Whats Your DAW and Why?

[JTL]

Greetings all! I was just curious here what you guys are using to record/produce music at home or in studio if you work at one?

I currently use Ableton at home and Pro Tools at work. I must say Ableton is waaayyy easier to use than Pro Tools. You can live edit your tracks in Ableton not to mention the live sound capabilities of Ableton. Pro Tools likes to freeze up and crash randomly depending on how you have it set up.

Ok your turn. Go.

 

[goldsteinat0r]

Ableton here as well! I'm using the "lite" version of 8 that came with my practice amp (fender mustang I). Its limited to 8 tracks but aside from that its awesome. Once I picked up a decent interface I really fell in love with its simplicity and effectiveness. I plan on buying the full version sometime soon.

 

[Saieph]

Cubase 4, because I can't afford 6. Oh, and it seemed like the most intuitive coming from using the digital multitrack equipment of days past...

 

[Winspear]

+1 for ProTools acting like a fucktard regularly.

I do enjoy using it when I have to though (for collab/professional work) - it does work well as a 'digital tape machine' as I often hear it called. Sure they are working on making it a more creative environment but I just don't think it's enjoyable for that at all.

I use Sonar (X2) most of the time and that's where I have all my fun plugins and synths installed. I love the interface. I love how simple comping is, and the fact that overlayed audio will not overwrite and both clips will play. It's great for getting real creative, for example inserting plugins and automation/automation for said plugins purely on single audio clips, rather than entire tracks. The MIDI editor is nice. The only thing I think could be better is routing flexibility, but it's really not necessary most of the time and there is always a way around anything real wacky that I get in my head.

 

[sage]

I primarily use Logic 9 and probably don't use it anywhere close to its intended capacity as I am just a caveman. It was the logical choice for me as I'm a Mac snob and I learned what little I know about recording on Garageband so, yah. It was an easy step up.

I've used Reaper and liked it a lot for what it is, which is a fully functional DAW for $60. If I was nailed to a PC, I'd probably use that.

I've used Ardour and liked it a bit for what it is, which is a nearly fully functional open source DAW for a $25 donation to the cause. I wouldn't go out of my way to use it again as Reaper is a far more complete solution for only a little more money. There are a lot of set up issues and little bits and bobs that you also have to download and install (and understand), most notably Jack, which I could never really wrap my head around. Latency was an issue. I'm sure a smarter guy than me would be able to sort it out.

ProTools. Ugh. I don't know why I don't like ProTools. I just don't get along with it.

Reason. I like Reason. I like the Record function. Its GUI is phenomenal looking. I just can't justify shelling out the $600 for something that looks really sweet but pretty much does what Logic does.

Ableton Live. Yup. I have that also. The kids wanted to make dubstep, so I bought them a little 64 button controller and a keyboard. Taught them how to use it. Wrote and recorded a song. Gathering dust now. It was simple enough to set up and use. I don't think I would like to use it as a multitrack recording DAW. I find the loops and stuff annoying. I prefer to just run the tape and go at it from there. But I am old and crusty and not making music that is anywhere near as good as lots of other guys are putting out, so take that for what it is.

tl;dr - I prefer Logic. And I'm old.

 

[Yo_Wattup]

Cubase 5. I would be using presonus studio one 100% if the midi editing didn't suck hairy balls.

 

[Anant Naag]

FL studio (insert laughter here)

most people think it is not a DAW to be taken seriously but the workflow once you understand how to use it (which takes time) is miles ahead of other daw's like raper / cubase.

Recording is not as easy as in reaper or cubase but once you get it, its not inferior either. That being said, programming and arranging music is where FL studio shines allowing me to do one man band stuff really fast (before the ideas dissapear from my head).

 

[Speculum Speculorum]

I'm a Logic dude, myself. I really like the interface. The program itself is pretty easy to navigate, the help function almost always gets me what I need in terms of answers to how to get things done. The only thing I haven't really done is set up a series of quick keys, which will be a studio project for me one of these days pretty soon.

The MIDI editing is pretty darn straight forward, and the setup for all my stuff was pretty self explanatory.

