aidanodr
A CUBASE 8.5 trial is available here. Fill in the form and you get an email with link + trial serial - 9.4GB D/Load:
 
https://shop.steinberg.net/cgi-bin/dlreg?ID=CP85TRIAW
 
If thats any use for you guys testing DAWS
 
 

A trial version that you can't use without purchasing a usb licenser? Can't help but think Steinberg haven't quite hought that one through!

Same thought here. But if it's all the rage it purports to be, you'll need it for the retail version when you buy it. 
 
I may wait for the 9.5 demo as it has a lot of new features 8.5 omits.

I'm intrigued with Bitwig, too, but I'm waiting to download the demo until I finish building a new computer this weekend. But what's this about not being able to change time signatures?!? That's a non-starter for me.

I got the light version of Bitwig with my Nektar LX 88 keyboard. I had a quick play with it. I found it a bit, hmm, teenager, new skool, EDM orientated. That was my impression. That was a year ago and to be honest I am old school so maybe it's just me. I didn't play with it for long. I had a quick look, couldn't find many features I would want then uninstalled it. I did hear somewhere that it has rapidly become one of the most popular DAWs though. Even though, at the time I had never heard of it before.

I've spent a few minutes on demos, not enough to mean anything or research what I don't know, but just to play.  Mixcraft had a music notation view and I could edit in it.  I couldn't find one on Studio One.
 
Now to look at the Cubase demo, then see if Digital Performer has one.

Riojazz, I'm still waiting for the Cubase demo to arrive. I downloaded an 8.5 version earlier but haven't run it as I think quite a bit has changed since then. Did you find a more recent demo? I heard there should be one in a day or two. 

Please tell me more.  One can record to audio and midi tracks?  One can edit the audio and midi?
What kind of audio editing features?
What kind of midi editing features?
Tempo changes?
Time signature changes?
Latency issues?
Windows 10 issues?

Thanks very much,
AB
 

aconte22
Hey 35mm,
As a former VP of Sales at Cakewalk for 12 years, and now VP of Sales at Acoustica for the last five years, we would greatly appreciate your kind consideration to take a serious look at Mixcraft 8 Pro Studio. It is maturing with each new version and will surprise many of you. At $179 (on sale this weekend for $99), it includes side-chaining, VST3 and MP4 support, 64-bit and 32-bit, automation and sub-mixing, live recording to performance panel grids and professional video editing. Beautiful pristine sounding VI's emulating Steinway, Moog and many other vintage analog synths, acoustic instruments and orchestral strings. Includes integrated Melodyne Essentials directly into the sound edit tab, and one-click simultaneous publishing to soundcloud, mixcloud, youtube, FB, tumblr and your other music and video sites. Check it out at  the Acoustica website.
 
Please allow me to point out the intangibles. We are a small software-only company focusing on the PC (like the early days of Cakewalk). We have a CTO who came from Sonic Foundry and was part of the senior development team that created Acid and Vegas, which is why you will see that the Loop Library asset management (over 7800 loops and samples with integration of freesound.org into the sound edit tab with instant access to thousands of more free loops) and video editing are far superior than any other DAW on the market today. Mixcraft 8 is for real!
 
The Cakewalk forum host contacted us and is kindly going to allow us to start a new thread specifically about Mixcraft 8.  Look for the new thread in the coming days, and, of course, please ask any questions you have right here in this thread as well.
Anthony

sharke
Anyone had any experience with Bitwig? It has features that I like but I'm turned off with the lack of support for time sig changes. At least that's what I read - maybe it's changed since then?

Bitwig is probably my favorite new DAW. The workflow is a little different than a traditional DAW, but I really like it, and it really promotes creativity. The best part is the Bitwig developers have a great relationship with the folks at Microsoft. Probably the best Windows DAW next to Sonar, in terms of supporting all the latest Windows 10 and Surface features.

35mm
Riojazz, I'm still waiting for the Cubase demo to arrive. I downloaded an 8.5 version earlier but haven't run it as I think quite a bit has changed since then. Did you find a more recent demo? I heard there should be one in a day or two. 

No, the demo (which I didn't start trying yet) said it was 8.5.

Reaper all the way.  It just works