New DAW Software Help.

McSwaggerty

Thanks folks for your suggestions....much appreciated.

 I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Pro-Tools, even though I'm not particularly wanting to go down this route. 

They claim it is the industry standard, is it not what its cracked up to be ??

guitarfishbay

McSwaggerty said:

Thanks folks for your suggestions....much appreciated.

 I'm surprised no-one has mentioned Pro-Tools, even though I'm not particularly wanting to go down this route. 

They claim it is the industry standard, is it not what its cracked up to be ??

It's expensive, and most people don't need the feature set.

The only version I'd personally be interested in is HD, and it costs £839 a year to use, or £2099 for a permanent license.  Just not cost viable unless it's your main income stream and you need to use it to work collaboratively with others.

IMC1980

After losing two hours work over the weekend in Sonar (due to inserting a plug I use on pretty much every project), I am considering having a look at the Reaper Demo...

Cirrus

I found Sonar to be relatively unreliable with plugins - when it works it's great, but a few times over the course of a mix I'd either insert a plug that caused a crash, or find a plug was in some slowly developing error state (very quiet digital noises that gradually got louder over time), or even more subversive, find a plug where the settings had changed by themselves.

Moving to Mixbus 32c was a bit of a revelation, because apart from the complete lack of VST3 and ARA support, everything works.

bingefeller

If you're semi pro then I would recommend Logic Pro X.  I'm a complete noob and even I can work it and it has way more on it that i'll ever need.  

IMC1980

Cirrus said:

I found Sonar to be relatively unreliable with plugins - when it works it's great, but a few times over the course of a mix I'd either insert a plug that caused a crash, or find a plug was in some slowly developing error state (very quiet digital noises that gradually got louder over time), or even more subversive, find a plug where the settings had changed by themselves.

Moving to Mixbus 32c was a bit of a revelation, because apart from the complete lack of VST3 and ARA support, everything works.

I have always put up with the bugginess as it is the DAW I learned on and as you say, when it works, it is great. But the last version of it that was put out before Cakewalk closed the doors has caused some new issues that only came up this weekend. Plugins crashing the programme to desktop on minimal CPU/RAM usage and bus metering just crapping out on random buses, including the master. Feels like I was fighting against it on Saturday!

TheBigDipper

You need to be running MacOS, but I'd agree with @bingefeller - Logic Pro is great. Everything I need, including regular updates with extra functionality at no extra cost - for £150 a couple of years ago. TBH, GarageBand keeps on getting better, too, and that's free. 

bingefeller

TheBigDipper said:

You need to be running MacOS, but I'd agree with @bingefeller - Logic Pro is great. Everything I need, including regular updates with extra functionality at no extra cost - for £150 a couple of years ago. TBH, GarageBand keeps on getting better, too, and that's free. 

TheBigDipper said:

You need to be running MacOS, but I'd agree with @bingefeller - Logic Pro is great. Everything I need, including regular updates with extra functionality at no extra cost - for £150 a couple of years ago. TBH, GarageBand keeps on getting better, too, and that's free. 

Yeah the built in midi instruments and drummers in Garageband are fantastic.  

Fretwired

McSwaggerty said:

I’ve used Cakewalks Sonar exclusively for years. I started with Cakewalk back at number 6 and now on platinum.  I am a semi -pro user and have done lots of major projects and after using it for all those years, I can navigate my way around it all with my eyes shut.

But now that Gibson have dumped it, looks like I will eventually be forced to jump on and learn another DAW.

So Help !....which DAW do you guys recommend and why ????

Cakewalk's been saved ..

https://www.musicradar.com/news/bandlab-rescues-cakewalk-from-gibson

McSwaggerty

Fretwired said:

McSwaggerty said:

I’ve used Cakewalks Sonar exclusively for years. I started with Cakewalk back at number 6 and now on platinum.  I am a semi -pro user and have done lots of major projects and after using it for all those years, I can navigate my way around it all with my eyes shut.

But now that Gibson have dumped it, looks like I will eventually be forced to jump on and learn another DAW.

So Help !....which DAW do you guys recommend and why ????

Cakewalk's been saved ..

https://www.musicradar.com/news/bandlab-rescues-cakewalk-from-gibson

Excellent News....thanks very much.