I recently came across a post on Octiive regarding the top 5 Digital Audio Workstations for music producers in 2025 that got me thinking about how we evaluate what may be the most critical tool in our music creation toolbox. It’s critical because its central to our music, regardless of the genre we’re in, so the right choice means that you’re going to get the results your looking for a lot faster. In other words, choosing your favorite DAW is likely to make your creative life much easier.
Let’s start with Octiive. Their top 5 DAWs are:
- Ableton Live
- FL Studio
- Logic Pro X
- Pro Tools
- Cubase
Now keep in mind that this is aimed primarily at electronic music producers so the list is decidedly pointed that way, although it wouldn’t necessarily be for a musician who records primarily live instruments, since the requirements are way different.
How You Voted
Not that long ago I ran a survey of my followers, asking them to indicate their favorite DAW of choice. They said:
- Pro Tools – 32%
- Logic Pro X – 16%
- Studio One – 15%
- Cubase – 13%
- Reaper – 7%
- Ableton – 5%
The rest were a small combination of Cakewalk, Harrison Mixbus, Fairlight (a surprise), Mixcraft and FL Studio.
Most of the musicians/producers/artists/songwriters/composers who read my posts and subscribe to my courses tend to be older and, even though they may use samples and loops, they tend to record a lot of live instruments in their songs. In many cases, some are recording entire bands.
The point is that genre plays a huge role in the tools we chose. What’s perfect for one type of music may not work as well in another.
Taking it a step further, we tend to do much better work with a DAW that we’re comfortable with rather than one that the genre’s producers tend to lean on. Some software seems to fit our workflow like a glove while we end up fighting, and getting frustrated, with another.
The bottom line is that choosing a DAW is as much of a personal choice as choosing the clothes that you wear. Some need it new and shiny, but we all want it to be comfortable, because that’s the only way we do our best work.
