In last 17 years of my work in music production I tried so many Digital Audio Workstations (DAW-s) and software and I didn't notice that someone was writing about this subject. Maybe there are some posts but I have missed them so I'll write this review of 4 DAW-s in which I worked. Today I will talk about FL Studio, Propellerhead Reason, Ableton Live and Steinberg Cubase. This list could contain Pro Tools and Logic, but I don't have so much experience working with them, so I'll stick with what I know. I just want to remark that quality of the sound doesn't depend on what software you use, it depends on your talent, your ears and (of course) your hardware (audio interface, studio monitors). Let's start!
Image - Line FL Studio
First it was Fruity Loops. It was my first DAW and I started to make beats with it when I was 14. I was buying this PC Magazine called BUG and on CD, that came with magazine, I found this simple software for making music. Fruity Loops was the reason for me to terrorize my parents to buy me new sound blaster. At that time I was 14. I worked in Fruity Loops for two years and I think it is a perfect DAW for a beginner. I moved on Reason, but Fruity Loops continued to upgrade and grow, so today we have FL Studio 12.
FL Studio is one of the most popular DAW - s in the world of music production. I don't use it now, but I have respect for it. It has new look, great design and it comes with a lot of features, plugins, effects, samplers and synthesizers. It works with VST plugins and instruments and that is very important to my work. I think that FL Studio is still the best DAW for beginners.
Propellerhead Reason
I started to work with Reason in 2001, when I was 16. Reason was a revolutionary discovery for me. It has unique design with large number of racks and samplers. When you press TAB on your keyboard, you can see the whole system from behind! You can see all racks from back, connected with cables and you can disconnect it or connect it in different way. It was the best game for me as 16 years old young man. It helped me to understand these racks in real life. When I started to work in Reason, my beats got much better.
Today we have Reason 9, with more and more racks and plugins, but basically it remained same as 15 years ago. I worked in Reason for three years but I always have the newest version installed on my computer and I use it sometimes as rewired software with my Cubase!
Ableton Live
Ableton is different. You can really enjoy working with it. It has two "views", arrangement view and session view. Arrangement view is great for working with MIDI and Audio clips, samples, you can play more varies of your melody and put it later in session view. It is excellent for work with MIDI keyboard and with my Native Instruments Maschine as well. Great for recording of instruments and vocal, great for mixing and mastering.
The newest version is Live 9.6. I use it every day for playing my patterns and it is good for putting idea on the track.
Steinberg Cubase
Cubase changed my life drastically twelve years ago. From that day till now, it is my main DAW and the most of my music I have created using it. It has large bank of effect, plugins, instruments... It is very easy to manipulate your inputs and outputs. It is not so simple and, maybe not the best choice for beginners, but it was one of the best choices for professionals. When you have Cubase and bunch of VST plugins, you have all what you need to make great music. It is the best to work with MIDI controllers and has the most detailed functions for editing, sampling, recording, playing...
I purchased the latest version Cubase 8.5. It was very expensive but I didn't regret. Cubase is always opened on my PC and I made thousands and thousands beats, mixes and recording session in it!
