? | Home page | DAWs
After being acquired by BandLab in 2018, the former Sonar, which previously belonged to Gibson, was replaced by "Cakewalk by BandLab", the new name for Sonar. And the good news: it was released for free!
In 2025, Cakewalk by BandLab gives way to its successor, which takes back its original name: Cakewalk Sonar. This new Sonar now comes in two versions: a paid subscription-based edition and a free edition with only a few non-essential features removed. However, these limitations may be frustrating enough for advanced users to push them toward choosing the paid subscription… or exploring other options.
Sonar remains my favorite DAW, although I also enjoy using Studio One, Cubase, and Reaper. But old habits die hard, and Sonar is still the one I use most willingly.
Reaper is interesting for several reasons: first, because it is very comprehensive and allows you to work just as effectively as with other leading DAWs on the market; second, because it has one of the most efficient input/output routing systems, its interface is fully customizable, it is updated very regularly, and above all, it is cheaper than its competitors: 60 dollars (about 45 euros), with no limitations. However, note that while Reaper does come with some plugins, it offers far fewer than what you get with the most complete versions of its competitors. Therefore, it’s more accurate to compare Reaper to the basic editions of other DAWs — usually priced around a hundred euros — rather than to the full-featured versions, which often approach 400 euros or more. Reaper remains a very compelling choice.
Of course, Reaper isn’t perfect, but it can do pretty much everything. After that, it’s a matter of habit. I’m used to Sonar, I like this DAW, and I don’t particularly want to switch and relearn on another one everything I already know how to do. That said, I’ve had the opportunity to try Reaper, and it’s clear that if I were starting out in computer-based music production today, I would start with Reaper. Inexpensive and highly capable... why hesitate? Moreover, it is available for Windows, Wine, and Mac OS X, and it’s compatible with VST, VSTi, DX, DXi, and AU plugins.
Reaper can be downloaded and used entirely for free, with no time limits. However, it is still a paid software, and it is your moral duty to purchase a license if you use it regularly. Its price-to-performance ratio is unbeatable, and for a regular user, the expense is completely justified.
Cubase is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by Steinberg, designed for recording, arranging, and editing music. The latest version is Cubase 14. Among its features are: a virtual drum instrument, a vocal editor with real-time pitch correction, VST expression tools for easily editing instrument articulations, improved data handling and automation, and a convolution reverb plugin.
Studio One is a digital audio workstation (DAW) developed by PreSonus, a brand that also designs audio interfaces, preamps, and mixing consoles. Although PreSonus is primarily known as a hardware manufacturer, their Studio One DAW is a solid alternative to sequencers from other brands. Studio One has its origins in the free Kristal sequencer, which has since been discontinued.
Studio One offers excellent ergonomics and also includes Melodyne, a plugin that allows easy audio correction (pitch shifting or time-stretching). However, it does not include a score editor and comes with relatively few virtual instruments.
Studio One is available in several editions with varying feature sets, and there is even a free version with no time limit. The downside is that this free version is not compatible with plugins (VST or others), which significantly reduces its usefulness. Nevertheless, it is a good opportunity to try the software without the usual limitations of demo versions.
Logic Pro is a 32/64 bit audio and midi D.A.W. for Mac OS X. it is part of Apple's profesional music software range. A light version, Logic Express with the same interface and the same audio engine but less options is also available at a lower price.
Pro Tools is widely used by professionals throughout the audio industries for recording and editing in music production, film scoring, film and television post production. Pro Tools has three types of systems; HD, LE, and M-powered. HD is the high-end package and is an integration of hardware and software. The hardware includes an external A/D converter and internal PCI or PCIe audio cards with onboard DSP. Fundamentally, Pro Tools, like all Digital Audio Workstation software, is similar to a multi-track tape recorder and mixer, with additional features that can only be performed in the digital domain. The high-end version supports sample rates of up to 192 kHz and bit depths of 16 and 24 bit, opens WAV, AIFF, mp3, SDII audio files and QuickTime video files. It features time code, tempo maps, automation and surround sound capabilities.
