Best DAW for simple recording

[dougspiano]

I have a Macbook 2.16GHz, and have been running Ableton Live 5 for the past 2 years, with a rubbish Audiophile/Analogue mixer loop input, which pretty much ruins the sound quality; so....

I am about to purchase the new M-Audio Profire 2626, to replace the audiophile and analgue mixer. This means that, if I wanted, I could record several tracks at once for different members of a band (doesn't it?)

What I want to know is, being someone who only dabbles with MIDI and generally prefers to record real audio from synths or proper instruments, should I carry on with Live or invest in Pro Tools M-powered/Logic 8? Would there be major advantages to this? The Profire 2626 is M-powered compatible... but I have no idea what that means....

 

[WinterMute]

M-powered compatible simply mean it will act as an interface for the M-powered version of Protools LE, which is to say you can have LE running but not have to use an M-box.

Protools is probably the best audio recording and editing platform on the market, it's easy to use and very powerful. Logic 8 is excellent too, but is more a composition and production tool than Protools.

Logic's learning curve is steep and the audio editing isn't as intuitive IMO, but some people prefer it for the wealth of instruments and MIDI processing capabilities it has, you can do MIDI very effectively on Protools, but it's simply not in the same league as Logic.

I use Protools for recording and mixing album projects, as do many pros around the world, you can do that in Logic (or DP5) but it's less common.

Abelton Live is an interesting app, and can do some amazing morphing stuff, but it simply can;t compete for audio quality. I'm not sure if your interface allows 96/24 recording, but you should go to 24 bit straight away anyway.

I'd vote Protools M-powered.

 

[nellie55]

best DAW for Audiobook Recording

I've an apple mac book pro and an apogee duet and have been using garageband to record an audiobook (1 file =1 chapter). Garageband got me up and running, but it's very limiting in that I cannot view and edit the entire project at one time, and for many other reasons. I want and need to use something more appropriate for an audiobook recording. Has anyone an opinion as to what would be the better program for me: Protools or LE? It needs to be as simple as possible and to work seamlessly with my apogee. I appreciate feedback. Thanks

 

[Leaver]

@Nellie55

sounds like logic express 8 would be a good tool for you, it opens garageband files, has good cropping, cutting and editing tools and the interface is not too different from Garageband,

for further editing tips and to improve your workflow no end I can heartily recommend David Nahmani's logic pro and express 8 training book, buy it online tho! I got it for Half Price, saved £20

Dan

 

[nellie55]

Thanks Dan, I'll check that out.

 

[Leaver]

hi

Got to agree with wintermute about what he is saying about logic being good for production, but it all depends on workflow, you can do any editing of audio, both destructive and non-destructive in logic you just have to learn how to do it apple's way (sounds familiar) if you are new to recording or don't have any particular workflow in my experience you can learn any way.

oh, the US Amazon link for the book is:

http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Pro-Training-Logic-Express/dp/0321502922/

just used it in another thread and remembered i posted here.

Dan

 

[cschreppel]

+1 for Pro Tools M-Powered.

Logic Express/Pro are great, but again, the workflow isn't as intuitive at first. Takes a bit of getting used to. Pro Tools, on the other hand, is pretty straightforward right off the bat as well as being an industry standard.