Which is the best software in your opinion?

Put that way, one can say everything and nothing at all. What are you referring to when you talk about working with audio? Do you mean working on the mixing stage? Working on the editing stage? Working on writing the score? Working on audio restoration?

Context is necessary; otherwise, there is a risk of being too vague. One thing is certain… Rather than talking about which is the best software to use in a particular context, one can talk about personal tastes because, for example, in the field of editing, there are several software programs that perform the same functions, but the choice of these software is strongly influenced by personal taste and the subjective ease of one software compared to another for those who use them.

You are perfectly right. Actually, I would like to produce music. I don't have composer skills, but I would like to be able to play with audio libraries and create mixes. I am referring to software like Logic or Pro Tools, Cubase, etc. Which one is the best?

What kind of music? In addition to Cubase and the others you mentioned, I would also add Ableton Live. Take a look at the comparison tables between programs; I found this one, but there will be others on the web that are even more accurate:

http://www.thedawstudio.com/Gear/DAW-Comparison-Chart.html

zenigata wrote:

You are perfectly right. Actually, I would like to produce music. I don't have composer skills, but I would like to be able to play with audio libraries and create mixes. I am referring to software like Logic or Pro Tools, Cubase, etc. Which one is the best?

It depends, they are specialized for different things. Pro Tools is one thing, and Cubase and Logic are another; because of this, you do some things faster with Pro Tools and others with Logic (or alternatively, if you really insist, Cubase).

So... It needs to be finalized into something.

If you want to make music and then send it to recording studios for mixing and mastering, you MUST use Pro Tools. It's not that Pro Tools is the best software; better or worse depends on the ease of workflow you encounter with one software compared to another. "Better" might be for you, "worse" might be for me, so these are subjective things.

However, we can say that Pro Tools is the internationally recognized standard for recording studios, so in 99% of cases, at least here in Europe, the editing and mixing phases are done with Pro Tools. In America, Logic is also very widely used. Moving on to personal opinions... Logic seems more oriented towards the creative phase to me; I find it easier to use libraries and work with MIDI. Pro Tools is more oriented towards editing and mixing. Personally, I also like Pro Tools' mixing plugins more than Logic's, with the exception of the convolution reverb, which is very well implemented in Logic even if it is quite heavy.

For mastering, I have often seen Sequoia being used, but I cannot express an opinion because it is a software I have never used. I only know that it is very clean with crossfades, much more so than Pro Tools from what I am told, but I cannot guarantee it without having ever used it.

I hope I have answered your question.

Reaper 4.

Anyway, for audio (without working on midi) Audacity has reached a respectable level, and it is free (and in Italian).

In self-production, speed of work also matters a lot, so it is fundamental to know how to move well within a program and be able to do everything on the fly. Nowadays, almost all of them guarantee very good quality, so the important thing is knowing how to use at least one very well. If you have to go and do production elsewhere, you must know the most commonly used ones (Pro Tools, Logic, etc.). But, if the ambition is to produce your own things, in my opinion, it is better to know how to move in an environment that you know well; after all, if you have to do a job elsewhere, you can always export everything into other "environments"... But in reality, it never happens, because you always end up having to run like crazy. At least, that's what always happens to me...

With all these answers I feel even more confused...

Zenigata, a blunt response to Lupin, just to stay on theme... If you haven't learned how to use a DAW yet and don't know how to orient yourself, start learning Pro Tools, not because it is the best but because it is a standard. Croma says wise things: if you don't need to produce at a professional level, use whatever is most congenial to you, but if you haven't had the chance to work with any DAW yet, then you can start directly with Pro Tools and get familiar with it. The speed of process execution is something that comes once you have spent a lot of time on it. If you work a lot with a software, you become fast, and this applies to any DAW. Furthermore, Pro Tools has the best native plugins I have ever seen in any DAW. The reverb ones aren't beautiful, but you can purchase other plugins separately, such as those from Waves, and use convolution reverbs that help you simulate physical environments. The equalizers and compressors included within Pro Tools are already of excellent workmanship, and even with the base version, it is possible to make truly well-done productions. With other software, unless you spend a lot of money on third-party plugins, you don't get the same audio quality. This is my opinion having tried truly many, if not almost all of them. Furthermore, the logic of DAWs is practically always the same. DAWs are tools designed to simulate analog workstations; therefore, once you have cleared up the concepts of Channel Strip, Insert, Send, Bus, audio and MIDI tracks, audio and MIDI regions, the logic is always the same in all DAWs, even regarding editing. MIDI is always the same concept: Notes, Velocity, Expression, CC64 (Sus Ped), etc., etc. Audio editing is always the same: Fade IN, OUT, and CrossFade; Cut, Copy, and Paste. You will only need to get practice with the plugins, and even their logic is always the same because they simulate analog outboard gear. A compressor will always have a Threshold, an Attack, a release, and a ratio. A parametric equalizer will always have a frequency band, a gain factor, and a Q bandwidth factor, etc., etc.