The only bugger about Logic 9 is how the program processes 3rd party plugins, dumping them all onto one core (I have a dual core processor in my iMac). It's really impossible for me to mix with SD 2.0 actually running - I always bounce the tracks to audio. The same goes for any synth stuff with heavy hitting programs like Omnisphere. I end up freezing tracks in every mix even on maximum buffer settings, especially if using Slate VTM. I'm in 64 bit and have 32 gigs of RAM, so I'm about as maxed out as I can get on my computer. I still end up doing alright, but it adds a lot of steps to my work flow.

 

[groverj3]

Reaper because it's cheap and I don't know anything about recording... nor do I have material to record.

 

[Experimorph]

Pro Tools 10. It's the main DAW in my school, so I was introduced to it and quickly learned to use it to its potential. Soon after that I got myself a MacBook and PT.

It's worked flawlessly on the Mac system so far, but I'm planning to install it on my Windows computer as well. Can't say if the program is stable on Windows yet.

 

[NaYoN]

Logic because I'm a pleb when it comes to recording/mixing and it's very easy to pick up and use. Also I rarely ever use my Mac so I can fill it with VSTs and stuff and keep my actual computer clean.

 

[jmeezle]

Logic 9 Pro because I hate ProTools.

 

[KingAenarion]

I'm proficient in Pro Tools and use it for most of my professional projects (recorded in a Studio and mixed at home)

I'm mostly proficient at Logic, but I have good and bad days with it. I love some things about it, but others drive me absolutely fucking mad.

For my own stuff I really have enjoyed Presonus' Studio One and it's slowly becoming my main DAW of choice. It's stable, reliable, has amazing features for audio editing, MIDI quantisation... syncs well with all my hardware. The mixer is a dream.

Cubase 5. I would be using presonus studio one 100% if the midi editing didn't suck hairy balls.

I think you're talking out your ass if you think that Cubase 5's MIDI editing is any better than S1.

Unless you're using 6 or 7 Cubase' MIDI editing is a little slugish, and even those are on par in terms of functionality and automatable control with S1.

The only real difference is having a score editor.

If you aren't using an electronic keyboard to input your MIDI and NEED a score editor, you're far better off using a dedicated score editor anyways, because the ones built into pretty much every DAW I've worked in are absolute rubbish compared to Sibelius and Finale.

 

[Zer01]

Reaper, because in 3 years I've managed to learn how to use maybe half of it, and the thought of starting over with something else makes me despair

 

[sear]

Ableton, as it has a nice interface and workflow, plus a decent host of built-in plugins. I don't have Pro Tools so I can't compare. Have been trying to get myself into Reaper but Ableton is more intuitive for me at this point still, and Reaper is more barebones.

The one thing about Ableton I hate is how unstable it is. It loves to crash and it is kinda iffy about making backups - sometimes I'll lose nothing, other times it'll wipe 30 minutes of work or more. The more tracks you have, the worse it gets. I've had it to where I could barely use it more than 5 minutes without it exploding.

It also has dumb bugs and issues that should have been fixed years ago, such as input latency calculation being awkward and iffy at best, and monitoring being delayed to the point of uselessness, plus you it won't sync your tracks up properly after recording them so you have to manually fix the delay problems yourself (yeah you can monitor direct in using hardware, but you get no effects that way).

 

[waroftheancients]

Cubase 7. It just makes sense.

 

[thraxil]

Ableton Live. I really like the workflow I have with it for writing and recording. Being able to work in sort of a freeform loop mode and just get a bunch of ideas down and then later go back and tweak and arrange is much easier in Live than in anything else I've used. If I had a song written ahead of time and just wanted to record the parts, it wouldn't have much of an advantage. But usually when I sit down to record, I have maybe a riff or two and a vague sense of what I want to do at best.

 

[Metal_Webb]

Cubase. I was using 4 as that's all I could afford, but I've just upgraded to 7 and it was well worth the money.

I guess I use it because it's what I've been using for the longest so I'm familiar with how it works, what everything does, etc etc. Why try to reinvent the wheel?

 

[Leuchty]

Cubase 6. Because I started on Cubase LE and never found a reason to change.

Tried Reaper and Studio One. Both are great but Cubase just feels like home.

 

[Empryrean]

Reaper, cause it's cheap and it works.
The updates are very nice too, you know.. there's no Reaper 2
or 3
or 4 Deluxe Lite Edition with 1 different vst algorithm