DAW software ?

Emp_Fab

What's half decent and cheap these days ?  It's been a while since I've recorded and I used to use Tracktion years ago as the workflow was so much easier than Cubase etc.  I've done a few tracks with Reaper too but it took a little while to work that out.  I'm thinking of starting playing again, on my own now that I'm band-less, and want to record a few tracks of mixed audio and midi stuff with some VSTIs.

Should I just stick with Reaper, or.... what's out there that's pretty intuitive ? (I'm impatient and get pissed off if I can't work out how to do something fairly quickly.)  I don't mind a quick check of a manual but if I'm having to do it constantly it becomes irritating.

Any suggestions ?  Has anyone tried Tracktion 6 now that the original author has bought it back from Mackie ?

Basher

I too went from Cubase, to Tracktion, to Reaper and I'm happy with that.

I suppose it's not quite as friendly and intuitive as I found Tracktion but that's probably the price of the massively customisable interface. I suspect I only ever scratch the surface of it's capabilities but it does pretty much everything I want and this is the clincher, it's cheap as chips!

I think the midi editing isn't too great (it's hard to do things that were easy in Cubase 20 years ago!).

 The only thing I've ever found really difficult is trying to match beats/tempo with an audio sample. On the forums, I get the impression that other DAWs do this much easier and better. There's no fancy synth bundle either but you can pick those up easily enough.

Emp_Fab

I've just been reading @Drew_fx 's post about Studio One.  That looks pretty cool actually.  I can't see immediately if it supports VST instruments though.  I've got a load of those sitting on my drive that I'd like to keep using.

ecc83

Hi Emp' LTNS!

Reaper is the default and I have it, paid for but only use it to help others (if I can!)

I tried the Studio One demo and it crashed my system!

Google for "Samplitude Pro X Silver" free, and pretty intuitive I find. Only 8 tracks but for home recording that should be enough, can always mix a set down and carry on!

Dave.

PolarityMan

Reaper

Fretwired

What's your budget?

Steinberg is now oned by Yamaha - Cubase has improved beyond all recognition and comes bundled with tons of stuff. Check out Cubase Elements for £73. You can download a fully working trial for 30 days.

http://www.steinberg.net/en/products/cubase/line_up/cubase_elements_8.html

Emp_Fab

ecc83 said:

Hi Emp' LTNS!

Reaper is the default and I have it, paid for but only use it to help others (if I can!)

I tried the Studio One demo and it crashed my system!

Google for "Samplitude Pro X Silver" free, and pretty intuitive I find. Only 8 tracks but for home recording that should be enough, can always mix a set down and carry on!

Dave.

Hi Dave !  Hope you're ok.  I'm on here all the time mate, just rarely venture in the 'proper' sections these days as I'm not doing anything on the music front.  Hopefully that will change soon !

spark240

Studio One all the way...VST are fine.

Emp_Fab

What's the differences between the free version and the paid version ?  I don't mind buying it, but if the free one does all I need....

Grunfeld

Emp, I think they are all much of a muchness these days.  When you consider what we had to do back in the days of tape we are totally spoiled for what we can do digitally on a computer.  So... it all comes down to how easy you find it to work in a DAW.   Try the free trials and see what feels best. 

I still miss Sonar and may give it another go.  There was a period when it was unstable on my system and that's what pushed me to Reaper.  Reaper is way better value for money but it doesn't connect emotionally the way Sonar did.  Daft innit?!

spark240

Emp_Fab said:

What's the differences between the free version and the paid version ?  I don't mind buying it, but if the free one does all I need....

The free version has limited sounds and kits etc, there is no MP3 converter, if you google it there is a comparison chart. http://studioone.presonus.com/compare-versions

rossyamaha

I guess I have to promote Cubase but I'm actually a Logic man. In fact, use Garage Band more than Logic. Mac only of course though.

Emp_Fab

spark240 said:

Emp_Fab said:

What's the differences between the free version and the paid version ?  I don't mind buying it, but if the free one does all I need....

The free version has limited sounds and kits etc, there is no MP3 converter, if you google it there is a comparison chart. http://studioone.presonus.com/compare-versions

Sorry to appear as if I'm a lazy fecker, but I did search for a comparison and I couldn't find it.  I'm normally very good at finding stuff on Google, but on this occasion I was tired and probably didn't even think to try the obvious !  I'll bet it comes up if I try "Presonus Studio One Version Comparison Chart"  ">

Edit:  Er...  Yep ! http://studioone.presonus.com/compare-versions

Apologies !

