bluzdog
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/08 23:21:18
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bitflipper
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/08 23:30:41
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☄ Helpfulby Resonant Serpent 2017/06/09 02:36:39
Here's an angle no DAW vendor has thought of: reporting.
The kind of software I make my living with might seem far removed from DAWs and other audio tools, but there are more similarities than one might assume. It's all about turning numbers into something real, data into information, be it in the form of sales projections or music. In my world, reports are a big part of that process.
Here's one example: project reports and track sheets. In the days of tape recorders, what did you find affixed to every reel in the vault? A piece of paper (or multiple papers) showing track listings, run times, routing information, effect settings, microphones used, recording dates and times, artist and engineers' names, and other project notes. In the digital world, even more information could be included, such as virtual instruments and elapsed time spent. Some of that information is currently available from SONAR, but not as a nicely formatted report.
Another report users might find useful: virtual instrument listings. These could be for an individual project, a group of related projects, or global to the system. Wouldn't it be great to have a list of every project on disk with a list of which virtual instruments and which patches/libraries were used in each? Somebody hears an old mix of yours and says "I want THAT bass on my record" - no need to rely on memory alone to find out exactly how you got that bass sound eight years ago. If you had a searchable database, it would be trivial to locate which instruments you used for what project, or what your most-used instruments were, or which instruments you've never used.
Here's another: routing matrices. Got a warning about a silent bus, but can't figure out why? Got an instance of Kontakt that won't freeze (just happened to me last week)? Getting confused with multiple headphone mixes? Can't figure out why your exported audio sounds different from the project playback? These kinds of questions could be answered in seconds with a graphical routing map. Reports needn't to be on paper.
 All else is in doubt, so this is the truth I cling to. My Stuff
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FabUrcSA
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/08 23:52:24
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i think, that Daw's not easy or hard.... but... in this days with a lot of variations and years of evolution it's for somebody new hard to familiarize with too much tools and extras....
The Daw always it's "simple", but the tools and extras make the difficult.
In my case, i work with Daws since 1995... i think.... so.. years of evolution that i'd learnd.-
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Kev999
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/08 23:58:21
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☄ Helpfulby jimfogle 2017/06/09 19:18:47
I believe that it would be good if new users could be offered a choice several alternative "Get Started" routes depending on how they want to first approach it. Some users might prefer to start by importing some audio and experimenting with effects. Others may wish to record guitar first. There are a few distinct possibilities and each person will have their own preference. Myself, I got started initially by learning how to insert a virtual instrument and edit notes in PRV. After gaining some confidence, I started exploring other aspects of the software package and soon began making fast progress.
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abacab
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 00:20:11
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☄ Helpfulby dwardzala 2017/06/09 11:31:49
I think that for many of the folks that have been engineers, or have been recording for the past few decades, it is difficult to empathize with someone just starting out, who just wants to write a song, or make a recording.
Say the typical new user buys a MIDI controller, or a DAW, and expects magic to happen because of everything that they have heard about this new technology. Expecting them to "learn the ropes" is not the way to sell music software.
Personally, I have been working with computers for 4 decades, and DAWs for two decades, but I also realize that there is still a huge gap for new learners to get started.
Last year I ordered an AKAI MPK Mini in order to have something portable to use with my laptop. I was really surprised at the number of reviews for the product that expressed negative comments about the software downloads and activations required in order to be able to produce sounds from the keyboard. Lots of disappointed birthday and Christmas presents from mommy and daddy.
I just say this because there seems to be this assumption that music technology only belongs to the "learned".
I think the OP's question was, "what can we do to make it easier?" ...
DAW: CbB; Sonar Platinum, and others ...
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abacab
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 02:36:52
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soens
The answer is simple: A Hover Car!
A DAW would be easier if it came with it's own artificial intelligence like Siri or Cortana. Simply ask your DAW to record and it records for you. Ask it to mix and it mixes for you. Ask it to master and it masters for you. If you apply an edit that ruins the take, mix, or master, it tells you and/or corrects it for you.
I believe you have completely missed the point. -1
DAW: CbB; Sonar Platinum, and others ...
