Making the leap from Pro Tools to Studio One? Cubase to Reaper? Reason to Bitwig Studio? Be sure to heed these helpful hints from Sweetwater’s studio personnel before taking the plunge.
1. Consider Your End Goal
Not all DAWs are created equal — not in terms of features, strengths, or workflow. Before switching DAWs, make sure your new platform is the best fit for your intended line of work. Pro Tools, for instance, may be the undisputed king of audio, but if your workflow is MIDI heavy, you might want to opt for something like Reason or Digital Performer. Conversely, if you’re doing lots of sound for film or games, Vegas Pro or Nuendo, with their advanced video support, might be more up your alley.
Of course, there’s no right or wrong, just better and best, depending on need. And of course, there’s no reason you can’t run several DAWs side by side and bounce back and forth as needed.
Check out Craig Anderton’s article about The Case for Using More Than One DAW.
2. Back Up Your Macros
Before you jump ship from your current DAW, be sure to capture a screenshot of your most-used hotkeys and macros. You can usually find these all on a single pane within your preferences. Putting in the front-end work to re-create these in your new DAW should make the transition less painful.
3. Import FX Chains
Nothing hurts worse than firing up a new session and discovering your “Page Hamilton Vocal Magic” FX chain is nowhere to be found. Screenshots are one way to keep track of your favorite presets for manual re-creation. But if you’ve got more than a handful to build out, an easier solution would be to create an empty session in your current DAW, load your presets onto separate tracks, then export the session as an OMF or AAF — two formats widely recognized by the majority of modern DAWs. If you’re lucky, you should be able to import the session into your new DAW and create new chains from the existing tracks.
OMF/AAF not supported? Well then…
4. Convert Sessions Using AATranslator, or Bounce Out Stems
Take it from Sweetwater: there will come a day when you wish you still had the session files to “John’s Party Jam #57” from a decade ago. Save yourself some headache and convert sessions now while they’re fresh on your mind. AATranslator is a third-party (read: paid) utility that aims to convert existing sessions to a variety of host DAW formats. It may be hard to swallow the price pill at first ($59–$199, depending on your needs), but if you’ve got a number of sessions to convert, this software can pay back dividends in the time and hassle it saves.
Be advised, however, that AATranslator isn’t bulletproof. If you’ve got the bandwidth, the only real tried-and-true method for converting sessions is to bounce out stem tracks with FX, along with tempo maps, then import to your new DAW as standard audio files.
5. Test-drive Your New DAW on Your Own Time
There are two things you never want to do when you have paying clients: 1) waste their time looking for the metronome volume, and 2) lose a great take because you were clipping somewhere in the signal chain. Until you get up to speed, it’s always a good idea to invest time in some personal projects before you take off the training wheels and launch into a paid session. Think of this as an opportunity to create from the other side of the glass for a change.
6. Watch Videos
When you’re in the market, one of the best ways to get a handle on a new DAW is to watch videos of others putting it through its paces. YouTube has become an ideal platform for this. It won’t tell you all you need to know, but it can at least give you an idea what the workflow is like, what plug-ins it supports, how the GUI handles, etc.
As a user, YouTube is also a great way to learn the ins and outs of your new DAW. Eager to learn how to sidechain or quantize? If your DAW has been around for a while, chances are high you can find what you’re after via a simple YouTube search. Some official manufacturer channels, including those by Ableton and Propellerhead, are especially good at walking you through everything from setup to creation. And if you’ve got an account, Lynda.com, recently moved to LinkedIn Learning, is a fantastic resource for getting university-level training in your DAW of choice.
7. Browse the Manual
Many software developers publish their manuals online at the time of release, so you can search for any plaguing questions you have — plug-in support, track limit, and more — before you make the transition.
In the market for a new DAW? Want to hear what we think? We live and breathe DAWs and workstations. Contact your Sweetwater Sales Engineer at (800) 222-4700 and tell us your needs. We’ll help you find the DAW(s) that’s right for you.