Post by Annonymouse on Mar 5, 2013 21:40:05 GMT -5
The honest awnser for this is....there is no right awnser :]
All DAW's are created equal.
Here is the most popular:
Ableton Live
AcID PRO
FL STUDIO
Reason
Ableton Live:
Features
Much of Live's interface comes from being designed for use in live performance as well as for production.[16] As such the interface is more compact than most sequencers and clearly designed for use on a single screen. There are few pop up messages or dialogs. Portions of the interface are hidden and shown based on arrows which may be clicked to show or hide a certain segment (e.g. to hide the instrument/effect list or to show or hide the help box).
Views
Live is composed of two 'views' – the arrangement view and the session view. The session view is primarily used to organize and trigger sets of MIDI and audio called clips. These clips can be arranged into scenes which can then be triggered as a unit. For instance a drum, bass and guitar track might comprise a single scene. When moving on to the next scene, which may feature a synth bassline, the artist will trigger the scene, activating the clips for that scene. As of Live 6, "device racks" have been implemented which allow the user to easily group instruments and effects, as well as map their controls to a set of 'macro' controls.
The other view is the arrangement view, which is used for recording tracks from the session view and further manipulating their arrangement and effects. It is also used for manual MIDI sequencing, something for which a classical composer would have a greater affinity. This view is fairly similar to a traditional software sequencer interface.
Clips may either be an audio sample or MIDI sequence. MIDI triggers notes on Live's built in instruments, as well as third party VST instruments or external hardware.
Instruments
Built-In
By default, Live comes with two instruments - Impulse and Simpler.
Impulse is a traditional drum triggering instrument which allows the user to define a kit of up to eight drum sounds, each based on a single sample. There are a number of effects available such as basic equalization, attack, decay, pitch shift, etc. Once the kit is defined, rhythms and beats are created through Live's MIDI sequencer.
Simpler is a relatively easy-to-use sampling instrument. It works using a single sample, applying some simple effects, envelopes, and timing, and then applying pitch transformations in the form of Granular synthesis. In this case, incoming MIDI does not trigger drums as it does in Impulse, but selects the final pitch of the sample, with C3 playing the sample at its original pitch.
Drum Rack Is a sampler for drums. Midi notes trigger individual "Simplers" so rather than triggering one sample at multiple pitches, individual samples are triggered at predefined pitches, as is suitable for midi drum programming. As is usual with Ableton almost anything can be drag dropped to or from the drum racks, for example you can drop a clip or part of a clip into the drum rack to isolate drum parts from audio.
Dedicated Hardware Instruments
Akai Professional makes the APC40, a MIDI controller designed to work solely with Ableton Live. A smaller version, the APC20, was released in 2010. Though there are hundreds of MIDI controllers compatible with Ableton, these Akai units try to closely map the actual Ableton Live layout onto physical space. Novation Digital Music Systems has created the "Launchpad" which is a pad device that has been designed for use with Ableton.
Add-Ons
There are a number of additional instruments which may be purchased separately or as part of the Ableton Suite.[17]
Amp - a device that delivers the sounds of various amplifiers and cabinet combos. It is the newest add-on and a part of Suite 8.2.
Sampler - an enhanced sampler.
Operator - an FM synthesizer.
Electric - an electric piano instrument.
Tension - a string physical modelling synthesizer.
Collision - a mallet percussion physical modelling synthesizer.
Analog - simulates an analog synthesizer.
Drum Machines - a collection of emulators for classic drum machines.
Session Drums - a collection of sampled drum kits.
Latin Percussion - a collection of sampled latin percussion hits and loops.
Essential Instruments Collection - a large collection of acoustic and electric instrument samples.
Orchestral Instrument Collection - a collection of four different orchestral libraries, which can be purchased individually or as a bundle: Orchestral Strings, Orchestral Brass, Orchestral Woodwinds and Orchestral Percussion. The Orchestral Instrument Collection is not included in Live Suite.
