I’ve tried just about every Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) there is and whilst I’m no expert – or even musician – I do have enough knowledge to get by, and to form an opinion. So here it is!
Oh, and I use PC hardware, either under Win7 or XP SP3. You don’t need to buy an expensive top-range machine or an even more expensive Apple product, IMHO, but lots of RAM, lots of storage and good audio-out will help immensely. (OK, get the best processor you can afford but mid-to-high range is OK). All of the software I’ve tested has worked with the well known free ASIO driver (sometimes after a struggle) and USB cables leading to either or both of a plain and ordinary Fender Strat or a MIDI controller (usually with no problems). They have all worked with 99% of the VSTs and VSTis I’ve tried, too, but yes there have been quirks!
FWIW Ableton Live 8 is my all-time favourite – I have a “Lite” version courtesy of my M-Audio MIDI controller/keyboard (i.e. it came on a CD with the hardware) and it’s a powerful, intuitive DAW loaded with features and cool tools. It rarely if ever crashes on my 3-year old XP SP3 box and is just the best product I’ve used. It’s high quality. It’s also a bit different to work with at first but once you have it in your head, it works well. Alas the Lite version is crippled and almost useless – almost, but not quite – and the full version is too expensive for my budget. So I tend to use it as just one option among several. Oh, and even the “Lite” version is huge – in that respect it probably looks and feels more “serious” and capable. Whether it actually delivers on that promise is another thing, but it sure looks cool!
But in fact my first choice day-to-day is Mixcraft 5. It’s easy, obvious and well-featured. It has a wealth of packaged VSTs and VSTis to play with and it handles videos, too. It crashes too often but recovers automagically, usually. It has most of the features you want, or need (maybe 85%?), and if it lacks at all then there’s Reaper, isn’t there? I use it as my first choice because it just about does everything and I’ve become so used to it that I probably do a quicker job, better. It’s not a gargantuan download like Ableton or the other “name” brands and extends itself gradually as you download more of the free loops. Oh yeah, it was that library of samples that probably swung it for me.
But I did mention Reaper, didn’t I? Well it does maybe 95% of what I’d want (including video) and it’s also pretty easy to use. For a long time it was neck and neck between Mixcraft and Reaper, at least in my view. And if Mixcraft falls over then Reaper is my backup (although it easily be the other way around!). If I want something sonically cooler I go up to Ableton Live Lite, do the job and come back to finish it in Mixcraft or Reaper. It’s more about familiarity and comfort than anything else, although there are procedural differences in how these programs work that may drive a better conclusion sometimes. Oh, and Reaper is also cheap, relatively speaking.
I also like FL Studio a lot. In another universe I may have chosen FL (or Fruity Loops if you like) but my money only stretched so far….
And I won’t disparage the others, they all worked well. If I started my DAW habit all over again from scratch, did the research and had a larger budget I imagine my choices would be entirely different. But the above is what I prefer, for the reasons given.
What’s the best DAW in the world today? | MusicRadar.com
It’s been well over a year since MusicRadar users crowned Reaper as the best DAW in the world today – now we’re asking you to vote for your favourite digital audio workstation all over again.
Filed under Audio, DAW, recording by Rob.
Audio engineers are by definition purists, they know so much about audio
recording and have spent so many years developing their high-level
production skills that they are committed to – or welded onto – what they
do. And they want to do it “right”, as they know it. They can hardly be
expected to enjoy lower sonic purity, or to support lossy audio recording
formats. They want to capture the soul and essence of musicianship and
creativity, and they believe that this is best done through relentlessly
pursued, highly skilled orchestration of all of the facets of modern
hi-fidelity studio audio production – whilst artfully capturing the
spontaneity of the session. (Hmmmm.) It is also not surprising that, with
their own art and craftsmanship at such a high level, they expect the same
of the musicians they work with. Well don’t we all want that? (Read more on
what some top-line audio producers want, here.)
Well guess what? Most people can’t even detect the difference between
lossless and lossy recordings. And even if they can, most people don’t
care. Whilst they may respect and admire the production values and the
skills involved at the highest level, they want the finished product at a
price they can afford that sounds “good enough” on their (dare we say it?)
imperfect sound systems. That’s “accessibility” at work. When was it ever
any different? Sure, there’s a sizable niche market for audiophiles and
musical purists but the bulk of the iceberg is below the water. And that
bulk is keeping the small portion we see up above the waterline afloat.