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Resonant Serpent
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 02:38:57
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☄ Helpfulby jimfogle 2017/06/09 19:19:45
bitflipper
Here's an angle no DAW vendor has thought of: reporting.
The kind of software I make my living with might seem far removed from DAWs and other audio tools, but there are more similarities than one might assume. It's all about turning numbers into something real, data into information, be it in the form of sales projections or music. In my world, reports are a big part of that process.
Here's one example: project reports and track sheets. In the days of tape recorders, what did you find affixed to every reel in the vault? A piece of paper (or multiple papers) showing track listings, run times, routing information, effect settings, microphones used, recording dates and times, artist and engineers' names, and other project notes. In the digital world, even more information could be included, such as virtual instruments and elapsed time spent. Some of that information is currently available from SONAR, but not as a nicely formatted report.
Another report users might find useful: virtual instrument listings. These could be for an individual project, a group of related projects, or global to the system. Wouldn't it be great to have a list of every project on disk with a list of which virtual instruments and which patches/libraries were used in each? Somebody hears an old mix of yours and says "I want THAT bass on my record" - no need to rely on memory alone to find out exactly how you got that bass sound eight years ago. If you had a searchable database, it would be trivial to locate which instruments you used for what project, or what your most-used instruments were, or which instruments you've never used.
Here's another: routing matrices. Got a warning about a silent bus, but can't figure out why? Got an instance of Kontakt that won't freeze (just happened to me last week)? Getting confused with multiple headphone mixes? Can't figure out why your exported audio sounds different from the project playback? These kinds of questions could be answered in seconds with a graphical routing map. Reports needn't to be on paper.
Excellent ideas. I'd love a printed spreadsheet function that told me exactly what every plugin in a project was set to.
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timidi
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 02:41:00
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What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
stop changing and re-arranging what works.
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abacab
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 02:48:50
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☄ Helpfulby jimfogle 2017/06/09 19:20:11
The whole point of the original post was how to get a noob started. Not how to make it easier for experienced users. If Cakewalk or any other companies can't figure this out, they risk becoming dinosaurs. Like in fossils, extinct.
Put on the hat as if you were just starting out today, not knowing anything ...
DAW: CbB; Sonar Platinum, and others ...
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soens
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 02:49:08
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abacab
soens
The answer is simple: A Hover Car!
A DAW would be easier if it came with it's own artificial intelligence like Siri or Cortana. Simply ask your DAW to record and it records for you. Ask it to mix and it mixes for you. Ask it to master and it masters for you. If you apply an edit that ruins the take, mix, or master, it tells you and/or corrects it for you.
I believe you have completely missed the point. -1
Well, that was the point.  No worries though, my post went the way of the DoDo after making 3 edits.
post edited by soens - 2017/06/09 19:48:12
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RedSkyRoad
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 03:08:53
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Easy access to automation of vst controls. In Ableton, if you click on the vst's button you want to automate, the automation curve is automatically selected, ready for editing. This pull-down menu system of SONAR is laborious!!!!
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fantini
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 04:25:37
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I love the learning curves as long as no one defines how quick I should learn. I buy a DAW I can grow with. What all DAW's are missing is High Amperage. Super current.....Super stability.
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SGodfrey
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 10:03:59
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I loved home music production for many, many years but wasn't able to get past the learning curve. When Project 5 came along I was finally able to get on the ladder and start creating because it was much more user-friendly. I thought it would be straightforward to upgrade from Project 5 to Sonar (Sonar v6 - v8.5), but I couldn't do it; I was always stopped by things that seemed simple to me like adding a track, but in practice were more complicated. I remember thinking "this is so silly, why is this difficult? It makes no logical sense" and then I'd lose all impetus and all creativity. What changed? Sonar X1 - I found the user interface to be much easier to understand but MOST IMPORTANTLY, there were videos and webinars that accompanied the release, especially the ones done by Brandon and Seth. They were the key to allowing me to make the leap and these days, my understanding is SO far beyond what it was back then. The webinars were the greatest help to me, because they were going through building "whole" tracks and with this approach there were so many tricks, tips and things to learn along the way. In conclusion:- - Music production and DAWs are a complex subject, however ...
