So, finally, we are answering questions about the DAW war. To be honest, it doesn’t stop right there, because I know how excruciating and painful it is, to hear hurtful comments about your favorite DAW and get criticized by the entire world, spewing hateful comments on one another. Amidst this, when one has to choose a DAW, it becomes misleading and confusing at the same time, especially when a myriad of hate is being spewed by one DAW community over another.
The answer is very simple, the best DAW is REAPER. Just kidding! I know it sounds harsh but here, we will break it down, and compare the commonly used DAWs for the betterment of the producer community, which will allow you to choose the ultimate DAW which would fit your budget and prove adequately useful.
So, DAW war, let’s get started.
Before we proceed forward, I think we should take some of the most primordial factors into consideration, these factors are critically important for selecting any DAW so that you won’t regret spending your hard earned money on it. The following prerequisites have to be met by the DAW, which includes the features and the ability to perform certain operations by the software.
The ideal thing to do is to jot down your budget and requirements, then accordingly decide what you can expect from your DAW. If you have finalized what you are looking for, then you can start looking for the comparative/competitive market, where a lot of software companies are fighting to take the top place by giving compelling features at are of decent prices. Not to mention that there are free DAWs as well, and with the recent boom of a subscription-based model, now you can rent or rent-to-own a DAW as well. But it all comes down to the budget and the features you’re looking for, the rest will fall right into place.
This DAW by Image-Line has seen a lot of criticism over the period of past 10 years but the developers have been taking this very seriously and with each and every update, they have been nailing it with adding immersive features and updating their old modules with newer ones. Fruity Loops (FL) users have seen tremendous growth in the software, especially from where it started to where it is right now.
Things you’ll find compelling about this piece of software are that it feels like it’s a flash game and it doesn’t feel like work when you’re working with this DAW. That’s exactly what producers need to keep the creative juices flowing in their minds. By the looks of it, at first, it looks a bit complicated but once you take it for a spin, you’ll figure out that this one is much simpler when compared with the rest of the DAWs. It is worth mentioning that Image-Line provides lifetime of free updates for FL Studio unlike most other DAWs.
Price: $99
With the absence of audio editor features, there is a limited number of audio effects, instruments, and video/visual effects, which makes it the best fit for those, who are more familiar with FL Studio’s interface but are not expecting any of the film post-production work.
There may be a need of getting some of the third-party plugins to do a couple of things (for instance: Melodyne for Pitch Correction, since Newtone is not included in this edition), but it is a very good deal, as the price you’re paying is for the lifetime of free updates.
Price: $199
With the inclusion of an audio editing module and a couple of more audio effects and instruments, this edition is well suited for those who desire a complete music production package. Video production features are also available in this version, but are limited. Background scoring is possible in this version. A lifetime of free updates is available for all editions of FL Studio, which is the best part of this software.
Price: $299
Including all the top features and 3 audio editors, the majority of the effects, instruments, and all video and visual effects are included in this edition. This is suitable for those people who also like to work on the visual aspect of video editing.
Price: $499
This is the all-inclusive package of FL Studio, which includes all of the libraries, samples, loops, plugins, and video/visual content and plugins. Although this is expensive, it is worth noting that you will get a lifetime of free updates and upgrades which is not provided by any other major audio software company. Best suited for those, who want to long last with FL Studio.
All in all, I would say that FL Studio is a good choice for those who just want to stick to the production part. If we talk about the price point, I personally think that FL Studio is a bit expensive for it's competition that is available in the market. So they should probably rethink their whole pricing strategy, but a good decent DAW, especially for electronic music producers out there, because there is a lot of learning content for producing EDM using FL Studio that is available out in the wild.
Comparison of all the editions of FL studio
When Live was released by Ableton, it was being used mainly for Live Sets and triggering sounds during live music performances. After the introduction of the arrangement view, Ableton Live has given one of the biggest competition to FL Studio. A lot of people started shifting their DAW from FL to Live because now they could benefit from both of these features. First of all, they could use session view to create live sets for live performances, which is mostly why Live was used back then, but now, you can also produce music inside Live. Now with fully integrated control surfaces like Push 2, which can be used to control every aspect of your DAW, Ableton has clearly emerged as a very successful software company, which has partly taken over the monopoly.
