Home Forums Software and Equipment Your Favorite Audio Workstation – A Poll

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    • #34648
      Doug Marks
      Keymaster

      A few years ago I wrote a very popular article that includes a poll for favorite audio workstations. I’m updating the article to share in our newsletter next week and would like to see what recording software is currently most popular. Please vote for your favorite and explain why this is your choice here. Thanks for participating: Vote Now

      Metal Method Guitar Instructor

      • This topic was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by Doug Marks.
      • This topic was modified 4 years, 11 months ago by Doug Marks.
    • #34652
      rightonthemark
      Participant

      REAPER
      price; ease of use; customization.

      rock and roll ain't pretty; that's why they picked us to play it.

      • #34653
        Doug Marks
        Keymaster

        I like Reaper. Not an expert but I have been using it recently. I’m so comfortable with Sonar because I’ve used it for many years that it’s difficult to make the switch. I am trying to move away from Sonar because it doesn’t have the level of support that it had when it was an independent company or when it was owned by Roland.

        Metal Method Guitar Instructor

      • #34655
        rightonthemark
        Participant

        i started on a free version of sonar (8.5) that came with my usb audio interface (roland/cakewalk UA-1G).
        but as i outgrew the restrictions i searched for a more economic alternative and that’s when i found reaper.
        i didn’t think the switch was all that painful.
        in fact they have a sonar to reaper guide to help make the switch easier.

        http://reaper.fm/guides/SONARtoREAPER_2017b.pdf

        🤘🏽🎸🤘🏽

        rock and roll ain't pretty; that's why they picked us to play it.

    • #34654
      Byron
      Participant

      I track & edit in SONAR Platinum. Have not yet moved over to Cakewalk b/c I don’t yet have internet at the house. Only thing available is satellite and it is expensive & not that reliable so has been a low priority. BandLab has apparently made an impressive amount of improvements since buying SONAR’s IP from Gibson. But there is no offline authorization process.

      Cakewalk by BandLab (CbB) is also free. The forum is awesome and from what I hear their support is very responsive.

      I mix in Harrison Mixbus, though. Who needs a channel strip plugin when your whole DAW is one? Supposedly Mixbus is just like mixing on an analog Harrison console. I love it. Need eq? Grab a (virtual) knob & twist. Compressor? Grab a knob.

      • #34658
        Doug Marks
        Keymaster

        Glad to hear about the BandLab support. I’ve heard good things about Mixbus.

        Metal Method Guitar Instructor

    • #34657
      Igglepud
      Participant

      Ableton all the way.

      MY ROCK IS FIERCE!!!

      • #34659
        Doug Marks
        Keymaster

        And what do you like about Ableton? Have you had experience with other DAWs?

        Metal Method Guitar Instructor

      • #34660
        Igglepud
        Participant

        I like the interface. It is very easy to add/delete tracks. It handles audio and MIDI, tracks can be cut, pasted, moved in an intuitive manner. I never feel like I am fighting the software. It also has easy methods for automating things like track panning, fading out, adjusting volume, etc. There are plugins for mixing and mastering, a live performance side of the software (I haven’t used this side much, but it’s REALLY powerful for on-the-spot mixing). You can import/export tracks, do note by note composition, lots of things.

        The bottom line for me is that when I want to do something, I can do it easily or figure out how. The interface is really intuitive. I have worked with others, including ProTools, and I still prefer Live.

        MY ROCK IS FIERCE!!!

    • #34665
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      REAPER REAPER REAPER !

      i used protools in a studio recently (older version I think) and really do not like it at all, it is kludgy, bad interface controls, bad mouse commands, bad keyboard shortcuts, bad window layout, just yuck. and the method of exporting..”bouncing”..just horrible and overly time consuming. the developers have bad taste in design. the studio guy told me I should get protools certified to further my skills.. yuck!

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #34668
      Doug Marks
      Keymaster

      All interesting. Thanks everybody for participating. I’m sending out the newsletter again to those that didn’t click on any article Tuesday. It will go out again on Sunday. So far, Reaper has a narrow edge and we haven’t even heard from Aaron.

      Metal Method Guitar Instructor

    • #34669
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      I would like to try ableton at some point. there is a MOOC on it that I posted on the forum a while back.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

    • #34678
      Anonymous
      Inactive

      I like Studio One. For some reason, I don’t have the latency issues with Studio One that I get with Pro Tools, or GarageBand. Kind of off topic, but did any of you get the free Eventide Ultra Channel plug-in a few years ago? I love it. I have tried Sonar and like it as well, but Studio One just works for me. That and my cheap little Zoom R8.

      • #34684
        rightonthemark
        Participant

        yes. i got that eventide plugin. it was pretty cool. but it made my computer run slow so i got rid of it. i think there was something weird about its authorization – i think it was ilok or something. now i use izotope neutron for my channel strip. love my izotope products.

        🤘🏽🎸🤘🏽

        rock and roll ain't pretty; that's why they picked us to play it.

    • #34686
      pipelineaudio
      Participant

      I would be a bit biased 🙂

      With REAPER, we did everything we could (including ReaRoute and multiple external editors in your right click menu [Sound Forge and WaveoSaur for me!]) to make sure that if you had a favorite DAW workflow, you wouldn’t have to leave it just to use some of the REAPER features.

      Live is a prime example. If you’ve never seen someone create electronic music in Live, you owe yourself a viewing! Not only is it insanely fast, but it actually becomes its own instrument in the hands of an expert.