- Never forget the difference a user friendly interface can make
- Not everyone wants to read the manual. Tutorials and webinars are key.
A final note - I'm actually a bit worried about Sonar at the moment. Not the software or the development - that's fantastic! It's the presence of Sonar on the internet - it has such a small profile, people haven't heard of it. In my opinion, the top DAWs are Cubase, Sonar, Ableton and Logic and the latter is mainly there because it's scooped up the mac users (let's not get into the "which is best" debate, but obviously it's Sonar  ). You will find a ton of YouTube tutorials for Ableton, Logic and Cubase, but very little for Sonar and a lot of the Sonar stuff is aging. I am currently finding that I'm falling behind with Sonar. Every month, new stuff is introduced (which is great), but I'm not learning it. Admittedly, I've become a Maschine user and for me, it's a huge creativity boost, but I still transfer over to Sonar at some point and I love Sonar. However, I'm really looking for a few webinars (Brandon/Seth style). Go though a whole track making process and along the way, use a whole heap of the new tools and techniques. For me, this is the missing link! Similarly for the new users, a review of the video tutorials is overdue. Rather than have a mishmash of various videos done over many years, design a tutorial series from scratch. What would be the ideal series for users to progress?
post edited by SGodfrey - 2017/06/09 11:25:41
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lfm
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 11:32:42
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☄ Helpfulby jimfogle 2017/06/09 19:31:33
Look at how video editors do it and steal some. Very distinct choices what you want to work on right now and gui changes to support just that. Been working in Premiere elements, Nero Video and PowerDirector - and PD is favourite still. When having multiple camers - open Multi Camera room. When you work at transitions you open Transition room and upper gui changes to support that. When you want an effect on a clip - Effect room opens. Set chapters - Chapter room and so on. So highly customizable operations like these, so you can create your own workflow completely. So some major states - Tracking, Mixing, Rendering - then subcategories on these that you create your own as needed. This means a toolbar customized for each subcategory, and now gui area is used like how many tracks. Maybe you want to work with foundation of drums, bass and pads into one - and select which tracks belong to that - and not exclusive, some tracks may be used in several subcats. Vocals might be another subcat. For daws subcategory Tracking/Recording and Mixing this might be: a) tracking - maybe make a couple of those as you found needed, do you record full sessions on many tracks or just one at a time and so on. It's bound to be different for every person. b) mixing - this might be different things to quickly get access to automation and such. Group tracks as needed to have them right in place for you switch to a certain subcategory. Clever things already in other daws:Preset list of time ranges save - both Samp, ProTools and Cubase has cycle markers kind of idea. Cubase has ability to 10 marker tracks, where one is active at a time. Meaning you can have set positions prepared for recording, not needed general use of preroll - you decide where each section is for a section. so I use one marker track for recording positions for the project. Another for vocals to quickly jump between positions for vocals only. Reaper has folder tracks which include a bus, which is also visible in mixer to expand/collapse as needed. Cubase and ProTools has separate automation curves for absolute and relative which can be frozen into absolute as needed - and works for any track as well as VCA fader groups. ProTools has really neat display of delay compensation in mixer like this: This makes you feel in control. 
Cubase Pro 9 with SA2015 as backup - W7 i7 2.8GHz 16G GeForce GT 730 - RME HDSP 9632 + AI4S
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Majic
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 13:21:42
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☄ Helpfulby John T 2017/06/10 10:17:23
Pro Tips
"Dumbing down" creative tools actually makes it harder to do what you want. Give me nothing but a 3-inch-wide flat brush and a can of black paint, and I'm not going to give you a Renoir.
The best DAWs offer the best flexibility. That's going to necessarily be complicated. Structuring menus sensibly can help, as can offering "basic" and "advanced" modes, if done right.
In my experience, the most helpful thing that makes DAWs easier to use is current, concise and cogent online help and tool tips.
Doing that right can be a hassle, but answering quick user questions quickly, with easy-to-use pathways leading to deeper answers for deeper questions, delivers the biggest bang for the buck, in my opinion.
Enjoy the time you've got, because it's all the time you get.