Whilst it’s all well and good to criticise artists like Britney Spears for
her imperfect singing, and to cast aspersions on audio tools that mold and
shape wayward singers into some semblance of acceptability, it’s the
finished product that sells in the shops. Just to take Britney as an
example, she’s a product of her times, and an artist with multiple
marketable skills and attributes. It’s not about the audio purity or
musicianship, it’s the total package that sells. It may not be right, or even wrong; it’s just the way it is.
Which brings me back to purity. Purity is really about reduction. Reducing
ourselves to our essence. Now to me that’s taking us back to humanity’s
beginnings and searching for what makes us, “us”. It’s not about the
tools, although the tools we make and use are clearly part of the essence
of “us”. It’s not about the arcane language of specialists, or secrets of
the trade. Applying purity as a test to the audiophile‘s argument about
lost musicanship and lossy recordings brings us back to the unrecorded
human voice. What we sing and how we hear it – live, individually and in
the context of our family or our tribe – is entirely up to us and our personal flaws and failings. Judging other people, their skills, talents and their art is subjective – always
was – and individual to our selves and our context. Everything outside of
true purity – like audio recording itself – is impure, shadowy artifice. To
cling to that is to grab onto to a mist.
So it is throughout our lives. Audio aside, those of us (and this may
include myself) who cling to some form of ‘perfect’ English are not
acknowledging the very change that forced the English language into the
shape it is today. Similarly those who drive manual cars may scorn the
automatic transmissions that have taken the essence and skill out of
driving. And those who double declutch and hell-and-toe may scorn the
sychromesh that has removed the skill from driving a manual car. And on and
on. Pick any human tool you like and it has evolved to become simpler and
more accessible – more democratic, if you like. If you try to pin it down
and stamp a standard on it, or to trap it, you lose it. Or render it
irrelevant. It’s shape-shifting, it’s morphing, it’s malleable. It’s a puff
of smoke, and it’s gone.
Filed under Audio, audiophiles by Rob.
Audio engineers are by definition purists, they know so much about audio
recording and have spent so many years developing their high-level
production skills that they are committed to – or welded onto – what they
do. And they want to do it “right”, as they know it. They can hardly be
expected to enjoy lower sonic purity, or to support lossy audio recording
formats. They want to capture the soul and essence of musicianship and
creativity, and they believe that this is best done through relentlessly
pursued, highly skilled orchestration of all of the facets of modern
hi-fidelity studio audio production – whilst artfully capturing the
spontaneity of the session. (Hmmmm.) It is also not surprising that, with
their own art and craftsmanship at such a high level, they expect the same
of the musicians they work with. Well don’t we all want that? (Read more on
what some top-line audio producers want, here.)
Well guess what? Most people can’t even detect the difference between
lossless and lossy recordings. And even if they can, most people don’t
care. Whilst they may respect and admire the production values and the
skills involved at the highest level, they want the finished product at a
price they can afford that sounds “good enough” on their (dare we say it?)
imperfect sound systems. That’s “accessibility” at work. When was it ever
any different? Sure, there’s a sizable niche market for audiophiles and
musical purists but the bulk of the iceberg is below the water. And that
bulk is keeping the small portion we see up above the waterline afloat.
Whilst it’s all well and good to criticise artists like Britney Spears for
her imperfect singing, and to cast aspersions on audio tools that mold and
shape wayward singers into some semblance of acceptability, it’s the
finished product that sells in the shops. Just to take Britney as an
example, she’s a product of her times, and an artist with multiple
marketable skills and attributes. It’s not about the audio purity or
musicianship, it’s the total package that sells. It may not be right, or even wrong; it’s just the way it is.
Which brings me back to purity. Purity is really about reduction. Reducing
ourselves to our essence. Now to me that’s taking us back to humanity’s
beginnings and searching for what makes us, “us”. It’s not about the
tools, although the tools we make and use are clearly part of the essence
of “us”. It’s not about the arcane language of specialists, or secrets of
the trade. Applying purity as a test to the audiophile‘s argument about
lost musicanship and lossy recordings brings us back to the unrecorded
human voice. What we sing and how we hear it – live, individually and in
the context of our family or our tribe – is entirely up to us and our personal flaws and failings. Judging other people, their skills, talents and their art is subjective – always
was – and individual to our selves and our context. Everything outside of
true purity – like audio recording itself – is impure, shadowy artifice. To
cling to that is to grab onto to a mist.
