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What are the best DAWs for beginners?

11

Options
Considered

178

User
Recs.

Jun 6, 2021

Last
Updated

Here’s the Deal

11 Options Considered

Best DAWs for beginners	Price	Compatibility	Max number of tracks
88 FL Studio	$99+	Mac, Windows	125
-- Cubase	$549.99	Mac, Windows	Unlimited MIDI and Audio Tracks (Pro), 128 MIDI and 64 Audio tracks (Artist), 48 Audio and 64 MIDI tracks (Elements)
-- Ableton Live	$99-$749	Mac, Windows	unlimited (8 in lite)(16 in Intro)
-- Logic Pro X	$199	Mac	Unlimited
-- Reaper	Free - $225	Mac, Windows, 64-bit Linux (beta)	Unlimited

FL Studio

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Top Pro

It comes as VSTi and Rewire

So you can use it inside another DAW....AFAIK there's no other DAW capable of doing that. See More

Top Con

Not intuitive for track based recording approach

SupportiveKakia's Experience

FL Studio has a really great community that is always ready to help you for whatever trouble you run in to. Just check their reddit. They will also give you honest feedback for your loops and songs. See More

Specs

Compatibility:Mac, Windows

Max number of tracks:125

Included sounds:Yes

Top Pro

Easy to learn DAW

The FL Studio DAW utilizes drag and drop, and can generally be learned quickly without any prior knowledge. See More

Top Con

Not great for Mixing

Every channel should have input gain controller and extra plugins should be added for more creativity See More

Top Pro

Very comprehensive plugin suite included

You have basic and advanced plugins right out the box. See More

Top Con

Has a tendency to crash

Always save before loading a new VST or doing something important: FL is extremely prone to crashes. See More

Top Pro

Free lifetime updates

With the producer or signature bundle, updates are free, forever. See More

Top Con

The GUI is very difficult to see.

The color scheme of GUI is terrible. They use a lot of dark and similar color for the GUI. And Not skinnable without special knowledge of hack. See More

Top Pro

Excellent for visual learners

All the stock plugins look really nice and really show users what is being done, it's a great way to learn mixing theory for a beginner. This approach makes FL Studio easy to learn compared to other DAWs. See More

Top Con

Has a slight tendency to crash

Always save before loading a new VST or doing something important: FL is prone to crashes. See More

Top Pro

Intuitive piano roll

Piano roll is a FL Studio's instrument step sequencer. It is considered to be among the most intuitive and flexible tools for quickly creating patterns and manipulating all aspects of each note. A single left click inserts a note, while a right click deletes it. It's possible to mute notes, splice them, stretch them, add shuffle, etc quickly. The Piano Roll caters for those new to Music Theory as well, containing an array of chords from which to choose, be it a Major, Minor, Minor 5th, Minor 9th, what have you. See More

Top Con

Audio Recording not good as the other DAWs

Recording audio is always a problem in FL Studio. See More

Top Pro

Learning to use it is fairly straightforward

The FL Studio DAW utilizes drag and drop, and can generally be learned quickly without any prior knowledge. See More

Top Con

No native Linux version

No native Linux version available. It's possible to run it using WINE with native performance. See More

Top Pro

Smooth UI

Compared to other DAWs, FL's UI moves at full monitor refresh rates while others are somehow laggy. See More

Top Con

The soundfont player will trash your projects, no 64-bit version available

Remember that nice project with a soundfont in it ? Yeeeah, load it again and prepare to face stuck MIDI notes and a trashed project. See More

Top Pro

Perfect for engineering because of the production style workflow

The workflow for creating beats in FL Studio is among the fastest which make mixing and mastering a breeze inserting plug-ins and routing on the mixer. See More

Top Con

Most controls are hidden

in the mixing console, mid, bass, and treble are not explicitly stated as they should be. See More

Top Pro

Sample/MIDI Manipulation in the Playlist Mode

The Playlist mode comes with various tools for cutting out sections of a sample, midi arrangement, or otherwise. One can also clone, mute, solo out, and stretch a sample by any degree, although the sample's key will change See More

Top Pro

Can import/export 32bit audio

Just as the internal engine bit depth, there's no loss in quality. See More

Top Pro

Fully vectorial UI that will scale to virtually every screen

Because most DAWs don't scale well yet. See More

Top Pro

Powerful Sound Editor

Edison is a great way to record and edit samples, sound effects and is a very easy way to create sample packs and sound libraries. See More

