Table of Contents
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There has never been a better time to buy digital audio workstation (DAW) software. Twenty-five years ago, to record a music album at a professional level, you needed a sizable mixing console, several eight-track digital records (such as ADATs or DA-88s), and a good selection of outboard compressors, reverb units, and other effects, plus a two-track deck to mix down to. In other words, you were looking at about $10K to $15K worth of gear to start—and that’s before you got to microphones, speakers, and other accessories.
It’s an entirely different world now. Software packages that cost a few hundred dollars deliver hundreds of audio tracks and incredibly flexible editing. Some programs are even free. You can create as many instances of effect plug-ins as you want, including spot-on emulations of compressors that used to cost several thousand dollars each, and attach them to as many mixer channels as you want. It’s all nearly unlimited and “in the box” now.
How to decide which one is right for you? To help with this task, we tested the most popular DAWs. Numerous venerable (and excellent) recording magazines have reviewed these applications many times over the years. That’s great for the existing user base of each DAW, but maybe not always quite as clear for newcomers. In each of our reviews, we do our best to approach each product as a whole rather than devoting most of the space to just the latest features added in the most recent update. Read on for our top picks, followed by everything you need to know about picking the right DAW for your recording needs.
Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
Apple Logic Pro
Best for Mainstream Audio Production
Why We Picked It
For Mac owners, Logic Pro does it all. It costs hundreds less than competing DAWs and not much more than budget options like Cockos Reaper. The most recent point update adds integrated Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio music production while retaining its core excellence. It’s a stellar update to a best-in-class DAW.
Logic Pro is packed with virtual instruments and effects plug-ins, including 5,900 presets and nearly 15,000 royalty-free loops. It also has a useful Live performance and composition mode that gives you much of what Ableton Live offers.
Who It’s For
Apple Logic Pro is the best DAW for most people who own Macs. As such, it’s a do-it-all app for composers, mix engineers, mastering, film scoring, and post-production. It also has two levels of menus, which lets you simplify the UI while you’re getting used to it or upgrading from GarageBand.
PROS
- Effective new Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio tools
- Large array of bundled instruments and effects
- No copy protection, unlike many competitors
- Excellent value
CONS
- Can’t lock tempo events to SMPTE
- Mixer could use larger meters and faders
- Still no fast Clip-Gain-style audio editing
Learn More
Apple Logic Pro Review
Apple GarageBand (for Mac)
Best for Mac Recording on a Budget
Why We Picked It
Unlike the cartoonish version that debuted in the early aughts, GarageBand features a surprisingly serious presentation that roughly mirrors the high-end Logic. Although GarageBand lacks Logic’s fantastic flexibility, a vast array of instruments, and powerful mixing and mastering features, it’s almost as powerful when handling other tasks. The fact that GarageBand is free makes it all the better.
Who It’s For
GarageBand offers easy music recording for novices and pros alike, and it comes free with every Mac. And it’s still one of the best ways to learn piano or guitar with a computer.
PROS
- Streamlined, professional interface
- Excellent new Producer Packs
- Enjoyable instrument lessons
- Supports 24-bit recording and third-party plug-ins
Learn More
Apple GarageBand (for Mac) Review
Avid Pro Tools
Best for Compatibility With Pro Studios
Why We Picked It
Avid has unlocked Pro Tools, its venerable audio recording and editing software, for a new generation while maintaining its status as the standard cross-platform solution for professional music, film, games, and broadcast production worldwide. Buying into Pro Tools, in whatever capacity, will mean your projects have the largest potential compatibility base should you want to work with other musicians, forward a project to a producer, or hire a mixing engineer that wants to look at the actual track data and plug-ins you used, and not just a stack of tracks you exported as individual audio files. And its workflow remains second to none.
Many users have been critical of Avid’s move to a subscription-based support model. Alas, the company has doubled down on this and has gone subscription-only.
Who It’s For
Avid Pro Tools is the best DAW for most people with PCs. Pro Tools is equally excellent on Macs, but Apple Logic Pro still edges it out there. Pro Tools is ideal for larger studios with lots of outboard hardware and the need for extensive support networks. A reasonably priced $9.99/month tier lets a new generation of up-and-coming engineers get on board again.