ACID Pro:
ACID Loops is a technology used with the music making software originally from Sonic Foundry called ACID. Created in 1998, it refers to the repetition, and transposition of sound clips, to form a song. The ACID Pro program is now owned and distributed by Sony, and is on version 7. Sony also now sells a line of Acidized loop sample cds to be used with ACID, as do many third party companies.
Similar technology was added to Cakewalk's Sonar (calling it "Groove Clips") and Cubase (calling it Audio Warp). Although the phrase "acid loops" technically is only associated with Sonic Foundry, some people use the term to refer to the technique even when used with other software packages.
Acidized loops contain tempo and key information, so that ACID can properly time stretch them when pitch shifted.
A website for budding musicians using ACID technology was set up, named ACID Planet
FL STUDIO:
Hardcore Guitar Effects Suite – A multi-effects suite of plugins designed to resemble guitarists' stompboxes, which works for any instrument.
Juice Pack – A collection of proprietary plugins ported to VST format for use in other music hosts. The contents of this pack has changed since its release; at the time of this writing it includes the Delay, Delay Bank, EQUO, Flangus, LovePhilter, Multiband Compressor, Notebook, Parametric EQ, Parametric EQ 2, Spectroman, Stereo Enhancer, Vocoder, Wave Candy, and Wave Shaper plugins.
Fruity Vocoder – A real-time vocoder effect.
Vocodex – An advanced vocoder included in the Producer Edition of version 10.
NewTone – A pitch correction and time manipulation editor that allows for slicing, correcting, and editing vocals, instrumentals, and other recordings. Introduced as a demo with version 10.
Pitcher – Serves as a real-time pitch correction, manipulation, and harmonization tool for creating or correcting 4 voice harmonies under MIDI control from a keyboard or the piano roll. Introduced as a demo with version 10.
Patcher – Free plugin for chain effects that can then be quickly uploaded in new projects.
ZGameEditor Visualizer – Free visualization effect plugin based on the open source ZGameEditor, with movie rendering capability.
Samplers
DirectWave Sampler – A software sampler that provides sample recording, waveform editing, and DSP effects (works for both VST and live instruments).
SliceX – A beat-slicing sampler for processing and re-arranging recorded drumloops, included in the Producer Edition.
Synthesizers
SynthMaker plugin logo
FL Studio is bundled with 32 generator plugins (October 2011). Some are demos. The list includes;
3XOsc – A generator with three programmable oscillators that subtractively produce bright sound with low memory use.
Autogun – A synthesizer with no controls and over 4 billion patches accessible by numbers only.[18] The free version of Ogun.
Boo Bass – A monophonic bass guitar emulator.
Buzz Generator Adaptor – A wrapper for a large number of generators from Buzzmachines.com[20]
Drumaxx – A physical modeling synthesizer designed to emulate and create the sound of percussion instruments.
DrumSynth Live – Allows for percussion synthesis. Included in all Editions.[8][12][19]
DX10FM – Recreates a classic FM. Included in Fruity Edition and higher.[12][19]
FL Slayer – FL Slayer is an electric guitar simulator originally developed by reFX which is equipped with a high quality amp and effects tools to allow for the realistic recreation of hundreds of guitar sounds and effects boxes. It is a VSTi plugin and is included in every version of FL Studio.
Groove Machine a virtual drum machine
Harmless – Performs subtractive synthesis using an additive synthesis engine.[19] Demo
Harmor – Additive / subtractive synth with ability to encode pictures into music and resynthesis.
Morphine – An additive synthesizer that allows voices to be mixed and morphed under user control.
Ogun – An advanced programmable additive synthesizer chiefly for creating metallic timbres from 32000 harmonic choices.
PoiZone – A subtractive synthesizer with non-essential control removed for easy navigation.
Sakura – Sakura is a physical modeling synthesizer which is designed to emulate string instruments.
Sawer – A vintage modeling synthesizer which attempts to emulate Soviet Union era subtractive synthesizers.