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konradh
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 13:31:29
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☄ Helpfulby John T 2017/06/10 10:17:20
Mine is pretty simplistic: Clarify Help.
Sonar is famous for saying things like, "Click on the wombat tool" without any indication where one might find it, or what it might look like. I then waste hours trying to find the mythical tool or icon.
This is a three week job for an intern.
Konrad Current album and more: http://www.themightykonrad.com/ Sonar X1d Producer. V-Studio 700. PC: Intel i7 CPU 3.07GHz, 12 GB RAM. Win 7 64-bit. RealGuitar, RealStrat, RealLPC, Ivory II, Vienna Symphonic, Hollywood Strings, Electr6ity, Acoustic Legends, FabFour, Scarbee Rick/J-Bass/P-Bass, Kontakt 5. NI Session Guitar. Boldersounds, Noisefirm. EZ Drummer 2. EZ Mix. Melodyne Assist. Guitar Rig 4. Tyros 2, JV-1080, Kurzweil PC2R, TC Helicon VoiceWorks+. Rode NT2a, EV RE20. Presonus Eureka. Rokit 6s.
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interpolated
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 18:58:26
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I find that some of the changes aren't documented and I have to figure out or remember where something is through the plethora of main and context menus. However you don't expect everything to be that easy from a kick off.
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jimfogle
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 19:28:26
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fantini
I love the learning curves as long as no one defines how quick I should learn. I buy a DAW I can grow with. What all DAW's are missing is High Amperage. Super current.....Super stability.
Agree about stability. Lots of crash and burns anytime a user first starts learning any software. As long as software is crash resistant, stable and doesn't sink the boat (blue screen the PC) then users can learn from mistakes. Once a mistake cracks Humpty Dumpty's shell the user won't trust the system or software.
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dcumpian
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 19:43:58
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☄ Helpfulby jimfogle 2017/06/13 19:48:27
I used to think that if experienced engineers just shared their knowledge, I could finally learn how to properly mix. It took me a long time to realize that, in many cases, there is no way to pass that experience and ability to listen to someone who doesn't know what I'm talking about. You can always make computers, and by extension, DAW's easier to setup and use. You'll never be able to impart knowledge that the user isn't ready to understand.
As a longtime Cakewalk customer, setup is probably the most difficult thing to get right, and since a new user is going to run into that hurdle on the very first day, I would recommend finding a way to streamline the setup process that gets you to a stable platform as a starting point, including using proper default settings and warning about possible system issues that might impact performance and stability.
Dan
Mixing is all about control. My music: http://dancumpian.bandcamp.com/ or https://soundcloud.com/dcumpian Studiocat Advanced Studio DAW (Intel i5 3550 @ 3.7GHz, Z77 motherboard, 16GB Ram, lots of HDDs), Sonar Plat, Mackie 1604, PreSonus Audiobox 44VSL, ESI 4x4 Midi Interface, Ibanez Bass, Custom Fender Mexi-Strat, NI S88, Roland JV-2080 & MDB-1, Komplete, Omnisphere, Lots o' plugins.
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abacab
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 20:06:07
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☄ Helpfulby jimfogle 2017/06/13 19:49:09
lfm
Look at how video editors do it and steal some.
Very distinct choices what you want to work on right now and gui changes to support just that.
Been working in Premiere elements, Nero Video and PowerDirector - and PD is favourite still.
When having multiple camers - open Multi Camera room.
When you work at transitions you open Transition room and upper gui changes to support that.
When you want an effect on a clip - Effect room opens.
Set chapters - Chapter room
and so on.
So highly customizable operations like these, so you can create your own workflow completely.
So some major states - Tracking, Mixing, Rendering - then subcategories on these that you create your own as needed.
This means a toolbar customized for each subcategory, and now gui area is used like how many tracks.
Maybe you want to work with foundation of drums, bass and pads into one - and select which tracks belong to that - and not exclusive, some tracks may be used in several subcats.
Vocals might be another subcat.
