Need a new DAW for Audio and Midi

[Johnny Mac]

Anyone got any suggestions on new DAWs? Mines a bit long in the tooth for some of the things I'm doing with it and crackles or crashes. Midi with it is always hit and miss.

[indysmith]

Anyone got any suggestions on new DAWs? Mines a bit long in the tooth for some of the things I'm doing with it and crackles or crashes. Midi with it is always hit and miss.

Crackles and crashes are usually a sign of CPU overload... Maybe time for a computer upgrade?
As far as DAWs go I assume you're using a PC... The new Cubase (5) is supposed to be very good!

[_tom_]

Reaper! :P

[MrBump]

Time for a dozen different answers, John!

I'm still a Cakewalk devotee... I love Home Studio 6.  If I were going to pay any more, I'd probably upgrade that to the pro version.

Mark.

[gingataff]

Seeing as you've already spent a lot of time getting to know Cubase I'd say stick with that, go for the latest version as above and also see if the computer needs upgrading.

As for the MIDI stuff that you're getting into, Cubase is supposed to be one of the best but some say that Logic is better, you'd need to buy a Mac for that though.

[Johnny Mac]

Thanks for the replys. I was looking at Sonar last night but they all seem really good.
The PC I'm using is an old one. I thought it may be able to handle it though, it's a P4 3.2ghz, 1G Ram, 400G HD with XP pro edition. Its always crackled when Cubase plays back audio and midi until it's mastered into a .wav.
Is this CPU really lame compared to whats out there now? What if I put more ram in it? Its super fast still so I hoped it would be ok.
I really only need it to be a recording PC and I'm hoping to put some of the high end software on it from Native Instruments ect

[indysmith]

I'd expect that CPU to handle simple playback tasks just fine! Although if you plan on using a lot of plug-ins then you may need to think about upgrading as a lot of them can really suck resources (especially things like convolution reverbs, sample-based midi instruments etc.) My 2.2GHz Core 2 Duo struggles quite often if I'm running a lot of amplitubes and reverbs. Check the recommended specification requirements for software before you buy it. I'm not overly sure how much extra RAM will help, but if your motherboard supports it you'd might as well max it out - RAM is cheap nowadays and can make the world of difference to general computing functions. Wait for the real computer nerds to drop by for some useful help, lol.

[_tom_]

Yeah I was running Reaper fine on a 1.73GHz, 1gb laptop. Slowed down a bit when running more than 2-3 instances of Amplitube 2 but it was still usable. People often say that reaper is just as good as Cubase but uses less resources and is cheaper/free (if you dont mind a nag screen on every startup). I used to use an old version of cubase (when it was still called cubasis) on my laptop and it was ok but reaper was a lot quicker and easier to use. Gets a great review from sound on sound (I think) as well.

[Johnny Mac]

Thanks for that Indy & Tom. The PC spec still exceeds minimum requirements for most DAWs. I'll max the ram out like you said as that will help a lot.
I've been looking at Cubase 5 this morning and the demos of it on youtube are really something. It has the pitch correction software built in, so vocals could be on the cards! Playing around with vocal pitch is really good fun and I used to do it with Acid years ago by transposing the key and it can make your voice sound downright scary! Its 460 quid which seems like good value as years ago cubase could be nearly double that.
The version I've been using for the last 4 years was old when i got it and was only bundled in with the recording interface. Looks like an expensive year but hopefully it will be worth it as i want to record all the time now after finally getting my head around it to a point.
I suppose it will be a mare getting it all to work correctly but then again some get lucky.

[Muttley]

For me, Cakewalk SONAR is still the best software out there in Windows land.  :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg_1dDUBry4

[Lew]

I don't understand (other than financially)why pc users would use anything other than protools, the new pt8 is amazing too-has some shiteethot plugins

[indysmith]

I don't understand (other than financially)why pc users would use anything other than protools, the new pt8 is amazing too-has some shiteeeethot plugins

A lot of people don't like having to use DigiDesign or M-Audio gear (I know I don't!), and the only ProTools REALLY worth having is HD and it's far far too expensive a set-up for the average person.

[gwEm]

with the PC, you may need to install windows fresh. those specs should be enough for a DAW indeed. you know how windows collects bugs the more stuff you install on it.

i would buy a new hard disk. and put the old disk in a USB caddy, so you can access the old data is a hassel free way.

2 or 4 gb of RAM is a nice thing to have. 1gb is a bit small as indy and tom said already.

DAW-wise i'm using Ableton Live, which I heartily recommend.

[Johnny Mac]

Yes I think I will do a fresh windows install. All my itunes are on my C drive so if I buy a new hard disk to run off a USB I can copy my music folder to the new HD and let itunes access it from there, can't I? Thats the only thing i'm concerned about loosing. I've found some 2G DDR ram strips so will get two of those to up it to 4G.
I've checked out the video of Sonar Mutley posted and looked at some Cubase 5 demos but can't choose between them. I'll probably stick with Cubase.

[gwEm]

Yes I think I will do a fresh windows install. All my itunes are on my C drive so if I buy a new hard disk to run off a USB I can copy my music folder to the new HD and let itunes access it from there, can't I? Thats the only thing i'm concerned about loosing. I've found some 2G DDR ram strips so will get two of those to up it to 4G.
I've checked out the video of Sonar Mutley posted and looked at some Cubase 5 demos but can't choose between them. I'll probably stick with Cubase.

You'll be copy your MP3 from your old harddisk to the new one using USB. It'll be a bit slow, but you only need to copy it once.

I have a couple of old harddisks from old machines which I access sometimes over USB occasionally to get something off it I forgot. I had to do that only last week as a matter of fact, to recover an old song I was working on years ago. maplins have a massive range of these USB enclosures, they cost about 30 quid.