What is the best DAW to use for home recording?

Question

DAW stands for Digital Audio Workspace. Popular DAWs include Logic Pro X, Pro Tools, FL Studio, and Ableton.

Answer 1

There are so many DAWs available now it's hard to keep up! (What's a DAW? A Digital Audio Workstation of course, but I always feel too formal by calling it a "DAW". It sounds too much like "Duh!" so I often call it "Audio Recording Software" - but that means it's an "ARS", which is not a good acronym either.) ;-)

I've tried/used the following over my three decades of audio work: Logic Pro, Sonar, Pro Tools, Ableton Live, Studio One, FL Studio, Mixcraft, Audacity, Adobe Audition, Digital Performer, and more. I have the most experience with Sonar, but I also use Audacity (for simple quick tasks) and Audition a lot.

If you're a beginner at audio recording and editing, learning to use a DAW can be incredibly overwhelming. Most DAWs are so feature rich that it's a challenge just to do the simplest thing, like laying down a single track recording. It might be a good idea to try Audacity to start because it's free, multi-platform, and relatively easy to start using. However, even though Audacity might be easier to start out with, I don't personally think it's a good choice for working with multiple tracks. Mixcraft is a good choice to jump too if you want to have an easier learning curve, but for some reason it doesn't have the great reputation that some other DAWs have, even though it's loaded with features.

A possible choice to get started at this point is to use the free version of Sonar that is available by creating a profile at Bandlab.com. It's a watered-down version of Sonar, but you may find that the social media features of BandLab combined with the music creating capabilities of Sonar are right for you.

If you want to hobnob with the pros and find the right DAW for you, you may try the free versions of the "Big Boys" - Pro Tools First, Ableton Live Lite, FL Studio, Studio One Prime, and more. You can download them for free and get a taste of all of them before you settle on one.

The best choice for a DAW will probably depend on the level of sophistication you need, whether you work with audio, midi, or both, and the particular end product you want to produce. (For example, although Adobe Audition is incredible audio editing software, it may not be the best for multi-tracking and certainly not for midi.) Thankfully, there are options galore to help make a choice that fits you the best. Do some research, try the ones that seem to fit you, settle on one (or two), and go from there.

My journey started over thirty years ago with a DAW I don't even remember the name of anymore, I then progressed to Sonar, which took years to learn, and more years to refine. When Sonar was sold by the original manufacturer a couple of years ago, and is no longer being supported, it put me in a difficult situation. I had to look elsewhere for the future. I still use Sonar because I've become very good at using it, but I've been gradually learning to use other DAWs over the last few years, which has given me a unique view of the huge DAW universe. I think it's important to enjoy the journey of continually learning the skills necessary to use whatever DAW you choose to work with, while not getting overwhelmed with the infinite possibilities available.

I hope I have given you an idea of what's available and how to go about choosing the right DAW for your particular situation.

Answer 2

Something to take into account is how much you're willing to spend on your DAW. All DAWs are great and will get you a professional sound when used right but keep in mind:

Logic only works on Apple computers but is cheap and reliable.

Pro Tools has a limited number of hardware it will work with and is expensive (and wants you to pay a subscription fee).

Ableton is designed less for recording and more for performance/composition.

FL Studio is cheap but a little limited in its ability.

Cubase can be difficult to learn but is very powerful.

Answer 3

I find that DAW's can be selected based on the type of music you are looking to make. For example, Ableton is geared toward live performing electronic musicians, with Logic Pro X and Garageband are designed to mimic the layout of a real studio with a easy to understand layout and mixer. Other DAW's like FL Studio are great for hip hop and beatmaking, while something like Pro Tools is known as a no frills industry standard. It really depends on what you are trying to do, & the great thing is that there are many options and many of these companies have a free or very inexpesnive versiion of the full DAW on their websites.

Answer 4

Each DAW has their own advantage, so it really depends on the genre/style of music you'd be making/recording! For simple recording, I would recommend using Reaper. Reaper also does a great job of automating tempo changes. For EDM production, I'd recommend FL Studio. It comes with a lot of great VSTs that I always find a use for! If you want the "industry standard" DAW, it'd be Pro Tools. There are so many out there, though! I mainly use FL Studio, but I have dabbled in Reaper as well.

Answer 5

There really is no right answer as some have pointed out. It all depends on a few things:

1. Your Role (engineer, producer, mixer, etc.)
2. Your Media (rock and roll, hip hop, audio books, podcasts, etc.)
3. Your Workflow (digital, analog/acoustic, etc.)

That being said, if you have a Mac, I strongly recommend Logic Pro X as a general purpose DAW. You can do everything, from production to mastering, inside of it. It also works with pretty much every genre and workflow, especially with the new 10.5 update which adds Live mode.

Ableton and Fruity Loops, in my opinion, are more geared towards electronic music. Ableton also allows for an astonishing amount of customizability and routing. This is great if you're looking for these features.

Pro Tools is excellent for any kind of post work. You can make music in here, but until recently, MIDI instruments were kind of a hassle to work with.

If you're not on a Mac, Studio One is the closest I've found to Logic. Personally, it just feels like a slightly lesser Logic Pro, but by no means does that mean that it's not very powerful or intuitive.

Again, these are all just my opinions. You can do similar things in all DAWs, but it all just depends on what you're trying to do. Logic Pro X is my desert island DAW and although I know the others very well, I spend 90 percent of my time in Logic. It also helps that it's one of the cheapest!

Answer 6

There is no "correct" or straightforward answer to the question of what the best DAW is for home recording. The DAW that works best for you has to due with your musical genre, songwriting style, and the instrumentation you utilize in your creative process. As an audio engineer, songwriter and producer myself, I use a combination of DAWs to finish projects. I do not have experience in all DAWs but I can give an overview of the benefits I have found in a few I have used.

Logic is intuitive and a good solution for mac users that are songwriters. The plug-ins are relatively powerful and the stock sounds could be worse. This is a DAW more suited for melody based home production and not necessarily a good engine to create beats within. As a keyboardist I also like how I can copy and paste settings for instruments to Mainstage for live shows.

Pro Tools is a great work horse for the capturing of sound. If you are a guitarist or have a band and you want to record everyone live, it is worth it to learn the ins and outs of Pro Tools to capture and edit the sound. Pro Tools is what I mix in. Editing is a breeze in Pro Tools compared to Logic or Ableton.

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