Beyond the big four, what else can you use to make music?
Our choice of DAW can be a much bigger decision than we realise, particularly as we’re often making it at the start of our musical journey. We don’t really know where we’re going to end up, or how we’re going to end up making it all, and further down the track it can be difficult to make the switch. There’s a few big players in the game we’ll acknowledge: Avid Pro Tools, Apple’s Logic Pro, Steinberg’s Cubase and Ableton, but what about the lesser known DAWs? Are they really that much worse, or are we just stuck in our ways and unable to shift from the bigger software?
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We’ve been asking ourselves this here at Mixdown, and we’ve compiled a short list of some alternative options of DAWs depending on your needs—as well as the all important system requirements!
Reaper – Cockos
System requirements:
Windows: XP/Vista/7/8/10/11 (32 or 64-bit, Intel/AMD only)
macOS: 10.5 – 14.x (Intel and ARM64)
Linux: Requires GTK+3, GTK+2 supported with additional effort, supports x86_64, i686, armv7l, aarch64
Great for: Writing and working with MIDI, recording and mixing.
Reaper has been around for a while, produced by Cockos. Supremely affordable, Reaper offers either a Commercial license for professional users, or a Discounted license, which are (at time of writing) $225 and $60 USD respectively.
Reaper features a lot of handy, intuitive and simple ways to edit, manipulate and shape your audio. Reaper receives consistent updates, some recent updates including ReaLimit, a new brickwall limiter, ReaSurroundPan – a 360 panning plugin and Retroactive MIDI Recording that allows you to import played MIDI, even when the track wasn’t armed or recording! There’s also new New Pitch Shift, Time Stretch, and Resampling Modes that allow for more accurate and realistic editing options.
Layout wise, Reaper’s workflow offers everything mostly in the one screen, with track metering as well as an arrangement style window for a full overview all at once. Reaper continues to march forward with a community mindset, offering updates as the industry changes, evolves and grows.
LUNA – Universal Audio
System requirements:
MacOS: Apple computers running macOS Catalina 10.15, Big Sur 11, Monterey 12, Ventura 13, or Sonoma 14
Windows: PCs running Windows 10 or above
Great for: audio recording, producers and band-based recording. LUNA features good editing and good MIDI integration.
LUNA is Universal Audio’s own DAW. Launched in 2020, LUNA features both a free version as well as a Pro Bundle with additional summing, tape saturation and mixing additions. UAD has strayed away from requiring connection to hardware to use their plugins, with the addition of Spark native plugins, and LUNA is available even without hardware connection. Users of other DAWs will find familiar tools, shortcuts and additions within LUNA!
Much like UAD’s Unison software that allows you to record through fantastic emulations of plugins, UAD’s LUNA is geared around, well… the gear. LUNA allows users to integrate a console-style workflow into the box, offering API Focus; an API channel strip across all or selected tracks in your mix. Subtle saturation across an entire mix can help provide definition and clarity to sources, adding depth as the added grit from saturation. An API 2500 compressor is also available for tracks or buses as you please!
LUNA also offers tape saturation, via either the included Oxide plugin, or UAD’s Ampex and Studer emulations available separately or as part of the Pro Bundle.
Finally, LUNA also has Neve and API style summing, again to add the sense and sound of cohesion across an entire mix, the Neve featuring Headroom (HR) and Trim controls, as well as Hi and Lo Ω, while the API summing features just HR and Trim controls.
Adobe Audition – Adobe
System requirements:
Windows: Microsoft® Windows 10 (64-bit) V20H2 or later
MacOS: macOS Big Sur v11.0 or later
Great for: audio clean-up, sound restoration and Audition’s precision editing tools
Adobe are a company known for and closely aligned with creating and refining audio, visual and more. Their industry standard photo and image editing software Photoshop is used the world over, so it’s no surprise Adobe also produce Audition: an audio editing and production workstation.
With a focus on video production, Adobe Audition also has comprehensive audio recording and mixing capabilities, great for a podcast or simple music creation. Audition includes professional metering options, as well as presets to ensure your content is perfectly prepared for Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Netflix, and YouTube.
Podcasts and music creation with a handful of tracks are easily handled by Adobe Audition, making it great for demos and songwriting.
Harrison Mixbus 10 – Harrison Audio
System requirements:
MacOS: Intel Macs: 10.14 Mojave or newer, including Sonoma. Apple Silicon (M1 and M2), a ‘native’ ARM build is provided. Requires MacOS 11 (Big Sur) or newer, including Sonoma
Windows: OS version: 64 Bit Windows 7 or newer
Linux: 64 Bit system with kernel version 2.6 or higher.
Great for: console-based workflow, in-depth automation, recording and Atmos mixing.
Harrison Audio have been designing and building and recording and mixing consoles since the mid 70s, and their offering into the world of DAWs is in Mixbus 10, available in a Standard version, as well as Mixbus 10 Plus and Mixbus 10 Pro.
At its core, Mixbus 10 is designed around Harrison’s TAME (True Analog Mix Engine), tracks and channels feature 4-band Harrison 32C Console EQ, complete with HP/LF filters, designed to recreate the refined analogue signal path of Harrison’s consoles.
Smart tools and metering allows you to quickly identify and fix problems with phase, polarity and loudness. Loudness Analysis ensures your tracks are ready for streaming services and more, while Polarity Optimizer Tool offers visual cues to help you align your signals.
Most recently, the Pro level of Mixbus 10 features additional tools for Atmos. Built for up to 7.1.4 systems, Mixbus also has a built-in Dolby Atmos Binaural Renderer for mixing with regular headphones. Mixbus’ Immersive master bus offers metering for all speakers!
Keep reading about some of our picks of the Best DAWs for beginners here.
