What is your primary daw and how proficient are you with it?

[Tico]

LogicPro X and I'm a beginner.
I also have that wonderful RME BabyfacePro Interface, which comes with routing/grouping/mixing software called TotalMix.
It is NOT intuitive!

Recently I signed up with Groove3, a training site with lots of videos on DAWs and recording stuff.
I think their catalog has around 2400 videos.
For around $75 they give you unlimited viewing of everything they have for one year.

I'm learning the basics now, and am very grateful for the poster who pointed me to Groove3.

[KevWind]

Originally Posted by jim1960

My biggest Pro-Tools complaint is the midi edit window. There's not enough contrast and it really strains my eyes. There are options to change color, but none of the colors changes offer better contrast. It's the same problem in a different color.

Interesting, while I can see the notes (I have an older 27 " Apple Cinema Display) I agree it would nice if you could saturate them more the like the audio wave forms

[jim1960]

Reaper has been overtaken. I'm a little surprised at Pro-Tools ranking so high given the expense and the number of alternatives.

8 Apple Logic Pro ($200)
7 AVID Pro-Tools ($300 + $200 per year or $35 month)
6 Cockos Reaper ($60 or $225)
4 Adobe Audition (part of Adobe CC or $21-$31.50 per month)
4 PreSonus Studio One ($400)
3 Bandlab Cakewalk Sonar (free-$500)
2 Audacity (free)
1 WaveMachine Labs Auria ($50)
1 Steinberg Cubase ($100, $550 for full program)
1 Universal Audio Luna (free but requires UA Apollo interface)
1 Traction Waveform ($119-$749)
1 Magix Acid Pro ($200)
1 Reason ($400)
1 Apple GarageBand (free with Mac OS)
1 Steinberg Nuendo ($975)
1 Acoustica Mixcraft ($150)

[lkingston]

On the iPad, there is also Cubasis, which integrates with Cubase on a Mac or PC. I have it, although I prefer Auria.

[phcorrigan]

Originally Posted by RodB

I should mention that Waveform 11 that I use is free having upgraded from Tracktion7. It does all I need and much more.

I've spent a little time with Waveform, but I've found the interface to be confusing. How was your learning curve, and have you used other DAWs?

[MikeMcKee]

All I do is record acoustic guitar...sometimes with a few tracks. I use garageband and it works great. Really easy to use, so proficiency isn't much of an issue. I use DSP Quattro for final mastering.

[phcorrigan]

Originally Posted by jim1960

Reaper has been overtaken. I'm a little surprised at Pro-Tools ranking so high given the expense and the number of alternatives.

8 Apple Logic Pro ($200)
7 AVID Pro-Tools ($300 + $200 per year or $35 month)
6 Cockos Reaper ($60 or $225)
4 Adobe Audition (part of Adobe CC or $21-$31.50 per month)
4 PreSonus Studio One ($400)
3 Bandlab Cakewalk Sonar (free-$500)
2 Audacity (free)
1 WaveMachine Labs Auria ($50)
1 Steinberg Cubase ($100, $550 for full program)
1 Universal Audio Luna (free but requires UA Apollo interface)
1 Traction Waveform ($119-$749)
1 Magix Acid Pro ($200)
1 Reason ($400)
1 Apple GarageBand (free with Mac OS)
1 Steinberg Nuendo ($975)
1 Acoustica Mixcraft ($150)

A couple of comments:

One reason to not use ProTools is the fact that it uses the iLok license manager, which has been problematic for many when things go wrong.

Waveform should be listed as $0-$119-$749. The free version is very usable. Also, there doesn't seem to be a limit on the number of devices on which you can install it.

Studio One should be listed as $100-$400. The $100 Artist version, which now supports VST plug-ins natively, is a pretty complete DAW, and will serve most users without ever finding the need to upgrade to Pro. It's also bundled with a number of Presonus devices, so, for example, if you buy the AudioBox USB 96 interface for $100 (sometimes $80 on sale) you get Artist. Also, you can install Studio One on up to five machines concurrently.

[Bob Womack]

Originally Posted by phcorrigan

One reason to not use ProTools is the fact that it uses the iLok license manager, which has been problematic for many when things go wrong.

I used to have Nuendo installed using a harddrive license but when COVID blew up I began commuting the DAW back and forth from home to work. I do live sessions and critical mixing at the studio and editing at home. I've got the little brothers of the studio monitors we use at work at home and the company bought me a laptop and hardware including an interface. The solution was to put all the software on both the work tower and the home laptop and move the licenses to a set of dongles and an iLok that I carry back and forth. EVERYTHING lives on the dongles, from WAVES to iZotope and Nuendo and WaveLabs for mastering. The only thing that can't go home is UAD because it needs the hardware accelerator card. If I had thought of it I might have picked up a UAD interface instead of a Focusrite to use that as well. It feels a tad rustic to carry the dongles back and forth but it works great.

