In 2025, the DAW that provides the best overall experience, in my opinion, is Studio One 7 from PreSonus. Over several years, it has been expanding from a great little up-start of a DAW into a fully fledged studio that ticks all the boxes. In recent versions, it’s gained an immense amount of songwriting tools, publishing options, mastering plugins, live performance facilities, compositional avenues and professional features while retaining a clean, fresh and uncluttered approach. Studio One maximises music-making and refuses to compromise on any aspect of production.

It’s certainly true that different DAWs suit different people, workflows and environments, but for me, Studio One handles all genres to a very competent level. It has a superb range of composition tools that are not content with giving you a blank page to fill but encourage you along with patterns, loops and probability. The editing tools and automation are excellent, which can add a real sense of development and evolution to your tracks, while the plugin lineup resists the need for third-party add-ons.

It has some unique features that set it apart from other DAWs. It has Scratch Pads that let you work on multiple versions of your music at the same time, flipping from idea to idea, testing things out without ever losing your core concept. It has a full suite of mastering tools that exist in a different recording environment, so you can separate mastering into a completely different process. It has a Show Page that converts your project into a stage-managed performance that a band could use to take their work on tour. Some of the MIDI tools and support for songwriting within the main DAW are great for people who want to develop ideas and have fun with music.

Studio One is great for writing songs; it’s fabulous for film music, scoring, working on sound design and automating productions. You can edit, mix, rearrange, loop, rework and master, all within the same piece of software. It’s really easy to get into and doesn’t expect you to be a sound engineer, but has all the tools you need regardless of your level of experience. Studio One really is hard to beat.

Specs & Details

Version – Studio One Pro 7
Cost – Perpetual $199.99 or $179.99 annually with Pro+ extras or $19.99 a month
Platform – Windows, MacOS, Linux
Windows – 10/11 22H2 (64-bit only), Intel Core i3/AMD A10, 8GB RAM, 40GB HDD
MacOS – 12.4 (64-bit only), Intel Core i3/Apple M1, 8GB RAM, 40GB HDD
Linux – Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Intel Core i3/AMD A10, 8GB RAM, 40GB HDD
presonus.com

Alternatively, the next best is

Steinberg Cubase Pro 14. A complete music production studio filled with creative features, instruments and effects.
Steinberg.net

If you want to develop your work into a live performance, there’s no need to look further than the DAW named for that exact task. Ableton Live was designed as a loop-based platform for laptop gigging, but over the years, it has evolved into a deep DAW and complex sound design instrument.

The strength for live performance is found in the stacks of clips and launchable scenes. You can visually map out exactly how you see your gig progressing and then improvise your way through it. It can be automated like it’s on rails, falling from one scene to another, or you can take charge and push scenes or single clips out to your audience depending on how the mood takes you.

Ableton Live is full of tools and devices to help you forge an exciting and creative performance. The source material of samples and virtual instruments is curated towards electronic music with all sorts of probabilistic happenings, interwoven causes and micro-movements. You can design cascades of interference that will ebb and flow under your direction and find new ways to approach your beats and melodies.

There are also plenty of compositional tools like support for alternative tuning systems, scales, audio slicing and MPE support. It has this great way of browsing for similar sounds, an advanced tagging system and can even record retrospectively so you never miss that thing you played and now can’t remember it.

There’s nothing quite like Ableton Live, and if you are up for a challenge, then the rewards are profound.

Specs & Details

Version – 12 Intro, Standard and Suite
Intro $99 16 tracks and 5GB of content
Standard $439 Full unlimited version with 38GB of content
Suite $749 Includes all instruments and effects, Max for Live and 71GB of content
Platform – Windows, MacOS
MacOS – 11 or higher, Intel Core i5 or Apple silicon, 8GB RAM and 3GB for basic install
Windows – 10/11 22H2 Intel Core i5 or AMD Ryzen, 8GB RAM and 3GB for basic install
Ableton.com

Alternatively, the next best is

Bitwig Studio. Built by some of the original Ableton Live programmers but offers a simpler, more intuitive interface with a large sound design and modulation element.
Bitwig.com

There are a lot of contenders for this particular title because audio recording is a basic requirement of a DAW. While the natural studio default would probably be Avid Pro Tools, I would say that it’s probably too complex when you’re trying to record your band in what will undoubtedly be a chaotic situation. Cubase from Steinberg, on the other hand, has an ease-of-use and way of working that’s intuitive and forgiving. It’s also more compatible and will likely work well with any computer and audio interface.

