3 Free DAWs Lost and 1 Free DAW Gained in 2024

Hello, why don't you try Ardour? (Ardour is an open source audio and midi) or its parallel (commercial) version called Mixbus (Harrison consoles), they are excellent DAWs, Reaper is a real Swiss army knife too. greetings

All I've been doing is recording keyboard and synth noodling, then off-grid editing of said noodles, so I use a 10 year old copy of Audacity. After I installed it, it never tried to use the internet. No subscriptions, and it was legally free. It's an audio editor, not a full DAW, but even with the 10yo version, I can change tempo and pitch independent of each other with pretty good results, and there's a paulstretch... and there are all of the normal channel strip functions, and limiter, normalizer and lots of other audio editing tools. The newest versions go online to phone home, but it's been updated extensively.

When I need MIDI from software, and grid-based production and editing, then for a free DAW, I'd look first to Reaper. I had Bitwig, which was very fulsome, but it costs.

<Fist Bump back at you./>
Thanks for the excellent info!
Prior to Cakewalk, I was a Texture (maybe more of a sequencer than DAW?) user on a 286 PC synching via SMPTE on my Fostex Reel-to-reel in the 80s.
Texture had very good MIDI editing capabilities and the excellent manual was written by Craig Anderton.
When I went full PC, I went to Cakewalk, later Sonar; eventually upgrading the "Professional" version for some hundreds dollars (over a period of 10+ years, I believe!)
Then Cakewalk failed & the nice people from Bandlab asked me to begin using their new, free version.
I obliged & registered w/ my email. Saw a few things I didn't like so much, saved a project then closed out the program.
The next week (I'm not a fulltime studio mogul, just a songwriter that loves to record), I came back & it asked me to register AGAIN. I obliged.
After the 5th (!!?!) time registering, I gave up on the Bandlab folks, restored the last full version of Cakewalk Sonar Pro and have stuck w/ the recording / editing workflow I know.
NEXT, after asking around amongst my songwriter buddies, I shelled out the $60 for Reaper.
Reaper is daunting mainly b/c it is SO flexible in options to customize, but I have decided to watch all the Kenny Gioia videos & get it down.
Side note: I took a recording class at songwriter camp where the instructor ran (NOT FREE version) Pro Tools & was HORRIFIED how many times it crashed on him; totally turned me off to it.
Also prejudiced against DAW software moving towards the "keep paying us monthly/weekly/annually" model that drains your wallet even when you're not recording. NO THANKS.

LUNA is my goto after I saw your videos, so, thanks again.....

I downloaded Luna put it will not open on my machine. Any ideas? I just get Splash screen and it goes away. Thanks for a great video

Sir make video for me how to download studio one prime.

I love waveform work with other daws if u want to link them 3rd daws and it's very easy to set up it's not like ableton that u need to figure out what's best u instal waveform and everything it's automatically set up for you and u are ready to record music

luna only works on 10/11 not win8/7

Here I am still using Audacity and Reaper 😊

I learned how to DAW via Sonar back in the early 2000's, and I find I'm basically still using Sonar, aka "Cakewalk by Bandlab". It's the same codebase; I can tell in the way some of the Settings windows are set up, and in the way some of the routing works. Cakewalk by Bandlab, at this point, is the best DAW I've ever seen. The built-in channel strip EQ and compressors are excellent. I don't understand why anyone would use anything else.
If they release a paid version of Sonar (again), I will be very happy to pay them money for it, in hopes that they'll keep making it. It is, imho, superior to any other DAW available, in terms of flexibility and sound quality of the intrinsic fx. It is, admittedly, a very very busy UI, and can be confusing for new users. But it's totally worth it, everyone should use it. Imho, ofc.

Still happily using the free version of Cakewalk. Does what I need.😁🎶🎹🎶Play On

Traction / Waveform was the only DAW I ever used that would glitch and refuse to open a project file I saved literally the day before. No recovery, no option to proceed, just an error message. Haven't touched it since. In the meantime, Cakewalk, now by Bandlab, will still happily open and play Sonar .bun files I archived in 1999...

whatsa reaper?

