What is your DAW ?

[Monkus]

DAW (Digital audio workstation) is probably one of the most confusing decisions to make. I used to record in Pro Tools a friends studio, paid my dunzai and got out of there as quickly as I could.

Now with Garage band I record and put our really decent tracks (to my ear) at home. Heres the rub, I would borrow my live in cousin's macbook pro to do it but I really don't want to usurp her Mac, which really is the apple of her eye. (get it get it ?)

So I tried UbuntuStudio, worked for a while but then it stopped seeing my firebox and didn't ever see it again. M-Audio's blackbox doesnt have any linux drivers that work worth anything either. So I decided on spending the bucks and getting a dedicated soft sequencer. This however is a significant investment and once you buy, you learn. Pro Tools is the industry standard but really out of my budget. Pro tools however can port most of the other popular sequencer software out there.

Ableton 8: Seems like a sequencer for live work but can be used in the studio or vice versa, it cant seem to make up its mind.

Cubase 5: Good ole German engineering, like a VW beetle ,t will work like a slave but no frills.

I'm leaning toward the Ableton Suite 8, but it seems geared toward electronica as well and I'm an folksy, acoustic kinda guy.

What do you use? Any tips? Suggestions?

:help

[Spudman]

Cubase 4 is what I use. I haven't even begun to explore all that it can do. The new version 5 has some more goodies that make it worthwhile to have. I considered the upgrade but typically they have some time before all the bugs are ironed out when they release a new version. I've waited. I also haven't been on the Cubase forum for a while to see what they issues are and if they have been addressed or not. With version 4 there was really only one glaring issue but it was something that I'll never use so I feel comfortable sticking with C4 for a while.

Yes there is a huge learning curve but all the majors have that issue. Once you get it down and set up some macros you can speed up work flow considerably but it takes time.

[Eric]

DAW (Digital audio workstation) is probably one of the most confusing decisions to make. I used to record in Pro Tools a friends studio, paid my dunzai and got out of there as quickly as I could.

Now with Garage band I record and put our really decent tracks (to my ear) at home. Heres the rub, I would borrow my live in cousin's macbook pro to do it but I really don't want to usurp her Mac, which really is the apple of her eye. (get it get it ?)

So I tried UbuntuStudio, worked for a while but then it stopped seeing my firebox and didn't ever see it again. M-Audio's blackbox doesnt have any linux drivers that work worth anything either. So I decided on spending the bucks and getting a dedicated soft sequencer. This however is a significant investment and once you buy, you learn. Pro Tools is the industry standard but really out of my budget. Pro tools however can port most of the other popular sequencer software out there.

Ableton 8: Seems like a sequencer for live work but can be used in the studio or vice versa, it cant seem to make up its mind.

Cubase 5: Good ole German engineering, like a VW beetle ,t will work like a slave but no frills.

I'm leaning toward the Ableton Suite 8, but it seems geared toward electronica as well and I'm an folksy, acoustic kinda guy.

What do you use? Any tips? Suggestions?

:help

I use a combo of Audacity and Cakewalk Sonar...6?, but I don't do much fancy stuff, so I'm probably not the best input on it. I find Audacity to be nice and simple, but they don't seem to like plugins too much like the Line 6 Pod Farm, or at least I can't figure out to get it to recognize them.

Sonar is...OK. Not having dug into it too much, I don't know about the details, but I was not exactly astounded by the intuitive nature of it or anything.

I want to use Ardour in Ubuntu some day, but I haven't managed to tackle Jack or the other Linux sound issues just yet. Maybe when I get more time on my hands.

[hubberjub]

I currently use ProTools M-Powered 7.3. I like ProTools because that's what I learned on in a sound engineering course at college. I don't necessarily think it's better than the other programs, it's just what I know. I also have Cubase and everytime I try to use it I get lost because I'm not familiar with where all of the controls are. Whatever you choose I'm sure you'll be happy with. The amount of recording power a couple hundred bucks will buy is amazing.

[Robert]

I use GarageBand for all my recording.

[sunvalleylaw]

I use GarageBand for all my recording.

Ditto. I add Gearbox to it as a source to either mic my amph or record direct plugged into the Toneport.

[redgibson]

I use Ardour for all my processing. if You're running linux or a mac, you should check it out.

http://ardour.org/

its donationware (so you can donate 0, but once you see what the programmer has done and offered "for free", you might change your mind it is very very verbose)

I say that because I am a programmer myself, I know what kind of effort and time it must have taken.. :-) In any case- its really slick. No, there is no version available for Windows...

[Monkus]

Thanks guys, very insightful, downloading demos and will try, let you all know what happens.

[FrankenFretter]

Cubase 4 is what I use. I haven't even begun to explore all that it can do. The new version 5 has some more goodies that make it worthwhile to have. I considered the upgrade but typically they have some time before all the bugs are ironed out when they release a new version. I've waited. I also haven't been on the Cubase forum for a while to see what they issues are and if they have been addressed or not. With version 4 there was really only one glaring issue but it was something that I'll never use so I feel comfortable sticking with C4 for a while.

Would that be the online licensing issue? I've heard it's a real pain, and sometimes doesn't work at all.

[deeaa]

Cubase LE on xp laptop strictry for recording, Cubase 5 now on the main win 7 box. (was 3 on previous box)

Every bigger studio I've been has used Cubase, and IMO it's extremely simple yet when you start digging it has pretty much everything built in that you'd ever need and more from instant time stretches to excellent EQ's and whatnot. Plus it never gave me any grief with any problems. You might want to get a nice plugin pack to go along with it mainly for mastering stuff, though.

There's a few minor things I liked better on 3 than 4, the colour scheme, the right-button menu in some contexts like on a track graph, but it works so well&fast on 64bit it's worth it.

Have used Samplitude, Logic and Kristal and Audition as well and Cubase is by far the best IMHO. Audition is pretty decent as well, very similar in a way, but a tad less clear and more confusing.

[Suhnton]

I use Reaper - very easy to use and tons of features/plugins and what-have-you.