BEST DAW FOR dubstep...

we'll I probably won't be switching DAW's to make DubStep, but I'm working on one right now, i'll post soon and maybe you can help me make it dubsteppy...

Do you have Ableton or FL Studio kicking around anywhere? They might help get something going as far as the beats and outlines. Then you could toss it into Sonar to make it AWESOOOME. ;-) Hope you've been well Shawn. I still gotta try out setting up my lappy with X1 but your insight was super helpful. Cheers.

I like it too (I'm a rock dinosaur but like all the shiny eclectic stuff as well so I'm trying to create a new monster) but I kind of want to check out Ableton in case anyone ever hires me to do some of this new fangled dancy type stuff. I don't know much about dubstep except that it follows a specific beat and incorporates certain sounds or something. IDK... kind of reminds me of all the sub genres of metal. When I was a kid we had hair metal and thrash. Now it's like you need to have a freaking PHD to figure out what's what lest you offend someone. Now if you'll excuse me there are some children playing on my lawn whom I have to spray with my garden hose.

Dubstep

Dubstep (/ˈdʌbstɛp/) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London, England. The music website Allmusic has described its overall sound as "tightly coiled productions with overwhelming bass lines and reverberant drum patterns, clipped samples, and occasional vocals".[1]
The earliest dubstep releases date back to 1998 and were darker, more experimental, instrumental dub remixes of 2-step garage tracks attempting to incorporate the funky elements of breakbeat, or the dark elements of drum and bass into 2-step, which featured as B-sides of single releases. In 2001, this and other strains of dark garage music began to be showcased and promoted at London's night club Plastic People, at the "Forward" night (sometimes stylized as FWD>>), which went on to be considerably influential to the development of dubstep. The term "dubstep" in reference to a genre of music began to be used by around 2002 by labels such as Big Apple, Ammunition and Tempa, by which time stylistic trends used in creating these remixes started to become more noticeable and distinct from 2-step and grime.[2]
A very early supporter of the sound was BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who started playing it from 2003 onwards. In 2004, the last year of his show, his listeners voted Distance, Digital Mystikz and Plastician (formerly Plasticman) in their top 50 for the year.[3] Dubstep started to spread beyond small local scenes in late 2005 and early 2006; many websites devoted to the genre appeared on the internet and aided the growth of the scene, such as dubstepforum, the download site Barefiles and blogs such as gutterbreakz.[4] Simultaneously, the genre was receiving extensive coverage in music magazines such as The Wire and online publications such as Pitchfork Media, with a regular feature entitled The Month In: Grime/Dubstep. Interest in dubstep grew significantly after BBC Radio 1 DJ Mary Anne Hobbs started championing the genre, beginning with a show devoted to it (entitled "Dubstep Warz") in January 2006.[5][6][7]
Towards the end of the decade the genre started to become more commercially successful in the UK, with more singles and remixes entering the music charts. Music journalists and critics also noticed a dubstep influence in several pop artists' work. Around this time, producers also began to fuse elements of the original dubstep sound with other influences, creating fusion genres including the slower and more experimental post-dubstep, and the harsher, electro house and heavy metal influenced brostep, the latter of which greatly contributed to dubstep's rising mainstream popularity in the United States.

The same answer as "what's the best DAW for [fill in a genre]?" Whatever gets the job done. The most popular DAWs for dubstep at the moment are cubase, ableton and logic (no particular order). i have heard dusbtep created with just about ever major DAW. Rusko, a big name (at least in the pre-Brostep era used Acid 6 and Albino for damn near all his tracks. Dubstep has come a long way for it's very sparse, dub reggae meets 2-step garage roots. if you have a good grasp on producing with Sonar, dubstep will not be a problem.

:-p

I seem to remember when I lived back in England, sometime during the mid to late 90's, hearing people mention Dubstep and me just presuming it was some breakaway genre of drum and bass, which was really big at the time. 

We did the whole rave/warehouse party thing in the early 90's. I remember being amazed by "Jungle," which in the early days was pretty much dominated by the same speeded up Amen loops with ridiculously loud sub-bass. It was pretty hardcore. Then I guess a more melodic element crept in and people started to call it "Drum And Bass." At some point, I remember going into the drum and bass rooms of parties and hearing a more industrial, disjointed beat that sounded a lot more menacing. I'm pretty sure people were calling it "step," and "Dub" was something else, a sub-genre of reggae. I'm not sure at what point the two went together. But I guess it's a pretty clearly defined genre now. 

If I had to come up with some dubstep having never done it before, I suppose I would just immerse myself in the music for a couple of weeks, wrap it around my ears. 

Sonar is excellent for Dubstep - especially with a Motown twist

Reason is really big amongst young dubsteppers. I'm sure if you just tinker with the Step Sequencer for the beats then you will get some street credz amongst the dubstep kidz. That's what's important, y'know?

Actually, Dubstep was the competing genre to Drum&Bass IIRC.

Meh... How confused is it possible to get? He he, don't post on your mobile while drinking in the sun

Try this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reHGIYHAR2Q

He he, don't think so. But as I understand it, Dubstep is the new Punk - lot's of provocative content. I'm sure if you want to make a dubste tune about a grandmother making strawberry jam then that's fine too. But simple and direct lyrics tend to attract more interest

The best DAW ... is the one you can use without making you crazy trying to fiddle with re-sizing screens and wading through endless manuals and menus, consuming all of your time to learn the simple things that should otherwise be straightforward and somewhat intuitive and uncluttered with bloat.

Although Sonar is not the popular choice for dubstep, it does have a number of features that work very well for dubstep. Although nowhere near as popular as Massive or FM8 in the genre, Z3ta+(2) have bee nmainstays in the genre. Pentagon is capable of making excellent dubstep bass and a lot easier to achieve these sounds than Zeta.

xabiton

shawn@trustmedia.tv


I just love SONAR, it's been my tool of choice for 10+ years. To Me, the best DAW is SONAR...

Have you tried the others or is this based on its the best because I use it? I have been using Sonar for 7 years. I like Sonar but there are other DAWs I really like as well. I like Sonar for certain tasks while I like other DAWs for other tasks. IMO Sonar doesn't favor stuff like dub step like Live, Reason or FL Studio would. 

This is basically what I said in "that other post" that was referred to but some people here seem to be really dismissive if you don't bow down and praise the almighty Sonar.  Smh. 
 
Sonar is fully capable of making any type of music including dubstep, albeit not ideal imo due to a few shortcomings that exist in it's current incarnation.  As I said in "that other post" it's ultimately about the program you know best as they are all capable, though some might get you to the destination faster than others.  If it's the only program you have and use then the question is a bit moot anyway and you should just use what you have.  However, I know a lot of people use and know more than one DAW.  IF dubstep was my main genre and what I spent most of my time with, honestly, I'd probably opt for something else if given the choice for time/workflow reasons.  But that's me.  Everyone's different.