# DAW, VST and recording gear recommendation



## pureviewer4t1 (Oct 30, 2018)

Hey everyone!
I recently wrote a little piece for violin. As I don't have a violin, I want to perform it using virtual instruments.
And this is just the beginning. I'm currently taking courses of composing, and I want to compose classical and orchestral and also metal/rock music in the future.

I think the first step is selecting a DAW. There are many out there and I'm not sure which one to use. My OS is Windows 10. All I know is their names: Studio One, Cubase, Reaper, Abelton, etc. Could you please compare these with each other? Are there any differences regarding VST support?

As for VSTs, I divide them into two categories: First, I need instruments like piano, classical, acoustic and flamenco guitar, violin, flute and panflute, clarinet, cello. Second, drums, electric guitar, bass guitar and keyboard.
The price is not an issue because I live in Iran and don't have access to payment systems like PayPal, Visa, etc so I have to 'ehmm' download them via torrent.
And should I use Kontakt? If yes, which version?

And my last question: I play classical guitar and piano (which is a Kurzweil MP20 I want to use for MIDI input as well) and I want to record these. What equipments do I need? I already have a Beyerdynamic T90 and a couple of DAC/amps for playback.

Thanks in advance!


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## MartinH. (Oct 30, 2018)

pureviewer4t1 said:


> The price is not an issue because I live in Iran and don't have access to payment systems like PayPal, Visa, etc so I have to 'ehmm' download them via torrent.
> And should I use Kontakt? If yes, which version?



If you really wanted to, I'm sure you could find some way to transfer money for a legit software purchase. Maybe see if you can find someone selling an old NI Komplete version second hand, that you can pay for with a regular bank transfer. Or if those aren't possible either, then maybe you can find some way to pay with Bitcoin.


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## pureviewer4t1 (Oct 30, 2018)

Please don't make me start a long thread on hassles of buying something from outside of Iran. The only thing I could ever buy was Dolby Atmos for Headphones using a Microsoft gift card. And I paid 5 fold for it. That was a year ago. Now I have to pay 10 times! We are under sanctions for god's sake!
There was a time when every US dollar was 1000 Iranian tomans. But now, it's 10000 tomans.

Regular bank transfer? To whom? Another Iranian who has downloaded?

About bitcoin, I actually don't know much of it. I can give it a try.

But could you please stop judging and answering my questions?


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## pureviewer4t1 (Oct 30, 2018)

Well, I googled about bitcoin. Every bitcoin equals to 26,358,488 tomans which is my parents' salary! So that's not an option at all.

Maybe I should sell my whole life...


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## MartinH. (Oct 30, 2018)

I'm not judging, I'm trying to help you not get banned, because afaik the official forum policy is "zero tolerance" on piracy, no matter the circumstances.

NI Komplete is a great starting point for VI composers, it has tons of stuff and will keep you busy for a long time. I recommend that to everyone who starts out, as it contains Kontakt, which opens a lot of other doors. As a DAW I prefer Reaper, but I don't know all the other ones, so I can't make an _educated_ recommendation. Also there probably are a few dozen (or hundred?) threads on "which DAW should I use?", so go check one of those. Every professional DAW is "fine", imho it comes down to personal preferences and specific usecases. 

And just FYI, you don't have to buy "whole bitcoins", they can be split to really small fractional amounts.

I'm done here, good luck!


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## bill5 (Oct 30, 2018)

MartinH. said:


> NI Komplete is a great starting point for VI composers,


I respectfully disagree, esp for someone on a budget. It's hideously expensive and NI in general IMO is a pain in the butt.

To the OP: there are many VSTs which are free AND good. There are numerous threads here and a lot of information elsewhere on the internet where you can read about them and download them. I think this is by far your most logical starting point. As for DAWs, many have free trials and there are a few free ones as well. I use Mixcraft and highly recommend, but if enough people answer this thread, eventually every DAW will be mentioned...pretty much the same for other software. So really for "what is the best" anything, no one can really answer that for you, because it's very subjective. One person will say use this and another will disagree and say use something else. You need put in the time to research and try different things to get an answer. There's no simple easy shortcut.


