When comparing GarageBand vs Acoustica Mixcraft 8 Pro Studio, the Slant community recommends Acoustica Mixcraft 8 Pro Studio for most people. In the question“What are the best DAWs? ” Acoustica Mixcraft 8 Pro Studio is ranked 19th while GarageBand is ranked 27th. The most important reason people chose Acoustica Mixcraft 8 Pro Studio is:
It's one of the cheapest DAWs you can get for its many features.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Great sounding instruments
Pro Free if you have a Mac
Pro Extremely easy
GarageBand is one of the most basic and user friendly DAWs, making it very easy to learn.
Pro Good MIDI editing with quantization, piano roll and notation
Pro Amp Sims/ Pedal Effects/ Mics
There are several amp sims for guitar and bass or other direct input instruments. Different style speaker cabinets, microphones and mic placements. It also comes with a good selection of pedal effects.
Pro Allows 3rd party plug-ins
Plug-ins for effects or sample instruments can be installed and work great. Must get the AU plug-in for Mac if available.
Pro Easy automated drummer
Pro Great value for the price
It's one of the cheapest DAWs you can get for its many features.
Pro High capacity tracks
Each track can receive an unlimited number of VST, aux, and audio inputs.
Pro Easy to use, yet professional
Pro Lightweight
Lightest DAW with minimal loading time.
Pro Auto 64bit and 32bit VST bridging
the 64bit version can also use 32bit VSTs
Pro Best Daw for Vocal Comping.
When it comes to retakes and combining different pieces of vocals all in one, Mixcraft beats every daw out there. it is the best, PERIOD.
Pro Good for mastering projects
The Mixcraft Pro Studio DAW comes with a dedicated mastering section, complete with proprietary mastering tools and the iZotope Mastering Essentials plugin.
Pro Includes Melodyne Essentials (the ProStudio version does anyway)
Pro Really easy to learn with their videos tutorials
See here.
Pro Excellent Mono and Stereo support
Pro Dual monitor support
You can unlock the docker and easily do multiple tasks such as editing, applying E.Q and Compression, with its dual monitor support.
Pro You get a lot for your money with MixCraft 8
Access to a vast library of sounds and loops, plus diverse instruments. Interesting effects, though some of the effects could be a bit more advanced.
Pro Vast online sample and loop libraries easy accessable - via drag and drop
Pro Excellent sample creation & customization
It includes a big variety of samples, which can be highly customized for your own music projects with its built-in midi creation tool.
Pro New performance panel is good for live applications
Pro Automation is really easy and intuitive to use
Pro Doesn't crash a lot
Pro Good for emulating real instruments
This DAW comes with the Acoustica Instruments collection, which is packed full of realistic sounding MIDI instruments like organs, pianos, drums, and orchestral instruments.
Pro Video editing
The Mixcraft DAW supports basic drag and drop video editing.
Pro Good choice if you move from Mac to Windows - Have a similar feel as Logic Pro
Pro Easiest DAW
Put simply it is the easiest DAW to use by far. Most users pick it up in a couple of hours.
Cons
Con No send/buss tracks
Tracks can't be sent into a buss channel for grouping tracks together.
Con 44.1K sample rate
The maximum sample rate is 44.1K. No 48K or higher.
Con Mixer console panel not available
Mixing must be done on the channel strip or by smart control panel only. There is no mixer with fader, vu meter and effects chain listing.
Con No sidechain effects
Can't manipulate other tracks with a sidechain trigger such as ducking with a compressor.
Con Platform dependant
Only for Mac.
Con effects are not very good, and workflow is lacking
Eq is very hard to use and the rest are too simple, workflow is meeehhh
Con Comes with unnecessary software
The Mixcraft DAW comes with a video maker which comes across as unnecessary for an audio editor. While some see this as free software, others don't see the point, as it won't come close to the quality of true video editing software.
Con More expensive than standard version
The Pro version of the Mixcraft DAW comes with more plugins, but many of these plugins can allegedly be download from other sources for free.
Con Ease of use makes it look less professional which, it is not
Con Proprietary software
Not open source.
Con Some of the effects are a too basic
fx delay, can't use sync and beats as measurement - only milliseconds.
Con No autoplay while using the arrow keys in the local and online - in DAW - media browser
You have to press the Play button with your mouse.