I have seen this discussion many times before, even a few times on here. Most of the arguments and counter arguments are subjective so I thought I'd leave this Attack Magazine article here for discussion.

https://www.attackmagazine.com/features/long-read/do-daws-really-have-their-own-sound/

 

In the name of God, any God....please do not allow this thread to take root for it is the work of the Devil to engage in such pointless debate. I implor you all to keep using your DAW of choice knowing that you have the best tool to make music at your fingertips. Amen.

 

32 bit float engine vs 64 bit float engine.
Different built-in SRC resampling algos in DAWs.
Sample accurate automation or not.
Different PDC (timing, delay, offset etc).
Rendering settings.
Different time stretching algos, pitch shifting etc.
Different built-in dithering/noise-shaping algos (uv22hr, pow-r, other non-tpdf).
Different Pan Law settings.
Different quality of built-in plugins.
And so on.
So, a combo of these small differences may give a small, ultra subtle difference in sound, not too obvious.
Difference is there, but too subtle. Not day and night, or apples and oranges. Doesn't worth it. The quality of sound depends on tools, instruments you use, gear/plugins, your ears, room, monitors, experience, skills, etc
DAW is just a table, set of tools. Environment for recording, editing, mixing, production, a centre of everything.
Btw, most people still don't hear difference hardware/software, DAW mixing vs mixing console/hardware summing. So, subtleties in DAWs might be. But, 99.999% it is maths, summing phases, waveforms. Audio-oriented "Primitive Calculator".
Make music! Use HQ tools.

 

Last edited: Sep 26, 2020

No, my DAW sounds better than yours.

 

- The answer you're probably looking for:

" No they don't. Cubase sounds warm and analog to me. Reaper also sounds very analog, very similar sound to Cubase. Studio One sounds pristine and clear but it adds a certain radio-ready polished sheen to the sound that i personally don't like much (other people do). Ableton sounds aggressive and raw ( in a good way) when mixing in it....but when you bounce your mixes, for some reason they sound inferior to what you were hearing INSIDE Ableton. No experience with Pro Tools or FL Studio or Logic since i don't own them.

- The answer most people will agree with:

"YES, PLEASE MOVE ON. "

 

For FL, unless you're adding either built-in or third party plugins to saturate the sound and bring more warmth to the track, it's more or less the same as Ableton Live. In fact there's a whole video by Dylan Tallchief where he proves that the sounds bounced from Live and FL are identical.

To add to the list, Mixbus/Mixbus 32C sounds the most analog and warm to me of all DAWs. I have recently started mixing in 32C and it's not a snake oil, it does have a unique sound of its own. But then again, it's possible to emulate such warmth via third party plugins (to an extent) IMO.

Best if we do this:

 

when listening back yeah they definitely sound different to me , always have.my personal view cubase sounds clean and open,logic sounds chunky, and live(to me) sounds a little bit synthetic up top (but love live so have to put up with it).the final bounce might be the same, but to me the playback and mixing in them are a little different.

 

All DAWs at least work on the same principle: GIGO.

That is, "Garbage in, garbage out".

 

Of course they don't. Even much simpler devices - like software audio players - all sound different.

 

If you insert an audio track in your daw, touch nothing, you really don't want your daw to change anything to the original right ? Would'nt you switch daw right away if it did ? So daws (mind you I use 5 of them on a regular basis, doesn't matter which) are designed to do that, and I might add it's the advantage of digital processing, they don't modify the original audio when you just insert audio.
We are the ones that do. We add warmth, we compress, we change the stereo image, and all that good stuff. You can do that with native plugs, with the ones you got on AZ, and of course according to those choices the end result will be different.
So in short as long as you don't modify anything, daws all sound the same. When you modify things, and it's the whole point of having a daw and processing audio, the end result will depend on what tools you use. But even then the daw doesn't really have anything to say about it. If you use a soundtoy fx in Samplitude, in Reaper or in Cubase, if you just insert that and implement the same settings, normally and idealy the end result should be the same. Again it's the whole point of digital processing....You're in control your daw won't color things like an analogue console, it's just a neutral background for you to do your things, all in a controlled way.

 

in general a DAW has no sound, there is no spoon.

 

If a DAW sounds different from the rest, it is an effect, not a DAW.

 

No my 486 66mhz with 8mb ram fasttracker2 en 8bit samples is still the industry standard believe me

 

Any DAW should be able to take in RAW PCM or WAVE and render it mathematically identical to the source, as long as sample rates are identical, verifiable by null test. Anything less would be saturation and should be undesirable from a transparency standpoint.

 

Do all DAW's sound the same in mathematical way? No. They have slight differences here and there - from stuff like how their panning laws might be different by default, or how their engine handles things like automation, even something simple as volume automation.

However, from humane perspective - for the most part - all DAW's sound exactly the same. Most of the potential differences, assuming same panning laws, same bit dept of at least 32bit floating point - anything above would never even have any meaningful difference - those differences just are not audible to human beings. And anyone claiming that they are - that another DAW sounds different than another, is bullshitting even themselves.

It's also a good way to spot shams. Hans Zimmer for instance made this claim - that Cubase sounds much better than Logic. Now, as a Cubase user and a shill for Steinberg, I agree. But as a rational person, I know that this just isn't true.

 

Yes, but they do not use exactly the same mathematics. Especially when communicating with audio drivers and soundcards.
And with some functions approximations are a necessity.

 

Tune your daw to 432hz to feel the vibe of the universe

 

No U

Doesn't that depend on how good music you make ??? Trash will always sound trash in all DAW's.

 

I SUBSCRIBE each single word of your comment. It's ALL true.

EDIT: It is as if you were talking about: Does each every piano sound the same? Every guitar? Every flute? Every drum? Fuck off!!!
Use any of them you like. That's all.

 

Do all DAWs sound the same?
Not sure - still testing - could take a while