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

[Mbroady]

Originally Posted by CASD57

So far CakeWalk by BandLab seems to be working for me...

Anyone want to tell me their preferred FX Setup for vocals? the chain

In your vocal track right click in the fx field....go to insert audio FX/channel strips/VX-64 Vocal Strip

Then left click on the VX- 64 vocal strip. This will pull up the included plugin. In the upper Left hand corner you will see a box that says "No Presets" Hit the down arrow and you will see a list of presets. There are loads of them to try out. And you can adust Each module with in the presets (Compressor/EQ/Deesser/doubler/delay).

Originally Posted by CASD57

New Recording using Cakewalk... in Signature
It's still a work in progress...
I can't believe the differences in sounds from one speaker to the next... From the computer to headphones to monitors
This is going to be a work in progress just fixing the songs to sound good in all types of equipment

This is what a good mastering engineer does. There are tool within calkwalk to accomplish this but this is above my pay grade. In addition, even though i don’t know much about mastering (yet) I do know you need excellent monitoring equipment as well as a well set up monitoring environment/room

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by CASD57

Im trying to get Reaper to work, anyone have the settings for output,? Im using win10 and i cant seam to find the right settings in Reaper to listen to it, my Mic works but no playback sound??

What interface are you using? To change output path on Reaper, go to "Options" menu, Preferences at the bottom, then pick Device under "Audio" at left. Then you'll see what inputs and outputs Reaper is using. Make sure you select the correct Audio system from the top dropdown (typically ASIO) and the correct driver for your interface.

Do you have speakers hooked up to your audio interface, or just to your computer? I'm not sure you can get Reaper to deal with two different audio systems for input and output (for example, trying to use your interface for microphones (ASIO with interface driver) but listen through your computer speakers (eg WaveOut with your computers output)).

[CASD57]

Originally Posted by KevWind

I am confused you stated that you were using Cakewalk and it was working for you. ?
Why have you switched to Reaper ?

The first thing I would do is stop and take the time to (as I suggested in another thread) and list your actual system and recording chain

Because a lot of the information the will help you specifically, may in fact be specific to your system.
For example the in/out matrix (In any DAW) is determined by your hardware (your interface)
Also do you know how to take and post screen shots of your computer screen ?
(this will help a bunch in diagnosing your input output issues)

Yes Cakewalk is working great... Just looking at the others I have to make sure I'm not missing something..LOL.. plus it's kind of the way I learn..by using different Brands, different ligo...different UI's
My recording Chain at this moment:
USB Mic into my computer......Thats it for hardware
I did buy a Samson G-Track Pro but it won't be here till after Xmas

What I have:
Zoom R8 a couple Condenser Mic's(MXL-Behringer) and Several Dynamic Mic's

I'm probably going to try this stuff out this weekend using the R8 as my interface

What I think went wrong is I was trying ProTools First and then went to Reaper..
I'm thinking ProTools took everything over and thats why Reaper wouldn't work because it worked last night for me.
And because ProTools doesn't seem to like any other audio stuff on because I get a warning that another program is using files it needs sometimes when I try to start it..and it just quit after this warning..

And Yes I'm probably going to stay with Cakewalk

[Rudy4]

Different DAWs are good to try out until you find something that really aligns with your work methods.

Out af all my experiments Cakewalk was the only DAW that consistently would not work for me, on two different PCs. I spent close to $200 to purchase it in it's Sonar 9 form and I had nothing but problems with it. Cakewalk's customer support was of no help at all, offering me a couple of suggestions before they said they didn't have any other ideas. I had no problems with 3 other DAWs so I finally decided to just put the Cakewalk experience behind me.

I'm glad that others haven't had those problems.

[runamuck]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

Different DAWs are good to try out until you find something that really aligns with your work methods.

People just starting out using a DAW don't have any work methods. I've found that my work methods have, for the most part, been shaped by the software I'm using.

[CASD57]

Originally Posted by runamuck

People just starting out using a DAW don't have any work methods. I've found that my work methods have, for the most part, been shaped by the software I'm using.