Ableton Live is a loop-based software music sequencer and DAW for Mac OS and Windows by Ableton. Live is a tool made for composing and arrangements, but its design and ergonomics are mostly live-oriented. The user interface was optimized for live performances. It is reduced to a minimum and is easily usable on a one-screen configuration. The absence of pop-up windows, its unique window divided into 5 categories makes it easy to use on laptop computers that may not be as powerful as their desktop counterparts. The different categories may be hidden or displayed with a simple click on the corresponding icon. The layout is then reorganized depending on the active categories. For live performances, you can display the loop points or the starting point of one or more clips, and they will remain in tempo with one another ("warp" feature you can trigger on the fly).
Acid comes in 2 ranges: Pro and Music Studio. The pro range has more features. Acid Music Studio costs about 50 euros, and the pro version about 150 euros.
Available for Mac first and now for Windows, Digital Performer includes many high-quality effects and an excellent score editor. Virtual instruments on the other hand are not numerous. 30-day limited demo versions are available on the official website if you want to give it a try.
This software is the descendant of Fruity Loops, which was perfectly suited for Electro or Hip Hop music. Nowadays, FL Studio makes it possible to record any genre, but the way it works makes it still not really suited for acoustic musics. It is based on a concept of patterns added to a playlist.
It used to be dedicated to MIDI recordings, but Reason now handles audio. Still, for historical reasons, many Propellerhead Reason users still produce electronic music. Reason has a very powerful routing system, through the used of virtual cables, which could discourage some people.
Unlike Reason, Samplitude was long limitied to audio management, and could not handle MIDI data. It's no longer the case. Samplitude is based on the concept of audio objects, where each audio clip has its own routing and automation capabilities. Samplitude includes many effects plugins and virtual instruments, as well as sound banks. More technical than other DAWs, the full version is also pretty expensive.
Tracktion is available for PC, Mac and Ubuntu. It costs 60 dollars for the base version, and up to 200 dollars in bundle with other in-house software (plugins and virtual instruments). That makes it one of the least expensive DAWs on the market. Users like the ergonomy of the software, but there seems to be a number of annoying bugs (rendering problems, unexpected crashes...), that will hopefully be fixed at some point.
EnergyXT has been created by Jorgen Aase. EnergyXT is compatible with the VST standard, the ASIO protocol and the REX2 format from Propellerhead Software. This DAW is compatible with 16, 24 or 32 bit files, mono or stereo. The user interface is organized around a menu bar, a tool bar, tabs, a navigation window and a main window which, by default, shows the sequencer, but can also display the "Mixer" and "Modular" parts thanks to the customizable tabs. It's well suited for live performance and small configurations, with a low price of about 40 euros. It's rather simple to use but remains somewhat less powerful than more complete (and more expensive) DAWs.
The company Zynewave has been created by Frits Nielsen, a software engineer, who developed the DAW Podium on his own. As it's a one-man company, Podium may not be as rich and complete as other major DAWs such as Sonar, Cubase or Logic, but it offers many of the features you might expect from a DAW. As a result, you may encounter compatibility issues with some hardware and plugins. Podium supports recording and editing of audio and MIDI, and hosts VST instrument and effect plugins. It is available for Windows as a 32 or 64-bit software and costs 50 dollars.
You will be glad to know that a free version is available. it's adequately called Podium Free, and it has pretty much the same capabilities as the paid-for version, minus a few limitations. The most severe limitation is that the plugin multiprocessing is disabled, which means you might experience processor overloading if you use too many plugins within a project. Yet, it's worth trying, because this free version is way more powerful than other free DAWs like Kristal (obsolete in so many ways) and Audacity (really inferior to all other DAWs).
Let's be honest, these free DAWs are no match for the retail DAWs.
Kristal is no longer developed and updated, so it may even be incompatible with recent plugins. But it gave birth to Studio One, a retail DAW from PreSonus.
As for Audacity, it's more an audio editor than a real DAW, even though you can use it as such, with severe limitations.