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## pureviewer4t1 (Oct 30, 2018)

MartinH. said:


> I'm not judging, I'm trying to help you not get banned, because afaik the official forum policy is "zero tolerance" on piracy, no matter the circumstances.
> 
> NI Komplete is a great starting point for VI composers, it has tons of stuff and will keep you busy for a long time. I recommend that to everyone who starts out, as it contains Kontakt, which opens a lot of other doors. As a DAW I prefer Reaper, but I don't know all the other ones, so I can't make an _educated_ recommendation. Also there probably are a few dozen (or hundred?) threads on "which DAW should I use?", so go check one of those. Every professional DAW is "fine", imho it comes down to personal preferences and specific usecases.
> 
> ...


Oh, sorry about that! It was a misunderstanding. You know, grammatical differences...

Thanks for your help!


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## pureviewer4t1 (Oct 30, 2018)

bill5 said:


> I respectfully disagree, esp for someone on a budget. It's hideously expensive and NI in general IMO is a pain in the butt.
> 
> To the OP: there are many VSTs which are free AND good. There are numerous threads here and a lot of information elsewhere on the internet where you can read about them and download them. I think this is by far your most logical starting point. As for DAWs, many have free trials and there are a few free ones as well. I use Mixcraft and highly recommend, but if enough people answer this thread, eventually every DAW will be mentioned...pretty much the same for other software. So really for "what is the best" anything, no one can really answer that for you, because it's very subjective. One person will say use this and another will disagree and say use something else. You need put in the time to research and try different things to get an answer. There's no simple easy shortcut.


No shortcuts? That's what I was afraid of. I thought someone could suggest me some startpoints to focus on.


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## bill5 (Oct 30, 2018)

Well we could suggest all kinds of software, but again, it's just one opinion. I could say this or that is great and you try it and hate it.


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## pureviewer4t1 (Oct 30, 2018)

So let me name a few and ask your opinions about them.
I'm stuck between Pro Tools and Studio One for DAW. I've used Avid products and while they work really well, their UIs don't integrate well with Windows 10 and a high-dpi screen. Not a big deal though.

And for VSTs, I need something pure for classical music. And I will use lots of solos. So "Hollywood" VSTs are not considered. I know VSL is famous in this regard. What are other alternatives?


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## bill5 (Oct 30, 2018)

sigh. OK.



pureviewer4t1 said:


> So let me name a few and ask your opinions about them.
> I'm stuck between Pro Tools and _______


Insert anything in the blank and then choose that. PT is IMO insanely overrated and user-unfriendly as hell. Again various DAWs offer free trials; try them out. 



> And for VSTs, I need something pure for classical music. And I will use lots of solos. So "Hollywood" VSTs are not considered. I know VSL is famous in this regard. What are other alternatives?


No clue. I would do an internet search, you're bound to find plenty of alternatives with reviews etc.


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## dzilizzi (Oct 30, 2018)

Cakewalk is now free and uses vst. It is a good starter DAW - I used it for many years (and still uses it once in a while) https://cakewalk.bandlab.com/#home

Bigcat has links to a bunch of free orchestral instruments that will get you started for free. https://freedigitalinstruments.wordpress.com/bcil-orchestral/

Although I like and use ProTools, I'm not sure I would recommend it for someone starting out. When I first started, it was free with the MBox and I had someone who could teach me. It also doesn't use VST, so there are very limited free instruments for it. I also don't recommend Cubase as being an easy DAW to learn. Ableton however, is fairly easy to get started with, uses VSTs, and there are a lot of YouTube videos on it. I have never used Reaper, but I understand it is fairly easy to get started on and there are a lot of videos on how to use it. Reason is another one that is actually reasonably priced for all you get with it. It now uses VST and its Rex loop player is really easy to use. It comes with a lot of instruments and effects. 

There are a lot of free VST effects and instruments available out there that are actually pretty good to start with.


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## bill5 (Oct 30, 2018)

Reason costs $400 - one of the most expensive DAWs around. I wouldn't call that "reasonably priced" but to each their own. (Though it sounds moot for the OP)


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## Villanao (Nov 15, 2018)

I recommend Cakewalk by Bandlab as a free DAW. It doesn't come with a lot of content but as a DAW it's amongst the best.