With Cubase Pro 14, Steinberg has decluttered and streamlined the interface so it feels smarter and less bloated. You can get right to the business of creating a bunch of audio tracks, hitting record and you are off. Although, a little bit of prep is also welcome, like setting up different monitoring mixes in the Control Room or activating Audio Pre-Record so you don’t miss those bits of magic before your press record. With Comping, you can cycle through multiple takes and pick out the best moments from every recording. And if it all goes wrong, you can reset with the click of a button.

Once you’ve captured the band, Cubase will give you a load of tools to get the best out of your raw recordings. You can get right into each clip and draw volume curves to even out your singers’ microphone technique. You can use AudioWarp to pull in any wayward timing and VariAudio to sort out the tuning. Then, as you move into the mixing, you’ve got a fully adaptable console, channel strips with dynamics processing to start gluing the mix together. The MixConsole Snapshots facility lets you return to every idea and moment of clarity, so even if you go too far, you can rescue your good intentions from a bad mix.

Cubase is full of effects, so you can start getting creative with your production, from guitar amp modellers to underwater vibes, spatial adventures and tape saturation. It has a huge library of virtual instruments, so you can flesh out your production with more instruments or even replace live recordings with a more pristine version by extracting the performance as MIDI and feeding that into something new.

Cubase is a recording studio that morphs into a music production suite that is perfect for your band and for your post production and further musical development.

Specs & Details

Version – Cubase 14 – Pro, Artist, Elements
Cost – Pro 14 – $579.99 Unlimited tracks, 11 Instruments, 92 plugins, 3000 sounds, 20GB samples, Dolby Atmos.
Artist 14 – $329.99 Unlimited tracks, 6 instruments, 66 plugins, 2600 sounds, 20GB samples
Elements 14 – $99.99 Limited track count, 4 instruments, 46 plugins, 1000 sounds, 20GB samples
Platform – Windows, MacOS
Windows – 10/11 22H2, Intel Core i5 (4th gen)/AMD Ryzen, 8GB, 1-80GB HDD
MacOS – Sequoia/Sonoma/Ventura, Intel Core i5 or Apple silicon, 8GB, 1-80GB HDD
steinberg.net

Alternatively, the next best is

Avid Pro Tools. The industry standard in recording studios. It’s fast, full of professional tools but requires an experienced hand to get the best out of it.
Avid.com

Studio One Pro 7 from PreSonus Electronics has gained much ground over the past few years. It is a mature and dependable platform that can compete with any other DAW in almost every task. One area of immense strength is in the support of the songwriter.

Every DAW gives you a blank page on which to start formulating your ideas, but Studio One comes with a raft of features that work in concert with someone trying to flesh out the structure of their music. It starts with templates where, with a click, Studio One is set up with a custom-configured writing environment, your favourite instruments pre-loaded, and tracks ready for recording. Once you are in your process, the Chord track will help you experiment with harmonic changes, while the Arranger track lets you re-order your verse and chorus structure by moving whole stacks of MIDI and audio in a single drag. And when you’re ready to vocalise, the lyrics track will bounce words off every syllable and stay glued to your changing arrangement.

Studio One has several ways to keep the creative juices flowing if you’re stuck for ideas. You can pull in a Scratch Pad to completely rework the arrangement without affecting the original. You can pull clips in the Launcher and see how a more looped approach might work for you. Or you could use the Pattern engine to sequence rhythms and melodies with probability, scales and different structures to give you an alternative take on your song.

Plenty of other tools include integrated pitch correction with Melodyne, pro-quality effects processing, EQ, dynamics and console mixing. It has a number of solid virtual instruments, both sample-based and virtual analog to build your arrangement. You can also print out the score, master your finished mix and upload it directly to streaming services. There’s very little you can’t do in Studio One, and it has one of the most uncluttered and intuitive workflows out there.

