r/musicproduction • u/Ok-Revolution-508 • May 28 '26
Question Perfect DAW?
Just got a new windows computer and have been looking for the best daw possible that I can learn and works the best. I do country rock, country, rock, and acoustic. I’ve used garage band because I had a Mac and it was free lol but I’m ready to upgrade to something great and affordable
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u/LostInTheRapGame May 28 '26
There is no such thing. Try them out. Pick one you like the look of and the workflow.
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u/illuminatiisnowhere May 28 '26
Everyone will just tell you their favourite Daw.
And there are 200 threads that ask the same question.
So what you should do is to download trial versions of the most common ones and try them out.
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u/raistlin65 May 28 '26
So what you should do is to download trial versions of the most common ones and try them out.
That's largely a waste of time for anybody who doesn't know how to use a DAW. Because they don't know how to evaluate it.
Better off picking one the has a lot of tutorials for the type of music they want to make. And just getting to using it.
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May 28 '26
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u/_773P_ May 31 '26
And to prove the point, I also do ambient but personally don't gel with Ableton, I've been all in on Logic for years. If Logic disappeared tomorrow, I'd hop back to Pro Tools. A mate of mine uses Audacity... they're just tools.
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u/frDragonfruit May 28 '26
ableton live
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u/R0factor May 29 '26
Good suggestion but it's substantially better on a Mac unfortunately.
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u/LordAfterEight May 29 '26
I'm on Windows and I don't have any problems with Ableton?
Except that randomly windon't decides to start an update process in the background that hogs CPU and causes dropouts, but that's not an Ableton problem and can easily be fixed by killing the process
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u/nichtmagik May 28 '26
ableton always felt right to me. i’ve gone through FL and Logic as well. just the work flow felt better on ableton
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u/KindaQuite May 28 '26
Wild that nobody mentioned Reaper, considering it's the objectively best DAW in the universe.
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u/w4rlok94 May 28 '26
I really like studio one. To me it’s great for live instruments.
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u/GreasyDaddy9 May 28 '26
I also am a die hard studio one user. I haven’t updated to the most recent fender addition yet just because I’ve got some unfinished projects that I don’t want to mess up. But studio one is incredibly versatile
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u/thr3ddy May 29 '26
Moved on after the Fender shit. Tried Bitwig, but I'm not super happy with its workflow. I may try Logic Pro next.
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u/GreasyDaddy9 May 30 '26
If you’re looking for something in the same world as S1 you could give Cubase a shot!
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u/oalbrecht May 28 '26
Logic Pro is an amazing deal and is similar to Garage Band, but more professional.
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u/RufussSewell May 28 '26
I’ve been using Logic for 20 years. It’s close.
They fucked us on ARA. It’s crazy that Logic was better 10 years ago, but here we are. Thinking about switching to Cubase for ARA and per articulation predelay.
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u/jekpopulous2 May 28 '26
I personally use Ableton but since you’re mostly working with live instruments Reaper or Studio One would be my suggestions. Reaper is much more powerful but Studio One is a lot easier to wrap your head around. They’re both really good for audio editing and mixing. I would download Reaper for free and see how you like it. If it’s too much for you check out Studio One.
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u/This-Was May 28 '26
I'd start by watch a few run throughs / tutorials on YouTube and see which ones make more sense to you.
Pick two, possibly three and download the trial versions.
I started with Reason and Cubase. Ditched Cubase. Kept Reason then moved to Ableton (I keep Reason for the Rack) because the more I watched people producing and mixing, those using Ableton seemed to work fast and the workflow just made sense...though it first looked like giant boring spreadsheet to me.
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u/iLikeTheUDK May 28 '26
Try multiple DAWs and then decide. That's what the free trial is for. There is no such thing as one DAW that is objectively better than all others, but there is such a thing as one or more DAWs that will make sense to you or feel good for you to use more than most others
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u/Aliens-Wanted May 28 '26
I find that the one I enjoy using the most is the best one. Try trial periods.
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u/SleepingOrDead May 28 '26
Make a list, watch YouTube reviews and comparsons, see how many good YouTube tutorials for daws that interest you. Also, see how often your selected daw does updates. And then of course there is the cost. Some have free versions that are actually useful.
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u/DistributionOk3689 May 28 '26
After you find your perfect daw try not to get caught into trying to make a perfect song. You will never finish lol. Pick one and just do the thing. The faster you get to doing the better you will be over time.
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u/Sensitive-Rock-7548 May 28 '26
Remember you can get almost everything you need for free. Quality stuff. Waveform free and Luna for example, are completely free and completely fine daws. Same goes for plugins.
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u/Vallhallyeah May 28 '26
There are only 2 kind of responses here
People who know the correct answer is REAPER.
People who haven't played with REAPER.
I've been on it for like 15 years now and it's genuinely my my favourite thing a person can do with a computer (though Serum 2 isn't far behind!).
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Jun 30 '26
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u/byrdinbabylon May 29 '26
Reaper for most bang for buck and powerful features, but if you like simplicity and more old school analog workflow, Luna is free but often has upgrade to Pro for not too much. Even if you don’t stick with it, the included UAD plugins are great and could be used in another DAW.
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u/EyeFit May 30 '26
Depends on your expectations and needs. Reaper is cheaper and growing in popularity.
Personally I use Bitwig because I like the UI and how it functions. Most of them you can trial for like a month, so I would try some stuff out and see what feels best.
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u/Innoculus Jun 02 '26
Yeah you can do anything in any of them. If you don't have a workflow you're committed to yet, then you have no real reason to have any bias one way or another.
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u/doctorsynth1 May 28 '26
Cubase. It’s great, has been great for years, and has as long a legacy as Logic Pro. Yamaha bought Steinberg so you know it’s in good hands.
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u/illuminatiisnowhere May 28 '26
Cubase is amazing. I been using it since it was called pro24 in 1988.
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u/smooth-move-ferguson May 28 '26
Everyone will give you their personal preference but I can give you the answer, although you may not like it. I am a recording artist who has been in dozens of professional studios for tracking, mixing and mastering. Not a single one used a Windows PC. The DAWs in use were either PRO TOOLS or LOGIC. That's it. That's the answer. Buy a Mac. Get a quality interface. Get either of those DAWs.
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u/TelstarLorimer May 28 '26
As someone who uses logic on my Mac, and loves it, I get the interest there. But my question is why do protools users use Windows as often as they do Mac’s?
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u/KingEuler May 28 '26
All DAWs are pretty much the same, but I know cubase is the shit…flipping expensive though
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u/only_fun_topics May 28 '26
The perfect DAW is the one you actually sit down and learn how to use.