For daws subcategory Tracking/Recording and Mixing this might be:
a) tracking - maybe make a couple of those as you found needed, do you record full sessions on many tracks or just one at a time and so on. It's bound to be different for every person.
b) mixing - this might be different things to quickly get access to automation and such. Group tracks as needed to have them right in place for you switch to a certain subcategory.
I think those are some good suggestions! Since you didn't mention "Lenses", which appeared in recent versions of Sonar, you may not have tried them yet. They alter the workspace by showing/hiding UI elements to optimize for a specific workflow. Defaults in Platinum are Advanced, Basic, Make Beats, Mix, Record. https://www.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=SONAR&language=3&help=Lenses.1.html I think Lenses may be a first good step in this direction, but IMO it is not yet a complete solution. I think that not only should the GUI adapt to your intended workflow, but maybe the DAW behavior as well could adapt. There are probably many ways that this could be implemented, in layers, but the result could appear to be several DAWs in one, while leveraging the same core DAW under the hood. Maybe a front-end for on-boarding new users could be added. And after an initial install, you could click on "I'm an expert" and never see any of this sillyness again!  But for the new user, maybe a little hand holding would be in order ... First maybe begin with a prompt, "Would you like to view a few getting started tutorials to (a) setup your audio or MIDI gear? (b) record an instrument? (c) record a vocal? (d) play a soft synth? (e) make beats? (f) etc. Then load a Lens and project template to accompany the chosen tutorial that has only the essential UI elements necessary for the task. All track assignments and settings could also be made automatically for a simple demo project.
DAW: CbB; Sonar Platinum, and others ...
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mixmkr
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 20:13:58
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☄ Helpfulby John T 2017/06/10 10:18:09
Optional help baloons and easy access help files that don't overide being able to make changes in the DAW at the same time while still viewing the help files.
Some programs I like the descriptions that pop up as you move your curser....in a more in depth approach hopefully....especially over a row of picture icons
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rsinger
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 20:31:44
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I think audio configuration is an area that could use some improvement. It would be nice if a person could install a DAW and it would run on a decent motherboard with acceptable latency for recording and playback. Maybe the improvements to WASAPI have fixed that. The audio fidelity may not be there for pros, but the functionality would. I suspect for that to work you need microsoft to buy in so the audio drivers could be certified. Along the same lines can configuration of third party audio I/F be improved? Does the DAW industry have a working group? A number of industries have working groups where they develop standards. Is it possible for all DAW SW to use the same configuration for the interface to drivers? It seems like having DAWs use a common configuration standard would be a benefit to users and audio I/F manufacturers. It would be nice if an audio I/F manufacturer could say this is the recommended setup and it would be common across all DAWs, rather than having to specify for each particular DAW. I also like stickman's idea a multi-track recorder view and having that view designed for ease of use.
post edited by rsinger - 2017/06/09 21:18:27
Sonar Platinum, 64 bit, win 7 pro - 64 bit
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fitzj
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 20:39:24
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I guess Daw's are a little like the Supermarket, everything is there but they keep moving it to different shelves. I use cakewalk and I know it very well but every now and then I have to search on youtube to see a video how its done. You have to be prepared to spend a long time learning how to us the tools. So much you have to know. By the way I hate this phrase. "The Creative Process".
post edited by fitzj - 2017/06/09 23:51:44
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fitzj
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 20:40:43
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bitflipper
Here's an angle no DAW vendor has thought of: reporting.
The kind of software I make my living with might seem far removed from DAWs and other audio tools, but there are more similarities than one might assume. It's all about turning numbers into something real, data into information, be it in the form of sales projections or music. In my world, reports are a big part of that process.
Here's one example: project reports and track sheets. In the days of tape recorders, what did you find affixed to every reel in the vault? A piece of paper (or multiple papers) showing track listings, run times, routing information, effect settings, microphones used, recording dates and times, artist and engineers' names, and other project notes. In the digital world, even more information could be included, such as virtual instruments and elapsed time spent. Some of that information is currently available from SONAR, but not as a nicely formatted report.