In my honest opinion, some of the features in Live are the best features around right now, like the time-stretching algorithms, i.e. the WARP-ing of the audio, Live does it really well. In fact, it's better than most DAWs. The reason why Live has prospered so much is because this software is made for the ever-evolving modern musician.
Just like FL, Live also has different editions that vary in features and number of Instruments, Effects, Samples and Library that is provided by Ableton
Price: $99
For those who want to get a taste of Ableton Live or if you are simply trying out a DAW for the first time. There are limited features available in this edition, third-party plugins can be installed; however, most of the features available are extremely limited which means that if you are looking for some serious music production or mixing, then it's probably a wiser decision to opt for a more standard edition. For instance, there are only 16 MIDI or Audio tracks which could be created in this edition at the most. Also, some of the best features of Ableton Live are absent in this edition. Such as the linked track editing, Max For Live (M4L) audio effects/instrument and so much more.
This version is perfect for those who want to use Live for performing in Session view, and recording or producing basic stuff. Also, remember, in this version, there is no compatibility of videos, so you won’t be able to compose for background scoring or sound designing for film in the Intro edition. In this edition, you’ll get around 5GBs of sample libraries, 4 instruments, 21 audio & 9 MIDI effects.
Price: $449
With over 10GBs of samples, loops, 6 instruments, 36 audio & 13 MIDI Effects, this version is suitable for those who already know how to get along with Live or if you are getting into serious music production. This edition features most of the audio & MIDI effects, and software instruments to look out for, which makes this almost as good as the suite version. Some of the limitations in this edition are that, this version does not include M4L (Max For Live), some of the most compelling Instruments like Analog, Collision, and Wavetable are absent in this version, and some of the audio & MIDI effects are also missing.
So, for those who are a little tight on their budget but still want to be a part of the Ableton Live ecosystem could opt for this edition, because this edition includes most of the useful features from the Suite edition.
Price: $749
The Flagship. For those who want the complete Live experience. This is the ultimate edition of Ableton Live that comes loaded with all the features that Ableton has to offer. This is another suggestion or recommendation which we would like to give if you’re planning on buying a DAW for producing music. This is again, if your budget permits. However, if you can get a bundled package of Ableton Live Suite + Push2 hardware, it’d be great, because you can get both, the control surface for Live called Push2 and the software itself with the addition of approximately another $130. Video production is available in this edition so, background scoring and sound design is possible.
Other than these great features, there are a few major limitations of Ableton Live, which I have personally experienced over the period of 3 years of extensive usage, such as limited number of return tracks (you can only add up to 12 return tracks) and routing complexities, makes the use of Ableton Live more inconvenient and not so user-friendly. However, if your workflow does not get affected by any of these limitations, then Ableton Live is a great choice for you.
Comparison of all the editions of Ableton Live
For me, this is one of the best music production software that I have ever come across, since I started music production, and I have used almost all of the DAWs. It's a little difficult for me to judge, on what basis should I judge any of the DAWs to be better than the other: however, one factor is pretty clear, and that is the number of features provided by Presonus. If you have ever wondered what would happen if you take the best features from different DAWs and put it together as one piece of software? That is what Studio One is! A lot of people have been complimenting it as the ‘Windows Version of Logic Pro’. The functionality of this and Logic Pro. The look and the feel of the two is almost the same.
Studio One offers lots of features such as AAF support, video post capabilities, sound design feature, individual clip processing, linked track editing, chord track, and a lot more.
Studio One is building a reputation for being the go-to software, for those who are already into mixing and mastering, but wanting improve their workflow. Adding return tracks, routing audio to buses is faster and easier. Many audio engineers, who were working primarily on Pro Tools (by Avid) have now shifted to Studio One, just because of the convenience and the efficiency that it offers.
Price: Free!
One of the best things about Studio One is this version, and it’s absolutely for free. So, if you want to try out Studio One, you can choose to download this version. Of course, there are limited features available in the software, but out of all the free DAWs out there, Studio One Prime is one of the best. Don’t get me wrong, there are so many better alternatives than Studio One Prime in terms of free DAWs, but it's great for beginners who might want to get into music production or if you are a musician who is looking for a light weight program for performing live and basic recording and editing.
It's worth mentioning that you get unlimited tracks; however, the buses are limited, only 2 inputs are available for recording and majority of the audio effects and the instruments are not available in this version. Limited samples and loops are available at your disposal, and no video support either.
