DAWs for Dummies

[Rich_S]

Well, my thread about the computer went south in a hurry, so let's talk about DAW software. I'm thinking about grabbing the family's soon-to-be-extra Dell tower and declaring it "Father & Son's Recording Computer (Do Not Touch)". I would use it mostly for amp and equipment demos, the kid would use it for fooling around, learning recording, song writing. No plans for full-band recording at this point.

So, I'm looking at USB and Firewire interfaces in the $150-$300 range. My question is, how useful are the bundled DAW packages? Ableton Live Lite 8 and PreSonus Studio One Artist seem to be the most common ones these days. Are either of these packages going to get us started and do any real recording, or are they just going to make us wish for better software? What other free-to-cheap packages are out there these days, and what are their relative strengths and weaknesses?

[lpmarshall]

Re: DAWs for Dummies

I will beat Hunter to this thread and suggest Reaper.

Free to use, $60 to register the software. I just started the move to Reaper from Garageband and it's quite nice, although I've yet to unlock the full potential.

[ImmortalSix]

Re: DAWs for Dummies

[y2stevo]

Re: DAWs for Dummies

Just about to suggest Reaper too.

Seriously good software, You can pretty much do the same as you can if you owned Pro Tools but it's cheaper, it's not tied to any Proprietary Hardware, and I would say easier to use too.

I also own a Line6 UX2,it works as you audio/USB interface and to top it off it's really great for virtually zero latency jamming, you just plug your guitar into the UX2, open up POD Farm (amp/effects sim) and jam jam away.

[Rich_S]

Re: DAWs for Dummies

LOL @ Hunter. He doesn't even have to type his answers any more, just sticks in a smiley and lets everybody else do the typing.

I gotta go get started on my "John Mayer is awesome and if you don't like it, kiss my mankini" thread.

[Jolly_Rancher]

Re: DAWs for Dummies

There's also some nice menu mods available for Reaper. I forget which one I have installed, but they make everything a little easier to find over stock.

[Rich_S]

Re: DAWs for Dummies

So.... Reaper is the only DAW worth considering these days?

[ratherdashing]

Re: DAWs for Dummies

So.... Reaper is the only DAW worth considering these days?

Depends.

I still think that Logic is the best and fastest on a Mac. That doesn't apply to you, of course.

I also think that ProTools 9 is worth a look. They've finally caught up with the other DAW's in terms of performance and reliability. I'd only seriously be interested in ProTools if I were working with pro studios though.

All told, Reaper is pretty sweet, and it's the cheapest by far.

[Rich_S]

Re: DAWs for Dummies

Never mind - turns out my wife traded in the old computer on the new one without consulting me. No sense buying software if there's no hardware to run it on.