Best DAW?

Three years ago, I bought a new iMac, and a UA Apollo Twin interface and decide to dive in. I had to make the same decision you're facing now. I had used both Cubase and its more expensive cousin Nuendo, but unlike a smart person, who might say, "I already know this one; I'll just go with it," I figured I'd spend few weeks messing around with several different ones, to see which workflow I liked best (with going back to Cubase as a possibility). I got a copies of Logic, Reaper, Ableton Lite that came with a MIDI controller keyboard I bought around the same time and the free version of PreSonus Studio One. I wanted to try Reason as well, but I couldn't find a cheap or trial version.

I decided to start with Logic. So I did.

Three years later, I haven't gotten around to trying the other ones yet.

I just got used to Logic very quickly. And now, the versions of the other ones are all outdated; if I decided to try them, I'd have to get new copies.

So I think the prevailing wisdom of the thread is correct; you're gonna favor the one you get used to first. The bar for the modern DAW is really high; you can't go wrong with any of the big names.

Of course, it doesn't really answer the question of which one you should get used to first!

I will say that I use the instruments in Logic all the time (Reaper doesn't have those). If you might be using software instruments, you won't have to shell out extra to cover the bases. In fact, once you add the cost of buying extra plug-ins and software instruments to supplement Reaper, Logic is actually a little cheaper ($200 for the full version, much less than buying the full bells-and-whistles versions of the other big names like Cubase, Sonar, Reason, ProTools, Studion One or MOTU Performer).
 
Strumzilla said:
I'm talking about the nearly launced iMac Pros coming out.

https://www.apple.com/imac-pro/

Not currently available. I think the entry level is supposed to be $5K dollars. That's for a very powerful computer but probably impossible to fix or upgrade. I'm waiting for the vaguely mentioned/described new generation of mac pros, but if the iMac Pro is any indication the prices will be ridiculous. I'd love to back to the days of just turning my computer on and have everything running smoothly with little fuss. I can manage just fine with a WinPC, but I did love my mac.
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I know what you mean. My original recording rig was a PC platform running protools. I was using a Digirack for my interface. I had endless crashes and problems. I eventually got sick of all the computer issues, and switched to Mac. Smooth sailing from then on. The iMac 5k running Logic Pro looks appealing to me. Can't afford an expensive Mac rig, as much as I would like to have one. I also like to eat, have taxes to pay, etc.
 
i think Sonar Platinum is vastly underrated
H13 said:
I used to use Sonar, but they started filling it up with all sorts of plugins and stuff that I neither wanted or needed. It also became a bit unreliable and performance started getting bogged down.
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bogged down? how so? i agree they started filling it up w/ a great amount of plugs which depending on your tastes, could be good or bad. but the features like comping and mix recall, etc work quite well
 
I don't think any DAW sounds better than another, it's just about what workflow you're most comfortable with.

I've been using Reaper for years because it's what I'm most used to.
 
mjlongo said:
There are a vast number of DAWs out there the days. I think it boils down to just grabbing one and learning everything about it. Great stuff can be recorded on any of them. I personally am comfortable with Ableton Live and use it for just about everything these days. I used it to record my album (which is available completely free on the website in my signature). I have used and really like Sonar as well. I've messed around a bit with Reaper and thought it was cool. For quick and dirty demo recordings, I really like Audacity for its very simple interface.
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Im comfortable with Ableton as well but every time I use AX8 with Ableton the recorded audio is a louder and and a little more gainy which Im not a fan of, if there is a fix that'd be amazing. I've set up AX8 properly, even messaged Fractal and they told me it was a DAW issue. Have no idea how to fix it.
 
Surprised there is only one Linux Ardour masochist speaking up... that was fun figuring out how to load real-time kernels and tweak the timers and process priorities and a bazillion other little tweaked things to stop the xruns, getting FireWire support with ffado and jackd etc. I did some fairly complex songs about a decade ago with that stuff. I was hooked on the idea of free plugins and flexibility to do whatever I wanted for cheap, but I paid for it in my time. It must be pretty straight forward today to install a Linux music distro all pre-tweaked and ready to go. Then that is a pretty capable DAW with ardour that saves a bunch of money and lets you scale up commodity hardware to get more peformance.
 
FYI, Cakewalk/Sonar (Windows) was picked up from Roland by Bandlab and is now free. It is also being updated/maintained again. Development manager Noel Borthwick transitioned with the acquisition so there is some development/bug fix continuity. I got a chance to meet and speak with Noel last week at the NAMM show.

They had to strip out all the bundled s/w but if you have it from previous Sonar installs the latest code from Bandlab will of course pick them up. You can have multiple installs on the same drive w/o issues.

I've been using Cakewalk since the DOS MIDI-only days. I don't record that much and not professionally so I prefer to use what I know. It's working well for me.

https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk
 
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I'm using Cakewalk by Bandlab after having used Sonar for years. It is what I'm familiar with, but I like it a lot.
 
Best bang for the buck, horsepower to weight ratio = Reaper.

Best Mac only option = Logic.

Best DAW for my workflow = Ableton Live.
 
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