Top Pro

Easy to install

No complex activation shenanigans. No dongle and such. See More

Top Pro

Each update is major

When Image Line releases an update, it's safe to assume that there are major improvements in there. See More

Top Pro

Supports resampling

Supports resampling (non-stretch) which is something some DAWs don't support. See More

Top Pro

The only DAW with a VJ graphic generation suite (ZG Editor Visualizer)

No other DAW has that. See More

Top Pro

Sampler

FL Studio has a very unique sampler which allows all kinds of sounds to be experimented with, be it a siren, a water drop, or more commonly, the infamous "Progressive House" Kick. The Sampler also allows the user to retune a sample to any key he/she desires. See More

Top Pro

Good for the studio

Some DAWs are good for live shows, some DAWs are good for production, but the FL Studio DAW has carved its niche in the studio recording arena. See More

Top Pro

Good for using in the studio

Some DAWs are good for live shows, some DAWs are good for production, but the FL Studio DAW has carved its niche in the studio recording arena. See More

Top Pro

Scalable interface

The interface adapts to the screen size it's used on. See More

Top Pro

Unlimited Creativity

With tools in the piano roll like the "Riff Machine", and the "Randomize" tool, you can literally let the computer automate the production if you want. In addition to plugins like "Gross Beat", Slicex, DirectWave, the ideas can be limitless. See More

Top Pro

Complete control over multiple Launchpad Pro animation lightshow projects.

Live can, but working with more LPs is a pain. See More

Top Pro

It is the only DAW where you can program real scratching sequences (Turntablism)

You can make your own scratches with the "Fruity Scratcher" or "Wave traveller". See More

Top Pro

Very flexible timeline

Top Pro

Best stretching algorithms in the market

Top Pro

Unlimited Creativity

With tools in the piano roll like the "Riff Machine", and the "Randomize" tool, you can literally let the computer automate the production if you want. In addition to plugins like "Gross Beat", Slicex, DirectWave, the ideas can be limitless. See More

Top Pro

Reasonable and liberal license

Buy once, and you're allowed to use it on every computer you own. See More

Top Pro

Non-invasive DRM

Forget copy protection USB-dongles and phone-home activation. Just import a reg key file and your license is activated. See More

Top Pro

Complete control over multiple Launchpad Pro animation lightshow projects.

Live can, but working with more LPs is a pain. See More

Top Pro

Patcher: Modular environment

Top Pro

It is the only DAW where you can program real scratching sequences (Turntablism)

You can make your own scratches with the "Fruity Scratcher" or "Wave traveller". See More

Top Pro

Inbuilt cross 32/64bit plugin bridge

Because you don't need to install/configure a third party bridge. See More

Top Pro

Imports video for scoring

You can open several video players. See More

Top Pro

It's possible to run FL Studio on Linux via Wine without a noticeable performance impact

Version 12 of FL Studio includes a new Generic ASIO driver that's capable of achieving same low latency performance as the native Windows version. Instructions on how to set up the DAW to run on Linux via Wine can be found here. See More

Top Pro

Flexible internal linking engine

It's linking engine and controller plugins are very flexible and useful all across the software. For mixing and also for performance mode. See More

Top Pro

Fully open: accepts a variety of formats

Accepts VST/VSTi (v2,v3) Wav, Aiff, Rex, Acid, Apple Loop, Ogg, Mp3 as well as almost every video format including Mov and Mp4. See More

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Cubase

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Top Pro

Batch export

You can pick separate tracks to export in one pass. You can even have them open up a new project or drop in the same project automatically. Huge time saver and DSP Saver. See More

Top Con

Annoying dongle

Not unlike Pro Tools, you have to have a dongle containing your license plugged into your computer or you can't use the software. See More

Specs

Compatibility:Mac, Windows

Max number of tracks:Unlimited MIDI and Audio Tracks (Pro), 128 MIDI and 64 Audio tracks (Artist), 48 Audio and 64 MIDI tracks (Elements)

Included sounds:14GB

Top Pro

Pro edition is exellent for audio mixing also.

