Difficulty choosing a DAW

[KBSoundSmith]

Sorry to bring up such a rude topic, but I've found myself unable to decide which DAW to use. I've narrowed it down to three that I may be interested in using: Cubase 5, Sonar 8/9 (9 will be soon, right?) and Ableton Live 8.

Now, I've read responses from many forums and have heard the general comments on each, such as "Cubendo has bad customer service", "I don't know any professional who uses Sonar", etc., so I thought I'd just write about my needs a bit and see what others may think best based upon their experiences.

First, some non-musical considerations:
First, off, budget. I'm on a bit of a tight budget, as I'm still a student (one year left, then the real world). But, I'm willing to suck it up and bite the bullet if need be.

Two, I will probably run the software on a Windows platform. I'm not opposed to Macs, I use one at school and have gotten along with it well, but a Windows system is cheaper, I'm more familiar with it, and I don't really see anything too compelling about switching my OS at this point. Eventually, I may try to use both PC and Mac, but right now, PC.

Three, I will be using a laptop, but it will be a nice strong one. This is one spot where I'm willing to spend a little extra.

Now, musical considerations:

My musical interests are pretty wide ranging at the moment. However, I'm not planning on running a recording studio where I'll need X number of inputs in a sophisticated recording environment. I'll be using the software mainly as a home studio composition environment as a solo artist.

I haven't really done work for film, but it is something that I think I would enjoy doing and would want the software to work well with film. Video game writing might also be fun.

Some of my other interests are wide ranging. Some of the work I've made would be standard orchestral writing, some video game-esque writing. However, some of the other things I do tend to also extend into underground styles, such as noise music, avant-garde classical (think Ligeti and Cage and Feldman), etc. I've been working extensively in CSound recently, and I've also been building my knowledge base in Cycling74's Max 5, because in addition to the non-standard sound design work I do, I'm also interested in doing things such as installation art, as well as some live electroacoustic work (I recently performed a piece in Max using a video game controller instrument, etc).

Even though I do some of my own sound design, I would want to use VSTs as well (I know some of my professors/classmates aren't interested in using them, since that would be "cheating", but I'm not opposed to their use--I see no reason why I can't design my own sounds/use other people's sounds if that's what would suit my work). I'm actually a big fan of VSTs (now, I know Sonar and Cubase will have no trouble with those, but I have heard some unfavorable reviews of Abletons VST capabilities, in addition to unfavorable reviews of its mixing capabilities--one of the reasons why I haven't jumped on the Ableton bandwagon despite their yet unreleased Max for Live collaboration).

And lastly, I'd to thank to everyone in advance for their help and consideration.

[JaapVisser]

I am a bit biased since I use Sonar, but what I would suggest is to download a demo from the cakewalk site and I heard also a lot of people telling good stories about Reaper. Reaper has a full 30 day version you can use as demo and the official license is really cheap which might be good if you are on a budget.

I have no experience with Ableton, but the difference between Cubase and Sonar is really narrow and it depends more on you prefferences then on having to make a decission which DAW would be better or worse.

My experiences from Sonar:

I can do basicly all my work in Sonar. I like the workflow. It has good options for midi and audio and all VST's work flawless. I also do sound design and Sonar can perfectly do it. The set of plugins and instruments that comes with Sonar Producer Edition will give you a great start with almost anything. I only found Sonar quite horrible in handeling video when I was working on a film last year (due to having problems with some codecs), but that was solved in one of the latests updates, but I haven't really worked on a advanced level on a film in the last months so can't really give my judgement about that now.
My suggestion would be, check the demo's from Sonar and I see also that Ableton Live has a 14 day trial and take in the meantime a look at Reaper as well and see what suites you the most.
Cubase doesn't have a demo, but if you search the forum you will find quite some posts about Sonar vs Cubase and some Cubase guys could shed a light on the advantages of Cubase.

Good luck!

(p.s. very nice to see Max and Csound user :) )

[A.Leung]

I am always surprised to see posts like this. When I started out I picked up one sequencer. A year later , another . Today I am relatively proficient in 5 sequencing softwares. I most certainly AM NOT boosting. After trying different things I keep going back to Pro Tools and Logic just because I like them. But I wouldn't have KNOWN that if I didn't try a few others.

My point is: Just go with your gut. Theres plenty of time in life to try something else later. :)

[peter5992]

If you are a student and on a *really* low budget you could also consider Reaper - works both on macs and PCs, 32 and 64 bit, and can handle audio and midi. $ 60 - and it remains functional even if that is too much for you.