Subject:Best DAW

Posted by: DrLumen

Date:11/6/2014 11:45:27 AM

Acid has 22 votes...

[link]http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2014/10/16/whats-the-best-desktop-daw-2014-poll/

Subject:RE: Best DAW

Reply by: Iacobus

Date:11/6/2014 12:44:46 PM

I'm not even gonna comment on what is getting the top votes, other than to say fanboys will be fanboys, I guess...

Subject:RE: Best DAW

Reply by: ClipMan

Date:11/6/2014 3:00:54 PM

Me, I'm an Acid Pro fanboy! I must have voted 20 times. Acid Pro hasn't been updated in a long time because it's PERFECT! There's nothing more to add to it. Let the Fruity Loops guys push the envelope. Frankly, you don't even need a DAW to make outer space noise. A bent wood saw and a bow does the trick. Just fooling. In the hands of real musicians and music arrangers, synthesized music can sound great.

Brian
www.JazzHouseBlues.com

Subject:RE: Best DAW

Reply by: Kit

Date:11/6/2014 4:46:21 PM

Perfect would be support for 64 bit and proper management tools, eg for finding loops.

Subject:RE: Best DAW

Reply by: ClipMan

Date:11/7/2014 10:41:20 AM

Not sure about 64 bit DAWS. So far, we haven't needed it in the studio. Plenty of headroom in the 32 bit space for us. But we're not tracking more than 4 or 5 musicians and the clips are relatively short. As for plugins, I haven't yet seen a company that doesn't build 32 bit and 64 bit versions for their customers. There's gotta be a trillion users still on 32 bits. Not sure any company is gonna abandon this market. But what do I know? As for a proper media manager, only Sony loops get automatically registered in the database. Unless you're prepared to stick with them and take the time to tediously categorize the others, the media manager won't help that much. We started off by using loops but found out quickly that the music we wanted to make needed live performers. Stringing together bits of melody from 3-note loops was a pain in the ass. It was easier learning how to record properly in Acid and learn it's other non-loop functions. Having said that, there's no way we'd ever mic a live drummer. That's like getting a root canal with a Black & Decker power drill. With 24 bit drum loops from Sony's libraries by Mick Fleetwood and Drums from the Big Room, there's no need. Even the odd bass loop gets dropped into the project when the bass player is passed out on the floor. Anyway, to each his own. The only worry we have is if a Windows OS comes out that breaks Acid Pro and even then, there's always Acid Music Studio to pick up the slack.

Brian
www.Facebook.com/JazzHouseBlues

Subject:RE: Best DAW

Reply by: b.complex

Date:11/8/2014 3:58:34 PM

64 Bit use may not be a big deal for people that are actually RECORDING - you know, REAL instruments, but for electronic composers it means a lot - the biggest thing is that sample libraries have gotten to be HUGE and having a 64 bit OS running 64 bit apps allows us to access ALL of the RAM that we have invested in when using KONTAKT or our sampler of choice to its fullest potential. It makes no sense for your main music application to be the bottleneck in your system.

I loved ACID Pro, but I found ACID Music Studio to be much more stable, and is a newer bit of code at this point. And, after making the leap to Studio One, I must say that there are things it can do far beyond the capabilities of ACID that make composing with it much more of a pleasure. Combining takes, built in Melodyne, 64 bit, REX Support, and groove quantizing options out the wazoo, drag and drop functionality on pretty much everything and TONS more features than I can think of or list.

Subject:RE: Best DAW

Reply by: deusx

Date:11/9/2014 6:34:38 AM

Samplitude is the best, everybody knows that.

Fruity loops the best in that poll tells you all you need to know about that poll. Most people voting are under 12 years old and can probably not even spell DAW.

Subject:RE: Best DAW

Reply by: ClipMan

Date:11/9/2014 2:33:59 PM

It sounds like you have a solution to your Acid problem. Studio One seems to be up near the top of the votes and you keep raving about how much better it is than Acid. I think that's great but there's no sense in beating a dead horse. Sony, for whatever reason, decided not to chase the electronic music market. You should be totally happy making electronic music with your new DAW of choice. It would be great if you could provide a link to some of the new music you're doing with it. Best to you and yours.

Brian
www.facebook.com/JazzHouseBlues
www.JazzHouseBlues.com

Subject:RE: Best DAW

Reply by: b.complex

Date:11/11/2014 8:18:27 AM

Yes and no - like most of us, I loved ACID for the simplicity of the workflow and its functionailty - it made the perfect sketchpad for arrangements and compositions, the "problem" is that in order to use my computer and other software (KONTAKT) to their fullest potential (and allow me the freedom of using the instrument libraries I want to) I always had to migrate the arrangement to a more stable and now more comprehensive piece of software. ACID still does what it always did, that hasn't changed - but AP7 had become very unstable in my use with KONTAKT 5 and Superior Drummer, and other plugins - all of which work flawlessly in other DAW's. ACID Music Studio 10 came out and I bought the "upgrade" (?!) from AP7 for $29 and have been much happier with the stability of it, although I have largely migrated to Studio One for everything, even the "sketch pad" phase.

I'm not an "electronic musician" - I'm much more of a traditional songwriter type. I was a gigging musician for about 15 years, and now only play with music at home as a "hobby" - but I am still trying to finish some kind of album of my original material, so I don't have much to share. The most recent thing I could share that's out there would be this song I wrote for a short independent film that a friend of mine wrote and directed:

https://soundcloud.com/bcomplexcreative/pilogue

The film was about a relationship that was on the verge of falling apart - but there is some hope. I did some music cues with the same theme, mostly just piano chord transitions-

This track has some MIDI, some guitars, some loops, and vocals- started in ACID, but had to migrate to Studio One to finish it.
-b

Subject:RE: Best DAW

Reply by: ClipMan

Date:11/11/2014 10:04:33 AM

@ started in ACID, but had to migrate to Studio One to finish it.

Nice song. Good arrangement. Pleasant vocals and harmonies. For me, I'd rather switch to compatible libraries than give up Acid. For me, if any software/hardware won't work in Acid or causes instability, I simply don't use it. This mindset comes from being a producer rather than from an artist (that's why I hire talent). We're adding to our short track libraries almost on a daily basis. The DAW has to be simple and perform flawlessly. The music gotta flow, baby! (always wanted to say that}. Good luck to you.

Brian