SimSynth Live – Modeled after the classic analog synthesizers of the 1980s with three oscillators, with a programmable LFO section. Created by David Billen, Frederic Vanmol, and Didier Dambrin.
SynthMaker – FL Studio 8 Producer Edition introduced a version of SynthMaker, a popular graphical programming environment for synthesizers. It allows for the creation and sharing of new instruments without the need to understand programming code.
Sytrus plugin logo (program screenshot)
Sytrus – A software synthesizer. The first version was released with FL Studio version 4.5.1. The second version of Sytrus (introduced with FL Studio 6) comes with an array of presets covering many types of sounds. Sytrus uses a combination of subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis, FM synthesis, and ring modulation, allowing the production of sounds ranging from drum sets to organs. Sytrus provides a large number of adjustments and controls, including shape shifting, harmonics editing, EQ, a modulator, filters, reverb, delay, unison, and detune.
Toxic Biohazard – A virtual FM synthesizer similar to Sytrus, using FM and subtractive synthesis.
WASP/WASP XT – A 3 oscillator synthesizer created by Richard Hoffman.
Reason 5:
Reason 5 was released on 25 August 2010. For the first time, Reason can directly sample audio with any of its sample-playing instruments such as the Redrum, the NN-19, the NN-XT, and the Kong Drum Designer.
Dr. Octo Rex - The Dr. Rex loop player has been given an overhaul and is now called "Dr. Octo Rex"[6] and can play up to eight sample loops (one at a time), and includes many new features for editing the loops and individual clips.
Kong Drum Designer - New to the program is the "Kong Drum Designer," a 16-pad device that can create drum and percussion sounds using various sound production techniques, including physical modeling, sample playback (the "NN-Nano" module), and virtual analog synthesis.
Signature Patches created by well known Reason users have been added, including patches made by Two Lone Swordsmen, Vengeance[disambiguation needed], and Richard Barbieri.[citation needed]
Finally, a new pattern editing tool called "Blocks" has been created for easier song arrangement and mixing.
Reason 6
On July 12, 2011, Propellerhead announced the release of the next generation of the Reason line, Reason 6, which was released on September 30, 2011. It integrates all of the features found in Record 1.5 – such as the ability to record live sound, the mixing desk modeled on the SSL 9000k, and the Neptune pitch corrector – into its setup. The Record name has been phased out altogether.
As well as bringing all of Record's features into the Reason rack, Reason 6 is 64-bit and features three new effects units, as also audio transposing direct on the sequencer, and improved tuning and stretching algorithms:
Pulveriser - a combined compression, distortion, and filtering unit.
The Echo - an advanced stereo echo unit modeled on analog tape echo machines like the Roland RE-201.
Alligator - a pattern-based gate effect which splits sound signals into three channels, allowing for differing multiple effects on each separate channel.
ID-8 Instrument Device - a sound module with a built-in pallet of 36 preset sound banks, such as a piano, organ, guitar and drum kits. The ID-8 also functions as a default MIDI device that will play sounds when a MIDI file is loaded into Reason 6.
Reason 6 also requires a USB software protection dongle called the "Ignition Key" to prevent unauthorized use of the software. Without the dongle, Reason 6 will not open saved files, nor will it dump audio to a sound file, but is otherwise fully functional. If they key is lost, or chosen not to be used, a user must log onto Propellerhead's server for internet verification and requires the computer to have an internet connection.
Reason 6.5
On March 20, 2012, Propellerhead announced the planned release for Reason 6.5 in 2012 Q2 to coincide with the release of Rack Extensions (which allow the use of 3rd party designed instruments and effect modules inside of Reason).
Along with Rack Extensions developed by various third parties, Propellerhead offered three optional devices at launch:
Polar - a harmonizing and pitch-shifter effect unit.
Pulsar - a dual channel modulator effect unit.
Radical Piano - a piano synthesizer based on sampling technology and physical modeling algorithms that is capable of creating new and unique piano sounds based on audio samples from two types of grand pianos and an upright piano.
