First Daw for young (12 years) composer?

I teach some very gifted students. I would like to start some of them on recording their compositions on a relatively simple DAW. I would appreciate any suggestions you might have, Cakewalk or other.
Jack, the Quiet Bear

^^^^ More info behind this would be helpful. A DAW is a tiny piece of the puzzle... do they have a computer? what are they recording (will they need an interface)? what is the intent? Do they have instruments/microphones?

Any DAW without the above is moot. Plus, there are DAW apps for phones that can achieve a great deal. Being that young, cost and whether they will take to it are also considerations, so "free" would be optimal until you know both of the above with some level of certainty.

GARAGE BAND

As far as DAWs go for talented young peeps, Sonar Home Studio is a good starting point. More details would be helpful though in order to point you in the best possible direction.

I will add that I suggest Home Studio because, while it is not as powerful as Sonar Artist, pro or Platinum, that's an advantage for someone who is just starting out. It has a lot fewer features but everything that is needed to get started, so it is functional but not overwhelming, and from my experience with kids, that's the sort of thing they need otherwise they easily get put off, distracted and lose interest. Home Studio would keep them engaged for now.

azslow3
From all DAWs I have tried, Tracktion is the most intuitive to start with. And there is a free (older) version (unlike "basic" free versions from other producers, it has no limits).
But as other have mentioned, that depends from the intention. I have started with top Sonar (to have a capable collection of synths and effects out of the box) and still think that was a good idea (well... at the time I have "started", the price was quite different from what it is now...).
 

i didnt find traktion very intuitive tbh, sonar and cubase made more sense to me.

almeister
Also, I know this is a Cakewalk forum but Presonus Studio 1 Prime is free.
https://shop.presonus.com/products/studio-one-prods/Studio-One-3-Digital-Downloads/Studio-One-3-Prime
 
You may also want to inquire to Cakewalk about educational versions of software too, especially if you're a Cakewalk user and are already familiar with their products.

+1 on both of these suggestions.

My choices for PC would be Home Studio for a paid DAW with lots of online help , support and room to grow .
I got my start here w HS 2 12 years ago . IMHO if someone is serious they will be willing to lay out the bucks ...
 
For free and dipping a toe in the waters w out laying out any cash , +1 for Traction 5 and Studio One Prime ...
 
T5 is actually very good . Once I learned my way around it I liked it so much I went to T 7 and then on to Traction Waveform 8 the full version , the whole enchilada including all their synths and plugs ..Love it ..
 
I have been demoing Studio One Prime on the side . I don't actually care about the limitations. I actually enjoy having them ...sounds crazy I know but not being able to fall back on all my plugs and VST's has been a good thing. On my down time I like to mess around with other DAW's
IMHO what the S O  Prime demo does come with still kicks the pants out of any HD recorder I've ever owned
 
For someone who want's to make beats , one of the coolest free Beat & Midi orientated  DAW's I have ever used is LMMS.
https://lmms.io/
LMMS gets compared favorably to F L Studio all the time ...
I have it on my Mac which believe it or not is no wheres as good as having on a PC...On PC LMMS can access VST's not so on Mac yet ...
I suppose someone may not like the fact that it does not record audio as of yet , but you can import audio files and it also comes with a real nice sampler and a large selection of on-board instruments ...
I do like this one a lot and I do plan on putting it on my PC  ....
 
For Mac Garage Band is the way to go .
 
all the best,
 
Kenny
 

JohanSebatianGremlin

 
Ok maybe that's a little on the extreme side but hear me out. You don't have to teach kids how to use DAW software. Instead, what you really need to teach them is how to record audio. There is no better way to teach/learn the fundamentals of recording audio than by using actual basic recording hardware. Teach them to record on tape. Teach them to mix on a mixer. Teach them the basics of the audio signal path. Teach them to use outboard processing with a mixer and recorder. 

Do that with them first and learning to use a DAW will be a piece of cake for them.

Now this made me laugh, a bit of nostalgia, perhaps a tear in the corner of my eye, because that's where I started to learn recording, I was a lot older than 12 . . . but I'm thinking the audio kids of today will never have to live with the limitations of the archaic cassette world, they will never have to compete with the dreaded signal to noise ratio, the demagnetizer . . . bye the way . . . your old 244 is missing a knob, guess it's seen better days.
 
Another comment here from rebel007: "I think if you gave a 12 year old a copy of Sonar Platinum they would have it figured out in a matter of weeks." . . . not too sure about that, they might be able to record something simple, but I think it takes a lot more than a few weeks to dive into the deepness of Sonar, and fully reveal what it can really do.
 
I agree with Chuckey . . . Sonar Home studio would be best for basic starter . . . just make sure the kids have a proper audio interface and understand the importance of that !

I believe that the Cakewalk trial is for Platinum, as on the 'Try Sonar for free' page all I see is a link for Platinum.
 
Here is a link for the feature comparison table between versions.  The core program is the same for all versions.
https://www.cakewalk.com/Products/SONAR/Versions
 
Since you mentioned music theory and reading music, there is a cool free notation editor that would be handy with any of the free DAWs.  You can enter notes via MIDI, or by hand with a mouse, directly onto a staff view.  Then save the song as a .mid file and open in a DAW to orchestrate, playback, and record.
Check out MuseScore at:  https://musescore.org/

tlw

If not everyone uses a PC then things get a bit more complicated, unless all have access to Macs or iPads. If so then Garageband would be an obvious choice. A mix of PCs and Macs would probably be easiest to handle if they all have the same software.

Tracktion runs on Windows, Macs, and Linux.

kennywtelejazz

abacab

tlw

If not everyone uses a PC then things get a bit more complicated, unless all have access to Macs or iPads. If so then Garageband would be an obvious choice. A mix of PCs and Macs would probably be easiest to handle if they all have the same software.

Tracktion runs on Windows, Macs, and Linux.

All the students read music . I think that would play heavy into what DAW's the students would want to use .
 
Kenny
 

So I guess the open question remains whether they plan to compose offline, and just use the DAW to record their performance, or whether they want to use the computer as a composition tool.
 
Since they play real instruments, maybe they will fall onto the first category?

iZotope had linked this article back in April which is of a guy (Steve Lacy) who does most of his work using an iPhone/Garageband. It stuck out because it starts with him sitting in a studio but recording into an iPhone.
 
At 12, most kids are going to be mobile, or work mobile, and that is pretty much a given. The "hidden costs" associated with a DAW are going to manifest themselves at some point, so solutions they prefer (not ones others would impose upon them) are of high consideration. If you are footing the bill, it is a different story than telling them "buy this, it will be good for you."