The DAW (it just works!)

[qersty]

So, I have been jumping between several illicit DAWs for the past few years not really vibing with anything. Then I got renoise cause I love how you sequence things in it but now I want to record things. The software I used the longest (and first) was FL studio because that was the most accessible to pirate so I just stuck with it and it was ok doing sequencing and it recorded audio I guess. Later I started fucking with the demo version of Live, which I dug but Ableton's way of packaging their software really grinds on me since I dont want to buy 40000 handclaps just to get a fully-featured software. I have also used Logic for a bit but only for recording, I never even learned how to make a midi track in it.

I have a kinda tough time navigating what daws are good I feel they mostly are either catered towards electronic production or just capturing audio. A few times I have just copy pasted drums in audacity just because I have not wanted to bother with real daws.

So, yeah; is there any DAW that just works well for both recording and sequencing that doesn't require thousands of dollars worth of hardware? I have contemplated some rewire routing but I really dont like having to mess with two diferent softwares with two seperate grids yada yada

[coldbrightsunlight]

Do you have or want any midi hardware? And what balance of recording/sequencing?

Personally I use Reaper for a mix of recording and sequencing - but I will say I'm more focused on recording and it feels more balanced towards that - like everything else as you said. The native midi sequencing is... fine if you are just doing a little, but really quite decent if you're using an external input (I have a cheap midi keyboard which also has pads or sliders. It's not the smoothest software for doing software instruments and sequencing because it lacks some of the nice fancy ease-of-use features that more expensive software has. But it's perfectly workable, as I said whether it's for you depends on your workflow and desires.

So I'm hesitant to wholeheartedly recommend as I'm not 100% the workflow will suit you, but it doesn't seem like you've tried it, it's cheap, and it DOES DO everything you want just maybe not always in the world's best way.

If you're copying and pasting drums in audacity it's a big step up in terms of being better for even doing that sort of thing without costing a lot (and the free trial stays free forever if you can handle being nagged every time you open the programme).

[manymanyhaha]

I've messed with quite a few DAWs. I'm currently on Reaper as well, for the most part. There is a plugin for Reaper called Playtime which helps turn Reaper into a more Ableton-like DAW. I haven't used it much but it does work. Haven't figured out the workflow yet to make it nifty though. Also, haven't used the other sequencing features of Reaper yet. Good news is they are both relatively not expensive.

I used Cakewalk for many years until they went belly up, that's when I switched to Reaper. But Cakewalk came back as a free program and I haven't used it yet since it did but supposedly, it is still the same program. If so, it has pretty extensive sequencing. Not in the manner that Ableton, FL Studio or Renoise are ABOUT sequencing but I started using Cakewalk in the early 90's when it was only a midi sequencer. It is the oldest software sequencer out there. I would say Reaper and Cakewalk are on equal footing as recording environments, just maybe a bit different workflows. Good news is Cakewalk is free!

[coldbrightsunlight]

whaaaaat I had no idea about playtime. Very interesting

[manymanyhaha]

The maker, Helgoboss, hasn't really kept up with the development of it for a little bit of time now but it does work and works well. But I did find the workflow sometimes less efficient than what I could imagine. In the end, for what I'm doing, being a slice-n-deleter is the knees that bees need

[coldbrightsunlight]

Certainly worth checking out at some point at least. Bookmarked!

Thanks

[qersty]

I did try out reaper a bit and didn't have much issue with it. I really gotta stock up on vstis (i have a bad habit of "the stock ones are utilitarian 'nuff"). Gotta check out cakewalk, it's like I have heard of it but I probably got into production way too late for it to be a popular alternative.

Anybody used mixcraft? I know some less gear-nerdy people use it but I dont hear many people "in the know" using it. Its pretty alright, right?

[More_Divebombs]

I really dig Mixcraft. I've been using it since MX4, when it was super basic. Since then, I've tried a whole bunch of demo/lite versions of more reputable DAWs, but I just keep coming back to Mixcraft. It's now on MX9 and it's come a long way in terms of features. It's definitely the easiest DAW I've used.

I tried hard to get into Ableton since it seems to be the industry standard for electronic music, but things that I can do really easily in Mixcraft seemed to be much more complicated in Ableton, so I gave up. I don't know what Ableton can do that Mixcraft can't do anyway. If I can imagine it, then I can usually make Mixcraft do it.

The full version isn't the cheapest, but once you have it, upgrading to the new version is super cheap every time, and they really pack the upgrades with new features.