I’m a PC guy… I started with Logic when it was a part of a package deal with a Roland digital mixer.
I moved to Sonar Platinum back around 2014-15. Gibson in their infinite wisdom killed it, then BandLab took it over. Now it’s free.
I started using Reaper about 2 years ago.
I’ve been passively shopping for a new DAW. Here are some things I’ve learned, through research or trial and error.
Pro Tools though has been the industry standard for years, is really only holding on to that title because so many pro studios are based around it. Feature wise, it’s really falling behind many DAWs out there.
Ableton is great, but better suited for applications where you are integrating pre recorded and sequenced tracks in with live performance.
Cubase and Presonus are about equal.
Reaper is surprisingly good, very customizable but lacking in included goodies and it’s midi could be much better.
Cakewalk (formerly sonar which was formerly Cakewalk) is basically the red head step child of the DAW world. It’s kind of regarded as a joke or a step up from garage band. But the thing is that a lot of the features I’ve seen DAWs touting in their latest couple of versions have been in Sonar since before the dump. This means they were easily at the very least 5-6 years ahead, a decade in some cases. It’s a shame that it doesn’t get much real development any more, for as good as it can be it’s aging and having some stability issues.
I honestly think that DAWs, with the notable exception of Reaper are all over priced.