It provides all the industry requirements and features an optimized workflow for mixing See More

Top Con

Quite expensive

This costs significantly more compared to other DAWs. See More

Top Pro

Supports chord tracks

Top Con

Lack of built-in noise reduction

There's no built-in noise reduction FFT profiler like you might see in some other DAWs. There's noise gate but it's not the same. If you're on Windows, then you can get around this by downloading ReaFir. See More

Top Pro

Sampler Track

Has an awesome and easy to use sampler. See More

Top Con

Confusing pages

The Cubase DAW displays pages that tend to confuse users. See More

Top Pro

Superior sample editing

Lot's of options to edit samples on the fly with direct offline processing you can apply effects without sacrificing performance. You can even use Wavelab as an external wave editor. See More

Top Con

No sampler

To many producers, sampler is one of the most important tools in a DAW. Cubase does not come with a sampler tool. See More

Top Pro

Apply any effect in a specific part of the audio

it's possible to apply a side chain, reverb, delay, compressor or any effect to a specific part of the audio without affecting the rest of the audio in the channel See More

Top Con

Not the DAW for tech savvy users

Top Pro

Incredible and well integrated EQ

Top Con

Poor sample editing

The sample editor isn't too great and there's no option to launch external sample editors. See More

Top Pro

Powerful range of audio editing tools

Top Con

Runs poorly

Top Pro

Quantize can automatically tighten MIDI inputs

Automatically tightens your MIDI inputs to be on time. Quantize has two modes. Hard Quantize will adjust based on strict settings (precisely on beat by default) and Iterative Quantize will adjust in increments. Excellent for keeping the human element in recordings. See More

Top Con

Installs third-party software on your computer (e-licenser)

Top Pro

Large selection of time stretching methods

The Cubase DAW offers 11 different kinds of time stretching methods. See More

Top Con

Not what it used to be

The new updates kind of ruin the old classy feel. See More

Top Pro

Great MIDI editing options

Top Pro

All takes can be shown in a single track

When in stacked mode, all of your takes can be shown in a single track side by side. You can then select what parts of which take you need. If you are recording MIDI, the Cubase DAW allows creating a pattern that can overlap and be re-used as many times as needed. See More

Top Pro

Allows changing a pattern in one place to effect each instance of it

Using Parts, the Cubase DAW allows creating patterns that can be re-used as many times as needed, and can be edited in a single place. See More

Top Pro

Powerful, time-saving Logical Editor

Logical Editor allows customizing MIDI data according, in order to set rules to save time. See More

Top Pro

Great summing engine

The summing engine is responsible for processing tracks and combining them into the correct output. In comparison to other DAWs, Cubase's summing engine is excellent. See More

Top Pro

The industry standard for MIDI sequencing and arranging

Ableton Live

Top Pro

Great for sampling

The Ableton DAW offers a great sampling experience, which can be approached in many different ways. Audio can be directly chopped, quantized, warped, and even chopped into MIDI clips. Ableton's built-in sampler also allows clean pitching along with useful loop functions. See More

Specs

Compatibility:Mac, Windows

Max number of tracks:unlimited (8 in lite)(16 in Intro)

Included sounds:5000+Sounds(70+GB)

Processing type:64-bit

Top Pro

Advanced automation

You can add curves to automation. Additionally, Ableton lets users duplicate certain automations quickly. See More

Top Pro

Great creative DAW workflow

Ableton's session view gives a much quicker, more flexible way of experimenting with ideas than a typical linear interface. In session view, each instrument part is a separate entity that can be mixed and matched with other parts without having to rearrange anything. Any and every effect is consolidated into one clean looking interface. It allows users to experiment with effects and other manipulations very quickly. Because of this, Ableton is known as one of the most creative DAWs out there. See More

Top Pro

Endless creativity

After some training this DAW can be used for doing anything. There are basically no limits. See More

Top Pro

Optimized for playing live music

While all DAWs are capable of playing music live, Ableton Live is the most DJ friendly DAW out there as it allows mixing and mashing various MIDI or audio clips together in real-time while still making sure that they're in sync. See More

Top Pro

Exemplary time stretching facilities

Not only can the time stretching can be done in real-time, there are about a dozen of TC/E algorithms to choose from. See More

Top Pro

Advanced content browser

The browser lets users choose from live Sets, tracks, clips, devices, presets, samples, etc. There is also an auto-play function for audio clips that enables users to browse samples quickly. The search function is also handy, but only for clips that are labeled appropriately. See More

Top Pro

Many software specific controllers

Many MIDI controllers have been developed for the exclusive purpose of being used with Ableton. Some popular Live controllers include Push, APC40, and Launchpad. See More