PROS
- Still the cleanest audio editing workflow on the planet
- New, low-cost Artist version is a welcome step forward
- Melodyne Essential is finally standard
- Fast 64-bit recording and mixing engine
- High-end hardware and support policies are tops in the industry
CONS
- Subscription-only pricing from now on
- Weak instrument bundle, despite two new additions
Learn More
Avid Pro Tools Review
Ableton Live
Best for Live Stage Performance
Why We Picked It
Ableton Live is a powerful all-in-the-box solution for composing and performing live music, particularly electronic-influenced tunes. Since its launch in 2001, Ableton Live has become the go-to environment for music creation for many musicians, with an eye toward real-time performance on stage. If you take to Ableton Live’s intuitive clip-based approach to building music tracks, you may find yourself completely immersed, creating new songs all the time and never needing another program.
Who It’s For
Anyone who composes electronic music with an eye toward live performance or wants to turn on-the-spot performances into recorded tracks will thrive with Ableton Live’s approach.
PROS
- Inspirational clip-based live performance and composition workflow
- Excellent new Mood Reel and Drone Lab packs
- Fast navigation
- Powerful automation
CONS
- No notation view
- No pitch correction tool
- Still not an all-purpose DAW despite high price
Learn More
Ableton Live Review
Audacity
Best for Editing Podcasts
Why We Picked It
A powerful, free, open-source editor that’s been available for years, Audacity works smoothly with up to 32-bit/384kHz audio, complete with built-in dithering. The program lets you easily import, mix, and combine audio tracks (stereo, mono, or even multitracked recording) and render the output as one. It also offers flexible editing down to the sample level and spectrogram and spectral views for analyzing frequency response. While you get unlimited undo and redos, Audacity’s edits are almost always destructive, so it won’t replace a proper digital audio workstation like Avid Pro Tools and Apple Logic Pro.
Who It’s For
If you want to get started in podcasting or recording music, it’s tough to go wrong with Audacity. A powerful, free, open-source audio editor that’s been available for years, Audacity is still the go-to choice for quick-and-dirty audio work. Professionals looking for multitrack post-production and broadcast tools should take a closer look at Adobe Audition.
PROS
- Free
- Lots of editing options ideal for dialogue, sound effects, and trimming music tracks
- Supports multitrack audio and batch processing
CONS
- Destructive editing only
- Multitrack audio support is exceedingly basic
Learn More
Audacity Review
Cockos Reaper
Best for PC Recording on a Budget
Why We Picked It
Reaper delivers live audio and virtual instrument recording, a full mixing console, accurate notation editing, and video scoring support. Unlike many competing DAWs, Reaper lets you build your own menus, toolbars, and macros and change the entire look and color scheme of the interface. It’s a complex program requiring study— perhaps the opposite of something like Apple’s GarageBand. But put in the time, load it up with some free (or paid) third-party plug-ins, and it pays actual dividends in power and flexibility.
Who It’s For
Reaper covers nearly all the bases of a Pro Tools or Cubase-equipped workstation at a fraction of the price. Composers, producers, and garage bands (the real kind) on a budget will especially want to take a close look.
PROS
- Multi-channel audio recording, mixing, and mastering at a bargain price
- Heavily customizable
- Fast
- Extremely light memory footprint
CONS
- No built-in instruments or loops
- Uninviting, unintuitive interface
Learn More
Cockos Reaper Review
Image-Line FL Studio
Best for Making Beats
Why We Picked It
Image-Line’s FL Studio, known affectionately by long-term fans as FruityLoops (the app’s original name when it debuted in 1998), has matured into a powerful DAW. Although it’s still clearly geared for electronic music production “in the box,” instead of recording live musicians playing acoustic instruments, you can record or create just about any audio project with it. If your memory of FL Studio is closer to its roots—when the Belgian company’s program looked more like a 1980s Amiga tracker than a proper DAW—prepare to be amazed at how far the program has come.
Who It’s For
FL Studio lets you produce some of today’s slickest beats right up to full electronic dance music tracks. If that sounds like your style, FL Studio could be key to unlocking your creativity. It caters to step sequencer and pattern-based playlist fans more than those expecting a more linear multitrack recording experience.
PROS
- Brilliant loop and pattern-based MIDI composition tools
- Visible automation clips are easy to manipulate
- Free lifetime updates
CONS
- Not as intuitive for regular multitrack recording
- Lacks notation editor
Learn More
Image-Line FL Studio Review
Magix Sequoia
Best for High-End Mastering
Why We Picked It
Sequoia is the industry standard for a complete mixing and mastering environment, particularly for classical recordings, live broadcasts, and prepping recordings for vinyl or high-resolution digital distribution. However, its price puts it out of range for all but the highest-end users. To Sequoia’s credit, it is a superset of the popular Magix Samplitude Pro X4. That means it includes every last instrument, effect, and feature of the latter program, plus additional Sequoia-only features primarily targeted at the mastering and broadcast markets. In other words, it’s as much a full DAW as mastering software.
