It’s that time of my life where I need to choose a DAW and I’m so confused.
I am asking right now because as far as I know, there will be an FL Studio Black Friday soon.
I do prefer Lifetime Updates, so FL and Logic are the ones that remain, however I’ve looked at quick tutorials on Ableton and even that seems fun.
I do not only make one genre of music, I like to experiment with various genres and with samples manipulation, even tho a big part of what I do is recording simultaneously my voice and an instrument and using a lot of effects on that.
I tried using FL demo and it seems cool, but to me it looks like that is mostly based on patterns instead of just recording things on a full song like logic, I do love the Master Pitch control and I would use it on every song. I do not know any of my musician friends that use it tho, even after asking in local FB groups, and surely there’s a reason (I don’t know it tho)
I used Logic and GarageBand most of my life, and they’re kinda nice, nice user experience, however they’re only for mac and who knows where the future will get me, maybe on a windows PC and I do not like this.
I’ve opened Ableton only once in my entire life in the “lite” version and it was atrocious, but now, after watching some videos I kinda get the point. Don’t like the price of updates, because they aren’t included. I do know many people that use it tho, but I would never work on Loops/Scenes - the release of Move got me curious about it, I hate the Note app tho.
Other nice things to know
I like using many effects
I think I only will purchase about 5 VSTs ever in my life, I do rather buy something that’s comes full of instruments and things
I currently have a 8GB ram 5yo Mac Air, which hopefully I will change , suggestion welcomed, but have few money
I don’t need and won’t ever need to control external Modular synths
Yeah, this is my first time getting serious about DAWs, be kind (I already used them, so I’m not a newbie) :,(
Oh god that’s a long post, I tried to be as clear as I could, I think that this community has always been nice to me, that’s why I keep coming back. Thanks in advance for your answers and the time you’ll put into this silly question
This is unpopular. But MPC Software is packed with those with lots of presets. And i will die on this hill that MPC Software FX are better than Ableton.
I mostly produce in it and bounce tracks to Ableton. Where MPC sucks is automation if you are into that kind of thing. And it sucks moving around tracks or clips etc. You can’t just simply copy paste like in Ableton or drag them around.
yep there’s not much of that, only ReaSynth and ReaSynDr I think but there’s a lot of great free vsts you can use…
again, if the resources are limited this would be a great performant daw with bunch of useful stuff, otherwise you can just try them and see if any click with you.
Live 12 is crazy value with everything going on with the midi tools and new instruments but it’s pricey and no updates for life like FL/Logic.
Sorry if the post most lead to a misunderstanding, I am willing to pay 230 for logic or discounted FL, my resources are limited for a PC buy.
I tried reaper a few months ago and I didn’t like it, while After using FL for barely an hour I already got my first loop going
Ableton Intro has only one instrument and there’s tracks limitation, if you’re going to use native instruments and not vsts you better start with Standard at least
You can try both Ableton Live and Logic Pro for 30 days, no strings attached. They both come with a plethora of Midi and Audio FX and instruments. While waiting for a potential FL Black Friday sale you could dip your toes in the water with both and see what works best for you (and your laptop). You can get the price of Logic further down with discounted Apple gift cards. Investing in a DAW is quite a commitment, because it takes some serious time and dedication to know your way around one, so I wouldn’t rush it.
if you already know logic, have a mac and want something which has a strong collection of plugins and sounds, logic seems like a no brainer.
I have a less powerful MacBook than you that runs the DAW and a reasonable number of plugins, and if you’re happy working with audio rather than vsts it’ll last you for a long time.
And logic for a computer you already have is cheaper than FL for a computer you don’t!
I agree with the idea of trying the 30 day trial of live, but personally I think it takes 6 months or more to really decide if you get on with a DAW
I’ve already tried Logic (crack), and I’m currently using it now on iPad (subscription) so I already knows what’s that about, please explain to me, if you want, how I can get the price down with apple gift cards.
I will use the free trial of Ableton, didn’t know that! Thank you so much
Logic, if you have a Mac and because you know it well. There is no way you can know what will happen in the future, so there is no point investing into a cross-platform solution only for this reason today.
A great cross-platform alternative is Reaper, which is not too expensive, and if you’re using third party plug-ins anyway, it’s totally sufficient.
I do totally agree with Logic for a computer I already have seems like the best choice but it made my mac go really slower, that’s why I am thinking about something else/a new computer
I would also suggest Bitwig Studio, you have a 30 day trial available. It has great instruments, effects and a lot of modulators if you are interested in sound design. It’s also a lot cheaper than Ableton. Workflow is quite similar to Ableton, both session and arrangement view. The only downside is that you have to pay an annual subscription, but if you don’t want to extend the subscription, you can continue to use it because you get a perpetual license, but without future updates. It’s best to buy it around xmas or mid summer when it’s on sale.
I feel like bitwig might be where I would go if I were getting into a DAW today, seems like a cool interface. I also kind of love the idea of Reason, they seem to have back pedaled a bit from pushing the cloud version so much… still expensive. Renoise is cheap and great for sickos… coming from something like garage band might be too far of a leap on renoise.
If you like Logic from having used it before, are familiar with macOS, and are considering a new machine but are on a budget, I’d recommend looking into a refurbished M1 MacBook Pro and getting a Logic license for it.
You’ll have an environment you know, a huge selection of bundled instruments and effects, and it will run very fast.
I think because it’s (was?) limited to 16 tracks i didn’t even want to deal with it. I also thought it may have been missing things that I needed to use (just in case). So i have Standard (totalIy overpaid for what i use it for). I still never used any of its synths or drums though. I guess I use delay/reverb/utility/EQ eight/filter 95% of the time. Because by the time my tracks are bounced, I already made my decision about the sound.
Like I said for me it’s just super convenient drag around my tracks or parts of them during mixing. And the fact that it’s incredibly easy to use automation, I do all these in Ableton.
Even when I produced a track in Ableton (super rare), I still use MPC Software as a VST there or use my MPC Software instruments (I own some of them) or a few other VSTs i have.
I will also add this here since the best daw is the one that makes you productive.
You’re still using FL Studio today, right? What is it that you like about it?
“It’s hard for me to say, because although I can use Ableton and Logic, FL is my default. I know it like the back of my hand, it’s so quick. I fell in love with it because of the step sequencer. I remember going to other people’s studios who used Logic, when I was younger, and I’d be like ‘oh, can you get the step sequencer up’, and they’d be like, ‘what’?
“I just know it, I can get everything done quick. I like the workflow, I like the layout. The GUI could be a bit better, but it’s not the end of the world. I wouldn’t say it’s particularly aesthetically pleasing, but it gets the job done for me
:,(