Price: $99
The majority of the audio effects, instruments, and features one can expect from a proper DAW are available in Studio One Artist. One of the main drawbacks of this edition is that, there is no support for third-party plugins (VST2, VST3). So, you won’t be able to use any third-party plugins like Waves, Serum and Fabfilter. You are limited to the stock plugins. Some of the advance features are absent in this edition. This version is ideal for those who want to get into the Presonus Studio One ecosystem, and want the support for multi-track recording. The Video Production feature is not available in this edition either, so it's not suitable for background scores and post production sound design.
Price: $375
This edition includes all the features of the software and adds support for video and certain hardware and 64-bit floating point recording and exporting capabilities. There are a few features that make Studio One stand out from most other DAWs. For instance, The Presonus Notion, which is a music notation and performance software, that can be directly integrated with Studio One Professional. You get 60GB of sample banks and loops, and some extensions of Fat Channel XT (which is a stock plugin of Studio One that emulates famous harwdare compressors, limiters, and EQs) and a cloud storage of 30GB for a lifetime with Studio One.
But let’s say, you don’t want to invest in the Pro edition of Studio One, Presonus has an alternative.
Price: $15/month
Yes, you heard that right! It’s just $15 per month, it’s a subscription-based plan which will not only give you the option to use the Studio One to its highest potential, with all the Presonus plug-ins and so much more. You get all the perks of Studio One Professional, Notion, thusands of sounds, and you can now also have a direct conversation with the industry experts and have direct tech support access with the Sphere Package. There also features a platform called Artist Exchange Portal where you can download sample banks, presets, FX chains and a lot more for just $15/mo. With an additional $4 you can get up to 70GB of cloud storage per month.
This is probably one of the best deals that any DAW can offer in terms of a subscription-based scheme. Slate Digital's All Access Pass was probably one of the first few companies that popularised the subscription-based model, and Presonus turned to a similar strategy for their products.
This is the most compelling deal for those of you who are into composing Background Scores for film, TV and video games, and if you like using a notation editor in your workflow. It is a great choice for beginners as it comes with a huge library of tutorials and livestream content that is updated every month.
Comparison of all the versions of Studio One
Now, things are starting to get serious. Steinberg is the company that pioneered DAWs since the dawn of digital technology, revolutionizing digital audio. Steinberg has always been at the pinnacle of pretty much everything realted to digital audio. They created the VST (Virtual Steinberg Technology) and VSTi (Virtual Steinberg Technology Instruments), which is the most commonly used interface for audio plugins. Steinberg is the father of audio pioneers.
Cubase is one of the most versatile DAWs for music production as it provides you with all the feature that you would find in the most popular DAWs. It has support for OMF and AAF. This makes exporting and importing projects between 2 different DAWs so much easier. No need for bouncing stems or worrying about missing files. You can keep all of your plugins and their settings along with your precious markers. Not just with the plugins and the number of sample libraries Cubase offers but it also has one of the best Pitch Correction stock plugins in the world after Melodyne.
Although it doesn’t make any sense in comparing different versions, Cubase has a lot of editions and none of them are for free. But you can always apply for a trial and see for yourself which one works the best for you. One important thing worth mentioning is that Cubase Artist & Pro, Nuendo and Wavelab Pro require a USB dongle (hardware key) that needs to be connected as long as you are using the the software.
Price: N/A
This version comes bundled with audio devices such an audio interface or a MIDI device. All you have to do is create a steinberg account and register the product. You can at any given point choose to cross-grade or upgrade from LE edition to Elements/Artist/Pro edition.
This version comes with a basic score editor all the basic editing tools for audio and MIDI; however, you get limited number of audio, instrument & MIDI tracks, plugins, and effects. It has limited I/O and routing capabilities. It comes with a small library of samples and loops. Cubase LE is aimed at beginner music producers or pro musicians who want to get started with recording and basic music production.
Price: N/A
This one comes bundled with Steinberg and Yamaha devices. It's basically the same as LE, but with more audio, instrument & MIDI tracks, with all the same plugins + the limiter and couple more effects than LE. This is better for those people who want to take their music production skills a notch further.
