#8 Top DAW

[abre]

"Undoubtedly Ableton Live 9 is the best DAW of 2015, voted by most readers".
They did not mention PRODUCERS here. They said READERS

[mesaone]

Originally Posted by abre

They did not mention PRODUCERS here. They said READERS

Hey, that's an unfair stereotype. Literacy rates among producers is nearly 60%.

[RyanC]

Originally Posted by mesaone

Hey, that's an unfair stereotype. Literacy rates among producers is nearly 60%.

For forums maybe, but their literacy rate for software manuals and user guides is a dead 0%.

[deanrichard]

And floundering both financially and technically, as well as in how they are perceived?

Yes, very much so. Dabbling in the self-producer market might have forced them to compete on features and ease of use, not historical name and reputation. They would be a in a much better position right now.

Avid had it all a few years ago. They still own most of the market, but that market segment is increasingly resentful and negative about the company. That's not the direction you want to be headed.

Originally Posted by Drew Mazurek

More successful than being used in every studio in New York & Los Angeles and on every TV show and movie in the United States?

[deanrichard]

That pretty much illustrates the point I was trying to make.

Originally Posted by zedhed

I have a love hate relationship with my investment.

I love Pro Tools (still #1 for me)

I hate Avid.

[juhanni]

Originally Posted by Shifted Music

fact is Pro Tools USED to be top dog because of Stability first and foremost -automation, sound quality of tdm plug ins, hardware acceleration and power when computers couldn't handle it on their own for large sessions.



In Post world and Anywhere recording live inputs a lot it still is tops.



Everywhere else is Way more up in the air. As simple a music production, composing, creative tool its FAR behind. Thats no secret and the gist of those surveyed shows this.



It's strengths lie in areas that your average 2015 music creator rarely take advantage of.



Its still my DAW of choice after over 10 years of daily use. BUT, like many others I'm considering other options.



I spend MOST of my time creating music. Dance Music, Downtempo and the like. Electronic music (Grammy Nominated best Remixed Recording in 2003). BUT I also utilize live recording elements from time to time for the first 8 years I did all of this in Logic w/TDM, then 10 yrs in Pro Tools software. The next 10 or so is yet to be determined.



4 years ago I was rock solid in my determination to stay in avid land. Now not so much. Seems others are in the same boat from what I read around here.



It also seems most wish to stay with PT but avid is making it harder and harder to keep our heads around it.



No Brainer in work for hire studios and post production, TV Film... Creatives... HMMMM.. . . . . .

For dance music with loops and pre-produced sounds maybe you are right. But don't exaggerate.

Personally I don't want a simple song-writing tool. I want a reliable recording system. And I think pro tools is the provider.

Avid and their business model is another story.

[mesaone]

Hmm. Well I think there is a whole world of things that something like Ableton can do better than Pro Tools, and vice-versa. Which means it's silly to pit them against each other like the article did. Especially since ReWire means you don't always have to choose between DAW X and DAW Y.

However, it was made pretty clear that the poll was for/of bedroom studio music makers. That's not a slur, tons of great music comes out of bedroom studios. Shoot, I still use Reason 6.5 for a lot of stuff. While it's not on par with PT for mixing, the comping system is no slouch and it is a fantastic program in its own right. The same can be said for all the contenders.

[filosofem]

Originally Posted by deanrichard

PT9 was very much a serious attempt [at the self-producer market]. Support for ASIO was the biggest carrot because then you could use any hardware at all with PT.

You see, this is where things get a bit curly, cause Avid is a self-proclaimed hardware company, that is, opening Pro Tools software users to third party interfaces and not supplying a mid-level audio interface solution themselves, left a hole in the very market they proclaimed to be a part. A bit of unless information.

[hooksound]

Originally Posted by deanrichard

Who said anything about LE? PT9 was very much a serious attempt...

In my opinion, PT9 was too expensive to be called an entry level, "bedroom" or "home producer" product. LE was used on e.g. the Mbox'es and we had the M-Powered products, of which the latter is my approach towards Pro Tools. This would never have happened without the M-Powered (later MP9) range of products. MP9 was too good to be true and therefore it had to die. avid later claimed that they intended to leave the consumer segment and concentrate on the pro segment. E.g. M-Audio was sold off. These steps left a big gap in avids portfolio. Both HW and SW wise. A lot of other products entered the bedrooms. Shortly after this, avid introduced the Fast Track Solo/Duo and Pro Tools Express. That was confusing, now that they concentrated so much on the pro market. This and other observations shows clearly how avid themselves struggled with severe identity problems for a couple of years. This, paired with a strong belief of "never look back", rendering a lot of the customers previous investments worthless, sent avid on the "love PT/hate avid" dirt track. I'm not a fan of such statements, but a lot of customers obviously mean that.

Personally, when MP9 was terminated, I saw the end of Pro Tools and went back to Cubase. As said, avid "never looks back", so the termination of MP9 wasn't followed by any heartfelt attempts to get people up on e.g. PT9. I seem to recall that they tried taking off $100 at a point, but the crossgrade, as they called it, was still too expensive. It was then in late 2014 that they were forced to face reality and they introduced the $199 upgrade plan. Since these licenses are perpetual and includes PT10, I decided to surrender my MP9 and join in Nov 2014. I have had a lot of use from PT10 since then. I have never really used PT11. I sometimes track in PT12 to try it out, but mixing is still done in PT10. My plan ends on Mar 31, 2016.