Another report users might find useful: virtual instrument listings. These could be for an individual project, a group of related projects, or global to the system. Wouldn't it be great to have a list of every project on disk with a list of which virtual instruments and which patches/libraries were used in each? Somebody hears an old mix of yours and says "I want THAT bass on my record" - no need to rely on memory alone to find out exactly how you got that bass sound eight years ago. If you had a searchable database, it would be trivial to locate which instruments you used for what project, or what your most-used instruments were, or which instruments you've never used.
Here's another: routing matrices. Got a warning about a silent bus, but can't figure out why? Got an instance of Kontakt that won't freeze (just happened to me last week)? Getting confused with multiple headphone mixes? Can't figure out why your exported audio sounds different from the project playback? These kinds of questions could be answered in seconds with a graphical routing map. Reports needn't to be on paper.
But you had to serve your time before you got near any of the faders.
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LLyons
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/09 22:28:24
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I am getting to a point where I can usually figure things out - but truth be told, when I hit a bit of a wall, the first thing I think about is - what am I missing??? That said..
Imagine in your Cakewalk user data, a check box that would say 'sure, I'd be glad to try and help'. Then maybe a few check boxes for maybe strengths like hardware, recording, mixing, mastering etc., and music genres like EDM, Rock, Jazz, Country... Then...
Imagine your stuck - you click on a 'anybody got an idea' button. Cick on recording, then rock.. Your screen is then prepared to show in a interactive forum. You may want to be discrete and choose who to share with. Your help flag shows up to online users who 'like to help' who have a strength in 'recording' and 'rock' might be the genre of choice. They figure 'sure I have some time to share' and click on that flag.. A dialog box starts, and away we go...
Since we are helping Cakewalk, and improving their business posture in the world - maybe there could be a few low cost give aways (like a mug or a 20 dollar gift certificate to something in the store). Nothing to exorbitant but just enough to provide a status of you counted when it was needed. Maybe at end, a check box on the user as to how helpful it was.
Then - maybe - some way to record the image, and key sequence to fix - so that it could be used as an archived example..
Then maybe a online live 'PLATINUM' yearly show. Simple - this is what we learned - who helped.. Who got the MUG. A lot of folks have been asking for a mug - just sayin...
'What am I missing' is taken care of, a re-use of the example is made available for everyone, a social status of 'you done good serving others', and a cakewalk mug...
At least it would be a neat social experiment, to me.
L Lyons DOS and Windows Pro Audio 2-9 from 12 Tone, Sonar 2, 2XL, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 8.5, Producer, Producer Expanded, X1 Producer, X2 Producer, X3 Producer and now Sonar Platinum 64 bit - 2nd year Home Built Machine 32G Ram - Corsair Vengeance DDR4 Win 10 Pro Intel i7-6700K Gigabyte Z170-UD5 Thunderbolt3 - AVB ready Planar Hellium 27 touchscreen Limited connection to internet DAW use ONLY WAVES 9.2 64 Bit MOTU 1248 - Connect Thunderbolt MOTU AVB Switch Presonus RM32ai - Connect firewire 800 CS18ai - Connect AVB
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gprokap
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/10 03:57:45
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DAWs aren't hard.
Some people are just dumb.
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Larry Jones
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/10 06:20:48
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Presets. The QuadCurve EQ presets are a good start, as are the project templates and lenses, but more of them, tailored to more genres and types of projects (2-hour narrations, 3-minute guitar pop songs, orchestral pieces, recording, sweetening, mixing, etc). Once the project is open, a whole bunch of track templates for various instruments and vocals would be handy. Basically, any pre-built setups that take advantage of industry standards and best practices, to get the ball rolling. Obviously users would adjust templates and presets to their own taste, and nobody would have to use any of the pre-built stuff, but I think it would make DAWs easier to use if they contained a lot of quick-start stuff.
PS: I know you can make your own templates, but the question is "what would make DAWs easier to use?" Creating a template from scratch is just as hard as working without templates, and almost impossible if you're new at the game.
SONAR Platinum 2017.10 • CbB • Win10 • i7/2600 • 16GB RAM • Focusrite Scarlett 6i6 • NVIDIA GeForce 8400GS
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lfm
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/10 08:58:37
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abacab
Maybe a front-end for on-boarding new users could be added. And after an initial install, you could click on "I'm an expert" and never see any of this sillyness again!