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## Crowe (Nov 16, 2018)

Reaper is also an option as far as DAW's go.

As for VST's, there are a lot of useful VSTS to find:
http://vis.versilstudios.net/products.html has free versions of a lot of their classical stuff.
https://www.karoryfer.com/karoryfer-samples/ has some packs made my a member of this board.

A word of warning, piracy will probably get you banned around here regardless of your situation. Do with that information what you will.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Nov 16, 2018)

pureviewer4t1 said:


> The price is not an issue because I live in Iran and don't have access to payment systems like PayPal, Visa, etc so I have to 'ehmm' download them via torrent.



Well then you're pretty much admitting you want to pirate software. Otherwise, you're only free options for a DAW are Cakewalk and Reaper. Good luck with "buying" Pro Tools or Studio One.


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## bill5 (Nov 16, 2018)

Reaper is not free. Continuing to use it beyond the trial period is the same as pirating.


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## Villanao (Nov 16, 2018)

Cut the guy some slack, he's from Iran...


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## Uiroo (Nov 19, 2018)

Since money is not an issue *cough* i'd recommend Cubase, since it's used a lot both for recording and scoring. 
And it runs on Mac too, if you'd want to switch OS.

If you run short on "money" however, 
vst4free has a lot of great stuff, including the Sonatina Orchestra.
The Spitfire LABS stuff is great too.

And here's a list of all free vst-synthesizer i found, in case you're interested in that:
Free Alpha
Loom
Model E
Triple Cheese
TAL-Elek7ro-II
TAL-BassLine
TAL-NoiseMaker
TAL-U-No-62
TyrellN6
Sinnah
sforzando
Reaktor Mikro Prism
Reaktor Blocks Lumikko
Reaktor Blocks Submotion
Reaktor Blocks XY
Reaktor Carbon 2
Reaktor Lazerbass
Reaktor Newscool
Reaktor Space Drone 
Spector
GSinth
GSinth2
Nova
Nabla
Monofury
OBXD
OB-Xs
FB-3100
FB-3200
FB-3300
Stigma
Ragnarok
nofish Dub Siren
MEdicine Bell
Diodow
JuceOPL
Tunefish4
OXE
Odin 
Dexed
qyooo
KERN 
Harsh Digital Noise 
PG-8X
LordOfTheSprings
Helm 
Charlatan 
Kairatune
Zebralette
Crystal


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## Jeremy Spencer (Nov 19, 2018)

Villanao said:


> Cut the guy some slack, he's from Iran...



I'm from Canada and the USD exchange rate sucks, does that mean it's okay for me to pirate?


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## bill5 (Nov 19, 2018)

I doubt he was talking about an exchange rate. Not that I'm suggesting or excusing pirating, but Canada is a far (far) nicer place to live and setting up a home studio probably an order of magnitude more do-able for the average citizen. 

But as several of us have pointed out now, pirating really isn't necessary. There are plenty of good DAWs and the plugins to go with them that are free. I know I was amazed when I got into it and found this out.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Nov 20, 2018)

I was just using the Canadian/US exchange rate as an example, a goofy reason to not buy software and resort to pirating. There must be composers in Iran that legitimately use PT and Cubase, he could try consulting them.


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## bill5 (Nov 20, 2018)

Fair enough. And there is a considerable degree of good free stuff too.


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## Villanao (Nov 22, 2018)

Wolfie2112 said:


> I'm from Canada and the USD exchange rate sucks, does that mean it's okay for me to pirate?


Of course not, you're from a first world country with no tyrannical dictatorship or international sanctions that forbid you to pay for products. Are you seriously comparing your situation to someone from Iran?

Perhaps you're so used to your privileged bubble that you're incapable to fathom the thought that some people out there are living under incredible hard conditions due to political reasons that have nothing to do with them.

I buy my own tools because I can and I'm against people pirating but if extreme circumstances such as political tyranny and economic pressure from developed countries to third world nations that affect innocent people and hinder their way of life get in the way of creativity I'll support breaking the rules.


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## Jeremy Spencer (Nov 22, 2018)

I have never been to Iran, but have a few good friends that are from Iran. I don't believe it's as bad as you are conveying...but this is not a political thread. Piracy is piracy, period.


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