Specs & Details

Version – Studio One Pro 7
Cost – Perpetual $199.99 or $179.99 annually with Pro+ extras or $19.99 a month
Platform – Windows, MacOS, Linux
Windows – 10/11 22H2 (64-bit only), Intel Core i3/AMD A10, 8GB RAM, 40GB HDD
MacOS – 12.4 (64-bit only), Intel Core i3/Apple M1, 8GB RAM, 40GB HDD
Linux – Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Intel Core i3/AMD A10, 8GB RAM, 40GB HDD
presonus.com

Alternatively, the next best is

Steinberg Cubase Pro 14. The original MIDI sequencer evolved into a huge music production studio filled with creative features, instruments and effects.
Steinberg.net

Without a doubt, Image Line’s FL Studio has been the most popular DAW amongst dance music producers ever since it was the humble Fruity Loops. Something about the simplicity and audacity of the step-sequencer interface makes it the perfect platform for the rhythms and structures of all waves of electronic dance music. FL Studio has grown up a lot since then and can operate every feature of a proper, studio-focused DAW, but its heart seems to pump best around those beats and loops of modern club productions.

FL Studio is packed full of sounds, from simple squelchy basslines to sampled instruments, virtual synthesis and a massive sound library. It all flows through a visual interface where you can avoid dull lists and explore an explosion of thumbnails as you browse the possibilities. You can dive straight into the step sequencer or experiment with audio or MIDI loops and hash out an arrangement. Everything is color-coded from the track to the clip to the mixer so you can follow your signal routing and have a better overview of what’s going on.

As you build your tracks, FL Studio expands and adapts to what you need. Modulation and automation can be added as separate tracks and then locked into whatever you want it to control. It’s fluid and versatile in very different ways from other DAWs, and that can make for some very fast music-making once you’ve grasped the FL Studio way of doing things.

The sounds are amazing, the effects give you so many avenues to play with, and the sampling is just like using hardware samplers with all the instant satisfaction that brings. It mixes a regular timeline with clip launching and individual track playback and offers excellent audio editing and signal processing. The built-in stem separation means that you can pull clean samples out of the deepest of mixes. A new FL Cloud expansion option gives you access to an online library of instruments, sounds, and samples to keep fuelling your creativity. It also includes AI-driven mastering and release to streaming platforms.

FL Studio is a huge engine of sound generation, beats, loops and samples that will provide the best platform for your productions.

Specs & Details

Version – FL Studio 2025 – Fruity, Producer, Signature, All Plugins Edition
Fruity – $99 8 audio clips, no audio recording, 84 plugins
Producer – $199 unlimited audio, 94 plugins, audio recording and stem separation
Signature – $249 unlimited audio, 103 plugins, audio recording and stem separation
All Plugins – $349 unlimited audio, 115 plugins, audio recording and stem separation
Platform – Windows and macOS
Windows – 10/11, Intel and AMD processors, 4GB RAM, 1GB HDD
macOS – 10.15, Intel or Apple silicon, 4GB RAM, 1GB HDD
Image-Line.com

Alternatively, the next best is

Propellerhead Reason Studio. A vast rack of synths, samplers and drum machines bound up in an analog-style modulation system with excellent pro-studio features.
ReasonStudios.com

For many years, Tracktion has released an older version of their Waveform DAW for free. Things have changed recently, and they now have a slightly different tactic where the free version is simpler and more limited, but you can bolt in your choice of the most up-to-date features for an extra cost. But let’s concentrate on what you get for free.

Waveform Free has the newly designed interface and audio engine of Waveform Pro. The refreshed user interface is much better to look at and work with. The refresh extends to all the plugins, and you get 14 audio effects as standard along with 11 utilities, 8 MIDI effects, and 4 built-in virtual instruments. The enhanced browser makes it easy to find your samples and plugins, and a dedicated actions panel for common tasks.

Waveform is quite sober and serious and comes with many tools that can seem parameter-heavy at first but actually offer a lot of power when dealing with clips and events in your arrangement. There’s no limit on the number of tracks you can record, and you have pro features like comping, looping, retrospective recording, and video support. Waveform Free supports third-party VST plugins and virtual instruments, which is unusual and very welcome in a free version.

For $25 you can add an expansion from the Pro version. This could give you a full Clip Launcher for sample and pattern launching, Ableton-style scenes and loop-based composition. There are DJ Mix Tools, Pro Video features, Pro Audio features, Pro MIDI features or a whole bundle of synths and samplers. You can essentially build your own DAW depending on the features you need, although it may be easier just to do so for the $99 pro version.

However, if you’ve got no money to spend then Waveform Free is an excellent choice for unlimited audio and MIDI recording, mixing and editing, with a good bunch of plugins included and access to more besides.