So it is throughout our lives. Audio aside, those of us (and this may
include myself) who cling to some form of ‘perfect’ English are not
acknowledging the very change that forced the English language into the
shape it is today. Similarly those who drive manual cars may scorn the
automatic transmissions that have taken the essence and skill out of
driving. And those who double declutch and hell-and-toe may scorn the
sychromesh that has removed the skill from driving a manual car. And on and
on. Pick any human tool you like and it has evolved to become simpler and
more accessible – more democratic, if you like. If you try to pin it down
and stamp a standard on it, or to trap it, you lose it. Or render it
irrelevant. It’s shape-shifting, it’s morphing, it’s malleable. It’s a puff
of smoke, and it’s gone.
Filed under Audio, audiophiles by Rob.
It’s an Audi, or an Audi on a VW platform (nothing new there). Most importantly it’s an electric vehicle, and a prestige one at that… and it’s real, and it’s small. It’s a 2+1, would you believe! And whilst it’s offered with a range of motors, it’s the electric one that’ll steal the show. Whilst VW itself is banking on squeezing the last drops out of small, turbo-charged diesel and petrol motors, it obviously has a Plan B, too. If the US car makers (and their Aussie offshoots) don’t wake up and smell the roses soon they’ll miss the boat, let alone the mixed metaphor, completely.
A variety of engines will be offered, although the star of the show will be an electric powerplant. It incorporates lightweight lithium-polymer batteries and a punchy electric motor driving the front wheels. So the small, agile car will be ideal for city motoring, delivering 0-60mph in around 10 seconds. And with a full charge providing enough energy to travel up to 100 miles helped by regenerative braking, the plug-in machine will have real all-round ability.
It’s an Audi, or an Audi on a VW platform (nothing new there). Most importantly it’s an electric vehicle, and a prestige one at that… and it’s real, and it’s small. It’s a 2+1, would you believe! And whilst it’s offered with a range of motors, it’s the electric one that’ll steal the show. Whilst VW itself is banking on squeezing the last drops out of small, turbo-charged diesel and petrol motors, it obviously has a Plan B, too. If the US car makers (and their Aussie offshoots) don’t wake up and smell the roses soon they’ll miss the boat, let alone the mixed metaphor, completely.
A variety of engines will be offered, although the star of the show will be an electric powerplant. It incorporates lightweight lithium-polymer batteries and a punchy electric motor driving the front wheels. So the small, agile car will be ideal for city motoring, delivering 0-60mph in around 10 seconds. And with a full charge providing enough energy to travel up to 100 miles helped by regenerative braking, the plug-in machine will have real all-round ability.
It’s audio install day for me. Actually every day seems like audio install day, but today I am installing Reaper and Anvil on the Core2Duo. (I loaded Audacity the other day, and configured the Behringer USB guitar link as well, along with the Native Instruments Virtual Amp. Should all run better than on the P4. It means copying over a lot of VST plug-ins and what-not but it’ll be worth it. Why is it worth it? Where’s the fun in editing and processing sound? Well it’s like Photoshopping images – either you get a kick out of making stuff out of nothing, or doing just a little touching up, or you don’t.
It’s audio install day for me. Actually every day seems like audio install day, but today I am installing Reaper and Anvil on the Core2Duo. (I loaded Audacity the other day, and configured the Behringer USB guitar link as well, along with the Native Instruments Virtual Amp. Should all run better than on the P4. It means copying over a lot of VST plug-ins and what-not but it’ll be worth it. Why is it worth it? Where’s the fun in editing and processing sound? Well it’s like Photoshopping images – either you get a kick out of making stuff out of nothing, or doing just a little touching up, or you don’t.
I usually like what I see at the old-school specialist online music shop theMusic.com, but I’m not so impressed with this particular product: The Music Streamer+ is an ultra high performance music interface that allows a computer and a home entertainment system to become perfect partners. With its unique topology, theMusicStreamer+ provides a completely isolated path between the computer and an audio system. No more audio contamination by the computer; your music will always sound its best. There are no external power supplies to worry about because the Music Streamer+ derives its power from the USB buss while completely regenerating power for all its internal circuitry using a sophisticated set of proprietary circuits.
