here's a question that I get asked quite often what's the best DAW for beginners
and the answer isn't that easy as there isn't one digital audio workstation
that's best for everyone as everyone's music production needs are going to be
different so in this video I'm going to go over some of the best
free DAW and some of the best premium daw options and I'll quickly go over who
they might appeal to then I'll let you decide what is the best daw for you I'm
Zane and welcome to simple green tech on this channel I do weekly audio tech tips
tutorials and reviews to help you conquer the tech and unleash your
creativity now links to all of the digital audio
workstations I mentioned in this video or in the description below along with
links to some other videos that you might want to check out next now first
on the list of best daw for beginners is Reaper who Reaper might appeal to is a
person wanting to get used to a traditional daw layout that's similar to
the industry standard Pro Tools but doesn't want to pay that monthly
subscription fee that Pro Tools has Reaper is very similar and it's powerful
and professional enough that you won't even need to go to Pro Tools you'll
actually find Reaper in Pro Studios now the learning curve might be a little
more steep on this one but well worth learning and the skills you learn here
can be used in other software as well also if you're a musician or producer
that wants to record full bands or more than one person at the same time like a
singer/songwriter that records guitar and vocals or piano and vocals at the
same time Reaper can handle that easily even if you're an electronic music
creator you can still use Bri pur with no problems however if your focus is
more on MIDI and loops there might be some better options out there for your
workflow but give Reaper a try and maybe it does work for your style as it can
handle MIDI and loops without a problem Reaper includes a large suite of effects
plugins and you can add your own third-party plugins too it doesn't
include any instrument plugins but free third party instruments are easy to find
Reapers available on Windows and Mac but there are some experimental builds for
Linux out there if that's your thing you can grab a free
60-day trial of Reaper from their website and there are no limitations
with their trial and if you want to purchase a full license it's just $60
the next digital audio workstation on the list is Pro Tools this is still
referred to as the industry standard and why I say this might be the best for
beginners is if you're thinking of getting into audio engineering more
seriously maybe working in or owning a studio of your own one day then you
should learn Pro Tools as you're going to run into it quite a bit so why not
learn on the pro software right away Pro Tools comes with a hundred and fifteen
plugins this includes an assortment of professional quality effects and
instruments this is a great choice for home studio owners that plan on
recording full bands or a large number of inputs at the same time like a full
drum kit but it can also be a great choice for solo artists too you can
actually download a free limited version called Pro Tools first and take it for a
bit of a test drive but the free version is limited to sixteen tracks and it only
comes with one instrument but it does have quite a few of the great effects
with it you can get Pro Tools on Mac and Windows next up on the list is MAGIX
Music Maker there are different levels of this software free plus and premium
with the free version there is a track limit and you can't add third-party
plugins but even the free version comes with some great sounding instrument
plugins and sound pools to get you started the paid versions give you more
instruments more sound pools and third-party instrument access plus more
tracks this down might appeal to someone that wants to make electronic music
primarily as it makes it easy to work with loops the sound pools are like loop
packs they include a variety of loops that all work together and you can
adjust the key of them easily slice them up and arrange them in the timeline as
needed a mix of sound pools and MIDI instruments can be the start of a great
track MAGIX Music Maker is probably one of the
easier DAWs to get started with it was the first one that I used many years ago
but if your plan is to move up to another program late
on this one has a different sort of workflow to it so it might not be a
simple transition but you might just want to stick with magix music maker
and that's fine too whatever works best for you MAGIX Music Maker is available
for Windows only the next digital audio workstation on the list is probably the
most complete package this one is cakewalk by band lab this used to be a
premium paid for daw but now it's free cakewalk has a traditional user
interface and workflow similar to Pro Tools so if that's something you think
you might want to move on to one day it won't be too hard to transition to with
cakewalk you get some great instruments and effects plus you can add third-party
plugins - this dog will likely appeal to bands and singer songwriters but there's
no reason why an electronic musician couldn't use cakewalk - it has a cool
channel strip feature in it that can be great for adding character to your
vocals and instruments and help you stand out from the crowd there really
isn't anything to lose by downloading this one which makes it perfect for the
beginner and the skills you learn here can transfer to most other programs -
this one is for Windows only now I just want to ask you if you're enjoying this
video and getting some value out of it can you please hit that thumbs up button
it really helps the channel out and I appreciate it so much
now on to the next program on the list of best daw for beginners and this one is
FL Studio from image line in my opinion this might be the easiest program to use
and get started with FL Studio comes with a large number of effects and
instruments to get you started working with virtual instruments and MIDI is
super easy in FL too the workflow in FL Studio is pretty different compared to
more traditional recording programs but it's super quick to work with audio
