Open Forum Friday: Which DAW and Why?

By admin on March 8, 2013 on Blog composer interview, music question, open forum friday

Hi all. Welcome to Open Forum Friday again. This week I’d like to discuss:

What DAW do you use and why?

Let me know in the comments below and we’ll discuss!

Written by: admin

Emmett Cooke is an Irish composer for film, tv and video games. His music has been used around the world by high profile companies including Sony Playstation, Ralph Lauren, ABC, CBS, NBC, Lockheed Martin and many more.

http://www.facebook.com/thebagwellian Nicholas Bagwell

I use Pro Tools. I went to a school and that’s what they taught so that’s what I learned. I’ve considered switching to Cubase for my midi scoring work while keeping Pro Tools for engineering and film post work but I get hung up on two things. First, I’m dirt poor at the moment. Second, I got fast at Pro Tools. I mean really fast and I’d rather be fast on Pro Tools than slow and struggling on any other DAW.
- Emmett Cooke
  
  Hi Nicholas,
  
  Yes I use Cubase myself and learned Pro Tools in college. I left college still not knowing anything about Pro Tools though as its so damn complex – Cubase is just really easy to use I find to be honest and everything is where you’d expect it to be.
http://www.facebook.com/nick.smeenk Nick Smeenk

I always use Cubase. Momentarily I use Cubase 5 but I’m planning to buy an upgrade to Cubase 7 later this year. I’ve been working with Cubase for 8 years now, so I’m really used to it. I really like the linear structure and everything is in the right place. It’s a really complete DAW. Midi works as it should be, the vari audio works cool and it’s really stable.

I’m working with an orchestral template that consist of 55 VST-instruments, it uses up to 16gb ram and haven’t had any big problems with it.

At an internship I worked with logic, but I didn’t like the way it was setup with the multitimbral instruments. So I stay with Cubase.
- Emmett Cooke
  
  Same here Nick. I’ve been very happy with Cubase and I’ve been on it since version 3. Not sure I’ll be upgrading though as I see no real need for the extra features just yet – happy with Cuabse 6 for now
  - http://www.facebook.com/nick.smeenk Nick Smeenk
    
    Hi Emmet,
    
    How’s the video support in Cubase 6 ? In Cubase 5.5.3 I experience problems with HD video’s. They play a little bit shocky, at first I thought it was my old computer, but since June last year I switched to an Ivy Bridge 3770k with 32gb of ramm so that shouldn’t be the problem. I read a lot about people who’ve had the same problems. I tested the Cubase 7 trail which played the video’s flawlessly.
    - Emmett Cooke
      
      Hey Nick,
      
      Video support in Cubase 6 is a little better than 5 – its a little buggy but seems to work fine for me as long as its the right file type
http://www.gavinharrisonsounds.com/ Gavin Harrison

Logic and Pro Tools combination for me.
- Emmett Cooke
  
  Always found Pro Tools difficult to use – fair play for being able to work it lol!
  - http://www.gavinharrisonsounds.com/ Gavin Harrison
    
    I did initially and it was very tempting to go straight back to Logic but I was forced to use Pro Tools as I had to swap project files with someone. After using it for a few solid days, I started to get the hang of it and much prefer it for it’s audio editing now! Though I am still much faster using Logic, usually where time allows I compose in Logic and switch to Pro Tools for production.
EagleCinematics

I use Reaper. Its fast to start, does very seldom crash and has a very god price point. I used Cubase before, but are not going back.
Antonio Cantarin

Logic for composing and Reaper for mixdown and mastering
http://twitter.com/jonwmusic Jonathan Wright

I’ve always used Logic, but over the last few months I’ve been working with Digital Performer, mainly attracted by its movie scoring capabilities.