There's no substitute for "talent".

"It was twenty years ago today..."
 
Well not quite, but close, when I walked into a software store in the Mall (remember those?). I believe it was called Babbage's, the predecessor to GameStop.
 
Since I owned a Windows PC, and had seen a Mac setup for music at the local music store, I asked the guy if he knew of anything like that for Windows. He quickly replied "you need to check out Cakewalk!".
 
I did.
 
Cakewalk is still my standard :-)

Mesh
There's no substitute for "talent".

I keep hoping... Sale after sale... But sadly I think you're right...

Mesh
There's no substitute for "talent".

+1 ...Yeah , true dat 
 

Starise

kennywtelejazz
I must say this is a very interesting topic ...it is so rational and civil I simply can't stand it
 
I wonder what will happen in The Music World and too Digital Music Production when all the DAW's of the future gain Artificial Intelligence and that becomes the New Industry Standard  ?
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny
 

 It's not a new concept I suppose. There's a bunch of people who have been running on artificial intelligence for years. Must have lost the real thing long ago :)

that is a distinct possibility .
 
 
Example A , Of an Innovative DAW that has adopted The New A I integration as the New Industry Standard  ...
 
In the future I will be able to say ,
"SONAR can you dial me up a  few nice suggestions on how I can improve my song and mix " ? "I think the EQ sounds I'm using are way off . I've exhausted myself to the bone over here exploring what I can do with this song on my own " ...
 
SONAR , Ken what would you like me to do ?  Would you like me to run The Virtual Craig Anderton Mix Diagnostic Wizard ? 
 
K,  That suggestion sure sounds good lets start there . 
 
SONAR , OK , here's what I've found ...you are using way too much compression on all your tracks . Some of your playing on the tracks need a lot of tightening and you have a clash in the low end between your Bass Guitar part and the Bass Drum . Those parts that are clashing also lack distinction . The timing is off and they are canceling each other out .
Besides dialing in the timing , I think we need to fix the EQ on those tracks and send the low end straight up the middle .
 
Once we fix those issues K ...would you like me to suggest and analyze 4 Grammy Award Winning Songs for you from a Musical Genre that resembles the current Musical Genre you are attempting to Compose in ?
It would be no trouble to do that for you . I can also reroute your tracks for better busing , perform ARA conversions on some of your audio for you and implement better synth sounds that will fit your song so much better that what you have been using ...
I know how much you hate too have too sift through thousands of synth patches just to find a sound ...
It would be no trouble at all . Ken why don't you go fix yourself a cup of coffee .
When you get back , I will have the 4 new versions of your song I mentioned too you dialed up and remastered for your consideration .
 
Note to future self ,
I'm sure glad Cakewalk  decided to include The New Virtual Craig Anderton Mix Diagnostic Wizard in the latest  SONAR upgrade .....
Man , I think I'm starting too like this whole new future DAW A I Industry Standard thing .... 
Now,  I don't want to go home .....Please Don't send me back to the year 2016
 
 
all the best ,
 
Kenny

I got "Pro Tools First" to see what I was missing - I had been using Sony Vegas Pro as my DAW - then I bought a Tascam US2x2 that came with a "light" version of Sonar and the interface was much more intuitive to me. So rather than going with the "industry standard" Pro Tools I bought Sonar Platinum. Money wasn't the issue - enjoying the recording experience was.   

The New Industry Standard :-D
 

In places where MAC is "standard" the discussion about Mac vs PC is rare, and if so' it's a 1 minute uninspired exchange. There are much bigger fish to fry regarding the artists, the budget, the label, the managers, the food, the mix, the publishing etc etc.

Use the tool you love and get on with it.

stevec
That's a great point...   I suppose these discussions are much more important to those (like us) who are not in those studios, working on those projects.    

Indeed

Most of what I've seen on the "other side" is MP3 references and then a request for stems if someone likes what they hear.

The "industry standard" is Pro Tools.
 
Pro Tools is garbage.
 
Don't take it as in insult.

Quote from J.R. Rotem

"When I listen to the beats I made in Sonar, they still sound fatter and warmer than the sounds in Pro Tools. I don't know whether it's to do with the programs' respective algorithms or the MOTU soundcard I used with Sonar, but there's a warmth and punchiness in Sonar that I have not been able to replicate in Pro Tools. I try to compensate with all sorts of analogue sound simulating plug-ins, and it's not a day-and-night difference, but I cannot tell you that Pro Tools sounds better. I also really enjoyed the creative process in working with Sonar, and continue to look back on it very fondly. Switching from Sonar to Pro Tools was a lot of work. I had to export every single audio file from Sonar!"

Assuming your not in a studio that requires you to use a specific one, the only thing that should matter is "Does it allow you to accomplish your audio goals?" Period. 

As a programmer in a world with almost daily morphing in API land occurring across zillions of "Standard Platforms" that there is a famous saying that is absolutely apropos to this topic ...
 
"The best thing about standards is that there are so many to choose from"
 
Basically companies don't have the resources to test every DAW, so they select a few.  Once selected, they will tend to remain with those even if they fall out of favor or some new hotness evolves.  Eventually inertia may force a change.  But, once you choose a standard, the tendency will be to stay there.
 
And as many have stated, you would need a lot of context in order to define "industry standard".  It typically doesn't mean what the user thinks it does.  
 
 

I have gotten this answer several times from Virtual Instrument manufacturers, even as recently as this week.  I bought UJAM Amber (virtual acoustic guitar) and ran into some issues getting it running.  The company was extremely helpful and it is working fine now, but it turns out they do not test on Sonar and had to go off and do some research to figure out what I needed to do.
 
You may remember that a year or so ago many of us were struggling with many bizarre problems with EZ Drummer 2 which was not certified on Sonar and broke a lot of functions.  (Toontrack finally came out with a Sonar-specific work-around.)
 
Standard answer: "Sonar is not a supported platform but any VST should work..."
 

I frequent a few music production subReddits and one of the most common questions newbies ask is "which is the right DAW for me?" Sometimes they list a few DAW's they've been pondering over and invariably people chime in with their suggestions.

Nobody ever mentions Sonar. I throw it into the mix and the response is usually "oh I've heard of that, is it any good?" or "never heard of that one, will check it out."

Bear in mind that Reddit has a notoriously young user base. What I get from this is that Sonar is not doing so well in terms of visibility among the young crowd and Cakewalk really need to fix this problem as part of their long term strategy, and I'm sure they are talking about it. That's going to mean catering a little more for the electronic/EDM crowd than they are now, by borrowing/expanding upon some of the features that other DAW's have implemented for that crowd. Things like the global modulation sources of Bitwig, or the drum rack of Ableton, more features geared toward pattern based arrangement and better automation capabilities. Sonar has a solid user base of older muso's who use the program almost as a tape machine to record more traditional forms of music, but it's not really doing as well as it should among younger users who, regardless of the genre they play, are incorporating synth and EDM type elements into their modern productions.