Wow, not one mention of Reaper .... thats okay ! lol

The term 'free' is subjective. The greatest equalizer between all musicians and the tech that blends with it, is time. Some say time is money. Not all creatives are seeking money and just need an outlet to express themselves. Since the music tech renaissance during the early 1980s, a lot of DAWs were called sequencers using MIDI and synth sounds until samplers were keyboards running $5k - $20k per keyboard (ex. Yamaha DX-7) or rack mounted tone module (example Yamaha TX-7, which was a DX-7 without the keyboard) in that era.

This video episode is timely.

If you want to gain traction on DAWs for whatever reason, spend time doing your research online through social media and web search result. Once you find a DAW product with a steady reputation that has been moving along more than a decade, and you have a decent amount of tech that's beefy enough to handle gaming requirements with plenty of super fast data read/write speed in terabytes, and keep up with updates of drivers for your chosen operating system platform, THEN choose wisely and install a 'free trial' from the DAW publisher.

It's not fun having to unlearn one DAW's ecosystem and forced to jump onto a new island of learning where everything is and how to communicate in that island's language. Just like tech shopping in general, just take a breath and jump on the fast-spinning merry-go-round NOW and work with the tools currently available and hone in your DAW workflow skills. The sooner you finish your initial learning curve, the faster you'll be up and running having fun creating. There is so much more value propositions in today's DAWs now more than ever before.

I hope this helps those who are overwhelmed and frustrated with the process. Learn to trust the process and stay connected because you are not alone. And pay it forward to someone else down life's road.

Akai MPC Beats is the best!

Reaper is so powerful, I am building a full 5.1 mixing template with stems and multiple monitoring options.. Wow, could never do this in any other DAW of this price range

I stopped chasing this plugin and Daw's companies long ago. You put your hard worked money on their products and next year they go and do some stupid update and obligate people to either put more mpney on them so your stupid plugin can keep working and performing excellent or Fyou and get a new operating system that can work with it . Its stupid. They tryna look for ways to go around the no subscription thing and fkin everybody up. Want your plugins to always be up to date? Pay a damn subscription plan. Your daw needs updates ? Get our new version instead. Best way to beat them is having a dedicated computer for all that where Operating system , plugins and Daw get frozen in time ,meaning no updates at all for nothing. That way you avoid the OS new updates triggering bugs and stuff. But if you like 80% of us who uses the computer for music projects and your daily emails and entertainment , the u Fkd.

I actually paid for a Studio One version once, but they discontinued it, and I started hating on them, since I kinda had locked in, and suddenly had to pay ten times more or take a big feature hit. I went to Cakewalk by band lab, but I think investing time in a DAW feels risky these days. This makes it difficult for us hobbyists.

Yeah I still use SoundBridge, I like it's simplicity. I compose fairy clean un cluttered track anyway. I works well with Sampletank from IK Multimedia and Syntronik for Synthes.

As a linuxer, i try every free DAW i can get my hands on...
Started with MusE (more a sequencer, DAW was added somewhen), then gave Zrythm a try, but it was too buggy, nowadays the installation is made hard, self-compilation almost impossible, so i got back to MusE a year or so ago.
MusE can use plugins, but i do this an other way, i use MusE and Carla, so i can use almost any plugin i can download, install, compile.

Reaper is amazing but it's not free since you get a 5 second nag screen on opening of the program to remind you of the fact that it isn't free lol but it's an awesome daw but I like waveform free and have bought expansions for it. I'm not really a free daw user because I use mixcraft 10.5 pro studio as my main daw but this info is good for people who are just coming into this and just want to do music without breaking the bank or resorting to piracy

$60 for Reaper is practically free, especially compared to the ludicrous pricing of ProTools. Not to mention that you can technically use Reaper for free indefinitely… because those guys are just that cool… but you will eventually pay out of sheer gratitude for how incredible Reaper is. The way it handles tracks, routing, FX, and customization is so superior to other DAWs there really is no competition. I’ll be using Reaper till the Reaper comes for me.