All DAW's are created equal.
Here is the most popular:
Ableton Live
AcID PRO
FL STUDIO
Reason
Ableton Live:
Features
Much of Live's interface comes from being designed for use in live performance as well as for production.[16] As such the interface is more compact than most sequencers and clearly designed for use on a single screen. There are few pop up messages or dialogs. Portions of the interface are hidden and shown based on arrows which may be clicked to show or hide a certain segment (e.g. to hide the instrument/effect list or to show or hide the help box).
Views
Live is composed of two 'views' – the arrangement view and the session view. The session view is primarily used to organize and trigger sets of MIDI and audio called clips. These clips can be arranged into scenes which can then be triggered as a unit. For instance a drum, bass and guitar track might comprise a single scene. When moving on to the next scene, which may feature a synth bassline, the artist will trigger the scene, activating the clips for that scene. As of Live 6, "device racks" have been implemented which allow the user to easily group instruments and effects, as well as map their controls to a set of 'macro' controls.
The other view is the arrangement view, which is used for recording tracks from the session view and further manipulating their arrangement and effects. It is also used for manual MIDI sequencing, something for which a classical composer would have a greater affinity. This view is fairly similar to a traditional software sequencer interface.
Clips may either be an audio sample or MIDI sequence. MIDI triggers notes on Live's built in instruments, as well as third party VST instruments or external hardware.
Instruments
Built-In
By default, Live comes with two instruments - Impulse and Simpler.
Impulse is a traditional drum triggering instrument which allows the user to define a kit of up to eight drum sounds, each based on a single sample. There are a number of effects available such as basic equalization, attack, decay, pitch shift, etc. Once the kit is defined, rhythms and beats are created through Live's MIDI sequencer.
Simpler is a relatively easy-to-use sampling instrument. It works using a single sample, applying some simple effects, envelopes, and timing, and then applying pitch transformations in the form of Granular synthesis. In this case, incoming MIDI does not trigger drums as it does in Impulse, but selects the final pitch of the sample, with C3 playing the sample at its original pitch.
Drum Rack Is a sampler for drums. Midi notes trigger individual "Simplers" so rather than triggering one sample at multiple pitches, individual samples are triggered at predefined pitches, as is suitable for midi drum programming. As is usual with Ableton almost anything can be drag dropped to or from the drum racks, for example you can drop a clip or part of a clip into the drum rack to isolate drum parts from audio.
Dedicated Hardware Instruments
Akai Professional makes the APC40, a MIDI controller designed to work solely with Ableton Live. A smaller version, the APC20, was released in 2010. Though there are hundreds of MIDI controllers compatible with Ableton, these Akai units try to closely map the actual Ableton Live layout onto physical space. Novation Digital Music Systems has created the "Launchpad" which is a pad device that has been designed for use with Ableton.
Add-Ons
There are a number of additional instruments which may be purchased separately or as part of the Ableton Suite.[17]
Amp - a device that delivers the sounds of various amplifiers and cabinet combos. It is the newest add-on and a part of Suite 8.2.
Sampler - an enhanced sampler.
Operator - an FM synthesizer.
Electric - an electric piano instrument.
Tension - a string physical modelling synthesizer.
Collision - a mallet percussion physical modelling synthesizer.
Analog - simulates an analog synthesizer.
Drum Machines - a collection of emulators for classic drum machines.
Session Drums - a collection of sampled drum kits.
Latin Percussion - a collection of sampled latin percussion hits and loops.
Essential Instruments Collection - a large collection of acoustic and electric instrument samples.
Orchestral Instrument Collection - a collection of four different orchestral libraries, which can be purchased individually or as a bundle: Orchestral Strings, Orchestral Brass, Orchestral Woodwinds and Orchestral Percussion. The Orchestral Instrument Collection is not included in Live Suite.
