10 Best DAW for Beginners 2020
Music is a magical art capable of touching souls. As such, if you’re looking to create music of your own, you’ll need the very best software to do that, even if you’re just starting out. The only thing standing between you and your music should be the depth of your creativity and the scale of your imagination.
For people like yourself, our excellent guide of best DAW for beginners will help you jumpstart your music production journey. All the DAW software listed is easy to use for aspiring beginners yet equipped with enough advanced features for professional use in the future. So, go ahead and start your musical journey. We can’t wait for you to get started!
Things to Consider About DAW for Beginners
Here are a few important tips you should take into consideration before choosing DAW software.
- Free variants of digital audio workstation (DAW) software are mediocre in quality and will never give the aspiring music producer the feature-set and flexibility to produce the perfect audio track. That’s why our list only has paid software as they give you the best tools and support for your creative endeavors.
- All the DAW’s listed below have demo/trial versions of their fully-fledged desktop counterparts. So, if you’re not sure which one to get, you can try their trial versions to get the feel of the environment you’ll be producing audio in. This will vastly help you in making an informed decision.
Best DAW for Beginners Table
| Picture | Name | Supported OS | Price | Rating (1-5) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | 1. Bitwig Studio Music Production and Performance Software | Windows, Mac OS, Linux | $$$ | 4.6 |
 | 2. Image Line FL Studio 12 Producer Edition | Windows | $$ | 4.2 |
 | 3. PreSonus Studio One 3 Professional Creative Music Production Environment (License Code + Quick Start) | Windows, Mac OS | $$$ | 4.2 |
 | 4. MAGIX Samplitude Music Studio 2016 | Windows | $$ | 4.2 |
 | 5. Acoustica Mixcraft Home Studio 7 | Windows | $ | 4.0 |
 | 6. Ableton Live 9 Intro Ableton Live 9 Intro DJ and Mixing Software with Sound Library | Windows, Mac OS | $$ | 3.9 |
 | 7. Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio 10 | Windows | $$ | 3.8 |
 | 8. Avid Pro Tools 10- Professional audio recording and music creation software | Windows, Mac OS | $$$$ | 3.5 |
 | 9. Sony ACID Music Studio 10* | Windows | $ | 3.5 |
 | 10. Cakewalk Sonar Artist Music Production Software | Windows | $$ | 3.2 |
*Please note that the Sony ACID Music Studio 10 included in our table is the latest version of this product. Be aware that Sony has recently sold its DAW to a company called Magix but that the software has remained the same.
Buying Information
Here are some useful tips to help you choose the right DAW software for your specific needs.
- It’s better to get a DAW software which supports at least two major platforms i.e. Windows and Mac OS. This will give you the flexibility to work simultaneously on both platforms or if you choose to completely switch your operating system in the future, the transition will be much easier.
- Many DAWs market in a way which makes beginners think the DAW they are using doesn’t have a feature the other DAW has. But chances are the feature in one DAW might be named something else in another DAW but does essentially the same thing. That’s why it’s important to read and understand the feature set of the DAWs clearly so you don’t get confused.
Top 3 Best DAWs for Beginners Reviews
1. Bitwig Production and Performance Software
This newcomer of digital audio workstations is the perfect choice for beginners. Available on Windows, Mac OS and Linux, the software is extremely beautiful, easy to use and incredibly flexible. You can choose what panels you want to see because of the excellent panel-based UI and it can support up to three monitors should you wish to expand.
As for producing and mixing sounds, Bitwig excels at that as well. It has an incredibly useful clip-launcher so you can draft your song layout on the go. In addition, the software comes with more than 50 devices which include audio effects, instruments and much more.
Plus, it has an intuitive editing system which allows you to edit each note individually. And the best part is that edits are nondestructive meaning your original audio is always there, no matter what happens.
Bitwig also includes native VST plugin support for both 32/64 bit environments. And the best part is that all plugins are sandboxed, meaning that if one plugin crashes, the host app will keep running and you won’t lose your work.
All in all, this is the best DAW for beginners not only because of its slick UI but also because there’s a major update coming which will be free for users who buy it now. This means that price to performance ratio is the best of any DAW making Bitwig a must have.
2. Image Line FL Studio 12 Producer Edition
FL Studio or more commonly known as Fruity Loops is the defacto DAW software for all kinds of music producers. Recently redesigned to give users more flexibility, it is extremely easy to use due to its detachable panel interface which allows you to move and resize different sections of the software.
Music recording is extremely intuitive and feature rich as its ‘Edison’ feature allows you to do all basic edits such as Fade In, Fade Out, Trimming, Reversing, Time Stretch and Pitching.
It also comes with its own stock plugins for mixing and mastering music, such as an equalizer, compressor, limiter, reverb and much more. These plugins facilitate users by reducing production time due to many shortcut editing features. This is great because you save time and money by not having to buy custom plugins from the start.
In addition to this, FL Studio also comes with synthesizers that allow you to recreate any sound you like without actual instruments, but if you want to input sound via sound keyboard or midi, you can do that with the excellent step-editing feature that allows you input music directly without recording live.
But the best part and the reason for its massive popularity is that you get a lifetime of free upgrades and support after a one-time purchase. The only drawback is that it is only available on the Windows platform, meaning you’d have to switch operating systems or run in a virtual environment if you’re using Mac or Linux.
3. PreSonus Studio One Creative Music Production
If you really love creating music and are thinking of seriously investing your time in the art, there is no better DAW software to do that than in PreSonus Studio One.
We should warn you that its interface is not beginner friendly. But once you seriously put effort into learning and get to know the many features hidden in its nooks and crannies, you’ll be on your way to making high-quality professional music in no time.
It has an extremely customizable and fluid drag-and-drop user interface. This is particularly useful when using the arranger tool which allows users to rearrange parts of songs to achieve the perfect mix.
Another feature which is extremely useful for beginners is their excellent scratchpad tool. It gives creatives the freedom to experiment by allowing them to edit and customize songs to their liking without replacing the original content.
In addition to that, it has amazing stuff such as unlimited virtual instruments and audio tracks and the ability to undo/redo a task as many times you want.
All these features combined with PreSonus’s 64-bit sound processing will truly let you create heart-touching music making it the best DAW for beginners because – like we mentioned at the beginning of this guide – music is a magical thing and magic is the science we don’t understand (but you will!).
