Quote:
Originally Posted by
LadroneScar 
I have been using FL Studios and like it a lot. I can easily prototype a song, but I feel very limited when I want to fully produce something. I have researched many DAWs and have narrowed it down, but I still have a couple questions:
1. What DAW would give me the highest quality sound? Or does it only depend on VSTs and samples?2. Would picking a DAW other than the industry-standard be a poor choice for a future career?
I am mainly composing electronic music, but would also like to compose some classical. I am also helping a small local band with some mixing. I believe Cubase or Sonar would be the best choice, but I am open to suggestions.
The industry standard for recording and mixing is ProTools. Composers tend towards Logic Pro. By definition, if ProTools is the industry standard then you would stand less chance of getting into the industry if you can't use it.
The DAW is not responsible for sound quality, all pro DAWs sound pretty much the same. What makes the difference in sound quality is what audio you put into the DAW and what you do to that audio once it's in the box. A DAW is just a set of tools, what you do with those tools is what separates the men from the boys. The quality of samples (being what you put into the DAW) is hugely important and a minefield legally! VSTs are very variable in quality, there are some good ones and a lot of poor ones.
Composing classical music is difficult! There's a lot of competition, it requires a great deal of knowledge and experience but most importantly, it's very difficult to get a good quality orchestral sound. You ideally need an orchestra! The best samples are starting to get reasonably close to a real orchestra but you need deep pockets, very powerful systems and again, a lot of knowledge and experience to make it sound even half convincing.
G
