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I’m a DAWless kind of guy, and it’s really strange and foreign seeing advertising for plugins and DAW workshops for improving workflow and creativity. How are you guys using a DAW?

I personally hate DAWs.

I use it for amp and cab sims to record direct. I suppose when I’m finally sick of bandmates that I’ll do more with it that will require me to spend more time and effort with additional instrumentation. Also, VST synths.

This news makes me think I should be diving into Ableton—Clouds and Braids as Max modules:

https://www.factmag.com/2017/10/04/muta ... e-devices/

I just bought a like new Yamaha MT3X four track and am further straying away from ableton. I've used DAWs for multitrack recording but not much else. Softsynths and midi controllers feel really weird. I wish I had a tablet/stylus option for tweaking note grids and such like on the Korg DS10 for Nintendo DS. There's gotta be an option out there but not one I want to pay for I imagine once I have a room dedicated to music again I'll be able to focus and learn more about plug-ins and ableton and all that, but for now it serves as a multi-track recorder for mixing and mastering, etc. Which I got Ableton for free when I worked at GC so works for me lol.

I use a DAW a lot. I really couldn't make the music I do without one (or a gigantic budget ).

My music is still primarily live instruments, but I use lots of plugin effects, software synths, drum programming, and editing/sound manipulation.

I've been using my DAW to edit loops from files that I recorded live with real amps. Sometimes I'll output an edited clip from the DAW to a looper, then re-record it into the DAW while using other pedals. I also use the DAW to assemble things and see how different loop files work together.

Just for recording too. Reaper.

I would totally use Live and Reason if I were to "start over".

I used to use Logic as a glorified multitrack tape recorder. Never tried fully diving into its features but my bandmate used it to mix and master our album with no prior experience.

I bought Ableton Live Standard last week with their 25% off sale and have been enjoying it, although it feels very different than Logic did. Much better for composing with MIDI and integrating with external gear. No regrets with the purchase so far, even if I haven't scratched the surface of what a DAW can do. I'm probably going to be using it a lot, especially for adding percussion, effects, and mixing.

Bottom line: not sure I'll ever be able to go entirely in the box because computers are not a source of creativity to me, but I wouldn't want to be without a DAW again.

Ghost Hip wrote:I just bought a like new Yamaha MT3X four track and am further straying away from ableton. I've used DAWs for multitrack recording but not much else. Softsynths and midi controllers feel really weird. I wish I had a tablet/stylus option for tweaking note grids and such like on the Korg DS10 for Nintendo DS. There's gotta be an option out there but not one I want to pay for I imagine once I have a room dedicated to music again I'll be able to focus and learn more about plug-ins and ableton and all that, but for now it serves as a multi-track recorder for mixing and mastering, etc. Which I got Ableton for free when I worked at GC so works for me lol.

MT3X is a pretty obscure one, but it's the only one of my cassette multitrackers I'm keeping. It's the one I have in the worst condition, but still the one I have the best feelings toward. Maybe because I watched it sit in an Ypsilanti pawn shop all throughout highschool. Something about it's metering in a dark room puts me at ease.

Having inputs 5 and 6 is AWESOME for recording additional midI based instruments at mix down. I mainly use them for passing a stereo mix through when using loops on the 4 tracks. Totally underrated and I wish more multitrackers had non recordable channels routed to the outs.

These days I like to do my tracking outside the box on a digital 16 track recorder, then dump the files into a DAW for editing and mixing. This keeps me from trying to edit and mix while I'm tracking, which for me makes the quality of those tasks worse in the aggregate. Better for me to compartmentalize stages of production.

greyscales wrote:computers are not a source of creativity to me

I can relate to this. I think it has something to do with staring at a computer screen while navigating through menu after menu of mindless drivel at an office job all day and then coming home and staring at a similar screen some more, clicking through yet another endless stream of menu's before the first semblance of a pleasant sound even has a chance of arising. Whereas when I get home and plug in my guitar/bass/VI, I can just instantly jam out & forget about clicking through menu's and filing business administration and writing content and what-have-you that it is that I do at the office.
When I was in school as a kid, staring at boring textbooks all day, I couldn't wait to get home and stare at that computer screen for some time; playing games, messing about in my uncle's early version of Fruity Loops, learning about HTML coding, whatever; just as long as I didn't have to do my homework, staring yet again at page after page of boring books...

I only use audacity for recording. I like to get real freaky with vcvrack and audiomulch, but I like to keep it seperate. I feel like I'll get stuck/overwhelmed if I go all the way with like ableton max or something. I'll leave all the magical plugins to the engineers

My sources and processing is rooted in the hardware domain, but digital usually wins on the recording side - unless I'm feeling particularly serious about something and can allocate a tape budget.

I use Ableton Live Lite to record if I need 3 or 4 tracks simultaneously, or Audacity for 2 track recording. Ableton is also used for keyboard sounds. I use Audition for all my editing and mixing because it's free for me with my transferable work licence, and because it has great fixing tools for painting out all those screw ups I make. Plus it's dead easy for my brain to understand. I cannot seem to edit in Ableton; I find it really confusing. I tried Reaper as well and couldn't get my head around it.

I use Logic for tracking and sometimes for writing music in MIDI. To me it’s great, I can’t imagine tracking into tape or hard disk/whatever anymore, for me it’s just much more convenient to use a DAW.