Which audio production software?

Demosthenes

I have Ableton live, but find it difficult to use and I'm not a fan of the layout either.
Looking for something easy to pick up quickly, but not lacking in features.
FL or reason are what most people have recommended to me.

dav nagle

Bibblewibble is hot..

But seriously what kind of music are you making?

Logic Pro: large selection of nice Midi instruments
Pro Tools: Recording Audio is simple with PT
Abelton: You don't like, perhaps your giving up too early?
Reason: Dance/Hip Hop (Tight software, poor interface)
Cubase: Fussy assholes
Reaper: Nice Pro Tools Clone

Neurojazz

dav nagle wrote: »

Cubase: Fussy assholes

drumdrum

Ah Cubase is ok....TBH, they all are it really comes down to getting to know one and therefore you work best/quicker with it.

I mean, your choice of DAW will not stop you from making a great tune. In the end, they all aim to do the same thing, only some are more "finickey" than others....


But for me, Logic is the best. Its the most Logical (pun intended ) and its the one I'm most familiar with. I'm also a mac user, and although it is expensive, the stock plugins you get with it are mostly fantastic in quality and have saved me having to splurge extra cash for a decent EQ or compressor. Space and Delay Designer are great!

I have a copy of Cubase 5 OEM (came free with some hardware I bought) and I find it GREAT for MIDI work. If I'm doing a tune with lots of midi, I often do it first in Cubase then import it into logic.

Reaper is amazing also, especially for only €40! And some of the Reaper plugs sound great!

I dont like Pro Tools. Too.....messy for my liking. I don't know...I just never clicked with it....

Ableton....used it a couple of times. Seems good. A good buddy of mine who does dance / electronic music swears by it. I've been told that apparently it has a "sound" to it, but I never noticed it.

Paolo_M

dav nagle wrote: »

Bibblewibble is hot..

But seriously what kind of music are you making?

Logic Pro: large selection of nice Midi instruments
Pro Tools: Recording Audio is simple with PT
Abelton: You don't like, perhaps your giving up too early?
Reason: Dance/Hip Hop (Tight software, poor interface)
Cubase: Fussy assholes
Reaper: Nice Pro Tools Clone

I've used ProTools LE for two years and currently run Reaper.
I wouldn't say it's a clone by any stretch.


OP, why the difficulty with Ableton? I've tried out Live Lite 8 and it's really simple to use. It's installs with a bunch of easy to follow instructions and videos. The layout is very logical once you understand it. The scene view could actually really help with quick song writing and arranging more readily than any other DAW I've tried. I was tempted to switch over at one point.

Squidgy Black

I use both Ableton and Reaper, it's a personal thing to be honest, every one finds each one different.

For instance, I can't get playback through my headphone's in Reaper sometimes, so I record with Ableton. But I find the Reaper plug-ins amazing, so I import the files to Reaper to add fx to my tracks.

dav nagle

The Reaper thing was a wind up because I know people here use it! I am sure its fab!

Paolo_M

dav nagle wrote: »

The Reaper thing was a wind up because I know people here use it! I am sure its fab!

It is and isn't.

What I mean by that is that it's extremely configurable.

That's great if you're willing to spend the time getting it work they way you want.
When/if you do, I'd say it's better than any DAW out there, as it will pretty much be a DAW you designed yourself, with your own custom work-flows, short-cuts etc..
People who say things like it doesn't do X,Y or Z usually just haven't figured out how to do it yet.

Problem is that it takes a good while, and a lot of f*ckin' about with settings/macros etc. to get to that point. Many other DAWS will do those things as standard.
The stuff it does is pretty limited, and basic, straight out of the box and so it often get's a bad name as being limited or "a toy". IMO that's more a reflection on the person making the those kind of comments rather than the product itself.

flyswatter

dav nagle wrote: »

The Reaper thing was a wind up because I know people here use it! I am sure its fab!

I really like it, very quick and easy to load, doesn't require many system resources.