Top Pro

Minimum skeuomorphism

Skeuomorphism is described as retaining antiquated aesthetic features on an updated version of a device. For DAWs, this happens when an interface is littered with analog nobs, wires, and other things that are reminiscent of older technology. While this can be considered a stylistic choice for some DAWs, it tends to block progress towards better practices in music production. See More

Logic Pro X

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Top Pro

Comes with 57gb content

The initial download of Logic Pro X gives users 2gb of samples, but the DAW automatically downloads 57gb of samples once the Logic Pro X DAW is installed. See More

Top Con

Lags or crashes often

This happens usually when there is a lot going on in the track. See More

Specs

Compatibility:Mac

Max number of tracks:Unlimited

Processing type:64 Bit

Top Pro

Easy to learn, makes writing easy, and keeps technical in the background

It is easy, intuitive, and easy-to-implement. See More

Top Pro

Free update from Logic

As of 1/21/2015, Apple has released an update that allows users to upgrade from Logic to Logic Pro X. See More

Top Pro

Cheaper than similar programs

This program costs US$200 and must be bought from the app store. See More

Top Pro

Used by celebrities

This includes: Prodigy - Invaders Must Die (everything except guitars), John Powell - How to train your dragon, other works, and Tycho (until 2011 when he switched to Reaper to finish his album). See More

Top Pro

High quality instruments and effects

Good range of high quality synths: analog, FM, wavetable, string modulation, sampler, organ, clarinet, epiano. See More

Top Pro

Many instrument

Different kind of instrument all around. See More

Top Pro

Many plug-ins

Reaper

Top Pro

Portable

Reaper is lightweight enough to be run off of a flash drive; the installer weights less than 20 MB and the portable installation option is included in it. See More

Specs

Compatibility:Mac, Windows, 64-bit Linux (beta)

Max number of tracks:Unlimited

Included sounds:No but has synth vst

Top Pro

Supports unlimited number of tracks with unlimited number of effects

There are no limits to the amount of tracks or effects that Reaper can run. Reaper is stable enough to handle comically dense projects with style. See More

Top Pro

Easy to install

No complex activation shenanigans. No dongle and such. See More

Top Pro

Very low CPU usage

Reaper's will tailor itself to fit your computer's processing power by automatically using the "anticipative FX processing" feature. See More

Top Pro

Highly customizable

As well as making your own themes, you can configure the Reaper interface to best suit your needs. There are no limitations to how customizable or programmable Reaper truly is. It's almost magic. Couple this with shortcut editing and you have a winner. See More

Studio One

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Specs

Compatibility:Mac, Windows

Max number of tracks:Unlimited

Included sounds:Yes

Waveform

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Reason

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InquisitiveTlaltecuhtli's Experience

because its so easy than ableton you can just make the beat and sing in the same thing not like other studios See More

Specs

Compatibility:Mac, Windows, Linux

Max number of tracks:UNLIMITED

Included sounds:7 GB

ProToolsFirst

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Pro Tools 2018.7

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Top Con

Non-free software

ExceptionalLibertas's Experience

the Recording Industry standard with certification programs for people seeking professional jobs and or training. See More

Specs

Compatibility:Mac, Windows

Max number of tracks:256

VST:AAX Native, AAX AudioSuite

Top Con

No built-in pitch correction

While some other DAWs are equipped with pitch correction, the Pro Tools DAW is missing this feature. In order to use pitch correction, it must be added as a plugin. See More

Top Con

Audio Drivers and ASIO

You cannot change the audio outs in ASIO on the fly, like in some other software, without having to save and restart the entire program, plus it's very finicky about audio drivers See More

Top Con

MIDI and composition tools are a bit dated

Top Con

No RTAS or VST plugin support

The Pro Tools 11 DAW dropped RTAS support in favor of their own AAX (Avid Audio eXtension) format. Without AAX availability, a VST wrapper is required. See More

Top Con

Prone to crashes

While it might be the "Industry Standard" for recording award winning albums, Avid has focused more on anti piracy and security while sacrificing stability, it seems to me they just change their plugin standard and slap a new version number on it and rush it to market. See More

Top Con

Slow, old, outdated

Highest processor usage of any DAW, poor software optimization and patching of outdated code has left a slow bloated husk of a DAW that struggles to run smoothly on even the highest end modern computers. See More

Top Con

Too damn expensive

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