Price: $120
With 24 Instrument tracks and 48 audio tracks and more plugins, Cubase Elements also offers 1000 samples, with 8 sends/returns and 16 group channels, this version will be sufficient enough for a decent level of music production. Definitely a perfect fit for singer-songwriters and musicians trying to put their ideas together.
Price: $399
This edition has all the features mentioned above, unlimited number of audio, instrument & MIDI tracks, all the audio & MIDI effects, more than 2600 instruments and sample libraries, and with the most intricate routing capabilities, this version is best suited for those who are only wanting to stick with music and do not want to get into film post-production. This version includes additional features such as audio quantize and Variaudio, Steinberg's Time stetching algorithm and SpectraLayers One, which is a spectral editing tool for audio restoration. Artist version will allow you to work with videos and hence you’ll be able to score background music and sound design.
To be very honest, all these features are quite compelling, but not worth investing that kind of money. Personally, I feel the Pro version is probably the best one to go for if you’re already planning to buy Cubase.
Price: $699
This is the ultimate version of Cubase. With the inclusion of Virtual Reality, Ambisonics, and Surround Sound Mixing features the capabilities of this software are endless. You get 6 channels of audio which means now you can mix for 5.1 surround. Steinberg aims to provide Cubase users with faster workflow and highest quality audio and midi plugins and more than 3000 instrument sounds. Cubase Pro has an advanced score editor that might suit your needs better than Presonus Notion. With limitless routing possibilities and endless rendering options, I truly believe the power of Cubase Pro can only be harnessed once you dive deep into this software.
Comparison of all the versions of Cubase
Price: $972 + $27.99(USB-eLisencer)
This software is marketed towards audio engineers and sound designers working in the post production and video game industry. This has led to a common misconception that Cubase is a basic version of Nuendo. Another misconception is that you cannot make music in Nuendo. This is not true. As far as the features go, Nuendo has all the features that Cubase does. In fact, Nuendo has too many features that we don't require for music production. The systems are made from two different perspectives, that may or may not converge at times. All the features offered by Cubase Pro are more than enough to make a chart topping banger.
Now that we've cleared that up, here's how Nuendo actually differs from Cubase. Nuendo supports a higher Audio resolution. Sample rate of upto 384 kHz. 2 video tracks as opposed to 1 in Cubase. Editing features such as "video cut detection" and "Reconforming" and recording features like ADR (Automatic Dialog Replacement) system will make your life a lot easier and keep your clients happy. The workflow is designed in a such a way that you wouldn't get bogged down by the hundreds of tracks and keep all the edits organised. Nuendo comes with Game Audio Connect that lets the user connect to Audiokinetic Wwise. Import/export and automation features are much more convinient in Nuendo. The media bay has some additional features. Nuendo also comes with Sound Effects libraries. But, The most important difference is the Immersive audio and surround mixing capabilities. Nuendo offers native support for Dolby and can support upto 24 channels. i.e. you can mix 22.2 Surround.
Here is a chart for a small comparison between Cubase and Nuendo.
Pro Tools has been considered as the "industry standard" DAW since the digitization of the sound. It used to be the biggest competitor of Steinberg and has immense capabilities to start with. Digidesign achieved a major breakthrough in the digital audio realm when they released the TDM system (Time Division Multiplexing), that allowed plugins to be run in real-time on dedicated hardware. This meant that you get very little latency while using your favourite FX chains during a live recording session. This external hardware was needed because the computers weren't sufficiently fast or reliable enough to handle big multitrack sessions without crashing at that time. This made Pro Tools a go-to choice for most producers and engineers. But, computers have come a long way since then, and not that long ago, Pro tools did not support 3rd party DSP hardware. It was completely dependent on the dedicated DSP hardware by Avid/Digidesign. Which meant that your only option was to use the TDM or HD/HDX interface, and they were quite expensive. These factors made it difficult for young people to get their hands on this software, which is why Pro Tools got the reputation for being a boomer DAW, even though Cubase is just as old.
I have been personally using Pro Tools for about 4 years, I still use it for sound design or surround sound mixing, but not specifically for music production, mixing or mastering. Within the industry, Pro Tools is most commonly used for recording music and ADR as well as Mixing and Mastering.
Pro Tools is considered the best DAWs for recording audio because it allows lots of great functionalities, one of the most commonly known functionalities is playlists, which can also be called ‘Take Lanes’ in any other DAWs. Lightning fast editing is possible by combining keyboard shortcuts with editing tools.
