Introduction

Selecting your DAW software can be frustrating as there are so many selections and not many sources of data to help guide your decision. This article will not cover everything but will help you to get started. DAW preference is much like a religion, you can find 10 people who swear by every one out there as you can find 10 people who hate 'em. The key is what you need and what you deem important.

It is advisable to select your DAW software before you select your computer or your audio input output device. Seeing as DAWs are software and have specific hardware requirements as well as limited hardware support your DAW should drive your other decisions.

Identify your needs, budget and priorities.

-What functional requirements do you have: This is more specific to the type of "tricks of the trade" you use. This can be anything from channel grouping to side chain compression.

-What DAW software do you have experience with? If you are familiar with a tool already, this could save you time from learning a new one. People tend to be bias based on what they know, so tools that do the same thing but in a different way will seem foreign to you. You either love or hate ProTools!

-What DAW software do your friends and colleagues use? If you plan to collaborate and share project data using the same DAW will simplify sharing project data. If you are new to a DAW environment this could serve as source of help as well.

-What is your budget for DAW software? $50 can go a long way with DAW software although you could spend $3000 for less functionality if you are not careful.

-Plug-in Support: Make certain your DAW supports industry standard pluggins. VST, AU, DI.: These will provide you with software based effects and virtual instruments.

-Project size: How many audio tracks need to be supported?

-Hardware support: If you already have an audio interface, make certain the DAW software will support your hardware.

With these questions answered you have an idea of what you are looking for.

Functional Requirements:

So this is where you may write down what tips, tricks, gimmicks and hacks you may need to do what you plan on doing with your studio. If you don't have any yet, it might be a good idea to hit some discussion groups to see what others are doing.

Audio routing

Audio routing is VERY important and is often overlooked. There are 2 types of routing in a DAW application, physical and virtual routing.

-Physical routing: This will provide an actual analog signal to be present at one of your A/D-D/A device outputs. This is needed to do outboard processing of that signal or can be used to run into an analog mixer if you prefer using an analog summing bus for mixing. This can also be used to route audio signals to different monitor outputs to aide in recording. Your audio interface will also limit your possibilities.

-Virtual routing: By definition this serves as a virtual patch bay. This is handy for creating virtual send and returns on each channel. This comes in handy for side chain signals if you are using plugin based effects. There is a laundry list of reasons why you might want to use virtual routing. Some DAWs do not support this.

Automation

Automation is the primary benefit of using a DAW. There are two major types of automation, functional and envelope automation. Both are important and can save you time, add creativity and correct poor performances.

-Functional automation: Involves automating time consuming tasks into fewer steps. For example when you cut and paste a portion of a track. (A task that used to involve cutting and splicing analog tape.) Although now it is all done with a mouse it still requires many steps including establishing cross fades to blend spliced in sections.

-Envelope automation: Also called "in time" or sequenced automation which is the ability to program changes of the audio signal in sequence with time. This could be increasing or decreasing attenuation, panning left or right or inserting in-line effects.

Video

Some DAWs support in line video sequencing. If this is needed check for this feature.

Rendering options

This his how you get output from your DAW. You should have an idea of what your intentions are for your projects and where you plan to publish them.

Things to be aware of:

-Output file format: There are countless audio file formats you should know what you need. MP3 is a good compressed format great for publishing on the web but pure crap for anything else. WAV is standard and is as transportable as MP3's but has no VBR compression. (Big files)

-Dithering: Most folks will record using 24bit (bit depth) when publishing digital music 16bit is the norm. MP3 and CDDA are both 16 bit. When converting 24bit audio to 16bit, dithering occurs. How this dithering happens is important. Some DAWs actually do a 24bit digital to analog conversion and then another analog to digital conversion at 16bit. This works but is hell on CPU time. Others apply a dithering algorithm to the 24bit stream.

Sequencing(MIDI)

You can use your DAW to record and playback MIDI from keyboards or control signals to any offboard MIDI controllable device. If none of this makes sense to you then you do not need MIDI support.

Quantizing

This is a newer feature that technically falls into the automation space. It is a very controversial feature that will inspire debate for many years. Some engineers will take a recorded track and fix timing issues by cutting and pasting certain sections to bring them in time. This is a time consuming process requiring measure by measure editing. Quantizing automates this. The controversy is around the fact that this type editing is a dishonest representation to the listener.

What DAW software do you have experience with?

Being familiar with the software package will save you time and effort. Learning to use a new DAW as a general rule is not all that painful if you have a strong computer skills. For the most part they all do the same thing but with slightly different terminology and layout.

A new DAW environment can be frustrating even to the point of you convincing yourself that this new DAW is a piece of crap. Usually this is not the case although this thinking is the primary driver behind all of the passion behind "brand" loyalty.

What DAW software do your friends and colleagues use?

This is the most important non-technical requirement that you need to define. Project collaboration can be very painful if you have to convert / render projects for every exchange. If you don't plan on collaborating this is not that important.

