Recommend a DAW for me?

[George McFly]

After decades of composing music on my keyboard (all genres), I'd now like to begin producing my songs properly on my Windows PC. I've never used a DAW before, so please could anyone suggest the best one for me? (I'm not worried about learning curve, or budget.)

 

Things I'm not interested in…

 

 

1. Working with recordings - I'll be using MIDI 99% of the time
   
2. Synths/creating new sounds - I only want to use sample libraries
   
3. Plug-ins/VSTs/inserts - All I want is a few good quality built-in DSPs/effects
   
4. Dance music/loops - That's not how I make music
   
5. Large number of tracks - Most of my songs are 1–6 instruments
   

 

 

 

The most important features to me is being able to quickly and easily adjust…

 

 

1. Each note's duration, release length, portamento, vibrato settings
   
2. Track reverb, DSPs, echo, stereo width and panning
   
3. Track EQ (important I can do this "live" while the song is playing)
   
4. Track envelope for volume or filter
   
5. Track delay in ms (for stereo effects)
   

 

 

 

Also, I would like an interface that is…

 

 

1. Lightning fast and responsive
   
2. Controls are attractive, elegant and "solid" (I hate floating panels that you have to move around to see what you're doing!)
   
3. Ability to assign a color or picture to a track
   
4. Instant access to my entire collection of sample libraries, organized under groups (or tagged), so I can change instruments with one click
   
5. Ability to mix track volumes in the main project window (I don't want to have to use a separate mixer panel, never understood the point of that)
   
6. Ideally would prefer small, lightweight software (just a few megabytes ideally)
   

 

 

 

Also, I'd like the ability to record a MIDI track 1 note at a time so it only advances a beat when I hit a note, or the "rest" key.

[soot29]

I've been using Ableton for about 5 years and I like it a lot. But I primarily record live instruments, not so much MIDI. I think Ableton would meet many of your requirements above, but not sure it would meet all of them.