Well, to be honest. They designed the user interface of this software based on how one would approach recording and mixing using analog machinery because back then this software was supposed to replace multi-track tape machines and consoles. You would find the shortcuts to be counter intuitive if this is not your first DAW. But, the shortcuts are placed to enhace your recording and editing workflow by default. It's like switching from a playstation to an xbox. You have to get usd to the controls. You won't have any problem getting started with Pro Tools if the fundamentals of audio and hardware is clear in your head.
In recent years, Avid has brought numerous updates to the MIDI editor which is worth checking out. To be honest the editing tools work well for drawing MIDI. It's just that you still have to rely on a lot of 3rd party MIDI effects and software instruments. Then there is the Track count limitation which sucks if you are recording/producing an orchestral album or a Film score. Lets take a look at the different versions provided by Avid.
Price: Free
If you don’t have hectic tasks with respect to recording or music production and if you are looking for a free software to just record audio and perform basic level of audio editing and manipulation, Pro Tools first is your friend. Pro Tools First is a free DAW that could record up to 192 kHz of Sample Rate and with 24 bits of Bit Depth recording settings. You can think of this version as a Pro Tools trial with limited features.
Price: Monthly Subscription $34.99 OR 1 year subscription paid $29.99/monthly OR 1 year subscription paid upfront for $299
Yes, you read that right, Pro Tools have also started with monthly and yearly subscription plans. This version of Pro Tools doesn’t support multi-channel mixing capabilities. It only offers stereo mixes. Some of the features that are provided include, Audio to MIDI and beat detective. You can also work with 1 Video track; However, you cannot edit it. Direct integration of Sibelius is possible. Sibelius is considered to be one of the best Notation software.
This version is best suited for live recording enthusiasts or recording studios where speed is the most important factor. Unbeatable mixing and mastering workflow and signal routing possibilities. It also comes with 1GB of cloud storage and of course, a user community where you can share and collaborate projects with the community users. Note that all Avid software requires an iLok account.
Price: Monthly Subscription $89.99 OR 1 year subscription paid $79.99/monthly OR 1 year subscription paid upfront for $799
This is their Flagship DAW that includes all the features of Pro Tools, and then some. The features of this version are eye-catching. You can mix in 5.1, 7.1, or Dolby Atmos surround sound formats. Supports upto 64 video tracks in 4k/UHD. 2048 Voices and supports almost all avid hardware.
I think this is the best software one can get for post-production. Pro Tools is also well renowned for its crystal-clear output. When I was in SAE Institute, My colleagues and I conducted an experiment. We observed that, Ableton Live adds a little color to the signal. It's barely noticeable, but definitely there. Whereas Pro Tools had no bias in terms of color or frequency and this is one of the major reasons why Pro Tools is considered to have the most transparent output. You get the same output that you are monitoring while you mix.
Reaper is not really that well known in the market, but this is a powerhouse of all the DAWs. This is because of the extensive customization it offers in terms of changing the shortcut keys and adding scripts. Reaper is probably one of the most customizable DAWs one will ever come across. For me, Reaper works the best, I personally have saved the best for the last. Reaper is cheap, affordable, and powerful as hell. And the best thing about Reaper is, it doesn’t have varying editions, which would take away some of the features and give extra features for the best edition. Obviously, this DAW is not for those who are just starting up with the music production.
Reaper is not for novices. Firstly, when novice engineers open and view the interface of Reaper, they may think that this is very basic. Like all the operations are pretty much visible to us, either by clicking or right-clicking on any part where we want to see the features that it offers. But that is not completely true.
Firstly, it is cheap, it only costs $60 for a discounted license, which you can use for personal sake, like if you’re an artist and you’re just into music production part where your DAW is being used to make just your tracks and maybe some of the freelancing work you may do for others, and also some work of sound designing and background scoring and also postproduction, you can then use this license.
But the whole point is, Reaper is cheap, and it offers a wide array of features and functionality, even surround sound support, and is highly customizable, which makes it, the most powerful DAW in the market. Reaper is also available for Linux users.
The best part of this is, you don’t need any more integration of another software by the same or a different company altogether, Reaper has pretty much everything built-in. Talking about Reaper is going to be an endless discussion because indeed Reaper is the most powerful DAW and there is no denying it. It is just that it takes staggeringly a lot of time for the early stage of the DAW to customize it and set the shortcuts according to your subjective preference, but once you do that, there is no leaving of Reaper forever.