RvB

Quite enjoying Pro Tools First myself, finding it a bit more intuitive than Reaper - http://apps.avid.com/ProToolsFirst/

Snap

Grunfeld said:

Emp, I think they are all much of a muchness these days.  When you consider what we had to do back in the days of tape we are totally spoiled for what we can do digitally on a computer.  So... it all comes down to how easy you find it to work in a DAW.   Try the free trials and see what feels best. 

I still miss Sonar and may give it another go.  There was a period when it was unstable on my system and that's what pushed me to Reaper.  Reaper is way better value for money but it doesn't connect emotionally the way Sonar did.  Daft innit?!

^Yes, absolutely agree.

I think once you are used to the workflow of a DAW, the differences between then and others starts to become insignificant.

I started off with Cubase in the mid 90s and then quickly moved to Cakewalk and have stuck with that since, and now use its lates incarnation Sonar Platinum, which is excellent and at last, stable.

Differences between the various versions of a particular DAW are in features-  so you will likely get more FX, plugins with the more expensive versions.

Reaper, though I have only used it a little, is perfectly good enough. Another good free program to have is Audacity which is a cracker. I still use it for mastering as well as processing loops. Yes, all that can be done in my DAW, but Audacity is just so simple to use.It will also do conversion to MP3 should you need that.

Abelton is good, but I just could not be arsed learning another workflow.

digitalscream

RvB said:

Quite enjoying Pro Tools First myself, finding it a bit more intuitive than Reaper - http://apps.avid.com/ProToolsFirst/

I was interested in trying that, but the iLok requirement put me off. I have to say, though, the usability (or lack thereof) with Pro Tools is what pushed me to Reaper. I spend a couple of days trying to record a track with PT back when I first started all of this, and got nowhere. Downloaded and installed Reaper, and an hour later I'd done it.

PolarityMan

digitalscream said:

RvB said:

Quite enjoying Pro Tools First myself, finding it a bit more intuitive than Reaper - http://apps.avid.com/ProToolsFirst/

I was interested in trying that, but the iLok requirement put me off. I have to say, though, the usability (or lack thereof) with Pro Tools is what pushed me to Reaper. I spend a couple of days trying to record a track with PT back when I first started all of this, and got nowhere. Downloaded and installed Reaper, and an hour later I'd done it.

I actually bought an m-audio interface specifically to try protools because it was what all the real studios use. The drum editing features sucked total balls at the time though. 

Midi editor was rectangles only rather than diamonds and no named notes.

Fez

Reaper FTW

blobb

Quite tempted to give this a go. Good review in SoS this month.

http://harrisonconsoles.com/site/mixbus.html

wave100

blobb said:

Quite tempted to give this a go. Good review in SoS this month.

http://harrisonconsoles.com/site/mixbus.html

I'd avoid mixbus if possible - I took the plunge a couple of months ago and it's seriously unstable on my machine - which runs reaper and cubase 8 without too many hitches. In fact I haven't fired it up  since it fell over 3 times in the first evening i got it. It <may> be fine if you're just mixing audio tracks, but it was unusable for me as a DAW. check the mixbus forum, I seem not to be the only one...

In the end I had to fork out 350 bucks for cubase, I've been using it so long it just makes it easy for me.

Danny1969

PolarityMan said:

digitalscream said:

RvB said:

Quite enjoying Pro Tools First myself, finding it a bit more intuitive than Reaper - http://apps.avid.com/ProToolsFirst/

I was interested in trying that, but the iLok requirement put me off. I have to say, though, the usability (or lack thereof) with Pro Tools is what pushed me to Reaper. I spend a couple of days trying to record a track with PT back when I first started all of this, and got nowhere. Downloaded and installed Reaper, and an hour later I'd done it.

I actually bought an m-audio interface specifically to try protools because it was what all the real studios use. The drum editing features sucked total balls at the time though. 

Midi editor was rectangles only rather than diamonds and no named notes.

Protools was always the boss for real drum editing, mainly cos of Beat Detective. To be able to put a drummer in time by cutting the hits into regions and then auto aligning the regions to the grid  in seconds was really something at the time. I assume now all the DAW's have a similar thing but at the time when I started(15 years ago) it was amazing ...... oh and with the DSP mix TDM  cards at £10K each you didn't have to put up with any latency either. 

You could probably run a bigger session these days on an i5 running Reaper than I could with my £20K Mix plus system but it's that original heritage that puts in out front even now amongst audio professionals. On Friday I was tracking a young band in a mobile session and the producer who was entrusted to mix the final songs basically said thank god your using Protools, that's made my life a lot easier. 

My passage through DAW's was like this :

CakeWalk midi sequencer - Cubase VST - Cubase SX - Samplitude Studio - Protools LE - Protools Mix Plus - Protools HD . I also like Reaper for tracking (but definately not for mixing) and Studio One for tracking if I'm working with a Presonus desk