Yes, I think experienced users might me put off by too much changes. Again video editors have Basic and Expert view - all of them. Seems that developers know they are targeting home users with film cameras - and made things a bit different. Cameras are just a button to shoot, they expose and focus automatically nowadays - and you have something to pick parts of - so quite different from creating music where recording part is done in daw. What I liked having the first glance in 20 years at video editors 9 months ago - all options available are in front of you, kind of. It was so easy to comprehend. Quite a bit of gui was reserved to present options you have which is really nice when you are new to a tool. Lenses, if having Professional at least with manager, seems quite a good leap forward. Thank you for link. Plenty good thinking there. Didn't quite get difference from screen sets before. When Steinberg abandon Windows 7, which seems really near by, I'll have a look at Sonar again. Halion 6 was introduced ditching W7, but backed off that when rioting userbase screemed. But would not give an estimate for Cubase at all - so I might be in a dead end sooner than I planned for. I'm not getting a new computer just because of that. Anyway, that's why I keep a good look at Cakewalk camp still. I want products that are alive and maintained.
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wetdentist
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/10 13:32:03
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☄ Helpfulby Starise 2017/07/13 17:34:55
i like the idea of voice recognition controls, if only one that allows me to say "record" & that activates recording, because my guitar stuff is set up approx 8 feet away from my mouse (and my motherboard doesn't have any room for wifi or bluetooth, because of its "micro" design). "record!"
3.5 Ghz AMD 6-Core/16 gigs RAM, Roland Quad-Capture, Win 10, Cakewalk by Bandlab, Komplete 10, z3ta+, Z3TA+ 2, Rapture, Maschine 2.7 (MKI & Jam), Melodyne 4 Studio, Ozone 4, Jam Origin MIDI Guitar 2, Schecter Damien Elite, Fender Sonoran w/TronicalTune Plus installed, etc go here to hear Wet Dentist (2000-2016 RIP) my new sounds: The Das Kaput
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JohnEgan
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Re: What Would Make DAWs (Not Just SONAR) Easier to Use?
2017/06/10 14:41:08
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Great thread/question to ask ourselves, it really gets you thinking. Id agree with some responses of more "why" integrated within how help screens, especially when getting started,
Integrating DAW's for Dummies app into help system would be good, LOL.
I guess someone who's genuinely interested in the recording process is going to invest the time and effort into researching and learning. As referenced article may suggest, more current generations want things yesterday, and provided by a smartphone App with the most work you have to do is subscribe and allow access to your life, LOL. (In my day we had to walk ten miles in 5 feet of snow just to get to the studio, then realize you forgot tape).
Otherwise a more robust and more interactive artificially intelligent help system, with signal analysis capability and a more comprehensive automated history record keeping in a data base. Expanding on mix scenes and lenses and somewhat like Izotope Neutron track assistant, masking tools and history logging taken to next level or 2, not only making certain FX and chain order choices after analyzing a track/project, but also providing additional reference, query capability and information as to why and/or what these choices were based on. Hey, if we can we land a probe on a comet, a million miles away out in space somewhere, why not an artificially intelligent DAW here on earth, LOL?
I guess in the end after learning all the hows, whys, whens, wheres and "say what's", or having computer tell you what to do, it all still comes down to making something sound good, which may be more of a intuitive gift than something learned.
Otherwise I was helping a friend just getting started to setup a 2 channel Presonus AI, with Studio 1 Artist included, which Im not to familiar with, while it has some intuitive stuff to get started, and he was up recording in minutes after installation, beyond that I found the GUI so frustrating to teach with, so I bought him Sonar Home Studio to learn on (or for me to teach on, LOL), it seems so much easier to learn and teach with Sonar, for what ever reasons. (perhaps my bias and experience with Sonar).
Cheers
John Egan Sonar Platinum (2017-10),RME-UFX, PC-CPU - i7-5820, 3.3 GHz, 6 core, ASUS X99-AII, 16GB ram, GTX 960, 500 GB SSD, 2TB HDD x 2, Win7 Pro x64, O8N2 Advanced, Melodyne Studio,.... (2 cats :(, in the yard).
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