Which DAW is worth learning 1st?

[midiVOL]

'Ello, dubstepforum

i'll be quick here, heads up- this is a n00b Q.

I already play guitar, drums, bass, been in a couple bands, gig'd about. just getting into producing electronic, and trying to go about it w/o asking 2 many Q's. just tryin ta figure sh** out myself, but i really could use some input on whether i should continue learning to use the DAW 'REAPER' or just drop the $$$ on Ableton Live. My goal is to perform live in a couple years. i recently discovered nosaj thing, and deadalus, 2 amazing artists IMO who appear to use ableton with amazing talent. unlike anyone i've seen.

as one serious (albeit novice) musician to others, would ableton be better to know in the long run?

many thanks!

[faultier]

if you indeed aim at performing live down the line ableton is something you should look into... maybe try downloading a demo to see if it corresponds to your workflow ?

but this said if you're already comfortable with reaper, i dont see any reason for you to spend money on another daw yet
except for the hassle of getting used to a different workflow, any knowledge you'll earn practicing your music production skills on reaper will be easily transferable to ableton or any other DAW if you want to make the change later imo

[Electric_Head]

Reaper is an excellent choice for live as well as production.
It really is a powerhouse DAW imo.

[hasezwei]

Reaper is an excellent choice for live as well as production.
It really is a powerhouse DAW imo.

reaper is indeed excellent but the lack of bundled plugins (not counting the JS stuff which is way too cryptic for beginners) makes a bit difficult to start with imo. it's a DAW for people who already know what they're doing and want more freedom IMO.

also not sure if it's live capabilities are anywhere close to ableton's, however i haven't really explored that direction. care to elaborate? would be relevant to my interests

if you have the cash and you like live performance live will probably be your best bet. the only reason i never liked ableton was because it's shortcuts/key combinations and the way dragging stuff with the mouse works is so different from programs like logic or reaper. you just have to be careful not to fall into the ableton creativity trap, where all you do is stack loops upon loops instead of writing actual tunes, but since you play instruments already i suppose that won't be too much of a problem.

however if you're willing to hunt for plugins, use free stuff and demos then reaper will allow you to go much much deeper than any other DAW. its just not that easy to start with in my opinion.

[MNY-LNDRY]

Right now is a good time to get into live- 25% off for live 8 plus a free upgrade to 9 when it drops...

https://www.ableton.com/en/shop/

[Turnipish_Thoughts]

Stick with reaper. It's a great daw. I've used to varying degrees Reason, Cubase, FL, Ableton, reaper and logic. I'm using reaper and have been for a while now because to me it's got everything most other daws have and a whole lot more if you're willing to dig quite a bit into it's depths. It's a little unorthodox in that respect as the 'bells and whistles' essentially exist as a metric heap of configurables, meaning you can potentially set up reaper to run pretty near on exactly the same as any other daw in terms of workflow and functionality. considering you're already using it too, I'd definitely say stick with it and get to know it better. But of course, take on other peoples opinions too, I've had no experience with Live playing with reaper, though people have mentioned it's doable (which I'm not surprised about) so it's your call really.

[OfficialDAPT]

Get ableton. If you buy Ableton 8 right now for like 300-400, you get a free upgrade to Live 9. That will be the only DAW purchase you will have to make in the next 3 years probably. Seems worth it to me. I'm not sure when bitwig is coming out that could be another option.

[midiVOL]

@hasezwei:
tanx 4 the input, untill recently i never put any thought into how the electronic artists i've known make their shi**, (chem. bros., aphex twin, BOC, lee perry, king tubby, etc...) so looping and sampling comes to me - from a creative standpoint - as cheating lol. i'm such a novice!!
wull.anyway.
@Turnipish Thoughts:
solid input, thanks alot! i just wrote my first 16 bars (err, measures? only had 2yrs music theory which i forgot in highschool) in REAPER using drum samples from a HUGE drumkit discog. a mate handed me. 2 tracks of hihat 1/8ths sounded beter than 1, wish i knew more. i'd love to make that hihat sound like a slice of butter.
then 2 more tracks, one with kick the other snare in a classic reggae "doom, chee! doom-doom, woa- chee!" ah, you kknow that 1 right lol? if i'd decided to start with a dubstep track it'd have been the same kick-snare pattern heard in many-a chart-topper.
basically sounds like dog skat cooking on a hot summer sidewalk stuck to your flip-flops on your way to the lou, but i'm stoked i got this far. so much good stuff on this forum mad respect.
I have oatmeal, and using it is like teaching a foreigner to speak english on their 1st day of work. i can get my buil-in midi keyboard to make noise tho!! ima keep clicking around like a caveman on codeine lol jk.

