Anyone notice the DAW affects the type of music you create?

[Kinh]

Im in a bit of a rut at the moment. I've been doing non-linear production (Ableton) for under a year and I noticed my music doesn't have that continuity or push forward that a lot of stuff I hear on radio does, nor does it sound like the stuff I was doing before in Protools. I can do more in Ableton obviously but structurally and melodically the segments dont transition as well or the melodies have that loopy kind of vibe..ie lacking freedom, too focused. That's actually my main concern.

Have you noticed the music you create and especially songs sound different depending on what DAW you use? Or am I just going crazy?

(Im contemplating taking the FL route now they've killed the bugs.)

[Numanoid]

Have you noticed the music you create and especially songs sound different depending on what DAW you use? Or am I just going crazy?

I think a user should select the DAW best geared toward the music that user want to make, not the other way around.

If the DAW "dictates" which music is made, it seems the user didn't know from the start what music s/he wanted to make

[qtheerearranger]

i personally dont use the non-linear part of ableton at all. However, I recommend trying to bring your songs over to the linear by segments and not record it into the linear view. This way you can start to play around with moving segments around. changing segments up. chopping things up. inserting silence etc. Dennis Desantis goes over this in his amazing book that Ableton has on their website.

[chk071]

Have you noticed the music you create and especially songs sound different depending on what DAW you use? Or am I just going crazy?

I think a user should select the DAW best geared toward the music that user want to make, not the other way around.

This. If the DAW really changes the way you make music, or even affects what kind of music you're creating, you're doing something wrong.

[inkwarp]

every daw has particular idiosyncrasies and quirks, and of course they can affect the structure of the music particularly.
I like the change now and again as it makes me come at things from a different place. FL is a great app for sketches and ideas and great piano roll ( probably the best, i use it for most of my midi) ableton is great for loops and i love working with clips and arrangement view, you get a good hybrid with it. and i use reaper for when i am getting into structure and piecing things in one place or recording real world audio etc ( the addition of tabs in reaper is really great). so, a daw will affect the music in terms of structure but it does not stop or hinder making music per se... i don't really think one is better than the other although if i am forced to choose one, at the moment it's a toss up between reaper and ableton.. today i think reaper by a gnat's cock.

[keyman_sam]

No you're not crazy. While someone can create a good song in any daw they're comfortable with, the key point is the word "comfortable". It varies from person to person.

I've used reaper for a long time before moving to Cubase recently. I was so "comfortable" with reaper that I looked past all the mindless book keeping to do the most basic thing in it. FF now I'm kicking myself for not moving earlier. The way it has changed my music making process is:
- More instantaneous sparks are captured in Cubase thanks to retrospective record. i.e. the "messing around having fun" take becomes the final take. This is absolutely huge and you can't go back once you've experienced it.
- I dont have to keep track of any macros or almost any shortcuts. Just the basic transport/navigation, quantize command. That's it. I feel my mind is much freer than trying to navigate a sea of options, hacks, macros and workarounds. Cubase just does everything out of the box. As a result I spend more time focusing on the music than the DAW.
- Quick sounds to capture ideas: sometimes I just want a basic guitar patch to see how it sounds and Cubase has those built in. Then it just becomes the final sound (no replacement).

I also would advise you start creating templates so that you don't have to deal with loading times or creating mundane stuff, and have some basic patches/loops from ableton to get you off the grind.

[inkwarp]

More instantaneous sparks are captured in Cubase thanks to retrospective record. i.e. the "messing around having fun" take becomes the final take. This is absolutely huge and you can't go back once you've experienced it.

FL Studio has this feature as well.

I dont have to keep track of any macros or almost any shortcuts. Just the basic transport/navigation, quantize command. That's it. I feel my mind is much freer than trying to navigate a sea of options, hacks, macros and workarounds. Cubase just does everything out of the box. As a result I spend more time focusing on the music than the DAW.

most daws are as deep or as basic as you can make them. reaper in particular is worth the time for getting it into the preferences and customisations. i acept it's a learning curve that some want to avoid. personally i am glad i invested time into it, it is very powerful.
i started out using cubase on an atari and if i listen back to some of that i can't see much difference if any in my styling. i still love certain kinds of melody, still fascinated about sound texture so it does not affect the music. the only thing that is affected is workflow. and that is different for every one.

[Zexila]

(Im contemplating taking the FL route now they've killed the bugs.)

Isn't FL pattern based too?

[incubus]

Nope. Mine sucks no matter what.

[Groundhog #31684]

Reaper has a retrospective record feature now. It's a script you can get here...

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=168855

Load it, run it, hide the track it automatically creates and save that as your default template. Job done.

[inkwarp]

Isn't FL pattern based too?

yes it is. but it's own version of an arrangement view, the "playlist" is going from strength to strength in recent versions. it also now has a 'performance ' mode which you can trigger clips in various ways. i am still trying to get across it, but seems very good.
the other thing worth mentioning also, you can run FL as a plugin ( as well as rewire) so i am increasingly using it inside ableton and reaper. : )

[keyman_sam]

Reaper has a retrospective record feature now. It's a script you can get here...

http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?t=168855

Load it, run it, hide the track it automatically creates and save that as your default template. Job done.

I'm sure it does. There's hardly anything Reaper can't do. The point is its all using scripts, macros and endless customizations into nowhere. I'm just so glad I'm not in that boat.

[Zexila]

Isn't FL pattern based too?

yes it is. but it's own version of an arrangement view, the "playlist" is going from strength to strength in recent versions. it also now has a 'performance ' mode which you can trigger clips in various ways. i am still trying to get across it, but seems very good.
the other thing worth mentioning also, you can run FL as a plugin ( as well as rewire) so i am increasingly using it inside ableton and reaper. : )

So very similar workflow like Live, which makes me wonder what OP is gaining with it (FL) over it (Live).

[core]

Isn't FL pattern based too?

yes it is. but it's own version of an arrangement view, the "playlist" is going from strength to strength in recent versions. it also now has a 'performance ' mode which you can trigger clips in various ways. i am still trying to get across it, but seems very good.
the other thing worth mentioning also, you can run FL as a plugin ( as well as rewire) so i am increasingly using it inside ableton and reaper. : )

So very similar workflow like Live, which makes me wonder what OP is gaining with it (FL) over it (Live).

For one, I find MIDI editing in FL Studio much easier & comprehensive.

[Zexila]

Isn't FL pattern based too?

yes it is. but it's own version of an arrangement view, the "playlist" is going from strength to strength in recent versions. it also now has a 'performance ' mode which you can trigger clips in various ways. i am still trying to get across it, but seems very good.
the other thing worth mentioning also, you can run FL as a plugin ( as well as rewire) so i am increasingly using it inside ableton and reaper. : )

So very similar workflow like Live, which makes me wonder what OP is gaining with it (FL) over it (Live).

For one, I find MIDI editing in FL Studio much easier & comprehensive.

But still, it's not that much different workflow over Live, point of his thread is how DAW workflow influences outcome, at least his and than he goes about his Live workflow, so what will FL change there when it's so similar overall...