Start studying what, career-wise speaking, can give you an advantage. If you study Nuendo and put on your CV that you know how to use Nuendo, it will probably interest few; if you write that you know how to use Pro Tools, you have a more marketable CV.

That is what I think.

In effect, Simone is right. If one has to start from scratch, it's better to go all out for the reference standard.

If I may, I would like to give my opinion: in this context, something wasn't discussed that ultimately plays a role in the final decision, namely the quality/price ratio.

I am, fortunately, testing several DAWs and I must say that if we don't worry about price, then Pro Tools is certainly, if we are talking about the mixing stage, a truly tough DAW; the audio engine, which now offers the possibility of being used even on non-Avid cards, is one of the best in circulation, and as already mentioned, it is a standard everywhere.

Logic, in my opinion, thanks to Apple's policy, offers professional software that costs very little; Logic is an extremely valid and convenient product, and I would say that in terms of programming and MIDI management it is better than Pro Tools; in the end, I opted for this combination.

But let's not forget products like Magix's Samplitude, which boasts the same audio engines as its big brother Sequoia, which costs a fortune, but with prices that are definitely more within reach.

On Windows we also have Sonar, but you definitely have to like it.

To make a long story short, if you are on a Mac system, I would go straight for Logic, and then perhaps eventually invest in Pro Tools for the mixing stage processing.

On Windows, I would opt for Samplitude, a product for less than €500 that boasts the same operating logic as its older brother which costs over €3000.

I forgot, there is a 'little Samplitude' with limited functions, in the sense that it doesn't have the plugins and instruments of the older brothers (which can be purchased separately), but it also boasts the same operating logic; the mixer is identical, and I believe it costs around €100.

Personally, I have been using Sonar X2 production for a few months; I bought it for two reasons:

To try a different environment for creating tracks from scratch, but also for mixing (I had never done that before this period).

For the price; I paid practically 40 euros new.

In the past, I had just tried it (Sonar 3, I think), but at the time I was using Cubase Sx3, but only to create scores or control Reason via rewire; I had never used VSTs until a few months ago.

So now, the material I use is very heterogeneous and I have sped up my "composition" procedures.

By using Sonar from scratch, I am learning to know it quite well, but being someone who usually doesn't read manuals, it will take me a little time.

There is, however, a problem, and not a small one:

Sonar crashes often and regardless of the fact that I have a fairly old PC, dating back to 2007/2008, I have read on several forums that this is now a well-known problem, but Cakewalk, despite continuing to produce software by providing improvements and integrations, has not taken steps to make this software more stable.

In the end, I followed Simone's advice and found a used version of Pro Tools from a friend who sold it to me. I also tried Logic for a few weeks and I must say that, as he was saying, Logic is indeed easier for the creative part, while Pro Tools is more effective for editing and the use of plugins, which I find better compared to Logic's native ones. I have never tested Sonar, but if you tell me it isn't stable, I think that despite the very inviting price, it's not worth wasting time on. Imagine you are writing a piece and it crashes. With Pro Tools and Logic, up until today, I have never had the slightest problem. It is also true that I use a Mac and stability is certainly better than on a Windows PC.

Yes, it is true that it crashes (in addition to the typical Windows crashes), but for scores I use Musescore; with Sonar I prepare a piece, then I export it in XML format and import it into Musescore.

Besides, Sonar doesn't run on Mac, or at least that's how it seems to me.

I found it for 50 euros including shipping by pure luck; its actual cost is significantly higher.

With a friend (who, since he records vocals on his own, I was able to see Logic from a mixing standpoint rather than a composition standpoint), and if it were up to me, I would use it to make pieces.

Just the fact that the Mac is stable certainly makes the work more fluid and relaxing.

In my studio, I have both an iMac and a PC, so without dwelling on the usual age-old comparisons, I would say that Sonar's crashing problems are long-standing; even today, it still crashes on Windows 10, which is not comparable in terms of stability to Yosemite or El Capitan, though I would say it is a very good operating system.

In my opinion, it is Sonar itself that needs a bit of a revision; after trying a lite version that came with a Roland audio interface for iPad, I uninstalled it and opted for Samplitude, which is closer to Logic in philosophy.

On Mac, I use Logic, which I find truly well-made, and you could do everything with it; then there's a Pro Tools 10 HD that a dear friend gave me, which I use solely and exclusively for mixing.

Logic is currently a truly powerful DAW; it installs over 50 gigs of material including Apple Loops, various orchestral libraries, and several synths, among which—following Apple's acquisition of Camel Audio in recent updates—Alchemy has been included, which is exceptional; there is also an excellent complete Mellotron; in short, it is a truly powerful and well-structured software.