Recommendation for DAW for PC!

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poopotpoopot Frets: 9098
edited March 2018 in Studio & Recording
Right chaps,

Poojunior is getting into his recording. He already has a spec’d up pc (gaming/homework etc). I’m on Mac and have been for over 20years so I don’t know what is out there for pc.

so, what is there DAW wise? Preferably free to download...
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Comments

  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    edited March 2018
    Reaper.

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  • spark240spark240 Frets: 2073
    Presonus Artist...


    Mac Mini M1
    Presonus Studio One V5
     https://www.studiowear.co.uk/ -
     https://twitter.com/spark240
     Facebook - m.me/studiowear.co.uk
    Reddit r/newmusicreview 
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    edited March 2018
    Reaper. It has an unlimited trial mode (5 second nag screen), but it's cheap enough to licence if you want to support the developer. It works on a Mac too!
    If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
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  • stratman3142stratman3142 Frets: 2176
    Reaper does all that I need (and more). It's free to try. Your conscience should tell you to buy it after trying it, but the licence is very inexpensive.

    It's not a competition.
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  • poopotpoopot Frets: 9098
    Cheers all!...
    poojunior has downloaded reaper... 
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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26450
    He should be fine with Reaper. We're currently recording our album with it, and it's constantly surprising us with awesome features we wished we'd known about at the beginning... :D
    <space for hire>
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  • flying_pieflying_pie Frets: 1806
    Good choice.

    Reaper has a load of good plugins included but a couple of good free vst plugins to add include Tokyo Dawn TDR Nova Dynamic EQ and George Yohng's W1 limiter which is basically a Waves limiter clone.
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  • octatonicoctatonic Frets: 33725
    He should be fine with Reaper. We're currently recording our album with it, and it's constantly surprising us with awesome features we wished we'd known about at the beginning... :D
    It is incredibly powerful, no matter that it costs a pittance.
    I have to have ProTools HD and Logic etc but if I was starting again from scratch and wasn't working in a commercial studio environment then it would be literally the only thing I'd look at.
    IO routing is incredibly capable.

    Pretty much all the live engineers I interact with are using it and have no complaints tracking 60+ channel live gigs.
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  • FreebirdFreebird Frets: 5821
    Don't forget the free video tutorials!

    https://www.reaper.fm/videos.php
    If we are not ashamed to think it, we should not be ashamed to say it.
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  • ToneControlToneControl Frets: 11788
    Don't forget Ableton. All us old folks think primarily of a tape-paradigm, but it's quite possible that younger folk would prefer the clip-based, DJ / producer /arranger perspective.
    Ableton can do tape-style as well, but it's not its strength

    Basic version is about £70, but gets bundled with everything
    Probably there are some on here with unused licences
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  • meltedbuzzboxmeltedbuzzbox Frets: 10337
    +1 for reaper
    The Bigsby was the first successful design of what is now called a whammy bar or tremolo arm, although vibrato is the technically correct term for the musical effect it produces. In standard usage, tremolo is a rapid fluctuation of the volume of a note, while vibrato is a fluctuation in pitch. The origin of this nonstandard usage of the term by electric guitarists is attributed to Leo Fender, who also used the term “vibrato” to refer to what is really a tremolo effect.
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  • TeetonetalTeetonetal Frets: 7801
    +1 Reaper it's awesome.
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  • JAYJOJAYJO Frets: 1526
    Freebird said:
    Don't forget the free video tutorials!

    https://www.reaper.fm/videos.php
    Definitely this. I downloaded Reaper a while ago and got stuck in without reading the Manual. Ended up in a big mess.
    Now im starting again and these free videos are a great help. I'm still struggling  recording/remembering all the functions etc but i am improving thanks to these lessons and a few sages from here.
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  • NelsonPNelsonP Frets: 3347
    edited March 2018
    Reaper +1

    Can anyone explain the best way to do multiple takes and select the best one?

    I always end up in a jumbled mess when trying to do that.

    Yet I've read that this is one of reapers strengths.

    In case you haven't guessed I rarely read the instructions for Ikea furniture.
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  • blobbblobb Frets: 2914
    From an alternative viewpoint Harrison Mixbus is good if you want to learn how to 'Mix'.

    Nothing else I have used takes you away from adding just one more plug in like MB does. You have to use your ears, which to me is what it is all about. Saying that though, you can load it up with plug-ins if you really want to.

    Lots of users track in their DAW of choice, and Reaper is as good if not better than most for this, then move to MB for mixing.

    Feelin' Reelin' & Squeelin'
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  • JAYJOJAYJO Frets: 1526
    edited March 2018
    NelsonP said:
    Reaper +1

    Can anyone explain the best way to do multiple takes and select the best one?

    I always end up in a jumbled mess when trying to do that.

    Yet I've read that this is one of reapers strengths.

