I started this thread to better understand why everyone is still arguing about this, in almost every thread I read and countless youtube videos, people are still hating on, or pushing a particular DAW, what are your thoughts on this subject?

 

Everyone can download and test a trial version. Anyone can use whatever they can handle.

It's not necessarily about which DAW is the best, but most of the character weaknesses of some users.
So righteousness, ego trips - self-portrayals and devaluing others in order to enhance oneself.

 

Hands down: Logic, Pro Tools, Ableton, Studio One, Reason, FL Studio, Cubase, Bitwig, Reaper, Cakewalk, Luna, Acid, Audition, Mixcraft, Samplitude, Sound Forge, ... one of them is the best DAW in the world! Just use exactly this one and the hits keep coming.

 

What counts is the end result - that's what other ppl will judge you for.
No matter which DAW you used to create it, and (sadly) no matter how much/little effort/time you put into creating that result.
As simple as what.

 

The idea of forums is to discuss & debate different aspects of music, music making and, the tools used to do so. This unfortunately turns into heated debate/arguments. This also occurs even when someone is making a valid point & feels the need to insult those with a different point of view or experience. Thus inviting further insult/argument/etc...

 

there are two great reasons. you are shopping around for a new piece of software, and DAW software is expensive. and has to work with many other things. so it is a carefully considered purchase.

the other is because you will probably make a ton of projects in whatever you choose, so you are going to be stuck with it for a long time.

 

In my mind, it's similar to me trying to convince you that Coke is better than Pepsi when you've been a Pepsi guy forever, and all I do is go on about how awful Pepsi is and how great coke is.....

 

Everyone has different preference

For me, it was
no pattern based (I don't like the feeling of it to work with, so FL Studio , Live, And Bitwig are gone )
second Hardware Dongles ( Cubase, Pro Tools,Reason )
Another was Updates if they are free or not (In a short time > 1-2 Year ) (Studio One )
Many of them had more than one flaw I could not live with

So I used Logic and later Reaper
After I sold my Hackintosh I'm 100% Reaper now
The Price was right. It's highly customizable
But sometimes I miss the Logic stock plugins (Delay Designer , Alchemy and Sculpture )

Still I have a look or two for Bitwig´s Polygrid sometimes

 

Last edited by a moderator: Dec 25, 2021

I think the biggest reason people still argue about what DAWs is because people value certain features more then others.

All DAWs do the exact same thing, help you make music, but the way that each DAW handles all the tasks and things you can do is what makes each DAW unique. At the end, choose whichever fits you the most, any DAW will work as long as you utilize it the way you want it to. Some DAWs might look better then others, some might have different systems of handling tracks and MIDI then others, workflow might be different then others, it just comes down to how you use them. It's all about preference at the end.

 

some DAWs manufacturers communicate very closely with musicians and let their experiences flow directly into development, which means that some DAWs are much more accessible and convenient than others.

It remains to be mentioned that the new DAWs can fall back on the old basic knowledge and that gives them enormous advantages, it is a shame that the new DAWs are designed more for the production of electronic music. it would be much nicer if the new manufacturer went their own way and produced something original

 

Last edited: Dec 26, 2021

Why argue and bicker about which is better, that is totally senseless and stupid, who cares. Just use whichever suits your personal needs and requirements.

 

What a stupid argument: all DAWs are the same
(Apart from Ableton which is much better)

 

I think there are two main reasons:

1. The Internet. But that's only a guess, since I'm too young, we have to ask the boomers. Was there less war about opinions back then?
2. "The End of Grand Narratives" (Lyotard) ... In postmodernism we don't know what to believe in anymore. We are lost, to speak in terms of the youth. Perhaps this is why we argue these tiny little, rather unimportant things with so much passion.

 

Part of it is personal validation, of course the DAW that I pick is one of the better ones, because surely I'm never wrong, right? ...right?

 

There are always 2 aspects in such discussions.
One is factual discussions in which different aspects are compared with each other. In doing so, the user can weigh up benefits and learn.
The other is ego discussions. Some people are unable to separate factual criticism from personal attacks, so that criticism is interpreted as a personal attack. I would place myself somewhere in between. Most of the time, I manage to remain reserved and use criticism positively for myself, sometimes ego prevails. We are all human, so this is normal. But it is important to be aware of the fact that criticism is not a personal attack, but a factual one.

 

Your comment is probably a joke for fun to maybe throw some fuel in the fire and start some commotion, which I welcome by the way, but joke aside as a person who uses Ableton as main DAW, I can't see how Ableton is much better than other DAWS, other than it's very simple to understand GUI and Workflow. My favourite DAWS are Reaper and Ableton. I use both of them. I initially wanted to start with Logic when I learned about DAWS but that's on MAC and I never owned a MAC so RIP.

 

because they want to convince themselves they are not missing out once they locked into a certain ecosystem, which is amplified on the one hand by the developer and on the other side by the users themselves

 

Probably cause producers are in denial that Ableton Live is the best DAW ever and other DAWs are inferior, insecure, and bow down to its greatness..

I've been a MOTU DP user since back in the pre-audio Performer days..yes, I'm a Gen X'er . And it wasn't until a few weeks ago I had an experience that changed my outlook on it. I bought a Digitakt and had to finesse DP to get Overbridge to work and still had issues. I know from experience their 'tech support' sucks, so I switched on Ableton. Guess what? It just worked right out of the box with Overbridge. Wrote an entire song yesterday as a result.

So the answer is, whatever DAW that just 'works' for you is the best.

 

Correct: the right joke should be
-------
What a stupid argument: all DAWs are the same
Apart from [name the DAW you own] which is much better
-------
I apologize for that