19 Best DAW's in the World Today - Music Radar Poll

http://www.musicradar.com/tuition/tech/the-19-best-daw-software-apps-in-the-world-today-238905
 
19.  MuLabs
18.  Sony Acid
17.  Apple Garage Band
16.  Nuendo
15.  Samplitude Pro X
14.  Renoise
13.  Tracktion
12.  Btwig Studio
11.  Motu Digital Performer
10.  Acoustica Mixcraft Pro
  9. Pro Tools - the quote unquote "Industry Standard"
  8. Cakewalk Sonar X3
  7. Propellerhead Reason
  6. Imageline FL Studio
  5. Presonus Studio One
  4. Steinberg Cubase
  3. Cockos Reaper
  2. Logic Pro
 
And #1 (according to the poll)

  1. Ableton Live

You are now free to bash, kill, maim, and do whatever your heart tells you to do...

The poll question should have been "what DAW do you use?". Ask what's the best of anything and you'll basically get a roll-call response. Everybody wants to think that the DAW (or headphones or monitors or plugins or microphones) they use is the best.
 
The reality is that nobody's in a position to judge the relative merits of more than maybe two DAWs, because you have to live with one for a year or two before you can claim that qualification. And by then, you've probably figured out that whatever DAW you landed on will do the job - as they all will - and stop searching.
 
I'm currently digging into one of those other DAWs for an upcoming review. As I discover its features, I naturally compare it to the DAW I know best. I'll think "oh, it does that better than SONAR", or "SONAR's light years ahead on that feature". But I can't compare it to Logic or Cubase and certainly not Live. And after I've spent three months exploring it I still won't have the expertise needed to rank it like the MusicRadar poll purports to do.

I put absolutely no stock in any of these polls.
They're interesting... but IMO you can't draw any substantial conclusion/s from them.
Two of the most "professionally featured" DAWs are ranked beneath Renoise?!?!    

I use 7 different ones...have for quite a while...

They all have their strengths and weaknesses...

For sheer features...Cubase wins...

For user interface and a plethora of good plugins - Sonar X3

For sound - Mixbus comes out on top...I'd sure like to know what they
are doing under the hood of this thing...

Cleanest Audio Engine and best all overall editing - Sampltiude Pro X

Mixcraft Pro 6 is quite capable at less then 1/3 the price and Mixcraft Pro 7
is right around the corner with full 64 bit support (I'm currently Beta testing build 230)
and it has been rock solid

Studio One 2.6 is very very reliable and capable also...with an integrated Mastering Suite.

Reaper is SUPER lean...and rock solid for me on Win 8.1...

I also have MuLab and Podium installed...

Ok, so I have 9 DAW's in use...but mostly the first 7...

I, personally can't stand Live...but that's just a preference, I can't get past the interface...it
bugs the crap out of me...but know it's used extensively in the EDM movement.
Same for FL Studio...can't deal with it...

I used Pro Tools for several years...it works...it gets the job done...just not my thing,
but I know how to use it if I have to...

Logic Pro is used quite extensively in the "Pro" world as well...

I test drove DP8....it had some strong points...but just didn't "awe" me...

I agree with Jim - all this poll really shows is that a lot of "youngsters" read Music Radar Publications...
and participate in the polls....LOL

I use sonar and logic almost daily and still find them difficult to compare. Every time I find myself thinking one is "clearly superior" in a particular area, I discover something new that makes me question whether the difference is inherent in the DAW or a matter of how I work witht the DAW. The only thing I am completely sure of is that based on my experience, Logic has their best overall set of non-third party plugins. Including Sonar's third party plugins brings it closer but not sure quite. Cubase is close. FL studio is probably the closest believe it or not. I don't use FL much but find myself surprised when time after time I hear sound made with the included synths that hold up against any other synth included with other DAWS.

19?  How about the 117 greatest words that start with the letter X? That'd be as relevant. :P
 
And Live!, really... Seems to me that it's a pretty limited set of options for a first choice. For exemple, if you are scoring to picture, Live doesn't really make sense - DP, Cubase or Logic are much better options and offer much more exhaustive sets of tools. 
 