You'd rather use a DAW such as Reaper, which costs only 45 euros and is way more complete and modern than those free software
It's much more interesting to start using Reaper, which costs only 45 euros and is much more complet and modern than theses free software, or even the free version of Studio One, even though it's incompatible with plugins. I should also mention Podium Free, a very interesting free version of Podium (presented above) which also supports VST plugins with a few limitations.
Those DAWs are way more complex (just a question of habit...) but they are the real thing and will train newcomers about the logic behind DAWs. If you get hooked, then you may choose whatever DAW suits you best.
As a conclusion, free DAWs will help you out occasionally, but don't expect to make serious audio work with them in the long term.
Messages page # 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35
hammer-on
le 08/04/2011 à 23h10
D'abord merci de partager tes connaissances.
Une question dans ce monde de Rock, existe-t-il des simulateurs et baffles plus dédiés pour les sons clairs, exemple le Jazz Chorus 120 de Roland (style Pat Metheny, Larry Carlton, Carlos Santana).
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
<em>Bonjour,
Content que mon site te soit utile !
En ce qui concerne des simulateurs de têtes ou de baffles qui soient bons en sons clairs, beaucoup des têtes dont je parle ici, que ce soit les simus payantes ou gratuites, proposent plusieurs canaux, comme les vraies têtes. On trouve souvent un canal clair et un ou deux canaux pour la disto. C'est vrai que le canal clair produit souvent un son un peu crunchy s'il est réglé à un volume trop élevé. Pour garder un son vraiment clair, une utilisation du canal clean à un volume moyen, associé à un baffle de bonne qualité (Orange, Soldano, Fender) devrait faire l'affaire.
Les amplis typés Metal donnent en général de beaux sons clairs, mais peut-être un peu froids, tandis que les amplis rock vintage auront tendance à cruncher plus vite mais auront ce petit grain chaleureux en plus.
Dans les amplis gratuits, j'aime énormément le NRR1 de Ignite Amps, très polyvalent. Son canal clair, associé à un baffle Orange par exemple est à mon goût très réussi.
Le Fender Twin de SimulAnalog, gratuit également, est assez ancien mais très réussi et il inclut son propre baffle. C'est une reproduction fidèle (je trouve) du modèle original.
Le Lextac de Lepou est capable de faire de beaux sons clairs également, associé au bon baffle.
Dans les payants, je suis tombé amoureux du Amplifikation Creme de Kuassa. Il n'est pas cher (34 dollars) et il a une palette de sonorités assez vaste. Il inclut même son propre simulateur de baffle qu'on peut bypasser si l'on veut pour utiliser un simulateur de baffle externe. Peut-être pas le meilleur pour les sons vraiment clairs, toutefois.
Après, il y a les Guitar Rig, Amplitube ou mieux encore TH1 (TH2 maintenant) ou Peavey Revalver MK3 qui proposent un nombre impressionnant d'amplis divers et variés, et on peut y trouver de tout, du son clair au Metal le plus extrême, mais c'est pas donné.
Je vais pas être très original, mais le meilleur conseil que je puisse donner, c'est... d'essayer. Il ne faut pas hésiter à prendre un ampli et tourner les boutons dans tous les sens, essayer diverses associations d'amplis et de baffles. Personne ne peut savoir le son que tu as en tête, LE son que tu cherches exactement. Ça prend du temps, moi je n'ai pas non plus toujours le temps ou simplement la patience de prendre 2 heures ou plus à fignoler un son précis, et pourtant, c'est le meilleur moyen d'y arriver.
Les recettes miracle, déjà toutes prêtes, ça n'existe pas.
Bon courage !
Grebz</em>
NickiRage
le 23/02/2011 à 20h39
Salut Grebz !
Je voulais juste savoir, je voudrais vraiment me rapprocher le plus possible du son des Avenged Sevenfold ! Donc je voudrais savoir quel ampli, cabinet etc... et les réglages si tu as le temps bien sûr :)
Je te remercie pour tout le travail que tu fais et tout ce que tu m'as apporté !!
