Opinions on best production software

Get Reason with a ton of refills. I currently have Reason with refills, and Pro Tools in order to run VST instruments.

poundaproblem wrote:Pro Tools user for about 7 years now. I wont use anything else. I do a lot of projects with artists that consist of file swapping between studios. We only use Pro Tools files. So while reaper, cubase, logic hell even Audacity (and I have used them all) definitely get the jobs done ask yourself exactly how far you want to take this. If you want to be taken seriously then use industry standard software and keep yourself compatible.

AND BEFORE THE BASHERS WITH 0 KNOWLEDGE CHIME IN CONSIDER THIS:

My day job is a combination of an Estimator/Draftsman in the construction business, more specifically mechanical. When we deal with files we deal with 2 types, PDF's and DWG's. If you cant send me a set of plans in Acrobats PDF format and if your project wasnt drawn in AutoCad nobody is going to touch it. PERIOD. When someone shows up with a google sketchup drawing we know off the bat we are dealing with an amateur.

Listen to this man. My day job Is music. Some DAWs dont like other DAWs. Not ALL sound the same. internal compressors? Reverbs? Stereo Delays? Eqs? Phasers? Bit crushers? What about sends and busses? what about how dependent is the processor to specific functions? does it like plugins? what format? is it a resource whore overall? mastering plugins? factory synths , sequencer,keys,percusions? THEY DONT ALL SOUND THE SAME. If your serious , Buy Good Stuff. If your not , use what you want. PERIOD.

kb420ps wrote:

ghosty wrote:Before you start taking advice from people on YOUR music , ask yourself what kind of commitment your willing to make. How serious are you? You could use a cheap piece of **** DAW and say its bang for the buck and tell people your just "Doing it for fun" or you could get a real DAW and get serious about music. Its up to you. Money to chase a dream should be a hurdle not a road block. With time and effort you WILL jump the hurdle. A road block needs a new way around it , why waste time looking for a shortcut?
Abelton LIVE.. Full Daw.. Best for LIVE sets , show stuff , hence the name LIVE.
Logic (MAC Only) Full Daw Best for tracking and External Gear related Production.
Protools Full Daw Best all around DAW , tracking , beat making , live sets.
FLstudio (PC only) Full Daw Best for step sequencing production. Some nice synths , epic piano roll plugins .Can sample , and track vocals
Reason Partial Daw (will not track vocals without a separate plugin) Best for music production. Great sound banks and patches.

Any of thoes 4 will be in the "Best" category and cost around the same give or take $100-300 for this package or that.

I'm sorry but the rest is just **** in my opinion. I have used all of them at one point. As I developed I moved on to better. As of now that is Logic and Protools.

In your post, you didn't mention Acid, Sonar, Cubase, Digital Performer, or Reaper. I'm just trying to figure out which one of those you consider to be a "cheap piece of **** DAW"?

If i didnt mention it , its because its a piece of crap. Ask Real studios , then ask home recorders. Two different answers. I eat off music , i dont have time to fight with a DAW to get what I want.

ugh.

we're not talking about FX, AU or VSTi.
we're talking about DAWs. import a sound, hell even send it to another track. render it, compare it against the same thing rendered in another track, NULL. end of discussion. this has been tested again and again - in 2011, daw summing engines sound the same. this has been confirmed by DAW developers...what more do you need?

ghosty, you talk as if you will never learn another thing in your life. wow.

regarding compatibility, if you're working for yourself, use what you want. if you're in somebody else's pocket, use what they tell you to use. if you want to go DEEP into someone else's pocket, be good at what they use. however, to say that "you will not be taken seriously if you do not use 'industry standard' DAW" is just...wrong. what ever happened to quality of music? there are plenty of musicians making a living without ever having touched protools. .wav is the only true industry standard.

the "serious" ness argument for ANY DAW is just...obtuse.

serious about music...using reaper.
http://ratsofnym.com

furthermore if compatibility was of the utmost importance, there would be 1 musical instrument - the piano. nobody would play anything else, and everyone could play each others' instrument...wouldn't music sound GREAT then??

if anyone wants some truth on REAPER without all the background noise you know where to find me. shoot me a PM. there is now a serious likelihood that this thread will dissolve into opinionated superlatives based on personal experience...

Quality of music first I agree. If your trying to sell Beats , You and I both know , Full session files get more money and are more sought after. Your DAW needs to be compatible with the majority of studios I.E , Logic and ProTools. Dry , all daws sound the same yes. Its sounds just as good as the sample your playing. I just wish for the love of music people would get over there personal pride and say , yes that's crap but its all I could afford and im not a thief so I didn't get a hacked 1. But at least be honest. Do you thing people are using $20k+, Protools hd setups because they have money to blow? I learn something everyday , today I learnd that people still refuse to be honest with themselves and say , its all I could afford , i make it work.

Nym,

I'm not talking about quality of music, and regarding compatibility I mean file compatibility between studios. For a person like myself that is critical. I can lose a lot of money if I said "f*ck the industry standard". My argument is strictly from a person who offers his services mixing for other recording engineers. As a person who has been eating off this for many years, you will not be taken seriously if you are not compatible. I never name drop my bigger clients but I cant guarantee 100% that if I switched my DAW, they would switch engineers.

And true, all audio is pretty much the same once in a DAW but how they get there is a different ball game. Theres no way someone using a $100 soundcard and reaper is going to have the same quality audio as someone with a black lion 002

^ no, but reaper with a comparable soundcard...

hey, look at that. i was really expecting yall to fly off at the handle. it'd be awesome if folks could agree to disagree without losing their cool in this thread.

however it'd be great if you could try to respect others' opinions a little more.
calling a daw **** just because it's not in your scope of preference is kind of a dick move, and i say that without trying to ruffle your feathers. truly.

assuming that i'm "tricking myself" into using something that happens to be extremely underpriced for its value is incorrect. if i were offered a Protools license, i'd take it! know why? so i could sell it to someone else...don't look a gift horse in the mouth, you know? what i mean is that if i wanted, i could buy another program but why? why introduce a new learning curve when there's no benefit to my music?

pound, like i said in your case since you're workign with others who are already set in those ways, your choice was made for you. but for hundreds of other independent and self-employed musicians the choice is not nearly so obvious.

I just wish for the love of music people would get over there personal pride

we agree on this quotation. it can go the other way, too. on a daily basis i read about engineers and musicians who use protools-- and guess what? look at their taskbar and you see Cockos REAPER running alongside, doing the things that Protools can't do. 2 programs, complementing each others' weaknesses....UNHEARD OF! there can only be 1!!!!! ....again, pride.

Well its safe to assume the OP got some choices now

I'm done, I dont want to sound like emptysea

soooo....




does HD hardware need "hacked" before its quality too?

ghosty wrote:If i didnt mention it , its because its a piece of ****. Ask Real studios , then ask home recorders. Two different answers. I eat off music , i dont have time to fight with a DAW to get what I want.

I disagree completely. Sonar, Cubase, and Digital Performer are used by professionals. Also, I don't think having a Pro Tools file is a necessity either. All DAWs can export .wav files which can easily be opened in any other DAW. As far a plug in compatibility goes, all you have to due is export your busses as .wav's and export your individual tracks with effects and without effects. Any one who really knows their software would easily be able to open your project in another DAW. It's really not a big deal at all.

maybe "the industry standard" mindset has limited some users capabilities due to conformity...

fobedafied wrote:"the industry standard" mindset has limited a lot of users capabilities due to conformity...

fobedafied wrote:maybe "the industry standard" mindset has limited some users capabilities due to conformity...

... which is why they invented ReWire maybe?