oldslapper Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 Got a spare windows 10 laptop about 2 years old. I’ve just wiped it and reset I’m toying with the idea of using it exclusively for a DAW, but have no experience with windows music production, having only ever used Mac Logic Pro X and GarageBand. What recommendations do you have? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger2611 Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 Reaper, I think it is the most intuitive of the DAW's out there, there are online tutorials for just anything you could wish for, their updates always seem stable and it is a fraction of the price of other DAW's 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doddy Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 I'm pretty new to the whole DAW thing, but I went with Presonus Studio One. It's pretty easy to use. I've used Cubase a bit, and that's good too. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SH73 Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 Ableton live, have been using it with Windows for 6 + years 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nail Soup Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 I use Studio One and it’s fine. I got it bundled with some hardware otherwise I don’t know what I’d use. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neepheid Posted August 14, 2021 Share Posted August 14, 2021 Everyone has their favourite flavour of angry fruit salad 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skybone Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 Another Studio One Artist user. Used Cubase a lot in the past too. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicko Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 I'm a Cubase user and also have Ableton - both free versions that came bundled with hardware. Personally I think Cubase is more intuitive if you are recording live instruments and Ableton is better if you are doing EDM. The elephant in the room is cost and update capability. If and when I change I'm likely to give Reaper a try because it probably does everything Cubase does at a fraction of the cost (or on a free trial to make sure it suits me) and doesn't require latest spec PCs. It would be madness not to try that route first, unless you are buying hardware and get something for free. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Newfoundfreedom Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 Another vote for Studio One here. Reaper is essentially free (you can evaluate it with no time limit) So that's definitely a large plus. But as a total DAW virgin I couldn't figure it out at all. I then tried Studio One and I found the user interface to be far better, and the whole system to be far more intuitive. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonard Smalls Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 If your laptop has only 4Gb of RAM, you might find difficulty running any DAW with more than a few tracks! Personally I wouldn't use less than 16Gb... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicko Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 3 minutes ago, Leonard Smalls said: If your laptop has only 4Gb of RAM, you might find difficulty running any DAW with more than a few tracks! Personally I wouldn't use less than 16Gb... And the processor needs to be decent too. An intel i3 laptop chip won't cut it - an i5 might. I've tried running Ableton on a 10 yo laptop which was good spec when it was new and it can't cope with a lot of vst processing. It works fine on a similarly spec'd desktop. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NancyJohnson Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 I had a mate who worked for Adobe, so ran Audition for years, gave up with that about a year ago and went with Cakewalk. It's free (this was the main thing), easy to use, intuitive etc etc. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YouMa Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 Ableton is by far the best I think used it for years after protools just became an expensive pain in the derrière. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ambient Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 3 hours ago, Leonard Smalls said: If your laptop has only 4Gb of RAM, you might find difficulty running any DAW with more than a few tracks! Personally I wouldn't use less than 16Gb... My MacBook has only ever had 4Gb- I believe the most it can have is 8Gb? it’s never struggled, some of my PhD pieces have over 50 tracks. I would suggest Reaper, it does have a few - to my mind - quirks. Once you get over them it’s pretty straightforward to use, and very adaptable. There’s a ton of videos on YouTube, and a very helpful and friendly Facebook user’s group. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fretmeister Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 Reaper for me. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YouMa Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 You can get by with less ram if you bounce down seperate tracks together to make one track and then reinsert this bounced down track. If however you had a high end vst synth running at the same time you are going to need quite a high end set up for most modern ones as they are Hungry. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DiMarco Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 Reaper is VERY powerful for its pricetag. Been using it as a sidekick to Cubase, which is higher priced but comes with a lot of good plugins. YMMV, ofc. AND you need an audio interface that comes with ASIO drivers. Don't forget. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy67 Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 Two awesome free programs: ProTools First, https://www.avid.com/pro-tools Bandlab (previously Cakewalk), https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk All you need do is register to get both free with no time limit. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubis Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 Another happy Reaper user here, the only thing I find lacking is my ability Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicko Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 46 minutes ago, rubis said: the only thing I find lacking is my ability Yes, if someone could point the in the direction of a free download for that I'd appreciate it. I would consider paying if necessary. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YouMa Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 If you need asio drivers which are pretty much the best universal ones for low latency you can get them at asio4all. Just google it mate. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicko Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 1 hour ago, andy67 said: Two awesome free programs: ProTools First, https://www.avid.com/pro-tools Bandlab (previously Cakewalk), https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk All you need do is register to get both free with no time limit. Cakewalk looks like a very interesting proposition. Is anyone here using it? I'd also be interested to know whether using Bandlab on a Chromebook and Cakewalk on a PC provides seemless integration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andy67 Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 (edited) 4 hours ago, Nicko said: Cakewalk looks like a very interesting proposition. Is anyone here using it? I'd also be interested to know whether using Bandlab on a Chromebook and Cakewalk on a PC provides seemless integration. Cakewalk is awesome. It is intuitive and very easy to set up. It’s also, an awful lot of program for no money. I have a PreSonus Studio 24c hooked up to my main PC, Cakewalk is absolutely flawless with it. Edited August 15, 2021 by andy67 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveXFR Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 I've recently changed from Ableton to Reaper. Ableton was good but my basic laptop runs a lot better with Reaper which seems to use a lot less power and is more intuitive. Reaper is also a lot cheaper for the full version which is only £60. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dad3353 Posted August 15, 2021 Share Posted August 15, 2021 I tried to install Bandlab (ex-Cakewalk...) onto my PC (Intel i5, 12Gb, SSD, Win10 64 Pro...) and had to give up. I've been in IT since... well, even longer than that, but I renounced. It may well be splendid; I couldn't get it to work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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