Ideas for first DAW?

Looking at getting into a little recording and wanted to see if I could get some ideas for a decent starter DAW. Maybe up to a couple hundred bucks or so. Nothing too serious, just something to get some ideas down and to learn on. Seems like there are a lot of choices out there. Thanks!
 
GarageBand is designed for people getting started with a DAW, so that’s the obvious first choice. All the major DAWs come in stripped down introductory versions these days if there’s one you want to use eventually anyway.
 
I recently moved over to Mixcraft. I was using Reaper previously. Reaper has a tremendous amount of features and options. Mixcraft is a bit easier to use from a workflow standpoint and still does all I need it to do and then some. I think the Pro version was $150. The standard version is about $75.

A Reaper license is about $60, although you can use it for free if your are willing to wait a few seconds for the reminder message at every boot.

Still keep Reaper around, but 99% of my recording is in Mixcraft.
 
Put all the names up on a board, stand back 3
Metres or so, close eyes, throw a dart. Whichever name the dart goes through use that, the key is, whichever one it is, learn it really well and you’ll be fine.
 
Hello guys,

I startet recording with Reaper when the pandemic hit in 2020. Never used a DAW before. Execellent YouTube Tutorials out there.

Having said that: If you're beginning Home Recording, it doesn't matter which DAW you use. The general layout is the same. Just don't take something too fancy and nothing expensive. You don't need all the features in the world as a beginner.
 
Went with Cakewalk. Watching one of the YouTube tutorials now and am trying to set up the Axe as the audio interface and it doesn't seem to let me check it as an input and output driver (assuming that's what I'm supposed to do). Gonna be a steep learning curve with this one...
 

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Reaper to get your feet wet because it's free. Lots of DAW know-how is pretty universal, but they all do things a bit differently. I used FL Studio for years and years, until I used Cubase and I haven't opened FL Studio since. Cubase has tons of awesome features that make recording and mixing so much easier than anything I've tried before, it's awesome. Lots of great YouTube tutorials too.
 
Whoops my bad, for some reason I thought it was free. 60-day eval and temporary license though, good enough to try it out for free at least.
 
Whoops my bad, for some reason I thought it was free. 60-day eval and temporary license though, good enough to try it out for free at least.

Easy to think that since the eval period is on the honor system. There is nothing that forces you to pay. Having said that, it is worth every penny of $60 and then some.
 
Went with Cakewalk. Watching one of the YouTube tutorials now and am trying to set up the Axe as the audio interface and it doesn't seem to let me check it as an input and output driver (assuming that's what I'm supposed to do). Gonna be a steep learning curve with this one...
You have to uncheck ASIO4All first
 
Easy to think that since the eval period is on the honor system. There is nothing that forces you to pay. Having said that, it is worth every penny of $60 and then some.

Ah makes sense. I think I opened Reaper maybe once or twice. I'm definitely partial to Cubase.
 
I see you went with cakewalk. I’m not familiar with this daw but if it works to get you recording that’s great!

One thing I’d suggest if your not fully committed to cakewalk yet is to try out a few different DAWs either through free versions or timed trials and see which one best fits you. I tried a few before settling on one myself. I found that although different DAWs can ultimately get you the same result, getting there can feel more intuitive in some. This will of course vary from person to person so the best choice is what feels best to you.

A second suggestion is that if there are any youtubers you enjoy and they use a certain DAW, maybe lean towards using that one also. I find it helps greatly when you enjoy the person explaining how to use any hardware/software whether it be a Fractal unit, DAW, plugin, etc
 
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