Now I’m not sure it’s that hard, is it? Many personal computers have the required outputs and you can simply run a wire… but they do claim “unique topology” and “completely isolated path between the computer and an audio system” so there must be something more going on, eh?
Actually I’m not sure how unique the “topology” is when I already have an AV Labs Music Studio that looks pretty similar. It too has a USB output as well as RCA audio connections in and out. (I also have a older Belkin Hi Speed USB 2.0 DVD Creator device that does much the same with both audio and video but is just data-in, rather than data-out as well) All you need to do is connect the USB on one side of the Music Studio box to the computer and connect an RCA cable to the other side, not forgetting to connect the other end of your RCA cable to your amplifier on your home stereo. If you are an audiophile you’ll have a whinge about the quality but that goes with the territory, doesn’t it?
As for that complete isolation, I guess they mean that the audio signal is not fed through your sound card or chip (ie you select “USB audio device” in your control panel and deselect your usual audio). That may be good or bad, depending upon your preferences. Sound cards/chips may have some funky hardware that makes things faster/better, that actually enhances the sound… but arguably that’s not always the case. So is that it? Doesn’t seem so fancy then… the Music Studio was far, far less than half the price of this Music Streamer. So what’s new here? Anything? Nothing that I can see at this stage.
Here’s a quick grab of images of the AV Labs Music Studio, FWIW…
The outputs..  which include the USB on the right and an audio out.. you can connect to your home sound system from here or just use your computer speakers..
The inputs..  including a microphone input.. you can connect any audio device as an input, if it has RCAs..
The 9 metre cable that connects the computer and Music Studio box to the home audio amplifier: 
And an example of just one way to connect – in this instance via the front panel of a Desay PVR (but it could just as easily be the back of the amplifier itself).. 
I usually like what I see at the old-school specialist online music shop theMusic.com, but I’m not so impressed with this particular product: The Music Streamer+ is an ultra high performance music interface that allows a computer and a home entertainment system to become perfect partners. With its unique topology, theMusicStreamer+ provides a completely isolated path between the computer and an audio system. No more audio contamination by the computer; your music will always sound its best. There are no external power supplies to worry about because the Music Streamer+ derives its power from the USB buss while completely regenerating power for all its internal circuitry using a sophisticated set of proprietary circuits.
Now I’m not sure it’s that hard, is it? Many personal computers have the required outputs and you can simply run a wire… but they do claim “unique topology” and “completely isolated path between the computer and an audio system” so there must be something more going on, eh?
Actually I’m not sure how unique the “topology” is when I already have an AV Labs Music Studio that looks pretty similar. It too has a USB output as well as RCA audio connections in and out. (I also have a older Belkin Hi Speed USB 2.0 DVD Creator device that does much the same with both audio and video but is just data-in, rather than data-out as well) All you need to do is connect the USB on one side of the Music Studio box to the computer and connect an RCA cable to the other side, not forgetting to connect the other end of your RCA cable to your amplifier on your home stereo. If you are an audiophile you’ll have a whinge about the quality but that goes with the territory, doesn’t it?
As for that complete isolation, I guess they mean that the audio signal is not fed through your sound card or chip (ie you select “USB audio device” in your control panel and deselect your usual audio). That may be good or bad, depending upon your preferences. Sound cards/chips may have some funky hardware that makes things faster/better, that actually enhances the sound… but arguably that’s not always the case. So is that it? Doesn’t seem so fancy then… the Music Studio was far, far less than half the price of this Music Streamer. So what’s new here? Anything? Nothing that I can see at this stage.
Here’s a quick grab of images of the AV Labs Music Studio, FWIW…
The outputs.. which include the USB on the right and an audio out.. you can connect to your home sound system from here or just use your computer speakers..
The inputs.. including a microphone input.. you can connect any audio device as an input, if it has RCAs..
The 9 metre cable that connects the computer and Music Studio box to the home audio amplifier:
And an example of just one way to connect – in this instance via the front panel of a Desay PVR (but it could just as easily be the back of the amplifier itself)..
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