Who It’s For
Not most people, for sure. If you have the bucks, Magix Sequoia is a long-running top choice for high-end classical mastering and broadcast professionals. It’s a do-it-all program that takes you from inspired composition through finished masters ready for duplication and distribution. Sequoia’s object-oriented, multi-point editing is unparalleled. Most engineers and producers don’t need to drop this kind of cash on audio production software, though.
PROS
- Top-shelf support for mastering and distribution formats.
- Excellent four-point audio and crossfade editors.
CONS
- Extremely expensive.
- Requires hardware dongle.
- Cluttered UI.
- Some sluggishness even on a very fast PC.
Learn More
Magix Sequoia Review
PreSonus Studio One
Best for Fast Audio Editing
Why We Picked It
PreSonus reinvented the common digital audio workstation with Studio One, and the latest version is the most inspired yet. Perhaps more than any DAW we’ve tested recently, Studio One’s smooth workflow makes it easy to record audio, compose music, and mix, and it simultaneously feels like a mature workstation. It’s as if someone took Pro Tools, removed many unnecessary mouse button presses, and rearranged the menus and dialogs to make sense.
Who It’s For
Studio One doesn’t scale to larger studios as well as Pro Tools. But it’s an inspired choice for anyone who needs a serious DAW, particularly for tracking and mixing, and who dislikes Avid’s subscription pricing.
PROS
- Fast workflow for recording, music composition, and mixing
- Excellent chord- and pattern-based composition tools
- New live performance features
- Mastering facilities include DDP import/export
CONS
- Very cluttered interface and mix console
- Could use some new instrument sounds
- New score editor can’t print sheet music
Learn More
PreSonus Studio One Review
Steinberg Cubase Pro
Best for Virtual Instruments
Why We Picked It
Steinberg Cubase has a long and storied history in the music industry, first appearing on the Atari ST in the late 1980s before migrating to Macs and PCs. Cubase Pro is a powerful, ultra-flexible recording and production environment, a top-notch digital audio workstation particularly suited to MIDI editing and running virtual instruments.
Who It’s For
Cubase Pro is well suited for music composition—and is, in our opinion, the smoothest of the major digital audio workforces, or DAWs, at this—although it’s also a capable recording and post-production tool, with its exceptional MixConsole and flexible editing facilities.
PROS
- Responsive, rock-solid audio engine
- Comprehensive editing and automation support
- Robust instrument and plug-in bundle
- Powerful mixer
CONS
- Expensive
- Messy installation
Learn More
Steinberg Cubase Pro Review
Adobe Audition
Best for Post-Production and Broadcast
Why We Picked It
From topping off your audio clips and getting them to sit just right in a final video project or podcast, to crafting sound effects for video games and ducking music to spotlight voiceovers, Audition excels. It’s a powerful, cross-platform suite that’s in its own category. It has specialized tools for cleaning up or restoring audio. It offers precision, nondestructive editing for corporate and commercial videos and podcasts. Unlike Audacity, which is a much simpler program, it’s also stellar in post-production.
Who It’s For
Audition is a comprehensive audio editor for anyone interested in video post-production, podcasts, and audio restoration. It makes sense as a supplement to a video editor or as part of an existing CC subscription. Although Audition can function as a digital audio workstation (DAW), it’s too limited and expensive for that, given its lack of music composition tools.
PROS
- Strong audio-restoration, sound-removal, and noise-reduction tools
- New Loudness Meter is a boon for targeting streaming services
- Useful visualization tools
- Adheres to film and television broadcast standards for audio
CONS
- Lacks MIDI support
- Only available via an expensive monthly subscription
Learn More
Adobe Audition Review
Buying Guide: The Best Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs) for 2023
How to Pick the Right DAW
From the standpoint of someone recording 20 or 30 years ago, a DAW today is like a giant candy store; it’s as if you can do almost anything. For the newcomer, though, it may seem almost hopelessly complex. Choosing the right audio software can be pretty tricky. Most famous packages like Pro Tools, Cubase, and Logic Pro have existed for decades. They’ve grown incredibly powerful and, as a result, have user interfaces as complex as…well, professional mix consoles.
