

It comes with a great range of virtual instruments that covers most of what you’ll be using all the time. It’s such a forgiving piece of software it makes you feel you can always come back to a place where it was working before you went off down some crazy avenue.

You can undo changes in the mixer and work on multiple ideas and try them out against each other. You can add in song markers, key changes, chords, and structures around all your parts. With Scratch Pads, it can let you try out new ideas without messing up your mix. Everything is out on the page with masses of processes available right on the tip of your mouse. The single-window approach, with the ability to drag-and-drop audio, plugins, instruments, and ideas, makes it simple to navigate and quick to build up your tracks. Studio One goes from strength to strength and version 5 is a phenomenal piece of recording software.

Unless otherwise specified these DAWs are for macOS and Windows. I’ll be talking about the top versions of the software but many of the DAWs in this list have cheaper, simpler versions for small budgets that will have plenty of what you need to make music. All of the DAWs in this list can provide the platform for your music making and they all have their own strengths and features that might make it the perfect choice for you. The DAW is the place where you capture and enhance your creativity, it’s where you record those moments of inspiration and build tracks, sounds and songs. This means multi-track audio recording, mixing and processing it means MIDI sequencing, arranging and composition it means virtual instruments, synths and drum machines. But don’t worry, let us take you through our top choices of DAW so that you can make a more informed choice.Īnything that calls itself a DAW is going to enable your computer to become a recording studio. How do you choose which DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) is best for you? There are so many offering such a great range of features that it can be a bit overwhelming.
