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This is great. Can anyone recommend a "DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)" for Windows? Preferably with at least a free trial version. Thanks.

by jonp 16y ago

frou_dh 16y ago
Ableton Live
- MichaelGG 16y ago
  One really appealing thing about Ableton, if you're just getting into music, is that the UI is simple, slick, and makes sense. The other software has way too much visuals and useless UI pieces. Ableton is direct and to the point. I'm not a musician and have never used "real" hardware, so all that visual overhead in the other programs is just noise.
krig 16y ago
Reaper: http://reaper.fm/ http://reaper.fm/ is excellent, very cheap ($40) and has an unlimited trial. Unlimited both in time and scope, you get the full software. I use it, works great.
MrJagil 16y ago
Reason
- mortenjorck 16y ago
  Reason is great, but it's not a DAW; it's a synth package. For recording, you'll want to look at Reason's companion product Record.
eagleal 16y ago
I personally use FL Studio/Sibelius (FLS trial won't let you save your song in an editable format, but you can export in ogg/wav/midi/mp3). It depends on what you want to do, for music production Pro Tools/Logic Pro are a must (though it's more about the instrument library and external hardware quality). Consider looking at the See also section for a list of DAWs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Audio_Workstation#See_also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Audio_Workstation#See_a...
RyanMcGreal 16y ago
And also one for Linux that actually works. :(
- joeld42 16y ago
  I've heard good things about Ardour http://ardour.org/ http://ardour.org/ especially and also Renoise http://www.renoise.com/ http://www.renoise.com/ but I haven't tried them personally.
psawaya 16y ago
If you're a programmer, you might be more interested in Pure Data (http://puredata.info/ http://puredata.info/) or cSound (http://csound.sourceforge.net/ http://csound.sourceforge.net/). Both are free. There's also Renoise (http://www.renoise.com/ http://www.renoise.com/) which is inspired by old school mod trackers. There's a free demo, and the full version is really cheap.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
nitrogen 16y ago
In addition to (and duplicating some of) the other recommendations: Sony ACID (I use ACID Pro extensively, free trial, free lite version) Ableton Live FL Studio energyXT (Linux and Mac versions available) Other stuff to check out: console.jp, Audiomulch
daydream 16y ago
Don't overlook Audacity. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Free/open source, for Windows, OS X, and Linux. Overall I'm not a fan, but I come from a background in more complex/full-featured DAW's like Logic and ProTools. I also find the UI lacking. That said, it's a great way to get off the ground when starting out with digital audio.

This is great. Can anyone recommend a "DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)" for Windows? Preferably with at least a free trial version. Thanks.

by jonp 16y ago

This is great. Can anyone recommend a "DAW (Digital Audio Workstation)" for Windows? Preferably with at least a free trial version. Thanks.

frou_dh 16y ago

Ableton Live

MichaelGG 16y ago
One really appealing thing about Ableton, if you're just getting into music, is that the UI is simple, slick, and makes sense. The other software has way too much visuals and useless UI pieces. Ableton is direct and to the point. I'm not a musician and have never used "real" hardware, so all that visual overhead in the other programs is just noise.

krig 16y ago

Reaper: http://reaper.fm/ http://reaper.fm/ is excellent, very cheap ($40) and has an unlimited trial. Unlimited both in time and scope, you get the full software. I use it, works great.

MrJagil 16y ago

Reason

mortenjorck 16y ago
Reason is great, but it's not a DAW; it's a synth package. For recording, you'll want to look at Reason's companion product Record.

eagleal 16y ago

I personally use FL Studio/Sibelius (FLS trial won't let you save your song in an editable format, but you can export in ogg/wav/midi/mp3). It depends on what you want to do, for music production Pro Tools/Logic Pro are a must (though it's more about the instrument library and external hardware quality). Consider looking at the See also section for a list of DAWs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Audio_Workstation#See_also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Audio_Workstation#See_a...

RyanMcGreal 16y ago

And also one for Linux that actually works. :(

joeld42 16y ago
I've heard good things about Ardour http://ardour.org/ http://ardour.org/ especially and also Renoise http://www.renoise.com/ http://www.renoise.com/ but I haven't tried them personally.

psawaya 16y ago

If you're a programmer, you might be more interested in Pure Data (http://puredata.info/ http://puredata.info/) or cSound (http://csound.sourceforge.net/ http://csound.sourceforge.net/). Both are free. There's also Renoise (http://www.renoise.com/ http://www.renoise.com/) which is inspired by old school mod trackers. There's a free demo, and the full version is really cheap.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

nitrogen 16y ago

In addition to (and duplicating some of) the other recommendations: Sony ACID (I use ACID Pro extensively, free trial, free lite version) Ableton Live FL Studio energyXT (Linux and Mac versions available) Other stuff to check out: console.jp, Audiomulch

daydream 16y ago

Don't overlook Audacity. I'm surprised no one has mentioned it: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Free/open source, for Windows, OS X, and Linux. Overall I'm not a fan, but I come from a background in more complex/full-featured DAW's like Logic and ProTools. I also find the UI lacking. That said, it's a great way to get off the ground when starting out with digital audio.