What DAW should I get?

I use Mixcraft by Acoustica. It's got way more power than I'd ever use, and is relatively inexpensive. I started using it at V.4 and the interface was what got me then. Very similar to GarageBand at the time. It's now at V.8 and it's a bit more complex now, but the guts of what I use it for (recording myself for practice) are still simple.
 
Reaper seems like the popular winner here. I have only tried a couple DAWs and ended up with Studio One because of recommendations and because a free trial came with my interface. I had some frustration learning it (I am 56), but after a short curve, it became pretty easy to use. I like it better than the free or almost free DAWs I tried prior.
 
Reaper.

Lean and efficient coding (no copy protection bloat), lightning fast response, full featured, works on Mac and PC (projects can be created and opened/edited on either/both during their development), focus is on stability, new features added all the time, flexible interface, VERY inexpensive, company has excellent work ethic and business model, clips can be placed over other clips without destroying the clip boundaries of the bottom clips (can't be done in Sonar and some other DAWs), thorough documentation, and it works flawlessly with ASIO4ALL (many DAWs don't) so you can use several audio interfaces along with your Axe's audio interface simultaneously on PC.

Almost any good DAW will suit almost any user. But for me, Reaper is by far the biggest bank for the buck.
 
I'm using Presonus 'Studio One' and love it. But I did win a free copy at a NAMM show a few of years ago and my needs a pretty simple.
 
Moke said:
I'm using Presonus 'Studio One' and love it. But I did win a free copy at a NAMM show a few of years ago and my needs a pretty simple.
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I got a free copy of Studio One as well. Great DAW. So many to choose from. But I only have time in my life to master one. ASIO4ALL compatibility was at the top of my requirement list.
 
steadystate said:
Reaper.

Lean and efficient coding (no copy protection bloat), lightning fast response, full featured, works on Mac and PC (projects can be created and opened/edited on either/both during their development), focus is on stability, new features added all the time, flexible interface, VERY inexpensive, company has excellent work ethic and business model, clips can be placed over other clips without destroying the clip boundaries of the bottom clips (can't be done in Sonar and some other DAWs), thorough documentation, and it works flawlessly with ASIO4ALL (many DAWs don't) so you can use several audio interfaces along with your Axe's audio interface simultaneously on PC.

Almost any good DAW will suit almost any user. But for me, Reaper is by far the biggest bank for the buck.
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What does ASIO4ALL mean? Is it a standard that allows multiple sound interfaces at the same time?
 
Presonus Studio One V3 here. Started on the free version that came with a StudioLive board, and liked it. Gave a friend my ProTools stuff and stayed with S1. It works great, and I have a good relationship with the Presonus folks, something I could not dream of having with Avid. I'm not a regular recordist, so I don't consider myself or my opinion "expert," but I like it a lot.
 
Sonar user for a long time but I have not updated since Sonar X. (A while for sure)
I like Sonar although expensive (that first time around) it is a full suite with pretty much everything to get you going. if it is your first DAW.
That being said I had tried Reaper last year and like others have said, it is stable as hell! I do like Sonar and like I said there is there is the appeal of a full suite with great plugins. But I can't see myself going back.
Just as a goof I had a laptop which would not run Sonar in a way that is productive, ran Reaper with no problem! Sold!
There are things I miss with Sonar: but I'll get over it! ;);)

John
 
6L6C said:
Sonar user for a long time but I have not updated since Sonar X. (A while for sure)
I like Sonar although expensive (that first time around) it is a full suite with pretty much everything to get you going. if it is your first DAW.
That being said I had tried Reaper last year and like others have said, it is stable as hell! I do like Sonar and like I said there is there is the appeal of a full suite with great plugins. But I can't see myself going back.
Just as a goof I had a laptop which would not run Sonar in a way that is productive, ran Reaper with no problem! Sold!
There are things I miss with Sonar: but I'll get over it! ;);)

John
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Same here. Converted from Sonar to Reaper. Great thing was that when I installed Reaper, it automatically "found" all the plugins that were already installed from Sonar and made them available within Reaper.
 
Desmo808 said:
Same here. Converted from Sonar to Reaper. Great thing was that when I installed Reaper, it automatically "found" all the plugins that were already installed from Sonar and made them available within Reaper.
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Yeah! That was a pleasant surprise.
 
I'm a long-time SONAR user... actually, before SONAR on Cakewalk Pro Audio if you want the truth. I have also worked quite a bit with Reaper and Studio One, and have to say that I've pretty well settled on Studio One as my main DAW. I had to watch a few videos even with that to find things that I already knew how to do in SONAR, but now that I'm familiar with it, I really like it and find it fairly intuitive once you know a few basics.

Reaper is also nice if you want something that is cost effective and powerful. My only gripe with Reaper is that sometimes when I am using an soft synth with an arpeggiator enabled, it seems to keep playing when I stop the transport. No problem when I'm doing more guitar oriented stuff, but kind of an issue when I do electronic, or add electronic elements to my guitar songs.

I have the lifetime updates for SONAR, and still use it for a few things, but now that I'm used to Studio One, I really like the workflow better.
 
I mostly work from my laptop and spent a load of cash on Pro Tools over the years. But I had constant trouble with crashes, CPU-load, drivers, terrible transport and plugin incompatibilities.

I was finally convinced to try Reaper and I have to say that I am blown away. All the previous troubles are gone with the wind. Full compatibility, never a crash and way better work flow.

What is most surprising is the deep level of editing possible and the outstanding quality of the included plugins.

I haven't tried every DAW but for the price I almost dare to say nothing compares to Reaper. On top the updates are free, much easier to install and in addition you can customize everything to your preferences, including the look which I find quite a big deal when spending so much time in front of it.

Update: I use Reaper with a Scarlett 2i2 new gen.
 
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