Specs & Details

Version – Waveform Free 13
Platform – Windows, macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi
Windows – 10/11, 64-bit, Intel or AMD
macOS – 10.15, 64-bit, Intel or Apple Silicon
Linux – Ubuntu 20.04 64-bit
Raspberry Pi – 3 Model B 64-bit
Tracktion.com

Alternatively, the next best is

Universal Audio Luna. A surprisingly elegant software recording studio with excellent built-in vintage studio processors and support for third party VST plugins and instruments.
uaudio.com

Finding a good place to start making music on your computer can be a bit tricky. DAWs can be complicated, and they can be expensive. Checking out our recommendations for the best free DAW might be helpful, but they are not necessarily the easiest bits of software to use. So, instead, I’m going to direct you to a really great DAW that’s fun, compatible, and easy to use. It can start off free and light and then expand into deeper features once you get the hang of it. So, I believe the best place to start is with Zenbeats from synth-makers Roland.

Zenbeats has all the recording and music-making features of a regular DAW. It comes with a fantastic library of synth sounds and sample packs to make things really easy. You can drop straight into the LoopBuilder mode with a clip-based interface for building up loops, beats and tracks from either the included library or by recording your own MIDI and audio. Or you can use the more traditional timeline mode to record vocals and guitars and lay out your music in tracks for mixing. It has built-in effects, filters and modulation to get creative with your productions as you learn how to thread music together.

The sound engine is based on the Roland ZenCore virtual synthesis engine, which is featured in all their software and hardware synthesizers. It also includes samples from all their most legendary drum machines and it has a fantastic grid-based step sequencer for quickly building up rhythms and beats.

The interface is colourful, easy to navigate and designed for touch as well as mouse and keyboard. One very cool feature is that it can run on phones, desktops, laptops and tablets across multiple platforms, so you can work on something on your phone on the bus home and then open it on your computer to develop the track.

Zenbeats lets you start by fiddling with loops and then expands to help you record vocals and instruments, apply effects, mix and rearrange your music. It’s a great place to begin your journey into music production.

Specs & Details

Version – Zenbeats 3.1 – Free, Platform Unlock, Max Unlock, iOS/Android Unlock, Roland Cloud
Free – $0, all platforms, no VST support, 2 FX slots, limited versions of instrument and FX plugins, 1.5GB content
Platform Unlock – $59.99 – unlocks one platform, VST support, 8 FX slots, full instrument and FX access, 2.5GB content
Max Unlock – $149.99 – unlocks all platforms, VST support, 8 FX slots, full instrument and FX access, 8GB content
iOS/Android Unlock – $14.99
Roland Cloud – Subscription $2.99 a month, includes Max Unlock
Platform – Windows, macOS, iOS, Android
Windows 10 (32bit and 64bit) / 11
macOS 10.11+
iOS 11+
Android 8.0+ (32bit and 64bit)
Chrome OS systems supporting Android apps (32bit** and 64bit)
Devices running 32bit processors and operating systems (Intel x86 and ARMv7), will not support the ZC1 ZEN-Core Synthesizer.
Roland.com

Alternatively, the next best is

Apple Garage Band. It comes free on every Apple device and is a decent entry-level DAW with a good clear interface, and has built-in virtual instruments and effects, MIDI and audio recording. However, it is Apple-only.
Apple.com

The rapid development of artificial intelligence has affected every industry, including the music industry.

AI software can now mix and master your tracks, even though it does so in limited ways and usually not very well (yet).

Jason LaRocca, Grammy-nominated engineer and mixer, told us he’s impressed by iZotope’s mastering plugin, Ozone. And he said there are some other cool AI-driven pieces of software that could help “fill the gaps” of what we can’t do.

Grammy-nominated engineer Dana Nielsen (SZA, Rihanna, Adele, Bob Dylan) told us there are some AI plugins that are “scarily good.”

However, even though AI could ultimately be useful to music makers, LaRocca said that you, the human, still need to make the music.

“[AI] has to be something that works for you and not in place of you,” he said. “…AI is going to be great when it’s working alongside you creatively.”

And Nielsen pointed out that creating with others is a better experience than substituting a person with AI.

“In general, I think AI is really exciting and promising and, at times, frightening at how good it’s becoming,” he said.

“And I hope, for my sake, it will never offer the same level of customization and care… That’s part of the joy of working with other people, collaborating with other people, getting what somebody brings.”