I hate the awkwardness of loading plugins though! Doesn't seem very instant to me.

dav nagle

flyswatter wrote: »

I really like it, very quick and easy to load, doesn't require many system resources.

I hate the awkwardness of loading plugins though! Doesn't seem very instant to me.

What so bad about how it loads plug ins?

old gregg

If the Op is working with electronic music then FL Studio is a great prog to work with. Easy enough to understand, plenty of support, loads of tutorials available and free upgrades (last time I checked). I used it for years and loved it. Where the goalposts move is if you decide to start taking your work into the live arena. Ableton comes into its own then.

rayzercork

FL or reaper are pretty good i think, both are quite easy to get the hang of quickly.

flyswatter

dav nagle wrote: »

What so bad about how it loads plug ins?

From what I can remember, it's more the fact that you have to go through a menu and pop up screen and load Reapers internal plugins from there. These screens looked very bland (white).

I don't know if this changed, but it should have a drop down menu or something.

rayzercork

in reaper all you have to do is click on the part over the mixer channel fader and you get the fx options to load in a synth or effect, then just type a number or letter from the name and it narrows down your search.
i prefer in reaper how synths and effects are kept together instead of like in FL where u have channels on the sequencer and effects on the mixer. much easier to find where effects for synths are without having to move and rename channels so you can remember. especially useful when workin with lots of channels

Paolo_M

flyswatter wrote: »

From what I can remember, it's more the fact that you have to go through a menu and pop up screen and load Reapers internal plugins from there. These screens looked very bland (white).

I don't know if this changed, but it should have a drop down menu or something.

It's done the same way you do it in Ableton Live, ProTools, Garageband and Cubase. I can't speak for the other DAWs but I'd suspect they're the same. Some of the plug-in's front-ends are a bit bland, but a plugin should sound good, not look good.

Like Rayzer, I prefer the way Reapers plugs are loaded, especially after you customise it a bit. The work flow is way quicker for me than ProTools.

Baggio...

It's clearly Logic - Everything else is total crap :P. Obviously I'm kidding...

As OP said it's really down to personal choice, as they can all sound great (depending on who's using them). I dropped Ableton in Favor of Logic 9 some months back. I personally preferred Logic's native effects, features and work flow.

I previously used FL studio and Reason, and I didn't really like their work flow. I found them quite cumbersome to use compared to Logic. But that's my personal preference. However, a lot of people find them a breeze to use.

So really it's a case of trying the demos and seeing which one you prefer.

I will say that Logic has a shed load of features, as well as some quality FX. Not forgetting a lot of inbuilt quality instruments. And I also found it pretty ez to pick up.

drumdrum

Baggio... wrote: »

I will say that Logic has a shed load of features, as well as some quality FX. Not forgetting a lot of inbuilt quality instruments. And I also found it pretty ez to pick up.

Yeah Logic is great! Pity it also comes with a high price tag though....€500! I mean when I compare Logic to Reaper I prefer Logic because I'm more used to it. But for €40 or so, you can't beat Reaper.

Also, Reaper is slow to use when you first get it. you need to take a few hours with it and set up your short cuts, macros, etc... once you do its very quick to use.
The only reason I dont use it is because I shelled out €500 for Logic so I better dam well get my €500 worth of using it!

Baggio...

drumdrum wrote: »

Yeah Logic is great! Pity it also comes with a high price tag though....€500!

That is true... It's not he cheapest in all fairness, and it definitely can't compare to reaper in that way $$$ . Plus, I've heard very good reports about reaper so far. So they are obviously doing something right.

But you do get a lot for your cash with Logic. I remember with Ableton you had to go off and buy extra stuff - if you didn't buy the suite initially. That wasn't really too much of a problem, because, at the time I was using NI synths, an an EMU vst sampler. But I did find find myself shelling out a fair few extra quid on FX, because I wasn't all that mad about Ableton's native fx (just imho).

Cheers,

R.