Is there a decent non-US DAW?

prowla

I'd like to buy a DAW to run on an Intel Mac I've inherited.

Is there one from a non-US company?

jmf1928

Ableton and Cubase are both German 

Bod

Reason is Swedish, though these days I wouldn't really call it a DAW. It hasn't received much attention in that area in recent years.

prowla

jmf1928 said:

Ableton and Cubase are both German 

Thanks - Ableton might be worth a try; does Cubase still need the dongles?

Bod said:

Reason is Swedish, though these days I wouldn't really call it a DAW. It hasn't received much attention in that area in recent years.

Ah, Reason was one I was trying to think of; I confused it with Reaper.

monquixote

Bitwig is also German

topdog91

Ardour is open source so not related to any country.

Sporky

Fl Studio is Belgian. 

Musicwolf

prowla said:

Thanks - Ableton might be worth a try; does Cubase still need the dongles?

Not any longer.

jmf1928

monquixote said:

Bitwig is also German

Super fun too!

thermionic

I'm so old that I remember Logic being from German company e-magic!

Whistler

thermionic said:

I'm so old that I remember Logic being from German company e-magic!

I was just about to say that! Back then it was called Notator, then Notator Logic before Apple bought it and dropped the first word. It has its German heritage and because of its current owner it runs almost perfectly on Macs.

Bradders

I have been using cubase for over a decade, its a fantastic robust DAW. I have cubase pro 13 which is way more than I need. The stock plugins on Cubase are fantastic and the support is good plus loads of high quality tutorials on YT. The pro version is  pricey if you are buying the latest iteration for the first time. Once you have aquired the DAW the annual upgardes are around £83 for the pro. Its worth waiting for their sales as they have some great sales 25% up to 40% sometimes. Their basic version is what they call 'Elements' version is £83 and still feature packed for a basic daw. The 'Artist' version is their mid tier which I had for a few years and was also more than enough for what I needed. Cubase gets my vote!

Bradders

I failed to mention I use PC and therefore can't speak for Cubase performance the with Mac OS.

Bod

thermionic said:

I'm so old that I remember Logic being from German company e-magic!

And there was a PC version available.

DuploLicks

Bradders said:

I have been using cubase for over a decade, its a fantastic robust DAW. I have cubase pro 13 which is way more than I need. The stock plugins on Cubase are fantastic and the support is good plus loads of high quality tutorials on YT. The pro version is  pricey if you are buying the latest iteration for the first time. Once you have aquired the DAW the annual upgardes are around £83 for the pro. Its worth waiting for their sales as they have some great sales 25% up to 40% sometimes. Their basic version is what they call 'Elements' version is £83 and still feature packed for a basic daw. The 'Artist' version is their mid tier which I had for a few years and was also more than enough for what I needed. Cubase gets my vote!

Glad to hear this. I’m hovering over the buy button on Cubase Elements 14

thecolourbox

I use Cubase because it's what I'm used to and have used since secondary school, I've had my frustrations with it but when it works it's very fully featured and will have pretty much everything the average user needs I think.

I used to use Elements (8 i think?) and currently use Artist 10 and they've both served me well overall once i got a computer that could handle them. I'd have thought that a Mac would be able to run it well though

fretmeister

Use Reaper and never pay for it. 

tachycardia23

Cubase - Expensive and horrendous

Ableton - Expensive and cool, but the channel strip is on the wrong side

Reaper - Cheap, light, and ugly

I would pick Reaper over anything just about

monquixote

tachycardia23 said:

Cubase - Expensive and horrendous

Ableton - Expensive and cool, but the channel strip is on the wrong side

Reaper - Cheap, light, and ugly

I would pick Reaper over anything just about

Bitwig!

Like Ableton but more modern and fun and cheaper.

Whistler

fretmeister said:

Use Reaper and never pay for it. 

That is an offensive and unacceptable suggestion. The world does not exist so that you can steal from others.

colourofsound

Whistler said:

fretmeister said:

Use Reaper and never pay for it. 

That is an offensive and unacceptable suggestion. The world does not exist so that you can steal from others.

Reaper is an optional payment. My understanding is that after the trial you get a prompt to support them each time you launch it, but you can bypass it and it’s fully featured. I’ve not used it myself though.