle of the DAWs.

 

If you want Cubase you can use cracked 32bit version and buy Jbridge for 15 EUR, fantastic app for expanding ur RAM usage... I used this configuration, and worked like a charm

Cheers

 

Sonar X1, the X2 is coming soon

http://www.cakewalk.com/SONAR-X2

 

Definitely REAPER