Where My DAWs at?

[ChrisPandora]

Hey all! I am curious as to what everyone is using to compose music on their computer? I have been using Logic for awhile and feel like it really makes it easy for me to get my ideas down quickly. As a bass player, I especially appreciate the Drummer feature so I can easily play along to interesting drum beats fairly quickly.

What do you use and why do you stick with it?

[ChrisPandora]

Hey all! I am curious as to what everyone is using to compose music on their computer? I have been using Logic for awhile and feel like it really makes it easy for me to get my ideas down quickly. As a bass player, I especially appreciate the Drummer feature so I can easily play along to interesting drum beats fairly quickly.

What do you use and why do you stick with it?

[stevencravis]

I use Logic, mostly with virtual instruments. Great DAW!

[dlebental1]

RE: DAW. I use ProTools. All of my recording are analog based. I'm old school for sure! Analog is not the only way to do it but's the audio world I enjoy.

[ChrisPandora]

Very cool @dlebental1!. I had a recording session last year where I was tracking with a live band directly to tape and I've rarely felt so nervous haha! Something about the pressure of playing flawlessly psyched me out for a few takes. 😅

That being said, there is something undeniable about the warmth in the sound. Plus, I felt like it truly captured the "live band" vibe we were going for. 🤘

[johndrakeguitar]

I generally record guitars and bass at home using GarageBand. Probably not hip but it gets the job done. I send the tracks to a studio where I finish everything else, mix, master. I think the studio uses ProTools.  I save a lot of time and money but ivoukd save even more if I learned how to do it all at home.  I do like having a professional engineer involved although. 

[ChrisPandora]

@johndrakeguitar That makes a lot of sense! When I use Logic, I still send my session to a producer/engineer in the studio and then we hash it out together. Working at home helps me get my ideas out but working collaboratively helps bring it to life.

Also, Logic is essentially Garageband on steroids haha. You could probably figure it out if you tried it!

[MTN-Jer]

Our band has been in existence since 1979... our initial multi-track recording "DAW" was bouncing between two cassette decks, adding more instruments and vocals on each pass. Eventually went to a program called Master Track Pro on an Atari computer. Then graduated to Cakewalk whenever that became available on the PC... and we've been on Cakewalk/Sonar ever since.

Cakewalk was owned by Gibson, but Gibson closed that division and discontinued support about five years ago. But they were bought and resurrected by a company called Bandlab. Now, "Cakewalk by Bandlab" is entirely free, and still works great. As far as I can tell it has all the features and functionality of the other popular DAWs. I tried Cubase for a while, but was so accustomed to the Cakewalk workflow that I've just stayed with it. 

Anyone else have experience with multiple DAWs (maybe including Cakewalk) and have features that you really like of other DAWs? I'm not opposed to switching at some point, but I'd have to see a definite benefit to the learning curve of switching. 

Thanks Chris, for bringing up this topic. 

--Jer of the band Mitch the Needle

[mad-no-mad]

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