One question/two answers.
First answer: The first thing that comes to your mind when you read the questions?
Second answer: After a little thought, what is your answer?
 
The question regards your thoughts about any DAW.
 
 
 
First, a premise or stipulation... whatever DAW you are thinking of works properly as far as not crashing, or has a really minimal crash rate (we are talking about computers and I think any computer or piece of software is going to occasionally crash...BUT, for this question we will assume that crashing is not a problem. OK? I guess we can assume that all DAWs have good sound since it is all digital.
 
 
 
 
So then, question: What is the most important thing in a DAW, for you? First thought, then after consideration. I am interested. Answer and discuss, if you please.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
My first thought is easy to learn and easy to use.
 
After a little thought, in addition to ease of use would be good integration of plugins.
 
I would have answered low latency but I think that is more driver and interface related but... some people say that some DAWs offer lower latency... huh?
 
Julien

1)  Can I record audio and MIDI?
2a)  Can it go way beyond recording audio and MIDI when/if I need it to?
2b)  Is it an industry accepted DAW that will play with others (formats, plug-ins, etc.) and be around for awhile?
2c)  Does it have decent tutorials, books and learning videos available?
2d)  Does it run on a PC?

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3) Does the company host a fun forum where post-count matters?

Most important thing is that it doesn't get in the way of creativity.

I switched over to tea from the Dollar General store. It's only $1.50 for a hundred tea bags, which works out a penny and half per cup of great tasting tea.

jamesg1213


Most important thing is that it doesn't get in the way of creativity.

+1
 
I want to turn it on, create without technical problems, and turn it off.  If that means less features than everything under the kitchen sink, then OK as long as the tools it does have works for me.
 
Rimshot
 

1) Can a person of reasonable intelligence use it without being required to re-write their operating system, construct a Quantum State computer out of gum wrappers and duct tape, or purchase every 3rd party product known to mankind?

2) If so, where can I find a person of reasonable intelligence?

3) Will the DAW validate me as a human being, overcome my personality deficits, and transform me into someone with qualities of some kind?

Wait.  Never mind that last one.  I've got becan for that.

I've invested a lot of money in Sonar.  It does what I need.  I will continue to use it until it doesn't do what I need.

I need to:
record audio - typically 1 to 3 tracks simultaneously, but sometimes I've recorded as many as 8 (max of my soundcard)
record MIDI - usually only 1 track at a time, but sometimes several simultaneously.
mix songs
use plugins
export to MP3 & wave

First thought was "LOTS OF SUGAR PLEASE"  and two creams.  

For a DAW and me just getting back into music after decades of being away from it would be,

Easy to manage and operate. After getting into Cakewalk as my first DAW I was surprised at how easy it was to find my way around and learn it for simple recording.

I like being able to open Console View and not having question after question hit me on which way to go or what to do.  Its all laid out in a familiar way.  Same with track view, it doesnt take much time or a degree to figure it out.

The thing that gets under my skin is computers are changing so fast that I dont see how they can work with/finish the build of 1 DAW before needing to move on to the next level of Windows upgrades, New Plug-Ins coming out that wont work on existing systems,  the Rates at which sites use on the internet to playback files, etc...  Id like to see them just slow down and complete a build to the point they can call it finished.

Whether you build or buy your computer, it would be great to buy a finished product (Computer and software) and run it into the ground before having to upgrade to a new system.  


Coffee done yet???  

- Is it stable with the audio device drivers of my soundcard? Absolutely the most important issue which
   eliminates most of the crashing issues out there, if the answer is yes.

- Has the DAW produced a large number of commercially successful products, my second test.

I can deal with the rest.

1 - Is it Logic?

2 - If the answer to 1 is no, why not?

:P

More seriously, one feature that makes a major difference for me is the integrated sampler. Nothing else comes close to Logic and the EXS-24 sampler integration.

Then, let's suppose that every DAW offered a very similar package of features and was as stable, I'd say the way features are integrated, not just put together w/o a rhyme or a reason. 

That's one thing that I dig about my current DAW - the consistency throughout the various menus, keyboard shortcuts and all components so that you can understand things instead of memorizing them or try to guess. 

And, I know that some people hate it, but for me, having a DAW software that's designed to run on one OS, on one type of computer, by the same people who design that OS and that computer, has tremendous advantages.

More and more I'm trying to stick to what's in my DAW. I like the idea that, if tomorrow my computer dies on me, I can walk into a Mac store, buy a new Mac, download Logic from the App Store and be up an running w/in a blink, resuming the session exactly where I left it.

No need to worry whether or not my DAW software will give me problems w/ this or that component of my new computer or to re-install and authorize a bunch of things and update this and that.