What DAW do you use and why? Do you use different DAWs for production and mixing? Did you try other DAWs? Share you experience
I use Pro Tools HD 12 for mixing and mastering applications. PT suits my workflow very nicely.
LPX for composition, I know it inside out and it synchronises well with external instruments.
I use RX5 for all audio restoration, audio manipulation and time stretching tasks.
I have recently purchased Studio One Professional and I really like the Project window, in fact it has replaced Wavelab Pro 9 for album sequencing and DDP Image creation.
I use Melodyne for pitch correction and as a creative sound design tool.
I recently tried Harrison Mixbus for stem mastering, although it sounds good, it is the buggiest software I have EVER used and for that reason I refuse to use it anymore.
I have used Cubase in the past and I am interested in revisiting it again in the near future.
I tried most of the DAWs from Reason and Ableton to Logic and Studio One… After switching from one to another I sticked to Cubase - which is amazing platform for mixing. I also use Bitwig for sketching, sequencing hardware synths and creative sound design. Recent update of Bitwig 2.0 is amazing for working with external gear and weird processing chains.
I am all about Studio One. I have used and to some agree still uses Logic, Ableton, Bitwig and Cubase. I am curious about FL and Pro Tools but since I work super fast in Studio One and super slow in the other DAWs I never have any patience trying to learn the other DAWs to the same degree I know Studio One. So for me Studio One is a keeper.
/K
How interesting, I must check Bitwig out for using external gear.
Danny you should check out S1 for publishing. I have switched over to it from Wavelab. The Project window is very intuitive and allows DDP file creation and meta data/artwork to be inputed.
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I use Live for creating ideas and Logic or Studio One for mixing and mastering.
Studio One has best mixer ever and is so flexible.
What was driving me crazy in Live was automation and poor mixer.
I use Ableton for composing (in certain styles) and Pro Tools 12 for mixing. (I’m a late convert, having relied on Digital Performer for years.) I really like the PT workflow, but I really hate Avid–their subscription model, their business practices, etc.
Reaper is really cool, powerful, super-customizable (and I love their business philosophy) but takes a minute to wrap your head around it.
And I just bought Logic to mix some stuff for a friend–really enjoying learning that one. The CPU saver button is awesome–all DAWs should steal that! But no way to automate a send mute??? Come on.
I have been using Cubase since 1997. They called me the “Cubase girl” back in the days when I would come to Guitar Center in Boston. I also won a contest Steinberg USA held about 3 1/2 years ago and as the winner for the Grand prize, I was flown to the Hamburg headquarters to meet all the great software developers and folks there.
** Why Cubase **
Built-in instruments such as Groove Agent, Halion Sonic. Once I figured out how to work with the built-in instruments (the last 3-4 years or so) I realized that the sky is the limit.
Cubase is truly a production power-house. I also love the features and UI since I’ve been using it for so many years. Sound quality is top notch.
The only limitation for Cubase is 8 inserts per channel that can be frozen, versus other daws like Logic which don’t have a limit to inserts. There are work arounds for this, but it’s not optimal.
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Ableton Live is the best DAW in the market because it’s the DAW I’m the most familiar with and have fun to produce with 
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i believe that this thing with daw “war” is really outdated. actually i haven’t heard about it in a while…i think this says it all…use what suits you best
I use Logic for mixing and stem mastering, and for my scoring and library music productions. Live for electronic and tunes with a straight ahead structure. I have Studio One and am slowly getting cozy with it, love its native console emulation… I also use Vienna Ensemble Pro to host all of my Kontakt, East West, and CPU or RAM hungry sample instruments.
I use Ableton, I’ve been using it for a a couple years. I like how fast you can get around in it. I really like the Racks feature, making racks in racks then saving them as presets/templates and they’re, there always ready to go. I get a lot miles miles out of their stock instruments and effects too by frankensteining them together in layers of chains. Then also controlling everything with the Push Controller.
I originally started with Reason but couldn’t really get into it.
I just got Logic but haven’t had the time to learn it yet, but might use it for mixing & mastering.
Personally, I use Logic Pro X, because I almost know it inside out. I can really work intuitively with Logic, for composing, mixing & mastering.
Regarding your question: “Join the forum and tell us which DAW do you use and why it is better than other DAWs” - well, it all depends upon perspective if you ask me. I do no think in terms of better or worse, only in terms of what suits me for my specific needs. Years ago I created a complete theatre/performance production in Garageband, I used Soundstudio, and Audacity… just saying, tools are just tools, serving us, sound artists to create music productions. It all depends upon perspective, the skills of the artist/producer, his/her preferences, attitude, means, time frame, learning curves, mood… the most important I think is that we, as producers, enjoy the process and can learn from each other, and keep an open mind… about everything, even about getting to learn other DAWs from time to time, just to learn & to be curious about another perspective. Not in terms of better or worse, but because we love music.
I use Ableton Live and it’s great. But I’ve recently also bought Studio One and it’s quite powerful as well. It feels reasonably familiar as they took a lot of interface cues from Cubase, which I used before swithing to Ableton (from version VST5 up until SX2 I think). But it’s more accessable than Cubase is. Ableton gets a bit hard to navigate when you get a lot of tracks. When doing the final mix for Mixing Foundations, with something like 40 tracks, Studio One is really a lot easier to navigate and get an overview. I like the simplistic interface of Live but sometimes you just wish for normal faders in the mixer instead of these tiny arrows. And in the arrangement view it misses certain functions like alias clips and an easy way to show and hide tracks. It’s also really annoying that you can’t see the mixer and the arrangement at the same time. But I expect Live 10 (whenever they decide to release that) will address at least some of the issues.
Then again Live does have some great features like the session view, clip envelopes, racks and Max for Live.
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Ableton & Reason = Producing and Live Performance
Pro Tools = Quick Edits, Post-Production, Sampling
(Agreeing with @bvadrums, really dislike AVID’s business)
Pro Tools = Mixing and Mastering (…started 2 weeks ago. Never really mastered anything)
Digital Performer = my most disliked DAW
Cubase, Studio1, BitWig, Wavelab = Haven’t tried these
@Danny What/Why are these things you mentioned, important? “pq codinging and meta data, DDP files…etc…” …(This might be another topic)
I use Logic Pro X and I really love Logic Pro since the 9 version! It’s simple to use and I think that it’s really intuitive to produce on logic and for mixing it’s just pure gold! It sounds pretty good too! I’ll probably give a try to Ableton Live for producing only, but I will always keep my good Logic Pro for mixing and mastering! The new 10.3 version looks really really good, similar to the 9 version, much more easy on the eyes. They fixed a lot of things too, like putting a midi track as an external sidechain.
It is much simpler than that - whichever software you learned on first tends to be the one you might be most comfortable with. Learning a new DAW can be a lot of work, and not everyone is up for it. Familiarity goes a long way!
I learned Ableton and Logic first. But after few years stopped using Ableton. I got much better sound in Cubase… and much more fun in Bitwig.
Hi
I love to mix in Reason! and sound design Fl Studio
Then I work with audio files haha