Once you get into Apple’s iOS ecosystem, you can’t do better than Apple’s own fully featured DAW, Logic Pro. Logic Pro has been a solid choice on desktop for many years and now the iPad version offers a similar depth of features within the limitations of iPad processing. It has lost some if the more advanced tools, but it’s also brought in some unique features like the AI-powered studio assistants and multi-touch support. However, on the whole, you get the full Logic Pro experience on a compact and creatively interactive platform.

Logic Pro gives you two ways to play: in the Live Looper environment or in the timeline/arranger. Either way, you can plug in real and virtual instruments and record and edit live audio and MIDI through a touch-easy interface. If you’re looking for inspiration, you can call up “Session Players, ” an AI-driven accompaniment system where you can invite a bass player, keyboard player, or drummer to play along with you. They say it can create incredibly lifelike and nuanced performances, but at the very least, it could give you some ideas to take you forward.

Other interesting tools include the ability to split mixed audio into four stems, which can be really useful for isolating samples, reworking old ideas or building on unfinished tracks. It has pitch correction for sorting out your vocals or other instrument tuning issues, a bunch of vintage-style effects that give your music a classy feel, and a mastering section to add those finishing touches. It comes with a good range of virtual instruments, although not all the ones from Logic Pro on the desktop, and supports additional AU plugins.

The redesign for the iPad shouldn’t be underestimated. All the plugins have been worked into easy-to-access tiled versions; you have an on-screen keyboard, an adaptable mixer and finger-friendly editing tools. Apple is not expecting you to compromise or buy additional gear to use all the features. It really is brilliantly implemented, provided you can work within the power of the iPad.

Specs & Details

Version – Logic Pro 2.1
Cost – $4.99 a month or $49 annually
Platform – iPad only
iPadOS 18.1 with A12 Bionic chip or later
Apple.com

Alternatively, the next best is

Steinberg Cubasis 3. Audio and MIDI recording, editing and mixing with great plugins, virtual instruments and great hardware and third party plugin compatability for a one-off payment of $29.99.
AppStore

You will find Pro Tools from Avid running in almost every production house and studio. It is the standard when it comes to professionals working in the film industry. Its speed, the layout and its ability to handle huge, complex projects are probably what people rely on the most. And that’s a big part of it – reliability. In a professional situation, your software has to work day in and day out, have rock-solid connections to hardware and be able to come up with the goods in the format the movie makers understand.

First of all, Pro Tools seamlessly integrates with video timelines in high resolutions and with surround sound and 3D spatial audio. It has perfect synchronisation tools and can even import video editing sessions from Media Composer. Once the video is in your system, you will have pinpoint accuracy of clip and event placement and a whole bunch of editing features available on each clip. And that can be thousands of clips in hundreds of folders, held together in complex projects onto which you can apply macros and scripting to automate common tasks. This is not about fiddling with a few tracks and creative ideas; it is mapping out entire movies with sound design, foley, soundtrack, and effects.

From an audio perspective, Pro Tools comes with over 120 plugins and a large sound library that can be expanded via Sonic Drop. It has a remarkably diverse range of virtual instruments that include beat-making, symphonic elements, pianos, synths and sampled instruments. It supports ARA 2 for integrated audio processing from Melodyne and other compatible plugins. Pro Tools has always favoured the single window approach where all the editing is done directly on the timeline rather than in a separate window. This makes it very fluid and easy to navigate. However, Avid recently added the Sketches loop-based clip launcher that adds a different level of play and creativity to an environment that’s sometimes a bit too serious.

Along with Dolby Atmos, MPEG-H and Ambisonics integration, you can also bolt in the Sibelius scoring system if you prefer working directly with notes, composers and orchestras. At the end of the project, Pro Tools has the right technology to deliver it for theatrical release, Netflix, streaming, gaming, or wherever it has to go.

