Let’s talk Digital Audio Workstations or DAW’s. Love them or hate them, they are the central hub of just about every recording or writing setup, helping us to get our ideas down and combining Midi and Audio to help us produce a polished audio file of our music.

There are numerous DAW’s on the market, all at different price points. Today I want to take a look at the main options, with current prices, their strengths and weaknesses, along with a quick roster of notable composers.

Their strength's and weaknesses are my own opinions, (or my student’s) and are for guidance only!

The most important part of this newsletter is this though - the best DAW for you is the one that you are most comfortable with.

All genres of music, including film scores, are written on all of the main DAWs out there. Just about every program has an extremely comprehensive tool set for composers to write their very best music. There are also too many to list here (otherwise this newsletter would be even longer! Apologies if I have missed out your DAW.

I myself, have used Cubase exclusively for over twenty years. My high school had Cubase VST 3 (released in 1999 I believe) installed in the class and ever since then, it’s been the main vehicle for helping me to get the music from my head into the world.

Cubase

✅ Strengths

•Extremely powerful midi editing capabilities - for example it is possible to view and edit as many Midi controller lanes as you want simultaneously.

•Able to handle and organise large templates easily.

•Handy tempo functions such as TimeWarp, for helping to create tempo maps for scoring to video.

❌Weaknesses

•In my experience, the included Virtual Instruments and Effects lack distinctiveness; nothing really stands out and is a 'go to' plugin or instrument.

•The Score/Notation editor is extremely cumbersome to use.

•Expensive for the main ‘Pro’ Version.

💰Cost

Cubase Elements - £85.00

Cubase Artist - £280.00

Cubase Pro - £492.00

😀Notable users - Hans Zimmer, James Newton Howard, Harry Gregson-Williams,Thomas Bergersen and Alan Silvestri.

​Logic Pro X

✅ Strengths

•A large and versatile set of included Virtual Instruments and effects including the Alchemy Synth.

•You can easily create and save your own loops, potentially speeding up the composing process.

•Enables a smoother transition for beginners who have started on ‘Garageband’.

•A ‘sleek’ interface.

❌Weaknesses

•Only available on Apple Computers.

•It can be time consuming to work with audio, compared to other DAW’s.

💰Cost

£199.00

😀Notable users - John Powell, Henry Jackman, David Arnold.

                                                         Apple's Logic Pro X

Pro Tools

✅ Strengths

•Fantastic for working with audio - combined with ‘Elastic Audio’, users can quickly edit and apply sound design techniques.

•Easy to convert audio to midi and vice versa.

•THE industry standard for recording audio in studios. Also large projects such as film scores often require delivery of the music in a Pro Tools session.

❌Weaknesses

•Midi capabilities are not as strong as other DAW’s.

•Mostly available through an expensive subscription model.

💰Cost

Pro Tools Intro (8 audio and midi tracks) - FREE

Pro Tools Artist - £8 per Month

Pro Tools Studio - £29 per Month

Pro Tools Ultimate - £89 per Month

😀Notable users (Apart from just about every major recording studio in the world!) Brian Tyler.

Ableton Live

✅ Strengths

•Fantastic audio capabilities - mangling and morphing audio options for sound design is extensive.

•Has some amazing ‘creative’ features, including it’s Session view and midi transform/midi generation functions.

❌Weaknesses

•Clunky Midi editing - for example, it’s hard to draw in Midi CC data such as Expression and Modulation.

💰Cost

Ableton Live Intro (16 tracks) - £69

Ableton Live Standard £259

😀Notable users - Cliff Martinez, Thomas Newman, Nicolas Brittel, James Newton Howard (as a secondary DAW).

Reaper

✅ Strengths

•Has some great features for video game asset management/export, loop making & audio editing.

•Extremely customisable. Extensive changes to elements such as the User Interface and Midi Editing can be achieved (with custom scripting).

•Cheap.

❌Weaknesses

•Default User Interface might not be to everyone’s taste.

•Can be harder to learn the basics for beginners.

💰Cost

$60.00 for most users. ($225 for a commercial license).

Studio One

✅ Strengths

•An intuitive user interface - most actions are just one click away, along with an extensive help system.

•Robust midi editing capabilities - Midi CC editing is also comprehensive, along with the ability to have each midi editor displayed side by side.

•Retrospective recording - while not unique to Studio One, it will retrieve a midi performance, even if not in record mode. Perfect for capturing that little gem of an idea!

❌Weaknesses

•The native Virtual Instruments tend to be ‘quirky’ and lower quality, with a strong emphasis on EDM styles.

•Weak and unreliable notation editor.

•New product features are generally implemented slowly and with much pressure from its existing customer base.

💰Cost

$399.99 for a Perpetual License or

$19.99 per month for a subscription

Digital Performer

✅ Strengths

•Strong Midi editing capabilities.

•Amazing functionality for scoring to video, including comprehensive tempo editing tools and the ‘chunks’ feature - allowing the user to load multiple cues and timelines into a single project.

•Good Notation functionality.

❌Weaknesses

•Has been known to be unstable for the PC version.

•Relatively expensive.

•Weak set of included Virtual Instruments and Effects.

💰Cost

$499.00

😀Notable users - Danny Elfman, Thomas Newman.

Garageband

✅ Strengths

•Free and pre-installed on all Macs and IOS devices - making it extremely accessible to lots of people.

•Comes with a wide selection of good quality sounds and loops.

•Has a user-friendly interface, especially useful for beginners.

❌Weaknesses

•Has limited capabilities when it comes to Audio and Midi Editing.

•Features a limited track count (up to 32 tracks).

💰Cost - Free!

I could keep going and going in terms of the DAW's that are out there, some noticeable ones I have missed but do also like such as Cakewalk. 

I hope you enjoyed this blog. Feel free to check out my free training by clicking the button below for more tips and tricks.

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