2024 DAW User Survey - The Results

[GregB]

5000 respondents BUT ...
keep in mind likely skewing due to the type of person who subscribes to Production Expert AND fills in such surveys.

 

The main takeaway was DAW usage ...

 

 

Full story and more stats at
https://www.production-expert.com/production-expert-1/2024-daw-user-survey-the-results

 

 

[Peggy]

Interesting and good to see, that at this time, there hasn't been negative outcomes from the the acquisition of Avid Technology by an affiliate of Symphony Technology Group (STG), a private equity firm. 

[Mahesh]

It’s interesting to see how DAW preferences are changing in 2024! I’ve been an Apple Logic Pro user for a while now, and it’s been great for my workflow. But I was surprised to see Studio One ranked higher than a music industry standard like Cubase.. I've always loved Studio One and not trying to take a dig at it, it's a solid tool. I just didn’t realize it had gained such momentum.

 

It’s always nice to see Reaper being recognized and up there in the rankings. I used to use Reaper in the past, and have always been a fan. Even though I’ve moved on to Logic Pro for my needs now, Reaper will always hold a special place in my heart.

 

[GregB]

Of course, the mix would be quite different, probably a mirror image top to bottom, if the respondents were restricted to home studios only.

 

Personally I have Pro Tools, but only because it was recommended by the pro-shop when I was setting up back in 2007/8 because I was told "it is the industry standard".   Pro Tools was a complete pig to learn when I got into it seriously in 2014 for my first home-studio album.  But it did a great job.

 

I then bought Studio One around 2020 and used it for a single in 2022.  Does the job.  But I was constantly stymied by the interface/features/plugin being so different from Pro Tools.  I do not do projects often enough for Studio One to have the chance to become a natural fit ... so returned to Pro Tools even though I'm fixed at the 2021.3 version.

 

If I was an Apple person, I would definitely go Logic Pro.  My 2014 collaborator invested UDS200 back then and has been getting non-stop add-ons and improvements for no additional cost.  His productions are great.  Not fair!

 

Greg

 

[GregB]

20 hours ago, Peggy said:

... at this time

 

That's the key phrase as AVID f*cked over it's userbase several times in the past  

[MisterB]

On 8/14/2024 at 10:22 AM, Mahesh said:

It’s interesting to see how DAW preferences are changing in 2024! I’ve been an Apple Logic Pro user for a while now, and it’s been great for my workflow. But I was surprised to see Studio One ranked higher than a music industry standard like Cubase.. I've always loved Studio One and not trying to take a dig at it, it's a solid tool. I just didn’t realize it had gained such momentum.

 

It’s always nice to see Reaper being recognized and up there in the rankings. I used to use Reaper in the past, and have always been a fan. Even though I’ve moved on to Logic Pro for my needs now, Reaper will always hold a special place in my heart.

 

 

Are they changing or is it just a different source? A publication's audience being surveyed makes a huge difference in the results. Take a look at VI Control, where folks are working with MIDI and in post. ProTools is pretty much dead last. There are actually several of these polls on VI Control for 2024, and in the orchestral one, you'll find Cubase has double the respondents that Logic has.  Go to the Game Audio poll, and the spread changes a little (though Cubase is still almost double Logic).  In both, ProTools is practically last out of all the DAW's out there. 

 

Studio One and Reaper both have made fantastic erosion into the DAW market, but I doubt if their actual sales numbers even come close to developers with a long established base. 

 

I think these popularity contests are pretty silly anyway. I can understand new producers gravitating to what's popular, because the learning curve of all of these products is pretty big, and so where there are users, there are learning resources. But I certainly found out that you generally click with a DAW, and regardless of popularity, that's the one you should go with. In my previous job, I used Logic, Digital Performer, Ableton Live, ProTools and Nuendo (I was in music tech, and our electronic studio had Logic, DP and Ableton, so people could learn in different ways) over the years. At home I've used Reaper, Studio One and Cubase (started on Cubase, then left music completely for a couple of years, came back with just a modest laptop, and thought that my old Cubase wouldn't run on it, so I tried Reaper and Studio One. Hated both of them, and bought an upgrade to Cubase, not only worked great, but that is where I still am). There can be subtle differences in workflow that can impact your ability to be creative or productive, in really significant ways, so changing a DAW when you're already established with one should be a last resort - you know like the time Apple went Intel and didn't really prepare their base or third party developers for it. That kind of thing.

 

 

[john]

3 hours ago, MisterB said:

 

Are they changing or is it just a different source? A publication's audience being surveyed makes a huge difference in the results. Take a look at VI Control, where folks are working with MIDI and in post. ProTools is pretty much dead last. There are actually several of these polls on VI Control for 2024, and in the orchestral one, you'll find Cubase has double the respondents that Logic has.  Go to the Game Audio poll, and the spread changes a little (though Cubase is still almost double Logic).  In both, ProTools is practically last out of all the DAW's out there. 

 

Studio One and Reaper both have made fantastic erosion into the DAW market, but I doubt if their actual sales numbers even come close to developers with a long established base. 

 

I think these popularity contests are pretty silly anyway. I can understand new producers gravitating to what's popular, because the learning curve of all of these products is pretty big, and so where there are users, there are learning resources. But I certainly found out that you generally click with a DAW, and regardless of popularity, that's the one you should go with. In my previous job, I used Logic, Digital Performer, Ableton Live, ProTools and Nuendo (I was in music tech, and our electronic studio had Logic, DP and Ableton, so people could learn in different ways) over the years. At home I've used Reaper, Studio One and Cubase (started on Cubase, then left music completely for a couple of years, came back with just a modest laptop, and thought that my old Cubase wouldn't run on it, so I tried Reaper and Studio One. Hated both of them, and bought an upgrade to Cubase, not only worked great, but that is where I still am). There can be subtle differences in workflow that can impact your ability to be creative or productive, in really significant ways, so changing a DAW when you're already established with one should be a last resort - you know like the time Apple went Intel and didn't really prepare their base or third party developers for it. That kind of thing.

 

 

 

It is also heavily skewed by the user base of the poll platform or where and who conducted the review. SoundOnSound has a specific user base, but their user base tends to be more techie and informed and often using the more established DAWs, meanwhile, a lot of the StudioOne users are hiphop heads and often not heavily represented within the SoundOnSound demographic.

 

Still, I think they are of use provided you are aware of potential bias. For end users they can be useful in a number of ways. I agree as simple popularity contests they are pretty silly, but when it comes to "what platform should I invest my hard earned bucks in", then it becomes relevant. That is not the only aspect or perspective, but it is a start.

 

Data without purpose is useless. Purely entertainment is pretty useless as a purpose in the long term... but if you give data relevancy, then it takes on real importance.