What's Your DAW of Choice?

[Ciberithm]

For today it's Logic. I had recently switched from Cubase to Pro Tools and really liked it. I was looking for something inexpensive to install on my Macbook and was about to purchase Studio One for the third time when I thought about trying Logic Pro X. It was a bargain for $200, so I downloaded it to use as my secondary DAW. I now find myself using it almost exclusively. I find the workflow to be about as good as Pro Tools, but with much better MIDI support. And because I already own Vienna Ensemble Pro, I can still use my Windows only and my 32 bit only plugins. The only downside (or upside, depending on how you look at it) is that you have to own a Mac. Hackintosh makes the cost of entry considerably cheaper.

[aoVI]

I really like the automation in Protools, but not so much in Reaper. How does S1 compare in automation?

[Ciberithm]

I really like the automation in Protools, but not so much in Reaper. How does S1 compare in automation?

It's easier to set up. Just touch a knob on a VST and the MIDI parameter shows up in a box on the tool bar. Drag it onto a track a your ready to draw automation. S1 automation editing is a lot like Cubase. I really miss being able to lasso select a set of control points and being able to raise or lower them. I haven't found a way to do that in PT yet. I can select time region of points and manipulate them, but sometimes I only want to bring down the peaks on an automation lane. S1 (and Cubase) let you do that. I gave up on S1 and Cubase because exported mixdowns didn't always sound the same as the project playback. The best advice I got from the S1 and Cubase communities was "learn to mix". That's good advice, but I'd rather learn while I am working on aproject, than after I have completed it and then discover I have numerous mixing errors. PT let's me hear the mistakes as I make them, and then correct them immediately.

[Thought Experiment]

I really like the automation in Protools, but not so much in Reaper. How does S1 compare in automation?

It's easier to set up. Just touch a knob on a VST and the MIDI parameter shows up in a box on the tool bar...

Just leaping to the defense of Reaper here - if you tick 'Show last touched FX parameters only' in the envelopes dialog box that amounts to the same thing

[V0RT3X]

Ableton Live 9 User here. Almost all of my recent work has been created exclusively in live because it's just a system that i can open and whip out tracks in. Before I was using Live I was using Propellerheads Reason a ton and then eventually when I got into live i began rewiring live into Reason and the setup seemed to work great for me. I have a love/hate relationship with Reason that seems to have caused me to sell it and buy it many many times. Actually I recently bought Version 7 on the KVR market but then sold it again because I needed the money. I will be re-buying it again though because i think the Live/Reason workflow is a winner when you work like I do. I work very quickly and that's not something I generally say to brag but i can usually flesh out a full track in a day if I sit and work on it long enough. Freezing for me is more of a obstacle because it can kill the "Flow and musical zone" i get in while working.

The thing I really loved about Reason/Live combo is the fact that you get the rock solid performance of Reasons engine and the really easy to use composing environment with Live. I could whip out a track pretty fast with the two of them and do all my mixing in Reason with it's built in SSL style mixer. The only downside for me is when I wanted to use my AU/VST plugins in a Rewire session. The latencies would make me cringe, and I suppose this is more of a Ableton issue than anything because I would never use RE devices. IF Bitwig offers the same amazing clip based workflow that Live 9 has but fixes PDC so I can use both Reason + my AU/VST collection in one session then I will be promptly selling off Live and using the money to buy a copy of Bitwig Studio.

I have been thinking about getting into Cubase 7 as it looks really quite full featured.

[GaryG]

Just seen the Intro version of Live 9 has removed the plugin limit but now limits you to sixteen tracks. Seems a much better way of doing things to me, perfect for ambient (not much content, shed load of effects )

May well get a copy...

[robojam]

Just seen the Intro version of Live 9 has removed the plugin limit but now limits you to sixteen tracks. Seems a much better way of doing things to me, perfect for ambient (not much content, shed load of effects )

May well get a copy...

That's pretty cool. Too late for me as I own the full version, but buying it is a decision that I've never looked back on

[GaryG]

Woot as the kids say, looks like I've scored a copy of Intro for ~£30 at Kvr (£90 'new')

Smashing.

[Heaven And Hell]

I've found that I work most easily on S1 2, so I'm on that now. I just upgrade from Producer to Pro, but I also just signed up for Cubase under layaway at Alto Music. I realized that I miss Retro Record in Cubase, which comes in very handy with my style of Ambient.

[Heaven And Hell]

If anyone is interested in S1 2 Producer, I have an extra license for sale for $79 USD right now.

I love this host!

[owtkri]

I've walked the long and lonesome road from Cool Edit, through FL studio and Adobe Audition to now using Cubase 6.
however, I'm now searching for a cheap and lite DAW for my laptop to handle a few VST's and backingtracks for live setups.

anyone have some good suggestions?
I'm trying out Reaper and Studio One, but I seem to have some troubles with my VST effects of choice.

[Thought Experiment]

I'd always recommend Reaper for its value and flexibility, but Energy XT is a good 'lite' DAW also - plus we have an XT superuser right here on AO: seismic1

[owtkri]

Thanks, I'll take a look at Energy XT.

[GaryG]

I'm trying out Reaper and Studio One, but I seem to have some troubles with my VST effects of choice.

I'd have recommended Reaper, very rare I have any VST problems with it. Studio One is very nice too but I found it a bit of drain on the CPU.

[john k-n]

Yep - I remember Cool Edit, too. ;-)

Used Sonic Foundry Vegas 1 and especially 2.0 for many many years (refused to upgrade). Loved earlier version of Fruity.

Had 3 pc's die in 18 months around 2005... and switched to mac.

Logic 8 now.

I mainly record audio tracks - and am mostly a hardware person. Although I did get an 88 key controller for softsynths finally.