Daw's Learning curves....Easiest to hardest?
 

I've been using Audacity but I know there is more and far better Daw's
So I'm looking for free or not Daw's from easiest to learn to the hardest.
Also taking into account the end result recording

Because everyone's learning strengths and work flow preferences are different it is hard to predict for someone else.

Each full featured DAW has both a fair amount of common basic workflows, and then also some amount of specific workflow differences, specific feature strengths, etc.

As far as end result if you mean "sound of the DAW itself" Basically all major DAW audio engines will null against each other (that is to say the Audio Engines are basically equal ) however there may be some slight differences in how the bundled plugins sound, and then there can also be differences in the specific nomenclature.

Beyond that,the "End result" is arguably much much more a function of source performance, room, analog front end (mic's Pre's) analog FX, Digital Conversion and of course recording and mixing technique, and or Mastering

With all that said:
Only in very basic sense the GUI of the DAW ( how it looks and is laid out) can (sometimes) be intuitive or not depending on personal experience particularly if one comes from an analog recording background or more of a computer background.

For example for me Pro Tools and Studio One as well as Reason, were pretty intuitive.
Reaper, Audacity, and even Garage Band weren't (possibly because I learned on Pro Tools )


There are free versions of some major DAWs but usually the have a reduced feature set.
Pro Tools First. ...(I would not bother with because limited to 3 cloud based projects)
Cubase LE. ... No knowledge
Cakewalk by BandLab. ... No knowledge
PreSonus Studio One Prime. ... Nice but Limited feature set
Ableton Live 9 Lite. ...No knowledge

If you're the Daniel Boone figure-it-out-for-myself type, I'd say Logic, Studio One, Reason or Pro Tools. Pro Tools is great, but expensive for reasons that probably have little to do with what you'll be doing.

If you have a friend who is good on a particular DAW and likes you a lot, and you don't mind being taught and corrected, get that one.

That's why I went with ProTools way back when. I had a friend who was using it and was already very proficient with it, so I had my own personal troubleshooter and teacher. 15+ years later, he's still the person I call if I run into something I can't figure out.

In this age of YouTube videos on just about anything, that may not be as important today but if I had a choice of DAWs and one of those was being used by someone I could rely upon, I'd go with that one. If you don't have that option, it may be better to go with something for which there are plenty of online tutorials. I suspect ProTools has the most, but I think it's probably the most expensive option by some distance. I'm not sure what that situation is like for other DAWs.

I downloaded a few freebies to play around with them to see which fit's my thinking :)

LMMS
Cakewalk by BandLab
Darkwave Studio

You might want to try Reaper. I went from Audacity to Reaper since I needed MIDI recording ability and it is free for the first 3 months.

There is so much help on the net that I have never needed to use the 1000 page manual. Just type in how to do something in Reaper and Bam!! a Youtube solution will pop up, never fail. :D

I think Acoustica Mixcraft is one of the easiest ones out there. Very straightforward.

I think all DAWs that are worth a darn have steep learning curves. But, there are many videos out there that teach all you need to know to get up and running. One of my favorite companies that do the videos is GROOVE 3*. A few days of watching videos while playing around with the software is all you need.

* https://www.groove3.com/

Keep on mind that many of us (most?) only use a very small percentage of the features available in any of the major DAWs. I've used Pro Tools for almost 20 years and have yet to invoke 80% of its features simply because I do not need them. I've tried other DAWs over the years. They were generally fine and did what I wanted/expected them to do, but I never left Pro Tools.

This last summer, I tried Studio One Professional and have quite enjoyed it. I am strongly considering changing to it.

Downloaded the 14 day trial Had it recording in minutes...

I have used it for years. I also have Studio One and fine Mixcraft much easier overall.

There will always be a learning curve but for most all daws, free or paid for, there are online YouTube videos to help you learn the basics on through to the advanced features. Sonar (now by band labs) is now free and is a fully a functional DAW. I found there getting started vids to be easy to follow along with

What you will need to Learn is how to hook up all the equipment so it all communicates properly. Most “Stuff”is plug and play but there are always ghosts in the machine

Only a minor point, however, with Pro Tools First you can save more projects locally. "Save to cloud" is the default, but if this is not important...

I am in the same boat, looking at DAW options. So far I have spent the most time with Pro Tools First. If the full version was just a bit less expensive I'd go that direction, but the free version (for now) does what I want it to.

Good to know , I did not realize you can now save locally (they must have changed it because of so much flac I assume )

I picked up cubase elements for under $100 on a stupid deal of the day. Yes, a bit of a learning curve, but like most DAWs, once you figure out the few things you need, it's simple. :D