For some time now I have been looking into some good, cheap and decent
DAW applications. If you are not familiar with the term DAW, it stands for
digital audio workstation.

In short, a DAW is a system to record, edit and make digital audio. When I
started looking into this my need was only to record several tracks at once and
then mix all the tracks together into one song.
To be able to record I first bought me a audio card. Looking around, not
wanting to spend to much money I ended up with the Terratec DMX6Fire USB. This
card has it all - 6 analog outputs, 1 digital output, 4 analog inputs and 1
digital input.
But then I needed something to record my audio with. I fist went to Steinberg
and their Wavelab as they are a well known company. Not being able to download
anything from their site I had to move on to something else. I found some very
cool
recording utilities at
NCH software.
But still too expensive for me.
In my search I found two vendors that interested me;
Mackie
with Tracktion and
Cakewalk
with SONAR.
I have been working with SONAR 7, but Cakewalk released version 8 during my
testing. I have not been able to download it and try it yet.
Can I buy online?
Dream on...
I have not found anywhere where I can buy this software online. That is,
download it and play with it immediately. B&H can ship it to you, but it takes
forever. At least a few days of waiting.
Licensing
Here is a big issue. You have to license it to your computer. With all the
hassle that comes with it.
MIDI
When I first got started I quickly realized the potential of using MIDI
devices. Specifically when recording instruments I can not play nor cannot find
anyone to play for me. So I have spent some time looking into what I can do with
MIDI.
Both the cheap and expensive version of both products are excellent when
mixing recorded audio. But the main, and probably most important difference,
lies in what extras you get when you pay the most.
You get lots of MIDI instruments and some sound effects. But with everything,
you get a crippled version of third parties instruments and effects. But if you
can live with that, you get much for your money.
Here are some cool virtual instruments I have found.
| Name |
Price |
Comment |
|
Garritan Personal Orchestra |
$199 |
Here you have lots of good instruments for your orchestra. Violins,
woodvinds, brass, percussions, some pianos and some more. |
| TruePianos |
$180 |
Lots of good pianos. These pianos really sound good. |
Here are the short comparison guide
These prices was found in B&H just before this article was published.
| Product |
Price (B&H) |
Comment |
| SONAR 8 Studio |
$279,95 |
Entry level version. |
| SONAR 8 Producer |
$469,95 |
Producer exclusives are found
here. Most important is support for surround sound. |
| Tracktion 3 basic bundle |
not listed |
This version is probably bundled with some hardware. I can not buy
it, and it comes without any instruments or third party effects. But for
recording and audio mixing it is not crippled. |
| Tracktion 3 project bundle |
$99 |
Stripped down bundle of extras; effects and instruments. The core
application is not crippled. |
| Tracktion 3 ultimate bundle |
$249 |
The most extras; effects and instruments. |
| Kristal Audio engine |
free for personal use |
I found this DAW. It is cheap, simple and usable. But it lacks many
nice features. |
Links
Here you can read my reviews of the following software and hardware:
Labels: multimedia