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What Is the Future of the DAW?

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Re: What Is the Future of the DAW?

#141

Post by PaulDavisThe1st »

criddell wrote: post #122
PaulDavisThe1st wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, its the group I pay the least attention to. I suspect that today or next week, something browser based might be the best choice, but I can't tell you what. Apologies.

Latency matters a lot. I can’t see a browser-based DAW ever being very compelling.

Depends. For mixing it barely matters. For performance, if you're playing a MIDI controller live, then perhaps not (though browser latency is not that bad these days). But if you're working with clips & samples, it isn't likely to matter much.

Re: What Is the Future of the DAW?

#142

Post by lioeters »

reassembled wrote: post #85
robenkleene wrote: post #22

The umbrella topic to this is one of my favorite topics in all of software and one where strangely we as an industry don't seem to have internalized its lessons: That the right approach to building a software program (like a DAW, NLE, bitmap/vector editor) emerges early. This is why these applications have lifespans measured in decades, and it's extremely rare for a new player to be able offer anything new, different…

I highly encourage folks to check out a new DAW called Blockhead. It upends a lot of typical ideas of how a DAW should work. There’s no MIDI events and no global tempo. Everything is represented as blocks of samples on rows of timelines which are then effected by transforms placed on the rows above the rows containing samples. Edits and transform adjustments all happen in real time, and everything is continuously ren…

> Colugo, has a new video on YouTube

A video about Blockhead (experimental digital audio workstation)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5fWPBOdrY8

Re: What Is the Future of the DAW?

#143

Post by meowface »

BandButcher wrote: post #59
helloplanets wrote: post #45

I could see this opening up a new way to generate ideas from which you can start building, or what to add/remove when you're stumped. Maybe a way to create coherent arrangements from a curated list of one shot samples and short loops. And I wouldn't be surprised at all if the automated mixing/mastering services (of which there has been a bunch for years) take a giant leap forward because of better technology. But in…

Agree with the text input being annoying and possibly more of an impedance. Personally i would prefer to speak out the sound i want (think beat boxing noises) and then have the generative ai give me an array of similar sounds and then i can just drag and drop where i want it Writing into a prompt feels opposite to the creative process but as a first pass its a cool tool, kudos

You can kind of do something like this with the Vochlea microphone and their corresponding software: https://vochlea.com

I don't think it's combined with AI yet, but I have to imagine it's on the horizon. At the moment it basically just MIDI-fies your voice. You can raise or lower your voice pitch to turn a parameter knob, beat box to lay down percussion notes, etc.

Re: What Is the Future of the DAW?

#144

Post by gnulinux »

dimgl wrote: post #136
gnulinux wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really??? Uh, it's probably my fault but as a hobbyist composer (day job software engineer) I can personally say that tools I use absolutely and utterly suck. They're immensely buggy. My workflow includes: - LilyPond for writing the final notation - MuseScore 4 for playing around, MuseScore 3 for playing MIDI - REAPER as DAW, SFZ plugin for midi soundfonts - Audacity for processing WAV files - music21 python lib if I…

> Linux audio processing Just use Windows and all of these problems go away. When I make music my stack is basically Ableton Live, NI Komplete and Spitfire Audio and I have exactly 0 of these issues.

This doesn't work for me because I do a lot of algorithmic composition and a huge part of my music making involves programming and it's very hard to write code anywhere that's not linux.

Also I truly hate using windows or osx.

Re: What Is the Future of the DAW?

#145

Post by wormius »

plussed_reader wrote: post #119
matchagaucho wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the existing workflows. But I'd really love to GPT-define reverb settings, song forms, channel inputs, ... tedious copy-paste tasks. A local LLM running on x86 or M2 would be great. But API callouts while waiting for the silicon/Cuda migrations are fine too.

Nothing will homogenize pop like LLM inspired filters; the new presets of the dx7.

But that bass is so classic and tight!

Re: What Is the Future of the DAW?

#146

Post by pseudosavant »

gnulinux wrote: post #144
dimgl wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Linux audio processing Just use Windows and all of these problems go away. When I make music my stack is basically Ableton Live, NI Komplete and Spitfire Audio and I have exactly 0 of these issues.

This doesn't work for me because I do a lot of algorithmic composition and a huge part of my music making involves programming and it's very hard to write code anywhere that's not linux. Also I truly hate using windows or osx.

Python, vim, emacs, vs code, etc all exist to write code on Windows too. Hell, Windows even has Linux in it too now (WSL).

Re: What Is the Future of the DAW?

#148

Post by 6stringmerc »

pdntspa wrote: post #105

To be honest, I really like existing tools and workflows and I don't really want that to change. > Open a DAW from the year 2000 and it’s highly likely you’ll recognise the vast majority of the features — both functionally and visually — from any DAW you might use today. This assertion that "old is bad" really, really needs to die. Change for the sake of change is bad. I don't see why all these new innovations can't…

Yup. Acid Music and Cool Edit Pro 2.0 are great examples to note…poached of course…

I’ve dropped more than $1000 with Ableton and always recommend Reaper first.

Re: What Is the Future of the DAW?

#149

Post by zerbinxx »

bentt wrote: post #147

In some ways, this is like saying "What Is the Future of the Piano?"

True - but there’s been a ton of stylistic and technological advancement of the basic 88 key device over the years - ranging from the development of key synths to (neo)classical reimaginings of how to use the hammers and strings to do something novel, not to mention AFX going nuts with little servos and player pianos, plus the development of jazz, ragtime, etc.

Re: What Is the Future of the DAW?

#150

Post by robust-cactus »

The only thing I want out of some of these tools is either teaching or giving me out of the box configurations that help me get a reallllly good mix. Why shouldn't every record today sound pro? Talent aside, I think they should be implementing some the typical tricks sound engineers/producers use automatically.

I mean we're really talking about wave analysis then cutting of frequencies, boosting others. This can be automated based on a desired "genre/sound".

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