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I don't know why a link to this site would be on the front page of HN. Is there something more interesting about this DAW over the others? I happen to use this

by gexla 7y ago

I don't know why a link to this site would be on the front page of HN. Is there something more interesting about this DAW over the others? I happen to use this one myself though. I have found it to be relatively easy to use and one of the more affordable options available at $60 for non-commercial use. They just released 6.0. EDIT: Removed Audacity mention as an alternative because Audacity isn't a DAW.

l33tbro 7y ago
It had an update the other day but ... yeah, why would a legacy software product suddenly be on the front page?
- looperhacks 7y ago
  It received a major update just a few days ago, why do you think it's legacy?
  - l33tbro 7y ago
    Legacy in the sense that it exists in the company of established DAWs such as Pro Tools, Ableton, Cubase et al.
    - zenmaster10665 7y ago
      I don't think legacy means what you think it means
      - l33tbro 7y ago
        Or you don't understand all of the meanings and uses of the term 'legacy'? I meant as in "legacy band"? But probably a poor choice - given there are a lot of coders here who probably associate the term with legacy systems.
    - RantyDave 7y ago
      Cubase is "carbon dating" levels of old. It was the thing on Atari ST's IIRC.
mrtweetyhack 7y ago
gotta sell some shit so they can afford Christmas presents
toupeira 7y ago
Audacity is more of an audio editor though, not a "real" DAW. The most well-known open source DAW I'm aware of is Ardour.
- tialaramex 7y ago
  One of the things on my TODO list that I never get around to is getting back up to speed with the Audacity codebase and making its PCM waveforms look like the actual wave rather than join-the-dots. So many random people use Audacity because it's zero cost, and every one of those people is an opportunity to implicitly teach what's actually going. Yes, they could all go watch Monty's excellent video showing what's going on, but they needn't do that if the tools we give them show everything properly in the first place, they'd just assume "Right I guess it's magic somehow" and only need Monty's video if they needed to actually understand (or argue with people who are wrong on the Internet). Everything else about Audacity is pitched just right for an audience that doesn't need a full-blown DAW anyway.
  - gexla 7y ago
    Thanks for this. Could you provide more info about Monty? Maybe a link?
    - tialaramex 7y ago
      https://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml https://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml
      - dTal 7y ago
        That video is top-tier educational material - engrossingly entertaining even though I knew the subject matter already. If only high school had been like that.
- grawprog 7y ago
  Personally, I'm a huge fan of ardour and I'd rather see that on the front page of hn opposed to reaper myself. It's been updated fairly regularly over the years i've used it and it's an awesome DAW to use. The open source audio software community doesn't really get the credit it deserves. Most of the software has come a long way over the last ten years and getting a professional level setup using only open source software is doable without insane amounts of effort.
justinfrankel 7y ago
I'm not sure why, either... but since we're here: REAPER is very programmable which might appeal to readers of this site. Specifically: ReaScript: can program high level UIs/project manipulation/etc in Lua or EEL2 JSFX: can write realtime signal processors in EEL2 Video: can write/edit video FX in EEL2 (a ton of included presets are there which can be tweaked on the fly)

by gexla 7y ago

l33tbro 7y ago

It had an update the other day but ... yeah, why would a legacy software product suddenly be on the front page?

looperhacks 7y ago
It received a major update just a few days ago, why do you think it's legacy?
- l33tbro 7y ago
  Legacy in the sense that it exists in the company of established DAWs such as Pro Tools, Ableton, Cubase et al.
  - zenmaster10665 7y ago
    I don't think legacy means what you think it means
    - l33tbro 7y ago
      Or you don't understand all of the meanings and uses of the term 'legacy'? I meant as in "legacy band"? But probably a poor choice - given there are a lot of coders here who probably associate the term with legacy systems.
  - RantyDave 7y ago
    Cubase is "carbon dating" levels of old. It was the thing on Atari ST's IIRC.

mrtweetyhack 7y ago

gotta sell some shit so they can afford Christmas presents

toupeira 7y ago

Audacity is more of an audio editor though, not a "real" DAW. The most well-known open source DAW I'm aware of is Ardour.

tialaramex 7y ago
One of the things on my TODO list that I never get around to is getting back up to speed with the Audacity codebase and making its PCM waveforms look like the actual wave rather than join-the-dots. So many random people use Audacity because it's zero cost, and every one of those people is an opportunity to implicitly teach what's actually going. Yes, they could all go watch Monty's excellent video showing what's going on, but they needn't do that if the tools we give them show everything properly in the first place, they'd just assume "Right I guess it's magic somehow" and only need Monty's video if they needed to actually understand (or argue with people who are wrong on the Internet). Everything else about Audacity is pitched just right for an audience that doesn't need a full-blown DAW anyway.
- gexla 7y ago
  Thanks for this. Could you provide more info about Monty? Maybe a link?
  - tialaramex 7y ago
    https://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml https://xiph.org/video/vid2.shtml
    - dTal 7y ago
      That video is top-tier educational material - engrossingly entertaining even though I knew the subject matter already. If only high school had been like that.
grawprog 7y ago
Personally, I'm a huge fan of ardour and I'd rather see that on the front page of hn opposed to reaper myself. It's been updated fairly regularly over the years i've used it and it's an awesome DAW to use. The open source audio software community doesn't really get the credit it deserves. Most of the software has come a long way over the last ten years and getting a professional level setup using only open source software is doable without insane amounts of effort.

justinfrankel 7y ago

I'm not sure why, either... but since we're here: REAPER is very programmable which might appeal to readers of this site. Specifically: ReaScript: can program high level UIs/project manipulation/etc in Lua or EEL2 JSFX: can write realtime signal processors in EEL2 Video: can write/edit video FX in EEL2 (a ton of included presets are there which can be tweaked on the fly)