What the Industry uses.

ProTools is the standard although as with every topic related to sound engineering, this is debatable. Most of the high end studios use ProTools in some fashion and most universities and trade schools teach it. ProTools has it's strengths and weaknesses as does every DAW.

Project collaboration

All DAW applications use project files to track specific settings related to the project. They also have audio files for every track. These audio files are usually large files that vary based on bit depth and sample rate. Audio files are usually in the WAV format and contain timing data. Depending on the number of tracks, sample rates and bit depth projects can require a large amount of storage. Several methods can be implemented for collaboration but all require the movement of a large amount of data (usually more than 200M).

Project sharing

This is the easiest method as it is as simple as making a copy of a project folder. There are drawbacks to this method to be aware of.

-Plugin support: Collaborating DAW environments should have the same plugin environments. Most DAWs will store plugin data in the project file and if the receiving DAW does not have that plugin, all of the data specific to that plugin is ignored. (Some systems might crash). So explained: If you use a specific VST based compressor / EQ on a given channel and put hours into getting that snare to sound just right. If you send the project to a buddy without the same VST plugins all of this effort will be lost. Similar to any outboard processing (external EQs/Comps).

-Outboard gear: If both locations don't have the same audio routing and effects processors in place you will have 2 completely different setups which will translate to different sound.

Rendering to standard audio (Do this)

Not all DAW environments handle timing the same way and that is why the project WAV files usually can not be shared. This is because some DAWs will allow for multiple WAV files for a single track and will also allow for whitespace where there is no audio for a given track at that time. Cutting, splicing, cross fades and multiple takes can also cause problems. Usually rendering each track to a separate "new" WAV file will keep the audio timing in order and provide for a clean transition of audio from one system to another. This is the recommended method as it also eliminates plugin or gear problems.

What is your budget for DAW software?

After all you are doing this on a fixed budget and in the grand scheme of things there are much more important items to spend your money on than DAW software.

$50-$100:

There is not much out there in this range so your options are limited. If you purchased an audio recording interface for your computer there is usually a CD included with a DAW that will work for that hardware. The DAW is usually a very limited license and has little functionality.

REAPER is a once opensource now commercial product that you can download and try for free. What is nice about their trial license is it does not limit functionality it just annoys you with a reminder to purchase a license ($50USD). Reaper is the best DAW out there for the money. It comes with a boatload of plugins and has a large community of users to get assistance from. Reaper supports VST plugins and a wide variety of hardware. There are issues with MP3 rendering where what you hear is not what gets rendered. (Effects tend to be wetter in the rendered MP3) http://www.reaper.fm to download

$100-$300:

Most DAWs in this price range are either bundled with hardware or education licensing. Although there are a few with limited licenses that still can be useful such as Cakewalk, Cubase, Presonus Studio One and a few others.

$300+:

This is the price range of most DAW software including Cubase 5, ProTools and many of the earlier less expensive DAWs with more included plugins. Be cautious in this are because you could spend more money on plugins than the original DAW cost. For example a bare bones ProTools (recording and DAW) will run you $500, the plugins you will need to actually get use out of it will run at least another $1000.

What are plugins?

Plugins are small software components that provide additional functionality in a DAW. They are usually a software library of functions that your DAW can use to manipulate your recorded audio. In most cases plugins will appear as effects that you can put inline to your recorded audio. Because these plugins work in memory there is not a conversion from digital to analog and then back. The software manipulates the audio data in memory. Many plugins model existing outboard equipment such as EQs, Limiters, Compressors, Delay, Reverb....etc.

There are also plugins that can be used as a virtual instrument that can be controlled via MIDI. These are referred to as VSTi and are handy for song writing. Most affordable ones are not good enough for a final product.

Because plugins are software based they have to be compatible with your computer operating system as well as the DAW software you are using. The most common plugin in a VST and is usually available for Windows, Mac and Linux. There are some DAW applications that only support their own proprietary plugin format and can not use VSTs. ProTools for one can not.

Free plugins

Because audiophiles are by nature geeks, most have tinkered with developing plugins in the opensource community. Some of these plugins are really good and some are not. You must be cautious with opensource plugins as this is an easy way to get infected with a virus. Plugins are DLL files that you copy into a folder for your DAW to read and execute.

Plugin bundles

There are several plugin bundles out there all of which vary in price from $50->$3000. Some of the lower cost bundles have good plugins in them if all you are looking for is basic. These packages are usually bundled towards a specific instrument type(guitar,bass,vocals and drums)

Outboard processors

Several companies manufacture outboard rack mounted equipment that can be controlled through a VST plugin and a USB, Firwire or RS232 cable. This is a handy feature!!

Project size

This is specific to how many channels of audio you anticipate needing. You will find that most of the limited license DAW systems restrict the number of channels(tracks) of audio you can process. In a home studio you might only record 8-16 tracks at a given time but may need to process 60+ for playback.