What Are The Pros & Cons of Various DAWs, for a Total Newb?

TheTrueZoltan! said:
I might also add that Reaper is the stereotypical fanboy‘s DAW. :brick
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The iconography...
apocalypse now horror GIF by Maudit
 
TSJMajesty said:
Including cost, ease-of-learning, ease-of-use, computer needs (I have 2 laptops- are there any specs you would need to know other than below?), and especially things that a guy who's new-to-digital-recording might not even think to ask.

Atm, I'm only looking for a way to record guitar, not necessarily record an entire song, but that may come later.

My desires would be:
  • Easy to learn
  • Quickly able to record just a guitar track with maybe a basic beat (I don't have drums)
  • Simple way to edit the beats, like for example, if I wanted to move the kick drum an eighth beat sooner in each measure
  • Not so intensive it would tax my laptop: Win10 64bit, Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1035G1 @ 1.00Ghz 1.19 Ghz, 12 gig RAM, touch screen, 238 gig SSD, USB 3.1; other one is Win7 64 bit, Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4800MQ @ 2.70Ghz 2.70Ghz, 256 gig SSD, 16gig RAM, USB 3.0. (The Win7 machine isn't on the internet due to Windoze 7 no longer being supported for security, but I may upgrade the OS if it seems that would be the better one to use...?)

I've never used DAW software at all. Help a brother out please.
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So the drumbeat part - it sounds like you are looking for something that has built in drum beats/loops?

If you want editable beats/loops, they need to be MIDI, not just audio loops. I know Logic/GB come with both; not sure about other DAWs. Often folks use a separate plugin like EZDrummer for drums - it has loads of beats/loops in MIDI format that you can either drop into your DAw to edit there, or can combine/edit within the plugin itself.
 
Hi. Reaper fanboy here. I get the joke. It's cool.
It has ran so good for so long that it is hard not to say good things about it.

Early on they provided a seemingly more stable product than Cubase or Sonar. It got along with interface drivers and plugins much better for me. It is lean and mean and installs in seconds.

The guy that did the GUI has been cool and helpful on the forum. He has busted his ass a few times with complete reskins.

I think that being generous with your world class work is a proper way of earning loyalty and respect.
 
I use Reaper, Ableton Live, Studio One, and Cubase 12 - in varying amounts.

I use Reaper the most, but lord is it fucking ugly and difficult to read these days, especially with bigger monitors.

Reaper is not what I would recommend to a n00b. I'd recommend Studio One. I think they even do a free version still.
 
8 year old kids use reaper after a few minutes of mucking about, its fine for noobs for recording and mixing, but where Studio One shines is in creating songs. REAPER is a lot more clinical. Studio one is like garage band for non MIDIots. Lots of features and workflow to help in writing parts then putting them together. Just hope you don't need to use any free plugins or virtual instruments that aren't included, or be prepared to pay. Also, if you are in need of advanced routing, S1 and cubendo are not there...Cakewalk can be tricked into some cool routing situations
 
Yep, for beginners I would agree with the recommendation for Studio One 6. The Artist Edition for $99 is not that expensive, already quite feature packed, and can load 3rd party plugins and instruments. Its workflow resembles Cubase/Nuendo, but overall less overwhelming and much quicker to learn and operate. The only downside - at least for me as a Mac user - is its audio engine, which unfortunately doesn't work as efficiently and hassle-free as Logic, Cubase... and yes, Reaper (that might be different on Windows, though). TBH that's the only reason why I didn't stick with Studio One Pro as my main DAW. But I kept the Artist version just to keep an eye on the further development of the software.
 
Reaper is great. The fact that it was made by the same dude that made Winamp just makes it better. :chef
 
I think the performance issue won't matter so much for a noob, even the cheapest computer you can buy has massive power and overkill for pretty much any DAW. In terms of windows or mac, S1 is about as efficient either way, but on any platform, performance wise, REAPER is pretty much going to absolutely without question blow the doors of of any DAW, but again, for any reasonable track count any noob is going to see, I don't think that matters.
 
www.sweetwater.com

PreSonus Studio One Pro 7 - Perpetual License

DAW Software with Unlimited Tracks, Dolby Atmos Support, Video Editing, Mastering Tools, and Plug-in Suite - Mac/PC VST3, AU
www.sweetwater.com www.sweetwater.com

My daughter goes to Belmont University and they require students use Studio One. It’s pretty standard for many studios. Pretty straightforward as DAWs go. Before then, she used Logic and got quite proficient.

I could learn a lot from her, but messing around in both, they seem pretty easy once you know a handful of things to get it set up and creating/recording a track.

No experience with Reaper.
 
If you ever want to geek out on the performance aspects of DAWs, music computers, and plugins, DAWBench is the absolute resource

From the start they have made apples to apples tests and published the results. Also you can download the tests yourself and confirm, a lot of it they also compare their results to users' experience.

If you want to know anything about what CPU to buy or audio interface, its all there backed by actual data

DAWbench – DAW Performance Testing & Analysis

dawbench.com dawbench.com

They have a podcast that really digs deep into the developers of most DAWs andf has them on as guests, among a ton of performance related info

dawbench.libsyn.com

DAWbench Radio Show

The DAWbench Radio Show is the Official Podcast of DAWbench.com. We explore the leading edge of Professional DAW Performance , Computer and Music Production Technologies, Audio Production Software and Hardware. Hosted by Vin Curigliano of AAVIM Technology ( Australia ) , joined by industry...
dawbench.libsyn.com
 
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