Specs & Details

Version – Pro Tools 2024.10 – Studio and Ultimate – Subscription
Studio – $199 p.a. 512 audio track, 1 video track, 120 plugins, immersive mixing
Ultimate – $399 p.a. 2048 audio tracks, 64 video tracks and everything else.
Platform – Windows and macOS
Windows – 10/11 22H2, 64-bit, Intel Core i3, 8GB RAM, 15GB HDD
macOS – macOS Sequoia 15.1, macOS Sonoma 14.7.x, Ventura 13.7.x, or Monterey 12.7.x, M1, M2, M3, dual Core i5, 8GB RAM, 15GB HDD
Avid.com

Alternatively, the next best is

Steinberg Nuendo. A high-end version of Cubase designed for post-production and sound-to-picture. It has the editing power and surround sound capabilities wrapped up in a friendly and compatible interface.
Steinberg.net

Not everybody wants to use a DAW to record bands, write songs or compose music in a straight line. For some people DAWs are all about harnessing the computer to manipulate sound and unlock the imagination within the machine. For that, you might need to move away from the straight-laces of emulated studio software and enter a more experimental space. I believe this environment is best explored within the realms of Bitwig Studio.

Bitwig Studio can work like any other DAW. It has the timeline, the audio tracks, the MIDI editing, patterns, loops and clip launching, along with effects and processing. However, the way it’s designed is extremely modular, which means you can reorder processes and make modulation connections in pretty much any way you wish. Every track can have a cascade of signal or MIDI processing which can be shuffled into endless combinations. It allows you to build up complex networks of sound that is being pulled and effected in very experimental ways.

Once your devices are interacting then you can use the powerful modulation engine to manipulate and automate any parameter. You have dozens of modulation options, from common LFOs to envelope followers, sequencers, voltage scalers, quantizers and logic. These can be combined and spread throughout your compositions to produce the organic unfolding of synthesis and sound processing.

Within the devices is an environment called The Gird where you can build entire synthesizers, route together signal adventures and discover new ways to produce melody, rhythm and movement. It’s an immensely powerful and visual technology that offers limitless possibilities for people wanting to experiment with sound and musical ideas.

Bitwig Studio can be playful and interactive at one level and deeply exploratory at another, making it a perfect place for sound design and unusual journeys.

Specs & Details

Version – Bitwig Studio 5.2.7
Cost – $299 with 12 months of upgrades
Platform – : macOS, Windows and Linux
macOS – 10.15, 64-bit Intel or Apple Silicon, 4GB RAM, 12GB HDD
Windows – 10/11, Dual core AMD or Intel, 4GB RAM, 12HG HDD
Linux – Ubuntu 22.04, 64-bit dual-core x86, 4GB RAM, 12GB HDD
Bitwig.com

Alternatively, the next best is

Ableton Live. Bitwig and Live share a similar approach to devices and chains of processing. Max 4 Live is an add-on that unlocks the modular and programming potential of Live into more experimental areas.
Ableton.com

There are several dedicated scoring solutions that will deal very precisely with notational needs, layout, publishing and writing scores. However, there are a few DAWs that have excellent scoring facilities built in. If you are working with MIDI and audio but also need to work with musical scores within the same context then you should be looking at Cubase 14 from Steinberg.

Steinberg makes a piece of dedicated scoring software called Dorico, and the scoring engine within Cubase is based on the same technology. It’s integrated into the MIDI editor, providing you with a powerful notation-based environment in which to edit and visualise your music.

Within the Cubase Score Editor, you can pull MIDI tracks apart and render them into a beautiful-looking score. You can create parts, pull out instrument scores and produce a conductor overview from the MIDI parts you already have within Cubase. It will automatically translate your performances into properly defined musical events and put in the correct spacing, layout, annotations and markings that musicians would expect to see. This includes voicing and transposition based on the instrument type defined for that track.

You are free to edit the score directly on the page with all the note values and symbols at your disposal. You can add lyrics that link syllables to notes or chord symbols that are reflected in the main Chord Track. Cubase also lets you annotate the score with hidden signposts that won’t appear in the print but keep you on task in the edit. Tablature and percussion staves are all integrated and defined by the track.

The end result is a professional printout of your music in multiple formats and styles to fit the needs of you and your musicians. While the Score Editor is basic compared to Dorico, it does a fantastic job of integrating this musical view into a DAW.

