DAW / Recording Software

It may seem like a big step.

All of the Major DAW's have most of the same overall features and can get you to a finished track. However they all work differently and have something unique to add to your recording process, so it's worth researching what each one offers before you make your decision. 

What's the Best DAW 

So unfortunately, as you might have guessed, there's no real silver bullet or "best DAW". However if you have an idea on the type of music you want to create, or the way you like to create music, you'll have a much better time at deciding what's the best DAW for you!

For classic recording with microphones, you can't go wrong with Pro Tools. Self proclaimed as the "industry standard" in recording, you will find Pro Tools systems present in many of the top recording studios. built on it's long heritage in the business, Pro Tools regarded as one of the best sounding DAWs on the market and it's built-in audio tools and workflow designs are essential for producers and engineers.

Cubase is another one of those Classic DAW's that's got a long heritage. Whilst Pro Tools has a base in Recording and Mixing audio, Cubase's early roots come from MIDI and creating music with virtual instruments. As a result, this DAW package is more suited to Songwriters and Composers, featuring a wide range of creative tools to help you get a song from inception to a finished track. Cubase is particularly loved by composers and Film music writers as they can easily work with midi sound libraries to get realistic tracks from sample based instruments.

Ableton Live Came onto the DAW market attempting to offer something completely different. As the name suggests it was originally designed as a live tool so that you could trigger sounds Live in a set, as well as record parts live to stack on top of existing tracks. Since then, the Ableton community has grown, with many electronic music producers turning to Ableton to create their beat based tracks. It's loop based environment lends itself to a completely different workflow to your regular arranger window. When used with hardware like Ableton's push 2, Native Instruments Maschine or the Novation Launchpad, you can create a fast, hands-on way of building tracks from small ideas.