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I'm really sorry about this, bringing up the which DAW is best question...

Basically i want to make a sort of underground influenced pop music...*gasp*.... blasphemy!

Do you think reason and record together is the best option... I quite like the idea of a self contained environment where there aren't a hundred million VSTs to distract you.... How ever if you guys think Sonar, Ableton, Cubase etc come with better instruments/ sound design software please tell....

Basically usability is not that much of an issue, i managed to make a few beats in Renoise, and i just want the best selection instruments i can get ...

Thanks

nothing wrong with asking which is best

but you are much better off grabbing the demo's and figuring out for yourself

i do like second opinions though... maybe??

the limitations of reason can be inspirational in themselves and it has a very low cpu load for this reason which is beneficial. apparently reason with record is really good, personally i haven't used it. you need to check out all options yourself.

EDIT : if you're asking my personal opinion then i would say use ableton just because that is in my view the best environment for me.

Last & least wrote:i do like second opinions though... maybe??

you can make great music with all of the DAW's you mentioned. i use reason 4, and love it.

ok, i have the message, find out for your self... however, if you have reason and record, is there no need to buy recycle, cos now it should handle wav? or am i wrong...

Last & least wrote:ok, i have the message, find out for your self... however, if you have reason and record, is there no need to buy recycle, cos now it should handle wav? or am i wrong...

im not trying to be rude, i just mean find out what works for you.

not sure about record, i havent even looked into what it is yet really. reason handles wav, recycle is good to have as it enables you to chop up loops with ease and convert them to rex loops

darkmatterUK wrote:you are much better off grabbing the demo's and figuring out for yourself

different interfaces work/click with different people. trying out demos is good advice, no point buying software that you don't get on with...

Just because all these programs support VSTs does not mean they don't have good instruments built in to begin with. Ableton has a drum sampler, a sampler, effects and a synth, what more do you truly need? If every instrument in Reason does exactly what you want the way you want it, then sure, get Reason? Nothing wrong with that. The thing about VSTs isn't so much 'doing something a DAW can't do' as much as it is 'doing something exactly the way you want it'.

This goes out of the window with Renoise, which without VSTs, is solely sample based. However, you'd be amazed how much you can do with just a drumpack, Renoise's sampled waveforms (sines, tris, saws, etc) and its internal DSP devices. Though since all you really 'need' (again, I use that word lightly) is 1 synth, you'd be cheaper off getting Renoise and FAW Circle (a synth plugin).

I'd recommend to try demos of whatever you're curious about. But my personal recommendation would be Renoise + Future Audio Workshop's Circle. That's a total of 200 euros, which is a tracker that is up there with the big name sequencers + a powerful semi-modular synth totalling at roughly half the price of Reason alone, which is far more bang for the buck (we're talking 'bout my favorite DAW and favorite softsynth here, so obviously I'm biased). Renoise is the most usable DAW, anyway. Once you sit down and make the commands second nature (this'll take 2 weeks tops).

Last & least wrote:Do Sonar, Ableton, Cubase etc come with better instruments/ sound design software?

I just want the best selection instruments I can get

Benefits of Reason 4 include the fact that it comes with loads of instrument and synth patches right out of the box. This is easily expandable with refills that usually contain either extra instrument samples, extra synth patches and new drum loops (rexes).

Cubase 5, FL Studio and Logic also come with tons of instrument/synth/drum loops content.

An alternative is to use a less expensive program like Reaper and then buy a sampler like Kontakt, Halion, Sampletank and Hypersonic which come with loads of content themselves. The benefit is that you still get to use VST plugins which offer a far greater range of audio mangling tools compared to Reasons in built FX.

You don't need Recycle unless you want to make your own Rex loops. You can use Reason and Record without buyng Recycle.

i heard the combo of pro tools and reason is immense

Rewire is a ball ache. You've been warned!

I'd go with a solution that doesn't require rewiring. Either buy Reason & Record or go with another DAW without using Reason.

Reason is great, probably the easiest to use DAW IMO.

so could circle rival the power of thor?

I personally found Reason a hell of a learning curve and honestly hated Record when i Beta'd it.. Not to hate cause some people make some immense tunes on it but I regret buying Reason and to me it feels dated.

Just an opinion..

[quote="Legendary"]I regret buying Reason and to me it feels dated.[quote]



Wished i learnt a different DAW and cba to learn a different one now

The_Dza88 wrote:

Legendary wrote:I regret buying Reason and to me it feels dated.

Wished i learnt a different DAW and cba to learn a different one now

i kinda agree with this, defo feels very dated and quite frustrating sometimes

Personally, if I was you (Last&Least) I'd download Reaper - which is Free* and get to know how a basic DAW works(and reaper has elements of most DAWs in there so it won't be a huge learning curve), then think about what DAW to buy.. I mean not to say you don't have a fooking clue what you're doing, its just quite frustration to spend all this money on something and then spend another month or two playing catch up cause from the demo/cracked version to the real version can be quite different.

*free to use aslong as you don't use it commerically.


And its your choice to use loads of VSTs or not, I only use about 4 synths and 5-6 fx plugins and everything else I use is either native to the DAW or samples...so..

ACID would be very easy learn. very simple. I no longer use it, but I'm glad I did for however long that was. easy on CPU and shit.

Ya man, I agree with the first response. It's pretty much whatever works best for you. Maybe it's Reason, maybe it's FL Studio or Renoise - Just grab some demos and have at it.

Maybe do some YouTube searches for tutorials on different DAWs and see which one might work best for you. Lots of options to choose from. Good luck!