    In case you haven't guessed I rarely read the instructions for Ikea furniture.
    Just click on track control panel to create a track, click arm button, make sure you set to input monitor so you can hear yourself play and record. When finished double  click underneath track to create another one and repeat. Add fx using the fx button on the track etc. you can keep creating tracks as long as you want. Is this what you meant?
    This would create Multiple tracks where as you only want multiple takes. see down below.
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  • flying_pieflying_pie Frets: 1806
    NelsonP said:
    Reaper +1

    Can anyone explain the best way to do multiple takes and select the best one?

    I always end up in a jumbled mess when trying to do that.

    Yet I've read that this is one of reapers strengths.

    In case you haven't guessed I rarely read the instructions for Ikea furniture.

    RTFM. Or watch this video 



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  • digitalscreamdigitalscream Frets: 26450
    edited March 2018
    JAYJO said:
    NelsonP said:
    Reaper +1

    Can anyone explain the best way to do multiple takes and select the best one?

    I always end up in a jumbled mess when trying to do that.

    Yet I've read that this is one of reapers strengths.

    In case you haven't guessed I rarely read the instructions for Ikea furniture.
    Just click on track control panel to create a track, click arm button, make sure you set to input monitor so you can hear yourself play and record. When finished double  click underneath track to create another one and repeat. Add fx using the fx button on the track etc. you can keep creating tracks as long as you want. Is this what you meant?
    Why on earth would you do that instead of using the built-in take functionality?

    Just record something, then record over it in the same track. Do that a few times.

    Then select the last take (click on it), and listen through until you hear a mistake. Select the area that you want to replace - left-click anywhere in the timeline that's not an audio item, and drag the mouse - it should highlight that section. Don't worry if you're not exact with it - you can move the mouse to the edges of the selection and the cursor will change, thus allowing you to adjust it. Roll the mouse wheel to zoom in if you need to.

    Now, right-click and drag to select the item you recorded (with all the takes in it). Press shift-S; this will split the item within the time selection and highlight the area with the mistake in it.

    Now press shift-T, and it will select the previous take within the selected section. Keep going until you find a take which is right.

    You may get some popping when you play it, as it crosses the boundary between different takes. The way to fix this is to either move the boundary (hover your mouse over the cut point between the sections until the pointer is an arrow pointing both ways, and click and drag) or to crossfade across the break point (hover the mouse left/right over the cut point until it's an arrow pointing only left or right) and extend one section over the other.

    Here's an example of multiple takes of a solo DI track with a bit of editing:



    I know it seems a little complicated with that description, but it's much easier to deal with than using loads of tracks.

    EDIT: I missed the post from @flying_pie - you could just watch that video instead.
    <space for hire>
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  • NelsonPNelsonP Frets: 3347
    NelsonP said:
    Reaper +1

    Can anyone explain the best way to do multiple takes and select the best one?

    I always end up in a jumbled mess when trying to do that.

    Yet I've read that this is one of reapers strengths.

    In case you haven't guessed I rarely read the instructions for Ikea furniture.

    RTFM. Or watch this video 



    This is exactly what I needed. Thank you.

    Well, apart from the RTFM bit ;-)
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  • NelsonPNelsonP Frets: 3347
    JAYJO said:
    NelsonP said:
    Reaper +1

    Can anyone explain the best way to do multiple takes and select the best one?

    I always end up in a jumbled mess when trying to do that.

    Yet I've read that this is one of reapers strengths.

    In case you haven't guessed I rarely read the instructions for Ikea furniture.
    Just click on track control panel to create a track, click arm button, make sure you set to input monitor so you can hear yourself play and record. When finished double  click underneath track to create another one and repeat. Add fx using the fx button on the track etc. you can keep creating tracks as long as you want. Is this what you meant?
    Why on earth would you do that instead of using the built-in take functionality?

    Just record something, then record over it in the same track. Do that a few times.

    Then select the last take (click on it), and listen through until you hear a mistake. Select the area that you want to replace - left-click anywhere in the timeline that's not an audio item, and drag the mouse - it should highlight that section. Don't worry if you're not exact with it - you can move the mouse to the edges of the selection and the cursor will change, thus allowing you to adjust it. Roll the mouse wheel to zoom in if you need to.

    Now, right-click and drag to select the item you recorded (with all the takes in it). Press shift-S; this will split the item within the time selection and highlight the area with the mistake in it.

    Now press shift-T, and it will select the previous take within the selected section. Keep going until you find a take which is right.

    You may get some popping when you play it, as it crosses the boundary between different takes. The way to fix this is to either move the boundary (hover your mouse over the cut point between the sections until the pointer is an arrow pointing both ways, and click and drag) or to crossfade across the break point (hover the mouse left/right over the cut point until it's an arrow pointing only left or right) and extend one section over the other.

    Here's an example of multiple takes of a solo DI track with a bit of editing:



    I know it seems a little complicated with that description, but it's much easier to deal with than using loads of tracks.

    EDIT: I missed the post from @flying_pie - you could just watch that video instead.
    Thank you very much!
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