Having trouble sorting out which digital audio workstation is right for your music or sound project? We’ve tested the most popular options to help you choose the best audio editing software.
A Recording Studio for Your PC There has never been a better time to buy digital audio workstation (DAW) software. Twenty years ago, to record a music album at a professional level, you needed a sizable mixing console, several eight-track digital records (such as ADATs or DA-88s), and a good selection of outboard compressors, reverb units, and other effects, plus a two-track deck to mix down to. In other words, you were looking at about $10K to $15K worth of gear to start—and that’s before you got to microphones, speakers, and other accessories. If you were on a budget, you’d probably stick with a tried-and-true Tascam or Yamaha four-track tape recorder and Alesis compressor, get used to bouncing tracks in mono, make peace with tape hiss, and remember to clean the tape heads every week. And you’d be sharply limited in the kinds of projects you could produce. The only easy multitrack recording you could do at the time was with MIDI, with hardware synthesizers or samplers, and maybe with a Mac or an Atari ST computer attached as a sequencer. Digital audio recording on the computer was just starting to become affordable. It’s an entirely different world now. Software packages that cost a few hundred dollars now deliver hundreds of audio tracks and incredibly flexible editing. Some programs are even free. You can create as many instances of effect plug-ins as you want, including spot-on emulations of compressors that used to cost several thousand dollars each, and attach them to as many mixer channels as you want. It’s all nearly unlimited and „in the box“ now. Choosing the Right DAW From the standpoint of someone recording 20 or 30 years ago, a DAW today is like a giant candy store; it’s as if you can do almost anything. For the newcomer, though, it may seem almost hopelessly complex. Choosing the right audio software can be quite difficult. Most of the famous packages like Pro Tools, Cubase, and Logic have been around for decades. They’ve grown incredibly powerful, and as a result have user interfaces that are as complex as…well, professional mix consoles. Apple Logic Pro X (for Mac) So how to decide? To help with this task, we went out and tested the most popular DAWs. Numerous venerable (and excellent) recording magazines have reviewed these applications many times over the years. That’s great for the existing user base of each DAW, but maybe not always quite as clear for newcomers. In each of our reviews, we did our best to approach each product as a whole, rather than devoting the majority of the space to just the latest features that were added in the most recent update. Before we get to the specifics, the simplest program for audio editing is a two-track editor; probably the most famous example here is the free Audacity.