I doubt that anyone can be as proficient with more than a few DAWs - so any such list is a non-sense. Heck I've been working with Logic for years now, spending hours with it every day, I've completed the Apple certification training manual and I'm working my way through the second one, and no matter how well I know it, I'm still figuring out things all the time and going "Wow! I can do this like that? Awesome"...
 
I don't think I'm a particularly slow learner, and I can't for the life of me imagine that someone would have enough time to reach a point where they can make an objective comparison. Whatever you chose to use is the best.
 
 
 
 
 

Same here. I do have MixBus installed but I can't seem to use it, or even just to find time for it. I've checked out the newest version of Cubase and decided not to upgrade. Previous version uninstalled. Pro Tools - not upgraded and deleted. Studio One - sold.
 
 

Second or third support the premise that these polls are absolutely worthless, except for getting an insight into what others are using. In case we are missing something.
 
Have seen forum posts from DAW's recruiting fanboys to swarm these polls to get brand X on top. Meaningless, misleading, ignorant.
 
My brain is fortunately limited. Got Sonar and Reaper. Deleted everything else. Can't do without either one of these elegant creations because each picks up the death bell short falls of the other. Some may argue that Renoise and Mixbus deliver digital Nirvana.  Rationale got to be listened to and taken it for what it may be worth. I always try to learn something regardless how remote.
 
John
 
 

Another plus recommendation for Samplitube from you guys. Adobe Audition 1.5, cool but goes south on Win 8.1. Scrambling for an alternative. Will have to give up my love affair with this dinosaur at some point. Degenerate "upgrades" to Audition are a downhill requiem at best. Sad to see the corruption of something that had such potential years ago when Syntrillium was calling the shots. Adobe bought them out and unfortunately, the rest is history.
 
John

mike_mccue
When does Cubase 8 come out?

Mike,

From the Cubase forum
http://www.steinberg.net/....php?f=198&t=57702

Like Dub said, Audition 1.5 was the peak before the fall. Ver 2 was a mess. Midi implimentation was a disaster. They took out midi in ver 3 rather than tackle the mess they created. Bugs abounded that never were fixed.
 
Ver 3 was supposedly more stable, but still forked up badly in critical areas.
 
Don't laugh or judge unless you have applied the technology. Major loss in current versions is the signal or tone generator.
 
Allowed the creation of growth stimulation files for plants, gardens outside or whatever inside the house.
 
Taken out after ver 3, which was a major loss to informed state of the art gardeners, using Audition to keep their crops and indoor plants healthy. Different form of music appreciated by a diferent audience.
 
John

Dub,
 
Too many beers to get a good response for now, but there was, is credible science behind what Adobe Audition offered outside the human spectrum of response. Mind blowing applications and laboratory objective proof that the fringe claims are real.. Audition didn't have a clue, but offered an incidental quirk tool that supported something phenomenal.
 
Will follow up with cold facts. When I can sober up and get some time off from work. Will relate some really neat stuff to ponder, that is transcendant and only far away as a couple mouse clicks.
 
Best to all,
 
John
 
 

It was a loss when Syntrillium sold Cool Edit. That was great product. I got Audition. Gotta see which version it is. Still have Cool Edit Pro 2k also. Can't remember if I loaded it on the Win7 machine or not.

Just the mention of what Adobe did to Cool Edit Pro still gets me po'd. Was my first DAW and would still probably be with it otherwise. There was indeed collective rage.
 
I can't get ver 3 to even open in win 8.  Ver 1.5 opens but won't record on my win 8 system. It does open existing files so my workaround has been to render the wav files in Sonar, open and edit them in Audition 1.5. Hanging onto it as long as I can since can't find anything that does many of the functions better (anything that's affordable).
 
Will remember to get back with how you can use Audition to grow your house plants better. Amazing stuff.
 
John