Hi-
 
I'm currently in a late midlife DAW crisis! I started with Cakewalk for DOS, blah, blah, blah, went through the Pro Audio era, blah, blah, blah, and through SONAR versions up to 8.5. I bailed for several years because I didn't have the hardware to handle the X series. I'm semi-back now, but there are so many times I have to bite my tongue because I want to say "But <this other DAW> handles <such and such> so much better <for this reason>, IMO."
 
I'm torn among three DAWs now, each with their own strengths and almost as importantly, their own forums (with their own forum personalities). On each of them I see posts about how "This is the greatest forum ever, the most helpful and knowledgeable," yada-yada. That's to be expected, but can anyone recommend an objective site where people just discuss the pros and cons of different DAWs without it becoming personal, as in trying to belittle people who use certain DAWs by using nicknames, etc., etc.?
 
Thanks-
 
-Susan

Hi Susan,
 
Not sure, try GearSlutz, KVR Audio and FutureProducers/forums. All these sites are non-developers of DAW software.  It be interesting comparing the results of all three sites (feedback/advise and whinging LOL!) 
 
Hmmm I guess no matter where you go, there will be DAW-Huggers.
 
I suppose the most common feedback is... 'whatever workflow works best for you'.
And..... 'no DAW is perfect, that's why some people use 2 DAW's'.

I don't see why this forum won't be as good a place as any really most people seem pretty mature and level headed.  Try it and if it blows up, try somewhere else?  In fact, I'm enjoying and using these forums far more since setting Sonar aside for [mystery DAW].  I simply don't get involved in any Sonar-specific threads as a result any more, but as a place for general musical/tech discussion this forum is The Best (TM).
 
I've easily tried 20+ DAWs out over the last year and have realised that the typical mentality of 'all the plugin choice under the sun but only ONE DAW' is perhaps a bit silly.  I currently switch between about 5 DAWs depending on what I want to achieve, how quickly I want to work, what hardware (computer) I'm using.

Only ever using one DAW is a bit like only using one synth or one guitar. You'll never find a single DAW that does everything the way you prefer.
 
I use Sonar in my studio, but PreSonus Studio One with my live recording rig.  I much prefer Sonar for 97% of what I do, but there are technical reasons I use Studio One for my live rig.
 
Don't forget we have a feature request area.  If there's something in another DAW you really like that would fit in Sonar, add a feature request.

Personally, I would avoid Notepad.  It takes FOREVER to enter all those zeros and ones!!! 

"Bla bla bla, yada yada yada"
Try some Google searching...

Hi,
 
DAW's make sense to some, and don't to others, at least me!
 
I have had the hardest time, and I don't know why, albeit I am a quarter blind and see double most of the time, but a couple of folks here would rather call me stupid! Abelton I was (at least) able to get started on it, but the time element used on it was crazy ... way too much time, you could say to learn a dumb program. So I switched to Sonar, and it's worse! And hopefully, here in the near future, I can get help to do this, or in the end, I will simply hire someone to come here and teach me ... how to do what I would like to do ... which in the end, is like saying ... you and I do not know merde ... and some folks here would rather trash you than say something positive.
 
For me, the main pages are too small and too busy for my eyes to be able to work with them! It's like I need a monitor that is 40 inches wide or something!
 
But a couple of folks here, have been excellent, though I have yet to get their assist value going, as I have been turning around my computers and setup.

Susan G
That's to be expected, but can anyone recommend an objective site where people just discuss the pros and cons of different DAWs without it becoming personal, as in trying to belittle people who use certain DAWs by using nicknames, etc., etc.?

So you're asking for an open internet forum where people behave like adults and respect others with opinions different from their own? 
 
If you find that place, please share it!
 
Until then, I'd concur with either here (with some understanding of the rules - criticizing Sonar seems to be OK, "promoting" other products apparently isn't) or some of the choices above, though I swore long ago never to visit GS again due to its terrible signal to noise ratio.

I think you'll find "clicks" and "highly opinionated/biased" responses on just about any audio forum.
Gearsluts is a great forum... as is KVR... as are the Cakewalk and Steinberg forums.
I've been on the Cakewalk forums since the early CompuServe days.
IMO, It's still one the best overall forums.
Maybe not completely objective , but you can bring up nearly any point of discussion... and have rational/logical dialog.

Rimshot
"Bla bla bla, yada yada yada"
Try some Google searching...

which usually results in opinions from the horses arse
 
here you hear opinions from the mouth end