Specs & Details

Version – Cubase 14 – Pro, Artist, Elements
Cost – Pro 14 – $579.99 Unlimited tracks, 11 Instruments, 92 plugins, 3000 sounds, 20GB samples, Dolby Atmos.
Artist 14 – $329.99 Unlimited tracks, 6 instruments, 66 plugins, 2600 sounds, 20GB samples
Elements 14 – $99.99 Limited track count, 4 instruments, 46 plugins, 1000 sounds, 20GB samples
Platform – Windows, MacOS
Windows – 10/11 22H2, Intel Core i5 (4th gen)/AMD Ryzen, 8GB, 1-80GB HDD
MacOS – Sequoia/Sonoma/Ventura, Intel Core i5 or Apple silicon, 8GB, 1-80GB HDD
steinberg.net

Alternatively, the next best is

Apple Logic Pro. Logic actually evolved from a notation-based origin called Notator Logic and so notation has always been part of the core software. It has a similar level of editing and publishing quality to Cubase but is only available on Apple products.
Apple.com

A DAW is a piece of software that provides a music-making and recording environment on your computer that mimics, to some degree, a real recording studio. It stands for Digital Audio Workstation, although it’s not a particularly useful term. A DAW can record sound from microphones, instruments and other live acoustic devices and let you mix them together, add effects, chop out the bad bits and come up with a finished recording of you or your band.

A DAW can also let you create, record, edit or generate MIDI notes that can be directed into all sorts of software or hardware synthesizers and instruments. It’s the pulling together of the sound recording and MIDI creation that provides the basis of the music making platform that is the DAW.

This is something that people often get confused about, and DAWs tend to blur the lines between them, which is very helpful in producing music but less helpful in understanding what’s going on.

When we talk about “audio” we are talking about recorded sound. If you want to record a band, you put microphones in front of singers, amplifiers, and drum kits, and all of that can be recorded in a DAW as audio. Each microphone can be recorded on its own track, so within the DAW, you have the power to adjust the levels to get the perfect mix of sound. Once you’ve recorded the sound, you can add effects like delay, chorus, or reverb, or you can edit the audio on-screen to remove mistakes. The beauty of a DAW is that as you do more takes – more recordings of the band – you can compose a finished song from the best bits of all the takes. You can also apply dynamics and EQ to get the best out of the sound. It’s also possible to get in deeper and use tools to change the pitch or timing of audio or slice it up and rework it. But the point is that audio is recorded sound.

MIDI, on the other hand, is not sound; it’s data. The data is a list of instructions that can be sent out to hardware or virtual synthesizers, which then play a sound in response. The MIDI data could simply ask the synth to play a C# note – and it will. The beautiful thing about MIDI is that no sound is being recorded, so you can completely change what is being played without having to go back and re-record a performance. So, with MIDI you are creating tracks of instructions that your synths and electronic instruments will play. You are free to change which instrument is being used, which sound, and what notes giving you limitless compositional possibilities.

It gets a bit blurred within a DAW because the output of virtual instruments or software synthesizers, the sound they make, can be mixed alongside the audio tracks from the microphones. You can use the same effects and automation to create your mix without ever having to record the synths as audio tracks. So, the end result of producing a song is the same; it’s just that the way you got there was different.

More often than not, using a DAW means you are using a combination of audio and MIDI tracks. For example, you’re recording a vocal and guitar as audio but adding synths and virtual MIDI drums alongside. It’s easy to get confused, so, for instance, when using “samples” on a track, you’re using audio, but if you’re using a sampler to play those samples, then you’re using MIDI. But it’s not that important, provided that music is being made.

The two core elements of a DAW, MIDI and audio, need slightly different things.

To record audio, you need microphone and line inputs into your computer. These are best provided through an audio interface. An audio interface is usually a box that connects via USB to your computer and provides the physical connections you need to plug in a microphone, guitar or the output of a mixing desk. It will also give you outputs to plug into your speakers, a headphone output socket and usually some knobs for controlling the level. An audio interface is a vital piece of equipment for the DAW user, and we have plenty of articles on how to choose the best one for you.

For MIDI, you don’t really need to have any additional gear as you can create and edit MIDI with a mouse. However, getting a MIDI controller keyboard is going to make your life much easier, even if you can’t play the piano. Having a couple of octaves of keys in front of you makes it far easier to find tunes, play percussion and come up with melodies than a mouse.

Most DAWs have built-in software instruments and synthesizers, but you can also use hardware synths. They may need a USB connection or a MIDI interface to connect to your DAW. You’ll also need to be able to hear them, as any hardware synth will generate its own sound. If you have an audio interface with many inputs, you could plug your synth directly into those and mix the output through the DAW like a software synth. Otherwise, you may need a mixer, which will become increasingly useful as your studio begins to grow.