best DAW to start out?

[nothingbutflowers]

hey all, I'm looking to get a good DAW, but have no real idea what the differences between them amount to.
I've got an intel mac, so i was looking at logic. I'd like something intuitive, but really i'd be willing to spend awhile learning something more complex if it had worthwhile features. I have an ensoniq esq-1 that I plan on using as a controller. dunno if it helps but I'm interested in dubstep and IDM, and I'd also like something with decent recording power as I am coming from a guitar background. also, do i need a new sound card, and if i do, what kind should i get? any advice helps, thanks!

[0e0]

i'm a big fan of reaper. http://reaper.fm (I think). I've used a lot of daws and i find their features to be coming increasingly similar. Reaper has some very special things and it's streamlined for recording...the support network is the best (really good for people just starting out). It's also like $60 to buy.

j

0=0

[Hugo76]

If you're doing IDM, I'd check out Renoise. It's great for programming beats imo. Aaron Funk of Venetian Snares use it. It's cheap and before deciding you can try it out with all functions enabled (including saving files - only things that are disabled are resampling patterns and ASIO).
http://www.renoise.com/

A combo a lot of people swear by is Renoise + Reaper. Both are great and cheap progs.

[meatballfulton]

Have you messed around with Garageband at all? I'd start with that since you already have it loaded on your Mac. Once you need to go beyond what GB can do, then it's time to shop for another DAW.

[masstronaut]

Ableton Live makes the most sense for electronic music and pattern based stuff imo. Very intuitive compared to most others.

Renoise can be good for that sort of stuff as well but maybe not the first choice for someone coming from a guitar background.

But yeah, see what you can do with Garage Band as well.

[Shreddie]

Propellerhead Reason would be worth looking into as well for electro stuff.

[Stab Frenzy]

Garageband is a very capable DAW, it's basically a preset version of Logic so the sound quality is very good. I think that doing dubstep and IDM sound design is an important part of composing though so you might want something with more control over the sounds. You should definitely have a play round with it to begin with though, it came with your computer so you don't need to spend anything extra.

I find Ableton Live to be really intuitive and I really enjoy using it, it's my favourite software to compose in. (I own and use Live 6, Logic Pro 8 and Pro Tools LE 8). Logic is really powerful but it's not all that easy to learn, although versions 8 and 9 are much much improved on 7, which is what I learnt it on.

There's a free demo of Live which is the complete program, just with saving and bouncing disabled. You should try that out (do the included lessons to really learn how to use the program) to see how you like it. Between the Live demo and Garageband you should start to get a bit of an idea which direction you want to head in.

[mome rath]

Garageband is a very capable DAW, it's basically a preset version of Logic so the sound quality is very good. I think that doing dubstep and IDM sound design is an important part of composing though so you might want something with more control over the sounds. You should definitely have a play round with it to begin with though, it came with your computer so you don't need to spend anything extra.

I find Ableton Live to be really intuitive and I really enjoy using it, it's my favourite software to compose in. (I own and use Live 6, Logic Pro 8 and Pro Tools LE 8). Logic is really powerful but it's not all that easy to learn, although versions 8 and 9 are much much improved on 7, which is what I learnt it on.

There's a free demo of Live which is the complete program, just with saving and bouncing disabled. You should try that out (do the included lessons to really learn how to use the program) to see how you like it. Between the Live demo and Garageband you should start to get a bit of an idea which direction you want to head in.

if you can't mesh with ableton, there's always FL studio (FRUITY LOOPS "STUDIO"), which was actually designed for apes in a series of hardcore techno pattern recognition experiments done at UC Irvine in the early 2000's

[Stab Frenzy]

Isn't FL Windows only though?

[mome rath]

Isn't FL Windows only though?

ehh

probably










zing 8)

[pflosi]

there's also an ableton demo which lets you bounce and save, but it expires after 14 days and i think not all the samples come with it (drum kits, latin percussion etc).

I'm also using only ableton, it's loop view is really cool to get some ideas started, which can then be arranged in the arrangement view. ableton is also quite easy to use, compared to logic or pro tools

[nothingbutflowers]

I've messed around a bit with reason and i absolutely love it, especially the drum machine.

What about cubase? It came with an interface I bought but I haven't really tried it yet. Is it worth anything?

[tekkentool]

I've messed around a bit with reason and i absolutely love it, especially the drum machine.

What about cubase? It came with an interface I bought but I haven't really tried it yet. Is it worth anything?

Cubase 4 LE would do you fine. Try it out man.

[impaler42]

+1 for ableton live

the interface is very user friendly for capturing ideas and working on the fly.

[loungedumore]

Directions for finding the BEST DAW to start with
1.Grab a copy of Sweetwaters latest catalog .
2. Cut out pictures of all the DAW ads . one per DAW ( ignore the 45 different pages of protools )
3. Subtract the DAWs that are not in your price range and complain about them online in forums .
4. Subtract the DAWs that do not work on your chosen platform and complain about their OS in forums
5. Glue the remaining clippings on to a standard sized dart board .
6. Tie a blindfold around head taking care to cover your eyes completely .
7. Throw dart at dartboard .

After completing steps 1-7 examine the clipping the dart has landed on and buy it's software counterpart more than likely you will have the majority of the same features regardless .

Also note : as a noob you will be baffled and bewildered from time to time regardless of choice .


All text not to be reprinted without permission . All text C&P of The Snarky Intraweb Guy . 2009