the fundamental problem with DAW-based production is that «best practices» of DAW usage come from those who makes living from music production – thus spend lots of time & effort to make high quality stuff.
but how about people like me making music in their limited spare time?
that’s the main reason why i switched from full-blown DAWs to software grooveboxes like Drambo or BAM (and i’m sure that upcoming Groove Rider 2 is my next favorite piece of software). the main point of grooveboxes is much quicker and simpler workflow that suits my schedule much better.
so by early 2025 i use DAWs for two kinds of jobs:
- final mixing/mastering of multitrack recordings made with hardware
- (on Mac) as plugin hosts until software like BAM supports other plugin formats than AUv3.