So, today through Wednesday I am recording vocals here at the studio. Thursday and Friday I'll be home editing.

Bob

[RodB]

Originally Posted by phcorrigan

I've spent a little time with Waveform, but I've found the interface to be confusing. How was your learning curve, and have you used other DAWs?

I guess it depends what you are used to - I started with Audacity then Tracktion which was very similar to Waveform. I find it straightforward for what I do - editing, HP filter, setting level, adding some reverb via aux bus. I also find it easy to compare takes when say positioning mics.

Yes I tried a couple of others but didn’t go far enough to really judge whether it was worth the change. Probably says more about me that the DAWs !

[jim1960]

Originally Posted by phcorrigan

One reason to not use ProTools is the fact that it uses the iLok license manager, which has been problematic for many when things go wrong.

That's never been a real issue for myself or any of the people I know who use Pro Tools. I still have the original iLok that I bought almost 20 years ago and an iLok 2 that I bought at some point. I keep them plugged into a hub that I store under a short monitor riser. That keeps them safe from any accidents.

But even if I didn't need it for Pro Tools, I'd still have an iLok because some plugins require it:
Celemony Melodyne
Kush Clariphonic
Oeksound Soothe
iZotope Ozone 9
Soundtoys EchoBoy
Liquidsonics Seventh Heaven
Audio Ease Altiverb
all my Eventide reverbs
and a bunch more.

iLoks come with the territory.

[keith.rogers]

Melodyne and iZotope products can be registered/activated online without an iLok, if that's an option. (At least on OS X installs.) Don't know about the others.

[rockabilly69]

Advanced SONAR X3 Producer user here.

[rockabilly69]

Advanced SONAR X3 Producer and SOUND Forge 12 user here.

[lkingston]

One thing I want to mention here is that I’ve been working with DAWs since they first came out. I am not necessarily proficient in my current DAW (Auria on the iPad Pro) in that I often have to look in order to find the features that I need. But I am proficient in that I know exactly what I need to do and how to do it, even if I have to look to find it on a given DAW platform.

Another thing I would mention is that since my hearing loss, I have gravitated towards more acoustic sounding music with just a couple of well played tracks. In the past, I might have had a project going with 60 or more tracks, but now, I am going for space arrangements with just guitar, vocal, some backup vocals, and just a smattering of other acoustic instruments added for flavor.

Auria works incredibly well for the type of of music I am doing now, whereas back in my younger days of dense electronic orchestration, it would not have.

Another thing I would like to mention is that it isn’t just the DAW, but also the plugins. It has been slow in coming, but right now there are some absolutely wonderful plugins for IOS. For example, I have the absolutely wonderful Ravenscroft 275 piano and all the important FabFilter plugins. I like very few reverbs, but one of the ones that is available is one designed by the same guy who makes my favorite, Valhalla, for PCs and Macs. Yes, it sounds the same!

I absolutely LOVE working on the iPad Pro. I also have the Zoom LS-20R which does double duty as a multi port audio interface and a stand alone iPad controlled recorder. I couldn’t be happier with my setup.

Many might write off an iPad Pro as not being a real computer or up to the task of real music projects. That is simply not the way to look at it. Instead, you should be asking yourself what kind of music you want to make. If you want to record acoustic sounding music with a handful of beautifully played instruments and vocal tracks, the iPad will work just brilliantly. If you want to make highly layered synth music or mock up a virtual orchestra, I would go with a PC or a Mac.

This is a tune by one of my friends. I added a virtual piano using my favorite virtual piano: Ravenscroft 275. I loaded his stem into Auria, recorded my piano, and sent the track back to him. It was then finished in whatever DAW his guy used. This is the sort of thing I’m into these days, and Auria on the iPad works wonderfully well for it. I pop the iPad on a little stand next to my controller keyboard, or USB mic, or Yamaha THR-30ii, and record away absolutely painlessly. I could of course do it on my computer, but It would be a far more complicated setup. Your mileage may vary:

https://kylekellermusic.bandcamp.com...wn-love-single

[Brent Hahn]

Originally Posted by Bob Womack

The solution was to put all the software on both the work tower and the home laptop and move the licenses to a set of dongles and an iLok that I carry back and forth. EVERYTHING lives on the dongles...

I sometimes work in artists' home studios and ask them to install a few specific things on their rigs, and then I bring along my iLok to authorize them. Been doing it for years without a problem. Sometimes, when the client sees what I'm doing and how I'm doing it, they wind up buying the plugins which is even better.