recording can be done in FL Studio but again the approach to recording is
slightly different if you're a beat creator electronic music creator or solo
musician FL Studio might be the best choice for you
but bands can also use FL Studio for performing programs some synths sounds
and drums in there and play along to the beat
you can grab a fully unlocked free trial from their website and if you purchase a
license you get lifetime free updates so you buy it once and never need to
purchase it again it's available on Windows and Mac the next digital audio
workstation on the list is acoustica mixcraft 9 this one is fairly popular
amongst guitar players and solo musicians but it can be used with full
bands and beat creators as well it actually comes with over 7500 loops
so if you're someone that likes to work with loops and samples this might be for
you you also get a decent collection of effects and instruments with mixcraft
and where it shines is in its workflow and ease of use if you're looking for an
all-in-one package that's easy to use and allows you to work quickly be sure
to check out mixcraft 9 I know several musicians that love this software and it
might be the right one for you there's two editions the recording studio
Edition and pro studio edition prices start at just $75 they have a free
14-day trial that you can download to give it a test drive - as of this
recording mixcraft is only available on Windows moving on the list we have
another free daw this one is Mac only it's GarageBand
this comes with everything you need to start creating music either in the box
or recording real instruments into your Mac you get a large library of loops
instruments and effects with presets covering many different styles of music
you can work in iCloud so your projects will be available across multiple
computers and devices you can even start a song on the free iPhone or iPad app
then import it into your computer to take your music production even further
if you're on a Mac and just getting into home studio music production this one
should be a no-brainer for you to at least try out the next program on the
list can have a little bit of a different workflow from a traditional
DAW this one is Ableton Live you can still use this in a similar way to a
traditional DAW with linear recording and editing but it also adds a whole
other dimension to it the session view can help with composing songs or
performing live you load samples or MIDI clips into the tracks and then trigger
the tracks as you like and record this so you can go back and listen then edit
it sometimes the best beats and sounds come
from freestyling Ableton allows you to easily capture that freestyle and
transform it into a song Ableton is very popular with beat
creator's DJs and pretty much any electronic music style but you can use
it to record bands or whatever else it's very versatile you can download a 30 day
free trial but if you purchased an audio interface
or MIDI keyboard you may have got a license for Ableton Live Lite which is a
free limited version of it this one is available on Mac and Windows next on the
list is tracktion waveform this is a very capable digital audio workstation with a
unique workflow everything can be accessed from a single screen and you
can easily modify the UI to suit your needs
you get some really decent instruments with waveform Pro and some great effects
to waveform can be great for full bands solo artists and beat makers or other
electronic styles the chord track can speed up your music creation or even
inspire you this has become my go-to program lately it loads up quick
it runs smooth and I really like the layout you can download a 30-day free
trial of waveform and see if it's for you there's also a great free version
that isn't limiting and it will be released very soon or it might already
be released when you're watching this video be sure to check the link in the
description to find out waveform is available on Mac Windows Linux and even
Raspberry Pi the next digital audio workstation is reason from reason
studios there are three versions of this daw reason 11 intro reason 11 and reason
11 suite so if you're a solo artist just are
or maybe your track count needs aren't too high yet you can easily start with
the intro version then upgrade as your needs grow with reason 11 which is the
current version as of this recording you get some very high quality instruments
and effects in addition to your traditional linear audio editing and
recording timeline you also get access to the studio rack where all of your
effects in instruments will be housed this is similar to a real-world studio
also the console style mixer is similar to a real-world studio giving you a cool
classic vibe with a high quality sound and there's an easy-to-use auto-tune
pitch corrector tool built right into reason 11 this daw can appeal to bands
beat makers and solo artists that want something a little different and more
analog feeling with instruments and effects that will help you to stand out
from the crowd you can get reason on both Windows and Mac next up is bandlab
and this one is very interesting as it's 100% free and 100% online there are no
additional options to unlock or pay for everything is free with this and you
work in the cloud with unlimited projects unlimited storage and unlimited
downloads of sounds and tracks you can choose to work with hundreds of virtual
instruments and thousands of loops or you can connect your audio interface and
record your voice or instruments straight into the cloud you can also
bring in your own pre-recorded audio if you want to if you're a solo artist and
you want to create beats or electronic styles this one can be great for you as
it costs nothing and you get a lot with it plus you don't need to install
anything you can use band labs online DAW on Windows Mac iOS Android and
Chromebooks this might actually be the only dot that you can use on Chromebooks
click here for some of the best free VST plugins or click down here to see what
YouTube thinks you'll be interested in next if you liked this video please give
it a thumbs up also subscribe to the channel if you'd like to see more videos
from me thank you so much for watching for simple green tech I'm Zane keep
creating and talk soon