[midiVOL]

Get ableton. If you buy Ableton 8 right now for like 300-400, you get a free upgrade to Live 9. That will be the only DAW purchase you will have to make in the next 3 years probably. Seems worth it to me. I'm not sure when bitwig is coming out that could be another option.

ah, i sorta wanted to do this from the start, just trying not to be greedy and stay creative with whatevuh i can find...learning how early dubstep producers got started sorta makes me feel like a ninny for whining about not having the snazziest ish available. BUT an old mate once loaned me his laptop with a cracked version of ableton 7 in which he'd loaded many cool gizmos, VSTi's and drum racks. it was fun to use, moreso than REAPER has been thus far but we'll see! it'll take me a couple months to save up for ableton.

[Ada]

I use Cubase but in all my honesty I think Reaper is the best DAW out there. The only reason (lol reason) I'm not "heading over" to Reaper is because I'm so used to Cubase and I'm too lazy to learn Reaper from scratch because Cubase and Reaper are so different in how you actually interact with the DAW.

I've used Reaper about ~15 hours and it's brilliant in every way. I'd defo stick with Reaper if I were you!

I've tried Ableton and all other "famous" DAWs, and I'd say Reaper and Cubase are my favourites.

[Dustwyrm]

Lots of good info being given here. What I always tell people is use whatever you have available to you for the first few months before dropping any significant amount of cash.

Not that I'm saying you're going to quit producing, but it's just overall smart not to invest a whole lot until you're entirely sure you want to dedicate your time and money to it. People change their mind and decide they don't want to produce anymore, and may take up a new hobby or art. There are tons of free demos out there.

Personally I use Fl Studio. A lot of people harp on it here but it's all I've ever used and I'm really happy with the freedom and general accessibility of everything you really need. Not trying to push Fl Studio, but for me it's been great and you can get the demo free. I'll be happy to answer any specific questions about it if you'd like just pm/email me.

Good luck!

[Eat Bass]

reason. modular design. gets you familiar with signal flow.

[Genevieve]

Demo a few, do tutorials on them and figure out the basics and see which workflow you like most. None of us can really help you with what 'feels' right and suits your needs. All these DAWs do the same thing anyway and which one does it better is entirely subjective.

[Perej]

if reaper is so good then why do you never see it in studios? Cant think of a single time i've ever seen an 'in the studio' where they use reaper.

[Turnipish_Thoughts]

Reaper = most underated thing in music production

[Huj]

Ableton is great for me. Pretty straightforward if you're used to using software. And a WHOLE lot of people use it, so there's a large knowledge base to help you out when you get stuck/want to learn something new.

[hasezwei]

if reaper is so good then why do you never see it in studios? Cant think of a single time i've ever seen an 'in the studio' where they use reaper.

maybe because its new and whoever you're seeing 'in the studio' videos of have been doing this shit for way longer than you might think? some people...

[fustrun]

Hey guys !

I have been a composer for a few years now but mainly classical arrangments and rock stuff and i've allways used pads and all kinds of other synths in the past and most of them were pre-made presets in some VST packages.
And as of late i started to go down the dubstep road and i got facinated by it so i decided to compose a rock/dubstep piece but one of the main things in dubstep is obviously the modulations . . such as wubbles and all kind of other effects . . so making like a pre-made preset VST is quite hard . . so i want to learn creating synths and modulate them . .
So i'm kind of lost to be honest, i have a few synths and recently aquired Massive aswell . . but with all the options i don't know where to start . .
So basically my question is where do i start ? . . from scratch ?

[fragments]

http://noisesculpture.com/how-to-make-a-noise

^a good place to start for very basics. Don't get ahead of yourself. Stick with Massive and learn it inside and out.

[Gravehill]

Theyre all good, try the demos and see which one makes the most sense to you