Although both the licenses, the discounted one and the commercial one don’t have any differences in terms of the features, it is advisable to get this DAW only for those people who have even the slightest amount of experience with it.
For Linux users, this is your best bet. Not because it is better than Reaper, but in terms of the VST support in the Linux operating system, this one is way better than any other DAW made for Linux. And also, it is cheaper than Reaper. Now, as a matter of fact, even this DAW offers the same number of features as Reaper, but Ardour doesn’t offer much of the customization which Reaper could. But Ardour offers extensive support for most of the hardware. They have direct native integration of a majority of digital mixer consoles and MIDI keyboards to choose from. The native plugins of Ardour are much powerful and are user-friendly. The overall UI of Ardour of much better than Reaper, it gives a look and feels of a proper DAW.
Also, the source code of Ardour is free and readily available for the programmers to build and add more features that can be directly accessed by the Ardour community users. Also, Ardour offers to surround sound mixing and formats as well, which is the same as Reaper. Ardour also has some direct inline integration with some of the third-party game-building software like Blender 3D. Ardour also has automatic latency compensation for various plugins and if the plugin themselves aren’t reporting it, one can manually dive in and change it. LUFS and various other meters are built-in.
Price: Free
You may use the DAW for full accessibility but the problem here is, after every 10 minutes the DAW will go silent, so you may have to restart the DAW, after every 10 minutes. This is excellent for those people who want to try out Ardour for the very first time.
Price: $45
Alright, this is a cheaper alternative for Reaper. Yes, we can say that, but not a better alternative, since some of the features from Reaper are missing out here in Ardour. But, Ardour, unlike other DAWs, allows you to record an unlimited number of audio tracks simultaneously. Yes, that means, multi-track recording. This gives an edge for Ardour on most of the DAWs because it is cheap and readily available and has an insane number of features in it.
Price: $1 or $4 or $10 or $50
It is indeed weird to have these many subscription fees for using the same version or edition of Ardour, which will have all the features unlocked! Basically, the developers of Ardour do not want to force the software on anyone. They want their users to donate them as per their will, and if they want to donate as low as a dollar or as high as fifty dollars, it is completely their call.
Price: Free
Apart from the fact that it is free, the features of this DAW are very similar to those of FL studio. Producers of audio enthusiasts who have been using FL Studio Demo or Trial version and it is expired but they don’t have enough money to go for any of the editions of FL Studio, your best bet is LMMS. One of the best free DAWs out there. The best part of using this DAW is it offers all the features of what a conventional DAW would have.
LMMS also offers some very intuitive musical features, as the chords drop, and scale snap. Even if you’re not aware of the intricate details about music, you can still make it in LMMS because of these compelling features. You can directly select a scale and drop all the chords which are there in that particular scale and arrange them accordingly. As I said, the user interface is very much identical to FL Studio and it also has a pattern-based sequencer, one which FL also has.
All in all, this is like a lottery for those who are working with FL and want to go for a free version of it. They also support the majority of VST2 and VST3 plugins.
Price: Free (In-App Purchases)
One of the best things about this software is, you can directly open the same project files on your Smartphone (either Android or iOS) and use the app to manage the project anywhere. It gives you most of the functionality of a DAW but is also very limiting in terms of the plugins that it has, and it offers. I personally think that this is one of the best software for beginners who are just stepping into the electronic music production scene. This will guide you to get a very user-friendly interface that will clear all of your concepts of MIDI and audio files.
For those who are into background scoring or sound designing and even surround sound mixing, this is not the software for you guys.
And that is all that is there to the DAW war, which the people are still fighting, but to be very honest, it is all about the preference, which is always going to be subjective. No matter what DAW you choose to make music on, it doesn’t matter what you do inside the software, what matters is what comes out of the speakers. Just remember that and start your music production journey.
I would like to thank all those users who have been reading these blogs, it wouldn’t have been possible without you. Also, I hope that I am helping you with all this information I am providing here and is constructively helping you in the longer run. Feel free to let me know about the topics that you want me to write a blog on, I will make sure that I address each problem of yours.
Thank you for reading this, I’ll see you in another one.