True, but its more of a way of how we process info, what we like or not like... For instance, i dont like the play/ record buttons on the bottom of the DAW, dont like things too spread out, like the looping control is in a weird place or called something else like in Reaper,.. never did find it last night but probably will tonight lol
Im about convenance for me. Everyone has their own list of likes/ dislikes and that is why there are lots of DAW's
As i grow into recording my taste will change and i know that, actually im looking forward to it

[runamuck]

Originally Posted by CASD57

True, but its more of a way of how we process info, what we like or not like... For instance, i dont like the play/ record buttons on the bottom of the DAW, dont like things too spread out, like the looping control is in a weird place or called something else like in Reaper,.. never did find it last night but probably will tonight lol
Im about convenance for me. Everyone has their own list of likes/ dislikes and that is why there are lots of DAW's
As i grow into recording my taste will change and i know that, actually im looking forward to it

There are DAWs other than Reaper that offer movable transport bars- Cubase being one of them, which is what I use.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by runamuck

People just starting out using a DAW don't have any work methods. I've found that my work methods have, for the most part, been shaped by the software I'm using.

There are tons of new DAW users who come from prior use of multi-track recorder use. Many of us have developed work methodology based on that experience.

Your experience isn't the only possible route to DAW use.

[CASD57]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

There are tons of new DAW users who come from prior use of multi-track recorder use. Many of us have developed work methodology based on that experience.

Your experience isn't the only possible route to DAW use.

Of Course not....but it's my path

[runamuck]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

There are tons of new DAW users who come from prior use of multi-track recorder use. Many of us have developed work methodology based on that experience.

Your experience isn't the only possible route to DAW use.

Good point,

[Karel]

I did not see Reason by Propellerhead mentioned here. No DAW is simple but Reason is very intuitive en a joy to work with. It used to be a closed shop with no external plug-ins but has changed. I love it.

[Chipotle]

Originally Posted by CASD57

True, but its more of a way of how we process info, what we like or not like... For instance, i dont like the play/ record buttons on the bottom of the DAW, dont like things too spread out, like the looping control is in a weird place or called something else like in Reaper,.. never did find it last night but probably will tonight lol

Looper control is right next to the record button.

Also, one nice thing about Reaper is you can make it look exactly like you want it. There are premade themes you can download, and you can move everything around. Want the record/play at the top? Right click on the control area, go to "Docked Transport Position" and select "Above ruler" or "Top of main window".

Of course, that requires some research and work, but it's possible to make Reaper work the way *you* want it to, rather than trying to find a DAW that is already set up that way.

[CASD57]

Originally Posted by Chipotle

Looper control is right next to the record button.

Also, one nice thing about Reaper is you can make it look exactly like you want it. There are premade themes you can download, and you can move everything around. Want the record/play at the top? Right click on the control area, go to "Docked Transport Position" and select "Above ruler" or "Top of main window".

Of course, that requires some research and work, but it's possible to make Reaper work the way *you* want it to, rather than trying to find a DAW that is already set up that way.

Wow Thanks!! And I want to thank everyone for all the help.

[Red_Label]

Originally Posted by sdelsolray

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.

I've been a Cakewalk/Sonar user for almost 20 years, but last week I bit the bullet, bought a new Dell computer, a new Roland Rubix24 interface, and Presonus Studio One Pro 4.5. It's been a steep learning curve over the past week, but over the past few days I've finally started to get things to click and now it seems very similar in some respects to Sonar 8.5 (which was my last DAW software). So once you get over that initial frustrating hump of just getting to the point where you can record an audio or MIDI sound... then things start to really take off.

[Lance Lawson]

Audacity is a decent DAW. I began using Cakewalk in the late 90's and SONAR became my go to DAW. I haven felt the need to upgrade or change anything with it in years. I think by the mid 2000's they had about maxed out the DAW format and unless you're an electronic musician most DAW's of the past 10 years will give you more than you need.