Advice on new DAW

Hey guys, I’m going to be purchasing a new MacBook soon and was thinking this is a great opportunity to maybe change DAWs. I’m very familiar with Logic Pro but have always been interested in Ableton. I own a couple of Elektron boxes so I am anticipating Overbridge… So some info and advice would be very helpful.

Thanks in advance :blush:

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I’ve used Ableton since version 4 and finally jumped to Bitwig earlier this year.

If you have a lot of hardware, I can happily say that Bitwig makes it a worthy change. I recently created a template where I have instant recall of patches etc which has been a complete game changer for me.

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Hi zfigz
im curious about the possibility to recall hardware patches in the project. I guess there is some sysex device involved? I make mostly hardware based music and would love to have a recall option inside the daw. I´m also with Live since version 2…

Would you mind to elaborate more?

There’s a program change device that has the option to auto send. You also have access to lsb/msb (least/most significant byte), so you can recall patches within banks which helps with things like the Nord Drum 2 that always turns on with the first patch.

I’m visiting family, but I could take a screenshot of my template later tonight to give you a better idea of what I’m talking about.

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When it was time to upgrade from Live 9 to 10, I opted for going with Bitwig. Bitwig is an incredibly fun DAW for sound design- you can get full on mad-scientist with it- and the updated Sampler looks really cool.

For concrete pieces- I think Ableton is my preference though. It has Push integration(Bitwig does too, but it’s not as straightforward- it also requires a other software to be ran- it’s not “Up and Atom” as it’s native set-up.) Also, the devices with Max 4 Live pretty much offer all of the mad scientist capabilities that Bitwig offers- as far as I’ve explored(I could be wrong about that).

Edit: Luckily- Bitwig offers a completely open-ended trial period where you can play around with it when it’s convenient to see if you can mesh with it better.

Thanks, will dive in to this. If you dont mind, yes, a screenshot would be nice :slight_smile: -)

i outlined the auto load option in red. let me know if you have any questions. i’m still pretty fresh with it since starting to use it in february, but so far, so good…haven’t really opened Live since getting it.

thanks, this seems like a good solution. Does autoload send all ccs to the midi out, or just the program change? I`ll read the manual for details…

Hey, what’s the deal with this bitwig trial period? Was just reading about the new sampler and am ready to give it a shot.

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what kind of info and advice would you like? just about Ableton itself? about Logic vs Live? in regards to using Overbridge on Ableton? Ableton has hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of users, so it’s obviously doing something well. i’d be glad to share my knowledge of it but I mean…what do you want to know? is it good? yeah. lol.

In comparison to Logic, how does Ableton stand up? What are it’s advantages? Does it integrate with Overbridge better than Logic? Are there differences that I should be aware of… Is there anything special about Ableton that you could pick in your experience with it?

You can’t export/save anything but you can play around with Bitwig to your hearts desire

Hard to answer those questions without knowing how much you already know about Live.

In terms of linear recording/sequencing, Live’s Arranger view has got nothing on Logic, hands down. However, what makes/made Live special is the Session view and how it allows for clips to be recorded, triggered and combined independent of a “fixed timeline.” In that sense, Live can be a super powerful Looper, a sketchpad for ideas and alternative takes, a performance tool etc etc.

I find I get the most out of Ableton Live when I think of it as a (hyperflexible and massive) instrument - though I also own a Push 2, which contributes to that. Secondly I use Live as a sketchpad for musical ideas and alternative takes but I very rarely arrange a full track in it.

If your Midi CC device is in, it’ll send them too when the project opens (iirc) but I have mine turned off by default.

I think hausland gave you a general overview in comparison to Logic, I’ve barely touched that so I can’t add anything to that part of it…i’ll echo what hausland said though and further it and point out that Ableton Live is called that for a reason, of course you know, it’s very much designed for live performance. I think it’s fine for constructing and completing tracks, but many people prefer to go the route mentioned of start in Ableton, mix/structure the track in another DAW. that’s not a necessity though, plenty of users mix and complete tracks and sets fully within Live. it integrates with hardware very well from my experience. rarely if ever have any issues I’ve had been because of Ableton…I use it as a hub controlling multiple hardware devices regularly.

you can always get a copy of Live Lite and try it out, or just check out some tutorials online giving you an idea of the general process and see if you like it. if you want a recommendation for a video covering something more specific let me know and i’ll see if I can find something :slight_smile:

regarding OB, I used the first OB version with my Rytm and Live with no issues, though I basically only tested it out, then realized I didn’t really want to use it like that anyway lol, could only speculate on OB 2.0 of course…

If you work with a linear workflow (e.g. compose song, record song, mix song, bounce song), then IMO Logic can’t be beat. But if your composition process is more dynamic or ‘dj’ style (e.g. noodle around until you find a cool riff, bring in some drums, keep it going a while before adding more loops/beats and then transitioning to a new idea), then IMO Ableton wins hands down (assuming you’re in Session view, preferably with a Push).

Even though Logic can be set up to do this stuff, I find it a bit of a vibe-killer for composition (e.g. you need to pre-set the length of loops and transitions where as with Ableton you keep it going for as long as it feels right before hitting the next scene button).

TL;DR - if you compose before you record, use Logic. If you compose while you record, use Ableton.

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Something else to think about is plugin format.

If youve spent $$ on vst and wanted to use logic, you’d need to get them in au format (or vice versa). Some developers might be cool with this, some might want more money.

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