Definitely picky!
Sh*t. Luna looked really good – but the UA audio interfaces are kind of killing it. What a shame.
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I see that… Well, have fun!
I once was looking for the same thing and came to the conclusion only Ableton Live and UAD Luna passed the “doesn’t look and feel completely like shit” test.
As I don’t have an UAD audio interface (and don’t want to) I sticked with Ableton live.
It’s the same with synths. For me, bad design kills productivity and creativity.
Good point. I see myself doing the same. Just thought there are other options. But maybe there are not.
reaper is completely modular and has a ton of UI themes. you can make it look like anything. i love it, its the best daw
but yeah, you could just hide everything you dont like and use reaper as a simple multitrack recorder with FX. thats actually pretty much how i use it.
for example:
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@ghostbuddy Which theme is that? That looks actually pretty ok
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Ableton Lite and GarageBand are both great options, but if you want something dead simple and rock solid, MultiTrack DAW on the iPad might serve. Not macOS I know, but an ipad is cheaper than that Tascam!
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Alright, that screenshot looks interesting.
Zoom R24?
Or why not go with the bluebox?
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If been my go to lately for just banging out quick recording. Not a whole lot of faff in the interface. Bonus is you can transfer to iOS and edit there. Bad part about that is ntrack on iOS is subscription (if you anti-subscription).
It also slaves to midiclock (and link), so its just a multitrack recoder tacked on to the end of a dawless setup that just records everything for me. I just run 24 tracks into it constantly and just let it record.
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Bluebox is definitely an option. Just thought I do a check with the community before spending 500 bucks.
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Guys, I’m kind of overwhelmed with all the replies. Thanks a lot. Will do some additional checks tomorrow (Reaper, n-track).
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…if ur on mac…then u got garageband right in front of u…
u can take a day to set it up as a pure recording/mix enviroment, skip all the rest, save that as a blank starting document and ur good to go with pretty much any external interface solution…real plug n play…
same goes for logic (200bux) and reaper (cheaper)…powerful daws, yes…but u can cut out and skip easily all the fuzz and personalize/reduce it to what U need from it…
don’t be afraid for their complexity…if u pick one and shout out here, someone will send u totally stripped down document that suits ur needs without any further distractions for sure…
and keep in mind, even if u say now, oh i really just want this and that but nothing else…
pretty sure, the days will come, where u’ll need a little of this and a little of that…
and then knowing already, it’s all there and was only waiting for u in the background is a damned good thing… 
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I was once again reviving my quest for a simple DAW / multitrack recorder again as I would like to record on IOS and edit later on MacOS and the latest version of N-track Studio (10) is very convenient for this and nowadays not only subscription based:
it seems like, with your high demands for design and minimalism, you will have to wait till behringer finally releases their daw.
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Harrison mixbus is worth a look especially now they the have SSL money behind them:
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A very late response but this might be interesting for others too: Luna is not bound anymore to an UAD interface since 2023 (and free):
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