Apple Logic Pro X (for Mac)
Before we get to the specifics, the most straightforward program for audio editing is a two-track editor; probably the most famous example here is the free Audacity. While Audacity aspires to some fundamental multitrack recording with overdubs, its real use is as a solid stereo editor. If you’re recording a podcast or editing a clip of your kid’s piano recital that you recorded on your phone, Audacity is an excellent choice; you can probably start and stop there. If you need something more sophisticated, read on.
It helps to think about the kinds of projects you want to create. Are you planning on producing beats for hip-hop or fully electronic compositions? Do you want to record multiple musicians playing live instruments at once? Will you use your setup to score for videos or movies or create sound effects and dialogue for TV and video games? Do you need to produce fully polished, printed scores, or do you prefer to work with musical notes and staves? Do you plan on tuning the pitch of vocal performances? Working out the answers to these questions upfront will help you narrow down your choices.
What Comes With Each DAW?
The good news is all of the packages we tested can more or less do all of the above tasks, with a few notable exceptions. The trick is that each program has strengths in different areas, and some tasks may be a bit more complicated in one than in another. One overarching rule to help you decide faster is to look at what your colleagues or friends are using and then choose the same package. That makes it easier to share tips or even projects among each other, rather than being the lone person using a particular product and then introducing session import issues.
Another option is to look at what’s bundled with each program. Would you prefer a DAW with many virtual instrument sounds, such as synthesizers, sampled violins, guitars, and electric basses? You may want to look at something like Logic Pro, Cubase Pro, or Studio One, all of which include many gigabytes of sounds and loops. Do you have or plan to buy your own instrument plug-ins? Reaper is a fully stripped-down DAW at a low price, and it makes an excellent host for third-party VSTs. It’s also great if you’re recording a band full of live instruments and don’t need much in the way of virtual ones.
Do your tastes lean toward the electronic and synthesized realm? Ableton Live and FL Studio are inspired choices with plenty of built-in synths, though you can produce electronic music with just about any of these programs. Digital Performer is a perennial favorite for film scoring, although several other DAWs can also do it (if not quite as ably). If you’re interested in mastering finished recordings or classical music editing, the high-end Magix Sequoia is unparalleled.
Often, it comes down to details and editing philosophies. Do you prefer loop-based recording and live playback for electronic music? Ableton Live has plenty to offer you. Would you rather have a “do-it-all” DAW with an extensive built-in sound library at a low price? PreSonus Studio One beckons. Do you not only want to bring projects into major studios but also collaborate online and open sessions directly as you work on them with others? It’s impossible to top Avid’s Pro Tools for this. Is the music already done, and do you work in post-production and want to produce more professional podcasts or videos? Adobe Audition is a prime contender for those tasks. And if you’ve got a Mac, it’s worth giving the free GarageBand a spin, if only because it’s more potent than ever and you already own it.
How Much Should You Spend on a DAW?
Closely correlated to bundled instruments and effects is price, and that’s a factor that can cloud the issue. Many top-tier packages have less expensive (or even free) feature-limited editions. It’s not as simple as saying, “Reaper is a budget DAW at $60, and Studio One is a professional-level DAW at $399,” because you can also buy the stripped-down (but still pretty feature-rich) Studio One Artist for $99. What do you lose? What do you gain? We try and touch on this as much as possible within each review.
Recommended by Our Editors
Which DAW Is Right for You?
In short, read our reviews (linked below) and try some demos where you can. Otherwise, don’t sweat it too much. We spent countless hours testing these products and compiling the reviews and this guide. Despite the complexity of the software here, we’ve found it’s tough to go wrong. Unlike computers or cameras, where you can see that of the latest crop of products, a few perform well, and a few don’t perform as well as the leaders. These are all mature, well-established products, each with thousands of fans.
As a result, more than half of the packages in this roundup score at least four out of five stars. You can get professional-level results with all of them. Each has specific workflows that work well for some people—hence the endless “X is the best, and Y is garbage” arguments on the internet—but with some acclimation time, they all can work for just about anyone.
Even so, we single out two DAWs, one on the Mac and one on the PC, for Editors’ Choice awards: Apple Logic Pro, for its unbeatable value with its built-in instruments and effects plug-ins and Avid Pro Tools, for its seamless audio editing and suitability up and down the pro studio chain. Despite those conclusions, we’d happily use any programs listed here for new projects. Choose one, learn its secrets, and get to work creating and editing fantastic music and audio.
