DAW selection: Considering I have a Nord Stage 4, a drum machine and Serato, what would be the best choice?

[submeg]

Hi all,

As per the title, I'm looking to get into music again. The first time I was playing around with a DAW, I started on a demo version of Propellerheads Rebirth and then Reason, but at the time, I had little musical knowledge. When I first started getting into DJing, I also dabbled with Ableton Live, but life got in the way (uni, work, etc).

Since then, I have take a few courses in music: Theory, piano, guitar and vocals, and took private piano and vocal lessons for the following few years.

At the end of last year, I finally purchased the Nord Stage 4, but shortly after I had surgery and was unable to sit and play. Only now do I think I could comfortably sit on the piano stool and play again.

This year I'm not doing any lessons, but I want to explore more of the Stage 4, but I'd really like to hone back into the production / DJing side again. I've seen a fair few clips of people recently posting songs using FL Studio, but I have no experience on it.

The things I am looking to do: Learn more of the Stage 4 and use it as an input into the DAW, record any mixes I create from Serato (if possible), use the turntables as an input (if possible), use a drum machine as a controller to chop up / trigger samples (and have a way to record this).

Considering the above, which DAWs would be worth some investigating?

[submeg]

I did some further searching and it seems I'm down to three possibilities: Ableton Live (more DJ focused but the workflow is different to other DAWs), Reaper (Has a native Linux version, has what you need, but you need to expand with plugins and it's not as easy to learn) or FL Studio (a more approachable UI, but it's workflow just doesn't translate to anything else).

So I will go and test the three and see where I land.

[submeg]

Thinking deeper about what I would like to do: 1. mashups and 2. creating my own tracks using plugins and inputs from the nord.

[Jeffmac]

So, a DAW is a pretty personal choice. They can pretty much do everything now, but each has its own "flavor".

FL Studio has some really dedicated users, but to me it has the least connection to other DAWs and I find its routing interface confusing.

Reaper is a great choice that feels like it sits somewhere between Studio One and Logic (my main DAW) and offers a no-risk trial. It has a bit too much window creep for my taste, but it is an excellent DAW for most applications.

My two cents (worth what you are paying for it ) would be that Ableton would be your best choice for what you describe. It is a single window interface and switches elegantly between linear recording and loop based playback. It deals with real time tempo changing really well which will make your mash up goals child's play. If you are leaning this direction you might also take a look at Bigwig which is an even more modern take from a batch of ex-Ableton engineers.

Frankly, I would download the demos for each and use them for a week or so and see which one gels with you...

[submeg]

So, a DAW is a pretty personal choice. They can pretty much do everything now, but each has its own "flavor".

FL Studio has some really dedicated users, but to me it has the least connection to other DAWs and I find its routing interface confusing.

Reaper is a great choice that feels like it sits somewhere between Studio One and Logic (my main DAW) and offers a no-risk trial. It has a bit too much window creep for my taste, but it is an excellent DAW for most applications.

My two cents (worth what you are paying for it ) would be that Ableton would be your best choice for what you describe. It is a single window interface and switches elegantly between linear recording and loop based playback. It deals with real time tempo changing really well which will make your mash up goals child's play. If you are leaning this direction you might also take a look at Bigwig which is an even more modern take from a batch of ex-Ableton engineers.

Frankly, I would download the demos for each and use them for a week or so and see which one gels with you...

Thanks Jeff, when I've seen others using FL, it seems the most straightforward visually (from what I have seen), but the fact that everything I've read / watched on it is that it's so different to all other DAWs that once you're in, you're going to have a hard time leaving. I worry that eventually I will want to do "something" that is incredibly ridiculous in FL, but relatively straightforward in other DAWs; but relearning a new DAW when not much is transferable is off-putting.

Reaper vs Ableton - I am not yet decided; I have started looking at Reaper first mainly because it has a native Linux install. However, I have dabbled with Ableton in the past, but "ran out of time" / life got in the way. I really can't remember much, it was a long time ago. Maybe I'll have to try both Ableton and Bitwig?

EDIT: Considering I have dual boot Windows / Linux, I'm testing Ableton again. What does sweeten the deal is that I can upgrade from Live 8 to 12 for substantially less than a new version outright, so that is even better.

[submeg]

Very quick first impressions:

Ableton: There's a lot of things that are drag and drop and work straight from the word go. I could quickly get a pattern going with the piano roll and mess around with the effects. Haven't touched the live / clips section yet.

REAPER: Not so obvious. It has very little in the way of "out of the box" items; you need to go and find a bunch of VSTs first. From a glance, it seems that if you spend the time to go and set up REAPER, and then start using it, the depth of customisation that is possible really makes it a unique fit for each use case. This is both a drawcard to use it, and a deterrent. I don't have the knowledge / background to know what I want to do with it yet, so it's difficult to know where to even start modifying it.

[submeg]

You may take a look also at Waveform by Tracktion, starting from its Free version https://www.tracktion.com/products/waveform-free (which has also native Linux support)

[submeg]

Thanks for this, I will check it out!