If you could combine the best parts of any existing DAWs into the ultimate DAW...

[Muziksculp]

Bitwig Studio Version 3 will be the perfect DAW ... It's just a matter of time

[jeffh]

...

I totally agree with everything you're saying, but I have to pick this one apart for irony's sake

My ultimate frankenDAW would pretty much be a combination of various trackers and FL.

That's pretty much what PyDAW is...

Renoise disk browser(two layers where you can navigate folders in the upper pane and files in the lower is ideal)

That's exactly how PyDAW's file browser looks...

integrated sampler

Already have one...

The Pattern editor would be separate from the mixer

It is...

with instruments either automatically having their own track

They do...

FL Piano Roll.

I dare say that PyDAW's piano roll is pretty similar to FL Studio's, minus that I use Shift+click+drag to delete notes instead of right-click, and colorized notes instead of a separate velocity lane... I also don't have the drag-able scrollbars for zoom (separate slider instead), but that's mostly because it's ridiculously hard to make those in Qt...

But, as stated previously, I'm not convinced that there's really a significant market for something like that, unfortunately... (Even Renoise, which is a great piece of software, probably commands well under 1% of the market because it's not a Cubase-clone)

OTOH, when I was first starting out, my sole reason for picking Cubase was because all of the big names were using it; For years I never seriously considered any alternatives (especially things that were radically different) because I thought that if Cubase was good enough for my musical idols, it should be good enough for me, even though I found the workflow sub-optimal for EDM production. I trusted their judgement and taste in software a lot more than my own, and I think most people probably do the same...

[jeffh]

...and thanks everybody for all of the input, truly a feast of "food for thought", and way too many demo versions to download and things to try

[TheNickC]

I haven't used PyDAW so I was/am unaware of many of it's features. Most of my biggest gripes with FL that have crept in over the years(FL11 especially) seem to be getting fixed in FL12, and I have Renoise so I can't say I've looked around the market at all for other options recently.

While it's probably true that there isn't a market for a real PR/tracker hybrid like I imagined, I don't think everything has to be a Cubase clone. FL has a pretty alternative workflow and has become quite popular because of that, not in spite of it. Maybe still not as popular as Cubase, but as you said, there's also a cycle of "artist I like uses Y, I should also use Y!" that happens with newcomers that can take a long time to break-it's hard for anything new to break into the industry(take notes from Bitwig on how to create hype I guess? Even that wasn't really new though, a lot of the hype was based on it being an offshoot of live)

[arkmabat]

I wish more daws had the old school tracker option.

PyDAW doesn't have a tracker interface from the screenshots I've seen. Also, no VST support, right? I'm not sure that it's a match.

[jeffh]

FL has a pretty alternative workflow and has become quite popular because of that, not in spite of it.

In the beginning, it wasn't so much like Cubase, but from everything I've seen of it lately, it doesn't look so different anymore... IMHO, FL Studio could be considered a Cubase clone in recent versions.

(take notes from Bitwig on how to create hype I guess? Even that wasn't really new though, a lot of the hype was based on it being an offshoot of live)

Eh, I don't think that kind of hype really helped their case much, I'd prefer not to have 500-page long threads mocking me and spawning off new internet memes

[hibidy]

Today is brutal

[jeffh]

PyDAW doesn't have a tracker interface from the screenshots I've seen.

It does (to an extent), but it's done as a mouse-driven grid instead of a traditional keyboard-driven spreadsheet-style interface.

The sequencing is done as a song containing a list of regions, and MIDI patterns within the region (and then audio is sequenced within regions linear-DAW style).

There are spreadsheet style list viewers for the MIDI items... They used to be full tracker-style pattern editors, but nobody was using them (as far as I knew), so I yanked the editing capabilities.

Also, no VST support, right? I'm not sure that it's a match.

Correct. PyDAW has it's own plugin format that all of the built-in instrument and effect plugins use, which I plan on standardizing and opening when this other stuff gets released. Between VST licensing being encumbered, the VST2/3 debacle, and the never-ending problems with not every plugin working reliably in every host, I'd rather try to fix the problems than support the VST format.

[arkmabat]

I'll have to check it out. Any Windows port in the works? I don't mean that sarcastically... Great job on a DAW in Linux either way.

[jeffh]

I'll have to check it out. Any Windows port in the works? I don't mean that sarcastically...

No worries bro...

I used to have a Windows port (and Mac too...) that was basically just a Virtualbox VM running Linux with PyDAW pre-installed. It worked well enough, but I decided to drop it a while back after I no longer had a good place to host the ~1GB file...

It's also possible to write a native Windows port, or I may do something that still uses virtualization, but in a more transparent way than having to boot a guest OS... But either way, it's a matter of finding the time to do it, neither option should be more than 2 weeks of work to implement...

Great job on a DAW in Linux either way.

Thanks buddy

[ausgeno]

My ultimate DAW would be Studio One with a Logic X style visual makeover and a suite of Ableton'esque MIDI tools.

[arkmabat]

So I can boot it in virtualbox? Cool. Seeing as I can get a copy of Linux free... Why have I never thought of that?

[Kalamata Kid]

I'd like the ability to have two or three different DAWs open at once with the ability to drag/drop from one to another.

This may be the best and easiest way to get all the existing Feature Requests from your favorites DAW's without having to beg to get your FR adopted in a single DAW. As we very well know begging does not help!

Drag and drop audio and mid files I assume.

BTW are there any two DAW's that can drag and drop audio files to each other?

[hibidy]

One thing I forgot to add is that I'd combine the ability protools has of turning off a particular plug for all tracks. I don't know the technical feature it's called but whenever I look at viddys where they are using protools I see it.

[codec_spurt]

Eh, I don't think that kind of hype really helped their case much, I'd prefer not to have 500-page long threads mocking me and spawning off new internet memes

Just got out of bed. Pics or STFU!


This whole thing is transforming into something so much more exciting than it used to be. No one buys music any more. Hell, no one even listens to music any more.

The people that make it stand around bitching about the tools.
The people that listen to it, don't listen to it, but tell their friends to, and 'like' them.
The people that make the tools stand around bitching about the people that make the music.
The people that use the tools, don't use them, but tell their friends to, and 'like' them.


Something like that.

Some kind of cat piccy explaining the new meme against jeffh would be greatly appreciated. It there isn't one yet, then someone create one.

f**king Slackers!