ACID Pro:
ACID Loops is a technology used with the music making software originally from Sonic Foundry called ACID. Created in 1998, it refers to the repetition, and transposition of sound clips, to form a song. The ACID Pro program is now owned and distributed by Sony, and is on version 7. Sony also now sells a line of Acidized loop sample cds to be used with ACID, as do many third party companies.
Similar technology was added to Cakewalk's Sonar (calling it "Groove Clips") and Cubase (calling it Audio Warp). Although the phrase "acid loops" technically is only associated with Sonic Foundry, some people use the term to refer to the technique even when used with other software packages.
Acidized loops contain tempo and key information, so that ACID can properly time stretch them when pitch shifted.
A website for budding musicians using ACID technology was set up, named ACID Planet
FL STUDIO:
Hardcore Guitar Effects Suite – A multi-effects suite of plugins designed to resemble guitarists' stompboxes, which works for any instrument.
Juice Pack – A collection of proprietary plugins ported to VST format for use in other music hosts. The contents of this pack has changed since its release; at the time of this writing it includes the Delay, Delay Bank, EQUO, Flangus, LovePhilter, Multiband Compressor, Notebook, Parametric EQ, Parametric EQ 2, Spectroman, Stereo Enhancer, Vocoder, Wave Candy, and Wave Shaper plugins.
Fruity Vocoder – A real-time vocoder effect.
Vocodex – An advanced vocoder included in the Producer Edition of version 10.
NewTone – A pitch correction and time manipulation editor that allows for slicing, correcting, and editing vocals, instrumentals, and other recordings. Introduced as a demo with version 10.
Pitcher – Serves as a real-time pitch correction, manipulation, and harmonization tool for creating or correcting 4 voice harmonies under MIDI control from a keyboard or the piano roll. Introduced as a demo with version 10.
Patcher – Free plugin for chain effects that can then be quickly uploaded in new projects.
ZGameEditor Visualizer – Free visualization effect plugin based on the open source ZGameEditor, with movie rendering capability.
Samplers
DirectWave Sampler – A software sampler that provides sample recording, waveform editing, and DSP effects (works for both VST and live instruments).
SliceX – A beat-slicing sampler for processing and re-arranging recorded drumloops, included in the Producer Edition.
Synthesizers
SynthMaker plugin logo
FL Studio is bundled with 32 generator plugins (October 2011). Some are demos. The list includes;
3XOsc – A generator with three programmable oscillators that subtractively produce bright sound with low memory use.
Autogun – A synthesizer with no controls and over 4 billion patches accessible by numbers only.[18] The free version of Ogun.
Boo Bass – A monophonic bass guitar emulator.
Buzz Generator Adaptor – A wrapper for a large number of generators from Buzzmachines.com[20]
Drumaxx – A physical modeling synthesizer designed to emulate and create the sound of percussion instruments.
DrumSynth Live – Allows for percussion synthesis. Included in all Editions.[8][12][19]
DX10FM – Recreates a classic FM. Included in Fruity Edition and higher.[12][19]
FL Slayer – FL Slayer is an electric guitar simulator originally developed by reFX which is equipped with a high quality amp and effects tools to allow for the realistic recreation of hundreds of guitar sounds and effects boxes. It is a VSTi plugin and is included in every version of FL Studio.
Groove Machine a virtual drum machine
Harmless – Performs subtractive synthesis using an additive synthesis engine.[19] Demo
Harmor – Additive / subtractive synth with ability to encode pictures into music and resynthesis.
Morphine – An additive synthesizer that allows voices to be mixed and morphed under user control.
Ogun – An advanced programmable additive synthesizer chiefly for creating metallic timbres from 32000 harmonic choices.
PoiZone – A subtractive synthesizer with non-essential control removed for easy navigation.
Sakura – Sakura is a physical modeling synthesizer which is designed to emulate string instruments.
Sawer – A vintage modeling synthesizer which attempts to emulate Soviet Union era subtractive synthesizers.