NickiRage
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
<em>Bonjour,
Voilà ce que j'ai pu trouver sur le matos du groupe, mais en ce qui concerne les réglages, je ne vais pas trop pouvoir t'aider :
<a href="http://www.uberproaudio.com/who-plays-what/188-avenged-sevenfold-synyster-gates-guitar-gear-rig-and-equipment" target="_blank">Matériel de Avenged Sevenfold</a>
Surtout qu'ils utilisent non seulement des amplis (bien sûr !) mais aussi pas mal de pédales pour modifier le son. Dans quel ordre et avec quels réglages, c'est dur à dire et j'imagine que ça dépend des chansons. Ils n'ont probablement pas UN seul réglage pour toutes les chansons.
Grebz</em>
Gigi
le 05/02/2011 à 10h14
Bonjour,
Bravo pour ce site qui est clair, sympa et rassurant !
Je suis en train d'installer (moi aussi) un home studio...Novice, j'ai regardé vos recommandations pour l'installation... Je viens d'acheter un Neumann... Bon, maintenant, je suis coincée, car j'ai acheté la Harley des micros, sans avoir bien pensé à son garage, son essence, etc...
Bref, après ce gros achat, je ne sais pas quel ampli et quelle interface audio acheter le moins cher possible (d'occasion sur E-Bay il y a de bonnes affaires)... Mais quelles marques choisir ?
Je peux encore investir, mais le budget est devenu serré...
J'ai lu des tonnes de pages de forum, mais aucun cas n'est comme le mien... qui est aussi bête que moi me direz-vous ? (j'ai le 103 TLM)
Sinon, bonne continuation et vive la Musique !
Gigi
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
<em>
Effectivement, investir dans un Neumann, c'est bien, mais il faut assurer derrière pour garder la cohérence de la chaîne audio. En interface audio, je dirai que les marques RME ou MOTU sont hautement recommandables, on trouve aussi du bon matériel chez M-Audio, Presonus ou Edirol.
(voir cette page sur <a href="http://fr.audiofanzine.com/carte-son-externe/" target="_blank">Audiofanzine</a>)
Pour ce qui est des préamplis, PreSonus propose des préamplis à lampe pas trop chers (modèles BlueTube ou TubePre). Après, les prix peuvent monter en flèche avec d'autres marques comme SPL ou Avalon.
(voir cette page sur Audiofanzine pour les <a href="http://fr.audiofanzine.com/preampli-lampes/" target="_blank">préamplis à lampe</a>, et celle-ci pour les <a href="http://fr.audiofanzine.com/preampli-transistors/" target="_blank">préamplis à transistor</a>)
Grebz</em>
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Merci de vos conseils, c'est vraiment gentil...
Votre site est vraiment indispensable et je vais suivre vos recommandations pour l'installation. Vous au moins, vous vous exprimez avec un langage clair et donc accessible aux néophytes.
Bonne continuation et vive la Musique !
SolartNow
le 02/02/2011 à 21h01
Bravo pour ce site, c'est du super job, sérieux, pédagogique, intelligent, méthodique, pratique, efficace, compétent, que des "complimentations" révérencieuses...
Je suis conquis Mr Grebz, mes meilleurs voeux pour vos projets... et puisque "qui donne reçoit"... J'espère que tu vas recevoir (ce que tu espères bien sûr !)
Signé un modeste MusicoBricolo : <a href="http://solartnow.c.la/" target="_blanck">SolartNow</a>.
M.M.
le 27/01/2011 à 01h42
Avec quel type de préampli dois-je utiliser un micro royer r121 pour l'optimiser au mieux ?
Ma liste de préamplis : Universal Audio 2610 et (6176), TL Audio vc1, SPL Chanel one, Presonus Digimax.
Merci d'avance.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
<em>Désolé, je n'en sais rien. Pour des questions sur du matériel spécifique, voyez sur les forums du site <a href="http://fr.audiofanzine.com/" target="_blanck">Audiofanzine</a>. Il y aura soit la réponse à vos questions, soit quelqu'un qui saura.
Pour ma part, je me contente de parler du matériel et des logiciels que je connais et que j'utilise chez moi, dans mon home studio. Pour le reste, ça sort de ma compétence.
Grebz</em>
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Merci quand même ! Sympa ton site..