Opinions on best production software

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

Well said!!! When it comes to making music, I've never let conformity stop me from using what I felt was best for me. I own a Mbox, so I have Pro Tools. I can give someone a Pro Tools file if that's absolutely necessary, but I never use PT. I do everything in Live, or Sonar.

A .wav file is a .wav file. It doesn't know where it came from.

OMF (open media framework) file extension is as far as I know available to PT, Logic, Cubase, Nuendo, DP, Sonar & Reaper.

Isn't this an industry standard supposedly used by major media corps?

Please dismiss this user handle and his opinion...we have way more credible forum members on here who can actually give you unbiased opinion.

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 crap 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 crap 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.

Damn! I go out of for a few days and punches are thrown!

SO the evaluation version of Reaper does not expire? If i get the full version ($40), that license is forever or do I have to pay ongoing to keep the license?

btw I just want to make some music so i can share and hear your music. I suppose being part of the "industry" means what exactly? You release a 7" and your friends buy it? or your Jay-Z?. To me, throwing around words like "industry" or "standard" just takes the wind straight outta my sails, know what I mean?. Standards are meant to be pushed and re-invented anyway......

Pawtland wrote:btw I just want to make some music so i can share and hear your music. I suppose being part of the "industry" means what exactly? You release a 7" and your friends buy it? or your Jay-Z?. To me, throwing around words like "industry" or "standard" just takes the wind straight outta my sails, know what I mean?. Standards are meant to be pushed and re-invented anyway......

If thats the case then yes by all means reaper is just fine, hell why pay...Audacity is free and gets the job done.

Pawtland wrote:I suppose being part of the "industry" means what exactly? You release a 7" and your friends buy it? or your Jay-Z?. To me, throwing around words like "industry" or "standard" just takes the wind straight outta my sails, know what I mean?. Standards are meant to be pushed and re-invented anyway......

This is just proof that people dont read full responses , Im speaking in regards to professional/commercial recording. If cats want to stay in their bedrooms forever that is completely fine, hell I still do work at home too. But when you're trying to make money with this, and you're charging artists, companies for services there are certain standards expected. Not everyone agrees but then again, theres a ton of broke musicians all over the world


One more thing about industry standards....all those who bash it should ask themselves...the standard MIDI connection...the standard video card port, USB, FIREWIRE and tons of other examples....all fall under a standard. You wanna be "original"? Make your beats completely from scratch with acoustic instruments on obscure equipment and outdated formats...otherwise you have conformed to a standard one way or another....

Please excuse my ignorance.

Is it not possible to convert a file to fit the DAW being used (provided the dynamics of the original file meet the standards of the would be conversion)?

That kind of eliminates the "this is the better program to use" doesn't it?

SO the evaluation version of Reaper does not expire? If i get the full version ($40), that license is forever or do I have to pay ongoing to keep the license?

that license will last 2 full versions.
i first bought reaper at the end of it's 1.0 license for a special discounted rate, which means i got 2.0 for free
i bought reaper again ($40) when it hit 3.0. this means that i'm getting 4.0 for free.
i will be purchasing reaper again when it hits 5.0, that is if the new stuff added in that time is worth my while (i'm sure it will be).

the reaper license is extremely generous and trusting to its customers. you're allowed to use it on 1 any computer you want at a time. it's worth it to read about the developer's views on copy protection, user community, pricing, etc...the lead developer is one of my personal heroes, kind of the JJ of the DAW world.

i've had several feature requests implemented in my DAW as a direct result of posting them in the REAPER forums...FEW can say the same about the competition.

I chime in: FL Studio!

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.

And there is the true KING of DAWs-Cubase 6...the most capable, most stable, feature-rich DAW on the planet. Most people can't wrap their head around it's depth so they call it a 'consumer level' DAW, when in actuality, it excels at everything and is technically superior to anything out there. They also call it 'bloat', but actually the bloated features are options. VST 3.5 expression is in a league of it's own. MIDI-unequaled-period. Multi-track audio quantize etc. etc.

And now you can even color the fader-caps for grouped channels!

Fung45 wrote:OP asked for the best not the industry standard. Pro Tools is the standard but it has its weaknesses, as do all DAWs. Alot of serious musicians (living off music) today are using Garageband and dumping .aif files into Pro Tools when they get to the studio. It's all personal preference, once you find what you like and get fast on it you are better able to express your creativity. If you want to make money doing pro audio you eventually will need a Mac and Pro Tools.

Pro Tools is the standard for live recording. For electronic music production, there are a number of DAWs that get the job done. And you sure as hell don't need a Mac and Pro Tools to make money-you need talent and the right gear. Those who claim it isn't the gear-it's the person behind it-well, you're wrong. Take away the Eventide H8000 from the pro-rack and you'll lose have the pop (and hip pop) industry today. The ones who claim the gear isn't totally important are the ones who-don't have the gear. Getting back to the DAW world...Stems can be bounced out from any DAW to be edited, mixed and even mastered (if you know what you're actually doing) in any DAW, Mac or PC-the end.
Think about it, if you're a mix engineer and you ask for the 'Pro Tools session' from a customer, how stupid is that? You have to un-mix the bad mix first before you can even start your own mix. Mix engineers of electronic music want to work with audio stems or single audio files and build the mix from the ground up-no matter what DAW they're using.

Just an observation the best production software aka software for making music is the one you are most comfortable with. Look at 9th wonder and his success with FL. Basically he invested his time and effort in it and mastered it. It is up to the individual.

Fess wrote:Think about it, if you're a mix engineer and you ask for the 'Pro Tools session' from a customer, how stupid is that? You have to un-mix the bad mix first before you can even start your own mix.

Um no...thats not stupid. If a customer cant provide me a PT session file then the price is going up, I'm not going to sit here, importing audio, hoping I have all the right takes etc...THATS stupid...

As far as "Un mixing"......all you need to do is open up the same amount of blank tracks as the original file had, drag all the audio down to the new tracks and thats it. All the tracks, set to 0 no plugins, no "un mixing" and WAY quicker than importing multiple AIFFs that may or may not line up.

To be completely honest a lot of you guys need to stop believing everything you read and actually live this shit for a while. Just because you read it on gearslutz doesn't make it absolute fact. And just because it works 2 times a month when you record in a bedroom it does not mean it will apply or be practical when the clock is running and you are charging someone for your services.


And going back to "industry standard" you ALL follow a standard one way or another, whether you realize or not

poundaproblem wrote:no "un mixing" and WAY quicker than importing multiple AIFFs that may or may not line up.

If people don't know, or aren't told about the "bar 1, beat 1" standard when exporting stems, there's a communication issue somewhere.

There should never be a sync issue between DAWs, especially when the solution is so easy to implement.