One DAW to rule them all---your suggestions please

[Fairlight]

The chain would be the same as a computer set up.

Mics - Mic Pre's (either outboard or on the interface) - audio interface - iPad lightning port.

The lightning port can handle dozens of tracks. Your interface will determine how many I/O. You speakers and/or headphones would connect to the interface as well. Done.

Most audio interfaces available will work for both desktop systems and the iPad, just make sure to confirm before buying. Stick with a top name like Focusrite or Apogee.

[buzzardwhiskey]

Originally Posted by gfsark

Fairlight, yes I do have an iPad Pro, and downloading a version of a DAW to the iPad hadn't really occurred to me. Great idea. I'll see what's available. I'm confused about how you hook up your mics/preamp to the iPad's one and only lightning port. Guess that problem has an easy solution, but I don't know what it is right now.

Also, dman and others are right, its easy to be overwhelmed, like I am currently with Pro-Tools at the recording class. For now, I'm mostly interested in recording. Perhaps a little overdubbing. A drum track and a bass track. Harmonies. Nothing major. I have no use for 5,000 different instruments, and 100 different amplifiers, and bunches of virtual synthesizers and zero interest in electronic music creation. Not going to do much, if any, live recording. Don't need 'all that fluff.'

Thanks for your comments!

If you're going to use an iPad DAW (completely possible these days) then I would suggest Auria...

http://auriaapp.com/Products/auria

It's amazing. A complete DAW on an iPad. No cut corners. The one "issue" is that the data going into an iPad uses the same port as the power. So it's best to have a solution where the audio interface can also supply the power. This is largely why I bought an Apogee One.

[rockabilly69]

Another vote for SONAR as your DAW if you're on PC. I've been using it for over 16 years and I feel it has really gotten to the point where it's intuitive, while still being very powerful. I only use the digital audio side as I've never needed anything MIDI, but like you, I record mostly voice and guitars. One thing that I must say though, it is well worth going all in and setting up one PC specifically for audio recording. It should have as fast as a processor and as much RAM as possible to get the best out of the DAW, and the display should be big enough to be able to properly see the different screens needed during recording and editing (ie console, event view, etc). It's for that reason, and the fact of the limited RAM on iPads, that I would steer away from Auria and the ipad approach. And that's coming from someone who owns an Apogee One for iPad. It's just too hard to use the small screen on an iPad to make the job easy as it can be.

As for an interface, hands down, I would recommend the RME Babyface as the entry level into professional style results. RME seems to have Windows Drivers down pat. And they are constantly upgrading drivers to work with the newest editions of Windows. The preamps in the Babyface sound great, and the user interface for the Babyface "Total Mix" is ridiculously powerful!!! Additionally you can add eight more channels via ADAT if you want to expand your recording to 10 simultaneous channels.

[Chipotle]

I'll cast another vote for Reaper. For basic tracking, overdubbing, mixing and simple processing, it's fairly easy to use. But if you want more, it's as powerful as you need it to be. Plus it's inexpensive (free up those $$ for other stuff like microphones) with a solid upgrade policy.

[Karel]

Don't forget to check out Propellerhead's Reason. It is very intuitive, probably the most of all. Excellent lessons and coaching videos.

[KevWind]

And there you have it definitely no one DAW "to rule them all"
They are a bunch of digital anarchists

[alohachris]

Aloha,

I started out on Pro Tools' watered-down DAW PTLE in windows. It was a complete waste of a year trying to make it work on a PC. Error-message central - very few recordings. I hated it. I also learned that I did not enjoy working with Avid's customer service people.

Because learning the subtleties of a DAW takes a long-time, I decided to audition the free downloads of every available DAW at the time (in 2007) - fifteen in all - before I committed to one.

What I discovered was that although each DAW works similarly to the next, each has a very distinct WORKFLOW. Just as each of US has a very different set of tools & distinct sensibilities that work better with some DAW's than others. Therefore, I strongly suggest that we should try to choose the DAW that's works best for each of us. That means taking the time to trying out many DAW's, IMO. There is no single DAW that works the best for everyone.

Many players ask for "simple" & get started on a simple DAW. The problem/question is, "What will you do if you want to take your home recorded tracks done in Reaper to a pro studio for mastering, as you progress?" You may not think you will do that now, but you should choose a DAW that allows you that option as your recording skills grow. Choose a compatible DAW!

Reaper, GB, Sonar? DP, No way. Why?

Because studio's almost all use Pro Tools & Logic Pro. That's it. Those are the only two pro standard DAW's. And, they are incompatible with most of the DAW's that players here use. So choose one of those. Get into it even as a beginner, & you won't have to change.

So the question remains, how you gonna get your home-made Reaper tracks to import into PT or Logic, if necessary? You can't.

I chose Logic Pro. It was a no brainer to also switch from PC's to Mac's. Apple & Apogee integrate the soft & hardware, IMO, better than any other computer/interface combo. Because of that, I have NEVER had a single crash in over eight years of using an iMac/Logic Pro/Apogee Ensemble combo. Windows by nature is more problematic in terms of its upgrades for DAW's. It only takes one incompatible upgrade and then you are ....ed.

PLUS, through Apple's 'One-to-One' program, when I bought my first iMac in 2007, I received 58 individual training sessions (usually over an hour each) on how to use Logic Pro in one year! from a certified Logic Pro expert For only $99 bucks! That's a lot of hands-on training in demystifying a great DAW. Apple's the only one that provides that amazing level of affordable training. I could have scheduled more. I still go in for a "tune-up" once or twice a year at my Apple store. Think about it.

