DAW Suggestions?

tevans213

New member
I am looking for a DAW for hip hop production. I feel overwhelmed, there are so many. I currently have Pro Tools 11 which I plan to use for recording/mixing and I am now looking for something for beatmaking. I see/hear mixed reviews on FL Studio I hear good things about Cubase, and Im curious about Studio One considering its pretty cheap. I think I have narrowed it down to FL Studio, Cubase, and Studio One. I will probably start off basic with just a midi controller and later on down the line add a synth and possible a maschine or mpc. Would appreciate any feedback on what you like or dislike about any of these DAWs.
 
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Protools can be used for beatmaking. any daw, can be used for beatmaking :/


Looking at a lot of daws and seeing one you are actually interested in, list:


Reason
Reaper[my bad y'all lol]
Orion[strange but good]
bitwig
studio one
cubase
logic
ableton
lmms
motu digital performer
protools
podium
fl studio
ardour
magic music maker
garageband
 
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so you've been using pro tools... I love love love logic 10. i tried using pro tools 11 and it was a traumatic experience to say the least. I can't expect it to be much better going the other way. but if you have a mac and you are just starting out on beatmaking (which I assume you are? not sure) then I would give garageband a shot. if you like it, great. and when/if you feel its necessary jump up to logic. that's what i did. plus, the learning curve between gb and logic is super super small.

that all only applies if you're a mac user AND you like logic/gb. otherwise, just get a trial version of some that sound good and see which one you make the best music on. simple as that. at least there IS a trial version for FL and studio one. that drove me crazy about logic. i would personally try out FL first since its the one of the only ones that has a substantial instrument library out of the box. but, if you have a mac i would really steer you towards garageband since its built in and honestly has a better instrument library than a lot/most of the "professional" daws.
 
kkk: you forgot reaper

OP: it is finding a work flow more than anything else as to which daw you choose - my work flow is different when I use reason compared to cubase compared to pro-tools compared to reaper compared to fl (I rarely use fl, only for the occasional collab

my preference is reason or cubase but I use the others because I need to for
1) collabs
2) sharing
3) teaching
4) clients
 
I would recommend you look at getting a MIDI controller before you start looking to use some other shit for drawing notes into the piano roll with the mouse or what ever the hell you have been doing......I know it seems counter intuitive but sometimes it's better to shop for a MIDI controller first so that you can possibly exploit some upgrade path of any bundled software and save some cash....that is if you decide that Pro sTools is somehow deficient even after you have turbocharged your workflow by adding a MIDI controller.
 
Download the demos.
Play around.
Decide on what you like best.

The reality is you can make excellent music on ALL the DAWs. As BandCoach said, it's about your own personal workflow.

It's not the tools, it's the user... Don't waste time jumping around from DAW to DAW. Pick one, learn it inside out, and then concentrate on making beautiful music.
 
Pro Tools will do what you need including the xtra add-ons that you mentioned but later on down the line you'll find that Cubase does it, too; gives you more!
 
Appreciate the feedback. Pro Tools has just been so difficult for me to learn. I like that FL Studio has a lot of tutorials online and seems to be user friendly.
 
If you're using Windows, FL Studio is probably the most fun to make beats. The company makes awesome plugins. It makes me want to install Windows on my mac, but that's not happening :D
 
Ableton is my favorite, great interface and there is an endless amount of stuff you can do with it. Plus you can use it for both production and live performances.
 
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If you have pro tools already, I don't really understand why you feel the need to transfer- unless you have your eye on some third party VSTs that would be awkward to run in PT.

Why do you think you need a new DAW?
 
If you have pro tools already, I don't really understand why you feel the need to transfer- unless you have your eye on some third party VSTs that would be awkward to run in PT.

Why do you think you need a new DAW?

Because there's way more tutorials online for FL Studio and overall FL Studio seems to be more user friendly.
 
I prefer Studio One because it is the mixture of Cubase/ PT feeling. I like the way it is produced because the UI is very friendly.

Other than that, Ableton seem to be great as well.

I used PT before, but that is mainly for post production (Video).

Every DAW have its own pros and cons, it is what you prefer to use. =)
 
FL studio and Ableton are really amazing( I haven't tried Logic yet). But it all depends on your workflow and with what do you feel most comfortable with.
 
Because there's way more tutorials online for FL Studio and overall FL Studio seems to be more user friendly.
This isn't a good reason. You're perfectly capable of learning pro tools so it's just as easy to use as FL studio- and doing so would take less time than earning 200 dollars for FL.

As for tutorials, they transfer between DAWs pretty easily. If you can't do the same things in Pro tools you've seen done in FL studio, you need to spend more time learning pro tools- the features are definitely there

Spend a couple months learning pro tools properly and then decide if you still want FL
 
I get what you're saying but I also dont like the direction Pro Tools is going with the subscription. I just bought Pro Tools 11 sometime last year and im not gonna upgrade to 12 and do the whole subscription thing.
 
I get what you're saying but I also dont like the direction Pro Tools is going with the subscription. I just bought Pro Tools 11 sometime last year and im not gonna upgrade to 12 and do the whole subscription thing.

You don't have to use the subscription option though - they still have the "traditional" license model as well.
 
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