Hey I’m new to music production and can’t decide on a Daw to commit to. I’ve only used logic but want to get set on one that I can use both on Mac and Windows so I’m not locked down to buying only Mac Books. I’ve been looking around a researching some and think Reaper, Cubase, and Bitwig all look nice. All I’m trying to do in them is simply make beats but don’t have all the gear such as a keyboard so most of my work will be done drawing in the notes into the piano roll and add in effects as you would with making beats. Just wanted to get some input or other suggestions of which DAW would be considered the best for this.
I can speak to cubase & bitwig.
Cubase: Pros - it can do any genre, has great stock plugins. Phenomenal voice tools like the new vocal plugin in 13 & variaudio, retrospective record. Very efficient on the CPU. Cons - no lfo base modulation, and the media bay /browser is pretty clunky. Adding effects & tracks can take a few extra clicks compared to other draws. Workflow can be a little slow.
Bitwig: Pros - extremely fast at adding instruments & effects, modulation completely puts cubase’s to shame. Cool note effects & arpegiators. Instrument layers and group tracks are nice. Cons- Bitwig’s piano roll is pretty terrible, has no scale detection, you’ll spend longer placing notes. Stock plugins are pretty bad. No analysis tools, poor audio recording functionality, no track versions. Not as performant as cubase.
Summary: Despite bitwig’s fast instrument & effect adding workflows, Bitwig and cubase have roughly similar workflow speeds when you take bitwig’s poor piano roll into account. Cubase can do everything bitwig can do, but it takes more effort in some areas like adding tracks. Cubase’s modulation is TERRIBLE.
Ask yourself if lfo modulation is a deal breaker for you. If you need it, go bitwig, if you don’t, cubase is gonna be a better option for you
So if you have synth and plugins like pigment 4 and more would Cubase be better or is the modulation that good in Bitwig?
Hello there
I am curious in your opinion, you say Cubase modulation is terrible.
Or at least terrible compared to Bitwig.
Is that Cubase Elements/Artist/Pro as a base DAW. it’s capability with modulation on it’s own?
Or do you include HAlion 7 in this? or well one of the versions of HAlion based on what you maybe have?
As far as I know HAlion 7 is capable of modulation among many things.
Do you consider HAlion bad in this regard?
I realize HAlion is quite an investment on top of Cubase itself.
I am not saying you are wrong I am just curious.