For me, after auditioning most of the available DAW's out there, the best choice was Logic Pro. For you, maybe it's another DAW that will be the best one for you. But think about what I just said about choosing a DAW that will be compatible with a pro studio DAW down the road.

Do you want to have to learn another DAW down the line? If not, then start with either Pro Tools or Logic Pro right off the bat & you won't have to change later. The price is surprisingly affordable for what you get. Logic Pro is one that should be on every Mac owner's list, IMO, even if you won't even use a fraction of its features for simple acoustic recordings.

Good Luck Guys! Have fun auditioning DAW's. I truly enjoyed the experience.

A Hui Hou!

alohachris

PS: Where do many home recordist/acoustic players get stuck as beginner & intermediate recordists? From what I know & have seen it's Mastering - putting the magic in. Most players will never reach the level of a good ME, all those years of mastering-in last minute quality that make recordings shine. Therefore, choose PT or Logic as your DAW early so that you can have your tracks mastered by a studio pro when/if its time. I also prefer their editing workflows. -alohachris-

[gfsark]

AlohaChris,
You absolutely nailed my unstated dilemma, which is that I don't want to spend a year learning a program to get frustrated and have to start over. And if being able to transport my work/knowledge to a professional recording studio for mastering is a showstopper for you, would it be for me?

So maybe I should throw this question out to the you and the others who are not using Pro-Tools and/or Logic Pro. Can you still get your works mastered by others if you're working in some of the other DAW's like Reaper, Sonar, etc....? And if not, can you do your own mastering in a good-enough way, so that you are happy with the results?

Thanks!

PS You all have convinced me that I should play around with some DAW's and get an idea of the workflow/philosophy differences. I was being lazy, and hoping that consensus would be out there. What an illusion. Anyway, I'll start kicking the tires and downloading trials, once I've made a bit more progress on the design of my studio/bedroom, and that's soon to be a subject of another thread.

[Rudy4]

For another perspective on migrating to a Mac it might be interesting to read the
latest End Rant on Tape Op:

http://tapeop.com/columns/end-rant/115/

[buzzardwhiskey]

Originally Posted by gfsark

So maybe I should throw this question out to the you and the others who are not using Pro-Tools and/or Logic Pro. Can you still get your works mastered by others if you're working in some of the other DAW's like Reaper, Sonar, etc....? And if not, can you do your own mastering in a good-enough way, so that you are happy with the results?

Thanks!

Yes. Many (most?) mastering is simply done using a WAV file for each song.

You can also export "stems" from practically all DAWs which is a way of sharing all your tracks/channels.

And finally, some DAWs can actually produce Pro Tools specific importable projects.

As for your last question, lots of mixing engineers prefer to hand it over to a mastering engineer. Fresh ears, different kind of effort, often somewhat specialized equipment... yada yada.

[alohachris]

I PM'ed ya gfsark,

alohachris

[runamuck]

Originally Posted by gfsark

Can you still get your works mastered by others if you're working in some of the other DAW's like Reaper, Sonar, etc....? And if not, can you do your own mastering in a good-enough way, so that you are happy with the results?

If you record in DAW A and want to share that project with all your settings, plugins, etc., you can only do that with someone else using both DAW A AND all the exact same plugins you're using.

If you want to share your project with someone else using a different DAW than yours, you simply send them audio files for each of your tracks.

Don't worry about sharing, or sending anything for mastering. Any DAW can do that.

As far as being happy with your own mastering, you'll have to decide that for yourself. But from all I can tell, most people do their own mastering.

Jim

[Fairlight]

Because studio's almost all use Pro Tools & Logic Pro. That's it. Those are the only two pro standard DAW's.

I don't agree with this at all. Most locations I work in use several different DAWs based on the preference of the user. It used to be that a studio only had one platform, but it's just not the case now in my experience. When I need to move a bigger Cubase project, I bring a laptop or run Cubase on the system of the studio I'm working in. Smaller projects we just fly stems back and forth. A big studio I'm regularly at use runs several different software systems on their main machines.

Again, going back to the original poster, for a guitar and 3 vocals, ANY software would be fine for this. If you know a little Pro Tools already, why not build on that?

Learn the basics of getting a good sound, simple tracking and mixing things back. Don't get ahead of yourself with what studio is using what. And mastering is a process way down the line for you and something you shouldn't worry about now. DIY mastering can utterly destroy a perfectly fine sounding recording if you don't know what you're doing. Something that in no way should impact your decision on what DAW you want to use.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

For another perspective on migrating to a Mac it might be interesting to read the
latest End Rant on Tape Op:

http://tapeop.com/columns/end-rant/115/

One should take an individual anecdotal experience for what it is worth (which is an simply an individual anecdotal experience ) Not to mention he bought a Radar system which is windows only and one must consider how much purchase justification bias might play into said experience ...YMMV
To clarify there are also horror stories from individuals running numerous different DAWs on a windows platform and migrating the other direction.

[Kray Van Kirk]

If you're familiar with Pro Tools, you *might* consider mucking about with Ardour. It has some limitations when it comes to plug-ins, but the interface is similar to Pro Tools (as far as I understand it - I've never used Pro Tools) and I've never had a problem exporting stems and tracks into any other format to be opened and run on another DAW.

https://ardour.org/