Ableton Live
“I’ve tried to get into other DAWs many times, but it always comes back to Ableton. There’s something to be said for going directly to a sound and being able to chop it, stretch it, pitch it or copy it to a Drum Rack or Sampler directly from the timeline.
“Ableton is true drag-and-drop technology, and no one else has been able to make their DAW quite so easy to operate. The addition of Max makes it deeper than ever before. I’m always debating the sound quality, but there’s no denying this is a composer’s dream DAW.”
Propellerhead Software Reason
“I mostly use Reason to make patterns and loops. As fast as Ableton is, I always come up with more creative and unexpected solutions in Reason. Who’s Afraid of Detroit? was made in two or three days, all inside Reason 4.
“It’s very rare that I start and finish in Reason these days, but this is still a mega-powerful and highly underestimated program. Dr Rex is still the coolest.”
FXpansion Geist
“Besides the fact that I still can’t get my pad controller to trigger the buttons, this is fantastic drum/sequencer software for what I do, mainly because of the way it auto-slices and also the ease of coming up with creative ideas in a very simple step sequencer format.”
Native Instruments Maschine/ Komplete 8 ultimate
“NI programs are unnecessarily confusing, super deep, and also amazing. There’s no other software/hardware combo with this range of sonic ability. I wish I had time to learn Maschine properly; it’s not intuitive like Ableton. I’ll read the manuals someday!”
Audio Damage plug-ins
“I’ve shelled out a fortune for both Waves and UAD, but the far more budget-friendly Audio Damage range is great. The plugs are cool and weird and they have special functions that are hard to find elsewhere.
“Second place goes to the SoundToys suite, and I use iZotope Radius almost daily, too.”
Read Audio Damage plug-in reviews
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