SimSynth Live – Modeled after the classic analog synthesizers of the 1980s with three oscillators, with a programmable LFO section. Created by David Billen, Frederic Vanmol, and Didier Dambrin.
SynthMaker – FL Studio 8 Producer Edition introduced a version of SynthMaker, a popular graphical programming environment for synthesizers. It allows for the creation and sharing of new instruments without the need to understand programming code.
Sytrus plugin logo (program screenshot)
Sytrus – A software synthesizer. The first version was released with FL Studio version 4.5.1. The second version of Sytrus (introduced with FL Studio 6) comes with an array of presets covering many types of sounds. Sytrus uses a combination of subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis, FM synthesis, and ring modulation, allowing the production of sounds ranging from drum sets to organs. Sytrus provides a large number of adjustments and controls, including shape shifting, harmonics editing, EQ, a modulator, filters, reverb, delay, unison, and detune.
Toxic Biohazard – A virtual FM synthesizer similar to Sytrus, using FM and subtractive synthesis.
WASP/WASP XT – A 3 oscillator synthesizer created by Richard Hoffman.
Reason 5:
Reason 5 was released on 25 August 2010. For the first time, Reason can directly sample audio with any of its sample-playing instruments such as the Redrum, the NN-19, the NN-XT, and the Kong Drum Designer.
Dr. Octo Rex - The Dr. Rex loop player has been given an overhaul and is now called "Dr. Octo Rex"[6] and can play up to eight sample loops (one at a time), and includes many new features for editing the loops and individual clips.
Kong Drum Designer - New to the program is the "Kong Drum Designer," a 16-pad device that can create drum and percussion sounds using various sound production techniques, including physical modeling, sample playback (the "NN-Nano" module), and virtual analog synthesis.
Signature Patches created by well known Reason users have been added, including patches made by Two Lone Swordsmen, Vengeance[disambiguation needed], and Richard Barbieri.[citation needed]
Finally, a new pattern editing tool called "Blocks" has been created for easier song arrangement and mixing.
Reason 6
On July 12, 2011, Propellerhead announced the release of the next generation of the Reason line, Reason 6, which was released on September 30, 2011. It integrates all of the features found in Record 1.5 – such as the ability to record live sound, the mixing desk modeled on the SSL 9000k, and the Neptune pitch corrector – into its setup. The Record name has been phased out altogether.
As well as bringing all of Record's features into the Reason rack, Reason 6 is 64-bit and features three new effects units, as also audio transposing direct on the sequencer, and improved tuning and stretching algorithms:
Pulveriser - a combined compression, distortion, and filtering unit.
The Echo - an advanced stereo echo unit modeled on analog tape echo machines like the Roland RE-201.
Alligator - a pattern-based gate effect which splits sound signals into three channels, allowing for differing multiple effects on each separate channel.
ID-8 Instrument Device - a sound module with a built-in pallet of 36 preset sound banks, such as a piano, organ, guitar and drum kits. The ID-8 also functions as a default MIDI device that will play sounds when a MIDI file is loaded into Reason 6.
Reason 6 also requires a USB software protection dongle called the "Ignition Key" to prevent unauthorized use of the software. Without the dongle, Reason 6 will not open saved files, nor will it dump audio to a sound file, but is otherwise fully functional. If they key is lost, or chosen not to be used, a user must log onto Propellerhead's server for internet verification and requires the computer to have an internet connection.
Reason 6.5
On March 20, 2012, Propellerhead announced the planned release for Reason 6.5 in 2012 Q2 to coincide with the release of Rack Extensions (which allow the use of 3rd party designed instruments and effect modules inside of Reason).
Along with Rack Extensions developed by various third parties, Propellerhead offered three optional devices at launch:
Polar - a harmonizing and pitch-shifter effect unit.
Pulsar - a dual channel modulator effect unit.
Radical Piano - a piano synthesizer based on sampling technology and physical modeling algorithms that is capable of creating new and unique piano sounds based on audio samples from two types of grand pianos and an upright piano.