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Which “Standard” DAW should I learn?

David Han

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I’m currently on Studio One for orchestral music right now. I love it. Have no problem with it. But I’m a student and I noticed a lot of music schools only accept DAWs like Logic, Pro Tools, Cubase,...etc.

I have a feeling that I’m gonna need to know how to use at least one of them in the future. So which one should I learn? I’m on Mac right now so Logic seems like the best option for me...and it’s also very versatile. But I’m open to suggestions!
 
I’m currently on Studio One for orchestral music right now. I love it. Have no problem with it. But I’m a student and I noticed a lot of music schools only accept DAWs like Logic, Pro Tools, Cubase,...etc.

I have a feeling that I’m gonna need to know how to use at least one of them in the future. So which one should I learn? I’m on Mac right now so Logic seems like the best option for me...and it’s also very versatile. But I’m open to suggestions!

If I would be betting on the future I would be HARD betting on Studio One. It's really quickly not only catching up to, but in some ways running circles around those aforementioned DAWs.

It's not that these DAWs aren't good, mind you. They are. But you already have one of the finest and most professional DAWs in the world available to you. And, looking at the future, I wouldn't be surprised Studio One quickly overtaking those. It's becoming more and more popular by the day, and with good reason. Presonus also is a big company, Studio One has it's own hardware ecosystem around it (like Pro Tools and even more so than Cubase) and they are a company that's fast, agile and they listen. This is the business of the future. Avid's and Steinberg's old dinosaur-like way of running a company is slowly becoming more obsolete, I hope. It's change or be forgotten in the long run.

Stay with it. In a year or two, all these schools will accept Studio One (the fact that they already haven't means they are quite behind, and it's not you!). Studio One is a professional DAW. Not becoming one, it already is and has been for quite a few years actually. The fact that some institutions don't want or accept that is stupid. Really, really stupid.

Schools are slow institutions and many times can't keep up. Keep that in mind.
 
IF you want to assist somebody after going to school, you should learn Pro Tools and (Logic or Cubase). If you want to assist a certain kind of composer, replace Logic/Cubase with DP.

If you want to make it on your own, use whatever you're most comfortable with.
 
If you are asking because you plan on applying to a music school and want to be ready for classes, then Logic makes sense as you are a Mac user and it is the leasst expensive.

If you are asking for professional reasons (interoperability and familiarity with client projects) then Pro Tools might make the most sense (although it wouldn't be my first choice for intensive MIDI stuff).
 
IF you want to assist somebody after going to school, you should learn Pro Tools and (Logic or Cubase). If you want to assist a certain kind of composer, replace Logic/Cubase with DP.

If you want to make it on your own, use whatever you're most comfortable with.

That depends quite a lot on where you live, actually. I know LA has a hard-on for Pro Tools, but here in Europe that is changing, and fast. It's also because Hollywood and LA are losing lasting power, (disillusion and all that) but that is a discussion for a different time perhaps. At least with the small to middle studios, I see fast changes. Only the biggest ones are staying with it, and even they are on the brink of changing up because the market is quickly turning on it's head. All three, the music, games and film-industry are subject to changing paradigms. Film will be the last, but it, too, is changing. I guess a global pandemic has big consequences, to name one reason for this.

Studio One and especially (but not surprisingly) Reaper are coming on quite hard here in the Netherlands, at least. Especially with game studios, even large ones (Ubisoft is known to use Reaper internally for example, although not a Dutch company).
 
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I would say ProTools, only because every teacher I've had so far uses it. But, a lot of the big composers out there use Logic or Cubase. The school will teach you how to use whatever they want you to use.

To me, Cubase is a pain coming from other DAW's. Most of the others work similarly and once you learn one, the others will not be difficult. Cubase is just different. So if you have time to learn a second DAW, I would almost recommend learning Cubase.
 
Ehm. I suggest sticking and mastering what you know and are working in and learning new software as it becomes a necessity, unless you can be *certain* that you must learn Pro Tools or Logic or whatever else for the future.

Like a programming language many principles carry over between DAWs, and eventually when switching software it shouldn't take more than a week to gain some semblance of proficiency.

It's not like Studio One isn't professional-grade software.
 
Traditionally, ProTools is used for recording stems and delivering them in a session file to the music editor or the re-recording mixer, but I think not too many composers use it as their main DAW.

It's still worth learning, since it's still a film and TV industry standard.
 
That depends quite a lot on where you live, actually. I know LA has a hard-on for Pro Tools, but here in Europe that is changing, and fast. It's also because Hollywood and LA are losing lasting power, (disillusion and all that) but that is a discussion for a different time perhaps. At least with the small to middle studios, I see fast changes. Only the biggest ones are staying with it, and even they are on the brink of changing up because the market is quickly turning on it's head. All three, the music, games and film-industry are subject to changing paradigms. Film will be the last, but it, too, is changing. I guess a global pandemic has big consequences, to name one reason for this.

Studio One and especially (but not surprisingly) Reaper are coming on quite hard here in the Netherlands, at least. Especially with game studios, even large ones (Ubisoft is known to use Reaper internally for example, although not a Dutch company).
Ubi and all game companies are in fact big nuendo users. they might use reaper somewhere within their many teams, but in the end of the day its nuendo that counts.
 
Ubi and all game companies are in fact big nuendo users. they might use reaper somewhere within their many teams, but in the end of the day its nuendo that counts.

Not quite. The largest three Ubi studios (Montreal, Toronto and Quebec) use primarily Reaper and ProTools.
 
Since you're on Mac, and since Logic is so inexpensive, I'd get Logic first. That can come in handy anyway, because so many Mac users use Logic.
If you need a PC DAW, I'd recommend Cubase, unless you want to become a sound engineer, in which case I'd recommend Pro Tools.
 
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IF you want to assist somebody after going to school, you should learn Pro Tools and (Logic or Cubase). If you want to assist a certain kind of composer, replace Logic/Cubase with DP.

If you want to make it on your own, use whatever you're most comfortable with.

This is the right answer.
 
What @kmaster said. Adding to this: I think if you ever plan on recording your compositions and want to be able to prep sessions for the scoring stage, you most propably will want to know your way around protools. not every but most of the studios still use protools.
 
Seriously, every one of the major DAWs is going to do the job.

MOTU Digital Performer, Logic, Cubase, and Pro Tools have been under constant development for decades. Programs that have come out more recently have them to aim at.
 
FWIW I noticed that the NY Aaron Copland School of Music has Pete Calandra using Pro Tools in his classes. In fact he posted a short series on Pro Tools basics starting from scratch then takes his students to advanced midi editing. If you did this series you'd be up and running in no time.

Then there is Berklee School of Music using Ableton. There is that to consider since Ableton has a huge active market which would interest most any college.

Link to PT series:

 
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