DAWs that aren't ridiculously irritating?

[borrowed]

So far the only program I've used and used well was my copy of FLS. However, trying out the Ableton demos from their site and the Reason demo, I can't get anything to work. Maybe I just dont understand the workflow in these two programs, but FLS seems so much more logical. Should I just stick to FL or is there light at the end of the tunnel?

[DZA]

All daws are irritating when youre trying to learn them but once youve got the basic, it makes all the effert worth it

[gh02]

I moved from FL to Live, and personally can't see myself turning back. Each to their own though..there are pros and cons to all DAWS. I'd suggest sticking with the demos until you have a better understanding of how they work and what you can do with them. There is no easy answer..and right or wrong

[press]

use what works for you. FL is a totally viable option. imo fl's pattern sequencing doesnt make sense and i find it hard to use, but plenty people use it with great success. if it makes sense use it! but give reaper a shot i found it to be easy to use, easier then cubase or logic for sure but that was me.

[marshy]

.........seems so much more LOGICal. Should I just.......................

[Basic A]

stick to FL

I dont, at all, understand why people want to change DAWs.

It will do you no good. If the workflow of one works well for you, and you understand it thoroughly, why in the hell would you ever be tempted to leave? They all come with the same basic kit, and produce the same basic sounds, but with entirely different flow of composition. Its not gonna do any good changing unless the workflows are more intuitive for your way of production.

@Marshy, we dont all have Macs, but if I did, thats where Id be, however, thats only cuz its pretty similar to FLs workflow

[wayoftheworld]

OP have you done the built in lessons and tutorials that come with ableton?

[lushman]

Once I moved from Reason to Ableton I've never looked back, used to rewire Reason at first but now I'd be hard pushed to find a need to do that - plus when they changed the sequencer in version 4 I found it so much slower and more cumbersome.

[borrowed]

stick to FL

I dont, at all, understand why people want to change DAWs.

It will do you no good. If the workflow of one works well for you, and you understand it thoroughly, why in the hell would you ever be tempted to leave? They all come with the same basic kit, and produce the same basic sounds, but with entirely different flow of composition. Its not gonna do any good changing unless the workflows are more intuitive for your way of production.

@Marshy, we dont all have Macs, but if I did, thats where Id be, however, thats only cuz its pretty similar to FLs workflow

I don't know, FL can be kind of annoying sometimes. I guess I'm looking for something powerful but still somehwat logical in worlflow.

use what works for you. FL is a totally viable option. imo fl's pattern sequencing doesnt make sense and i find it hard to use, but plenty people use it with great success. if it makes sense use it! but give reaper a shot i found it to be easy to use, easier then cubase or logic for sure but that was me.

I'll have to give that a look. I've been hearing big things from the Reaper crowd.

OP have you done the built in lessons and tutorials that come with ableton?

Slogging through them right now. Everything seems so damn convoluted. I'll report back when I'm done, though.

[drokkr]

Try harder? Maybe they're not irritating but you're being a little lazy...I don't get the obsession that folk have with switching DAWs. Learn what you can on one. Transfer the skills when you know how to do things properly. They're all basically the same anyway.

[Echoi]

Try harder? Maybe they're not irritating but you're being a little lazy...I don't get the obsession that folk have with switching DAWs. Learn what you can on one. Transfer the skills when you know how to do things properly. They're all basically the same anyway.

yea im with drokkr on this one

though i can understand why people would want to move on from reason, or rewire to reason for vst's

no daw is really that irritating, they are all specifically designed with one thing in mind and all are perfectly capable of doing it (with the right user)

[MidnightMassDubstep]

did you make the track in your sig? It's satisfying

[Echoi]

did you make the track in your sig? It's satisfying

is that directed to me? if so, yes i did make it, hats sound a bit iffy though on soundcloud, glad you dig

[zonetrooper5]

Like others have said, stick with FL if that is what makes sense to you, hell I tired out Reason and FL before I decided I love Ableton Live; even then all DAW's pretty much do the same thing if only in different ways.

[wayoftheworld]

OP damn man if you're making tracks like the one in yr sig why would you wanna switch?

[dddemain]

OP damn man if you're making tracks like the one in yr sig why would you wanna switch?

chasing shadows ill

[humancond1tion]

Yep, all DAWs are frustrating sometimes...

[wayoftheworld]

OP damn man if you're making tracks like the one in yr sig why would you wanna switch?

chasing shadows ill

whoops

[nowaysj]

yo, all daws are fantastically annoying. They're all good at some stuff and terrible at other stuff. To make the long story short, I think you should stick with fl.

There seems to be four classes of daws, and it does make sense why someone would switch from one to the other. There is the basic daw, which includes cubase, logic, fruity, studio one, digital performer, and reaper. There is Reason, which is in a class of its own. There are the trackers, like renoise. Then there is ableton, which at it heart is a performance daw. Abelton can do things that the others cant, so it makes sense for someone to switch if they value the particular additional functionality. Likewise, renoise can do things that FL can't, so if you like the process of making music in renoise over that in fl, it makes sense to switch.

But switching between logic and cubase does make less sense. They are very similar in how they function. Midi editors, audio editors, mixer, arrange page, automation... But different software has different feels, and one might feel better to you than another. Trying out demos is a good way to judge this, but you have to understand that a daw really is a pretty complicated piece of software, and has a butt load of functionality. To learn all of that or even an operable small part of the total is quite an achievement. An achievement that IS going to take you away from making toons.

I've used FL for over 10 years now, and I love it. Recently I was endeavoring to switch because FL doesn't have some fundamentals that I find of absolute importance. I went to great lengths to try other daws, I tried Live and Cubase. Live is just mind blowing as a performance tool. As a daw, I find it's feel lacking for basic production type stuff. Cubase is very similar to fl, but is also very frustrating. Cubase seemed to require a few extra steps to achieve the same results in FL, with no real upside to sound quality or anything else.

I would have switched to cubase, but recently found out that the fundamentals that were lacking in FL will soon be fixed, after these 10 years, so I can sigh a sigh of relief and get back to work making music in FL.

[silentk]

Can i ask what fundamentals in particular you feel are missing?