      A lot of Live users want access to REAPER’s parameter modulation, especially for filter interaction between instruments, and they can do it easily with ReaRoute

      • #34696
        Igglepud
        Participant

        I’ve dabbled in the performance interface. I have a Launchpad Pro, and it makes it stupid easy to use that side of the software. I’m really, really bad at it and can still get a beat running with two or three different parts in under five minutes. The guys who know what they’re doing and mess with MAX blow my mind.

        MY ROCK IS FIERCE!!!

      • #34698
        pipelineaudio
        Participant

        This NEVER gets old

    • #34690
      grondak
      Participant

      I’ve used Digital Performer since 2000 (I think. Maybe 99). I started on version 2.72. I liked Performer because it had fantastic Tool Tips that hid the manual within them. Those are gone since DP4. Now it’s just another DAW. I know my way around the menus. The menus only make sense if you’ve used the tool for a lifetime. They have preferences in 3 different spots!! I could switch, yes. But I won’t because then it would be someone else’s idea of “a better way” and Digital Performer works fine for me now. Howwever, in general, computers are the only tool that makes the task harder. (Live being the exception?)

      Metal Method is helping me across the board!

    • #34699
      superblonde
      Keymaster

      Quite a while ago I was looking around for (possibly bluetooth) stomp buttons to control daw shuttle controls (stop, record, pause, stuff like that, mostly for practicing over loops) and I’m surprised that kind of use just isnt common. It is like there is a split- musicians use daws with hands on keyboard & mouse, or they use a pedal board or old school pedals in playing. I’m talking about playing instruments, not EDM. Hands too busy playing guitar to mess with a keyboard. Pipeline seems to be one of the few guys who is bridging the void to use/control the DAW while playing guitar.

      Bluetooth computer keyboards are common and cheap (and have 50+ buttons to press). Guitar stomp switches are common and cheap. The combination of bluetooth-keyboardish-guitar-stomp button basically doesn’t exist.

      I'm an intermediate student of Metal Method. I play seitannic heavy metal. All Kale Seitan! ♯ ♮ ♭ ø ° Δ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
      And on the Seventh Day, Mustaine said: ∇ ⨯ E = - ∂B / ∂t ; and there was Thrash; and it had a ♭3; and it was good.

      • #34721
        Igglepud
        Participant

        With Ableton, you can configure ANYTHING with midi out to run any paramater you want. If I really want to, I can set my distortion stomp to trigger an arpeggiator riff any time the distortion kicks on. My Launchpad has 64 buttons I can make do whatever I want. Like Pipeline says below, the controllers are there. It’s up to us to configure them for our needs.

        MY ROCK IS FIERCE!!!

    • #34700
      pipelineaudio
      Participant

      There are soooooooooo many old Line 6 and other pedalboards on craigslist for next to nothing that have MIDI out, its a waste not to use them. Right now I have a Pod XT Live under the desk that does play/stop-return with one pedal, record/stop-return with another, rewind slow, fast forward slow, loop on/off and then I have a button in the toolbar for MIDI Learn so I can use the expression pedal to control anything I want realtime foot control on, like wah’s volume pedal, or wet/dry for some crazy parallel FX

      Lately I’ve been learning Jon Tidey’s WRB since I alreay have an ipad and dont want to buy one of those 15 bajillion dollar portable keyboards

    • #34712
      ZUrlocker
      Participant

      For anyone with a Mac, I highly recommend GarageBand for three reasons:
      1. it’s easy to use, full-featured and free! (well, if you have a Mac it’s free)
      2. it includes a bunch of automatic drummers (rock, soul, singer/songwriter) and drumkits that are easy to use and much better than repetitive loops
      3. you can upgrade to Logic Pro X for $200 if you outgrow it

      The poll results of Logic Pro and GarageBand together puts it among the most popular. (The two products share an awful lot of capabilities.)

      And if you are using a DAW of any kind, I strongly recommend buying a $30 USB Rocksmith guitar cable so you can plug in and record with drums and really see and hear how you’re playing.

      I recorded an entire Rock Opera with GarageBand and only upgraded to Logic Pro towards the end to do some vocal comping (e.g. cut & paste across takes)
      You can check the results here: http://www.rock-opera.com It’s free to download or listen to.

    • #34717
      Mr. TAB
      Participant

      I am careful to admit, that I voted twice! And am proud to have done so since I think it is the greatest DAW-that’s-not-really-a-DAW ever created! However, since I voted for a non-winner, it probably doesn’t matter anyway. 🙂

      I got a Lite version of Ablelton Live for free when I purchased a few hardware items for a sound production studio I built when I was living in Venice Beach back in the early 2000’s, and they continued to offer free upgrades of this Lite version with each major upgrade, up until version 9 came out. But still works great for recording guitar and playing back slowed down loops for songs I am learning, as well as huge song setlists to practice by until all songs are completely memorized.

      “It is extremely important to occasionally record your playing to identify weaknesses in technique.” – Doug Marks, 07MAY2019

      Attachments:
      1. Reinhardt1.jpg

    • #34738
      Dave Pickering
      Participant

      Like Doug, I was a Cakewalk user (Home Studio then X1 Studio) and was disappointed when Gibson stopped supporting the software. I’ve just started using Reaper and am still trying to climb up the learning curve on it.

      I’ve been looking at a couple of other DAW’s. Studio One looks interesting so I may check it out.

      My biggest fear is when I die, my wife will sell my guitars for what I told her they cost.

    • #34739
      pipelineaudio
      Participant

      If you are ever stuck on REAPER, just let me know, I can probably find a way to walk you through it. But if you are writing a lot, you do owe yourself to check out studio one, I think its better for the creation side than REAPER

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