Lemma Soft Forums

To a certain extent, the different commercial DAWs are all equivalent and the differences between them can be chalked up to workflow changes. It's all a matter of what works best for you, although I suggest everyone to read the manual before switching to/from any to another one.

I personally would recommend Ableton Live, it is considerably better than FL Studio. The program is really easy to use and works for a variety of music styles, if you have a keyboard and MIDI connector becomes an even more easy to use and musical complexity.

We're actually using FL studio for its ability to be a "DAW". We primarily use VSTs, but when you need some extra sounds you can load up just about any sound into FL and play with. It seems more known for making beats to dance or hip hop tracks, but you can really use it for anything. You can make entire songs using one pattern, or combine a bunch of patterns to make your song.

Surprised nobody mentioned Reason!

Although it's not cheap (~$400) and being little complex, it's worth using and is pretty powerful. If you can master the rack wiring (a virtual rack), then you can create some pretty neat effects / instruments. Heck, if you have the money, you can use it in conjunction with Pro Tools to do your mastering.

If your a beginner and in budget, I suggest trying out reaper. It has pretty much the features needed to get started and its relatively cheap. FL studio is also a great DAW but I still can't get used to its interface when I tried the demo.

I started on and still use FL Studio. The recent update to version 12 looks fantastic, even though functionally it did not change a bunch. It's a very nice program for composing if you have some VSTs or sample libraries you purchased.

I vouch for FL Studio as the best budget DAW, it has the best piano roll of all of them. Its workflow is simple and it's great for grasping and inputting musical concepts. You can take it further than any other DAW in a way, because it's got lifetime updates for people who buy the full edition.

If you're thinking it's overly complicated, that's fine, but so will any DAW be at that stage, they're all pretty much the same, though I find FL is the fastest mind>music I have ever experienced. I would still be using it, but I need to learn logic so my lecturer doesn't hate me and instead gives me good marks.

Tried Reason, Ableton, Cubase, Logic, Reaper, FL.

I'm sure that any modern DAW is sufficient for making VN music. As others have said, no DAW can only create this kind of music, and provided you know the DAW well, you can create anything.

I personally use Cubase Elements 8 because it comes with everything you need in a fairly simple design, and it includes a variety of EQ's and effects to master your song after you are done. However, any DAW can create all types of music. It really just boils down to how much you know about the DAW and how creative you are at using the features a DAW offers. A (or most) 5 year olds can't create anything in Cubase or ProTools, but I'm sure an experienced musician can create wonders with Audacity.

Cheers!
-Kei

FL Studio is exceptional at painting things in with the piano roll and sample manipulation.

Wonderful software.

FL Studio is so great. As someone said, it's the fastest DAW to transfer what's in your mind into the speakers. It's got decent stock VST instruments, and really nice effects. Also, lifetime upgrades if you happen to have the full version, which is a really great feature. AND it's easy to use. I've been using it since the beginning of my musical journey and it hasn't failed me once. Definitely recommended. No idea why people would bash it. Probably because after all the years, it's still stereotypically labeled as a toy program to play around and make some cheap tunes. Which is so far from what it actually is. FLS has come such a long way. Cheers!

I really enjoy it, but I never really give others a chance. I guess I just am able to perform what I need with its simplicity.