Recommended DAW?

Hello everybody!

I read these boards a ton but I rarely ever post.

Anyways, I've been toying with the idea of moving into production for a long time now, and I was wondering what DAW I should look into? I've played instruments for years, and I'd really like to make my own stuff.

Ideally, this would be a software solution where I could both make electronic music (i.e. loads of preset banks, built-in instruments, etc.) and make decent quality recordings on too.
Being user-friendly would be helpful too. A good UI is something that I really like.


I thought I'd consult the boards before I moved into purchasing something. I've been leaning towards Ableton because I could also expand my DJing with that, but I wanted to know what you guys thought.

I've also thought about Logic, Cubase, Reason and Acid. Any thoughts?

Ableton Live has a lot less editing ability's, but no less creative ability's, it is hands down the one and only must have for any producer/performer/DJ of any kind, nothing substitutes Live, nothing. all other programs fail for a live show when compared to live.

Live has a lot less editing tools and instruments included, but you can overcome that with freeware in just a few hours at http://www.kvraudio.com/.

I've been producing for 10 years, and kinda went backwards into digital DJ'ing/controllerism as a way of performing my own material, here's the surface dirt on DAW's as I see it.

Logic is hands down the most bang for the buck, the most included instruments and fx, the largest included sample library in the $500 price range, sound quality is top notch with no excuses.

Logic also has the worst learning curve ever, especially for a beginner.
just get a mac and play with garage band for a few months and see how you like it, on the surface logic is very similar, but when you get into the guts and power of logic is where it can get pretty bad in the learning part, the best tool's and ability's seem to be the biggest pain in the ass in logic.

Reason is an all out baddass at making beats, synths, samplers, solid library of free content available, and most importantly it is easy to learn and use.
Reason is awesome.

Reason does not record linear multitrack audio, all audio in reason must be recorded elsewhere and then exported into reason as a sample, there are some serious limitations here. but you can rewire reason under other DAW programs, so if you start with reason your investment just plugs right in to your next step up in software.

I've never used Acid or Cubase, I am a daily user of Digital Performer Ableton Live and Reason.

Digital Performer is a program with equal or better capabilities to logic but with some drawbacks in other areas, it has a lot less VI's and really no major sample library included with it, the instruments that are there are solid and would be good for a beginer.

DP however has several features that stand out over logic,

In track pitch correction is a big one, the overall look and feel of digital performer is much more natural to a lot of people, it gets very complicated to explain but it really comes down to preferance.

Digital Performer and Logic are the 2 best out there in the actually affordable price range for full featured DAW's, but they both suck for playing live.


Sonar on PC is supposed to be pretty baddass, but I've never used it.

Eventhough I have a strong preferance of Ableton Live, I would recommend first trying out a few demo versions of DAWs.

This way you can find out what DAW suits you best.

There have been multiple topics on this, you might want to check them out:
Why use software to produce?
What program to Djs use to produce tracks?
So what program do you use to edit your mix?
how many programs do u use...???

Id say go Ableton because at the same time your learning to produce with it you will be learning valuable skills that you can easily apply to your live sets. People make some amazing music in all sorts of programs and in the end it should come down to finding a program that is comfortable with you - picking your DAW for production is such a personal thing.