Ah good thing i still use waveform

Why did you stop using Reaper?

LUNA 🤩

I just came to see if Cakewalk by Bandlab was on the list, and I slumped when that was, and it just happened to be the last one to wait for an answer.

I am hoping it stays free without support or updates.
I originally had cakewalk, the purchased version years ago, then I lost it when my computer went down, and they had the monthly rental fee, so I wasn't using it, then someone mentioned it was free by Bandlab, so I started using it again.

I am so invested in cakewalk, that I will have to watch and be wary of any updates that might turn it into a paid trial version that I have to activate, I probably won't do any updates.

Magix had to do one of two things

1: Make disappear MM, they already had ACID, wich is more powerful
2: Make MM a free version of ACID, they easily can do the Logic/GarageBand strategy woith this two DAWs and erase Samplitude and the other DAW and integrate the features to ACID

About Cakewalk by bandlab: It'll be still free and will still updated but there'll not be new features in that

Very helpful as well as, educational.

If Cakewalk goes to subscription only I'll be saying good bye and good riddance.

I purchased studio one artist 2 years ago and it crashed. Hate to say but I contacted their support with no resolve so I just went back to reaper and will never look back

Waveform is just the greatest.

REAPERRRRRRRRR. I use fl studio and Logic to make beats and sometimes Serato Studio (when I need something so quick). However, Reaper in twicking vocals and music in general is versatile. I love it.

Ardour...

Hey Zane! What DAW do you use actively? To be honest i use waveform 13 free on linux with 0 problem.

A bait and switch marketing campaign makes me look for alternatives.

Teenage Head album? Noice!!! 👌

I loved Cakewalk unlike other free DAWs it was great for composition. Most other DAWs are geared more towards recording artists unless you're willing to pay big money. I just don't see it surviving under the new Sonar brand.

If you download the free version of Cakewalk it will not stop working when the paid versions are released but you wouldn't be able to download or update the free version anymore. So if you have the setup files and are registered on the Bandlab site you will be able to continue to use it indefinitely.

Reaper is by far the best bang for the buck. I also use Pro Tools and I really like it but it's incredibly expensive.

I tried Luna….i uninstalled Luna.

I use Reaper and like it but I’m not a big fan of the Reaper community. They act like a cult. If you ask a question about it that somehow could be construed as a criticism…you’re toast. And for Pete’s sake…never mention the name of another DAW in the same sentence when you’re talking about Reaper. Try it, you’ll see the teeth bared and claws extend.

Ardour rules it’s Open Source free and mature… it’s on Linux as well

Cakewalk is no longer free. I've been using it for years, having purchased Sonar Pro 10-or-so years ago. Now, all of a sudden, BandLab Singapore (the owners) emailed me, saying they would $14.95 a month for its continued use. A real downer. Yeah... I'm paying that money for a "membership," like Costco.

I like to warn people about life time updates or membership that Bandlab now is offering,
back when Sonar was still propety of Gibson I bought the Platium edition with life time updates on
Steam...A year later they droped the software like a brick and everyone that bought the expensive software
felt very used by this company that intentionally sold those extra and the main software to see if buyers of
the software (bandlab) would pay enough to not lose money they counted on getting...
The Sonar community was very mad that it was back then offered for free by bandlab we payed 700 euro for it!
I knew at some point they would start askeing money for Sonar and that time has come now, now that most
people are used to using Sonar, BUT I tell you, I would rather buy Reaper if you are looking for a DAW
The company making Reaper seem the most honest seller of audio software and they got a great community too.

Awesome information!
Super thanks for sharing..
Thumbs Up!!

Here in North Korea we get free Cubase and ProTools from our dear leader.