Digital Audio Workstation

(DAW)
The DAW

DAW stands for Digital Audio Workstation—a type of software program (or,
less commonly, a hardware unit) for recording, mixing, editing, and
processing digital audio. Common DAWs include Ableton Live, Pro Tools,
Logic, GarageBand, Audacity, and Reaper. We will only be focusing on
GarageBand, Logic, and Protools.
Simply Put
Simply put, the digital audio workstation or DAW will be at the center of your
home recording studio, industry standard studio or just your computer
productions. It’s where you can record, edit, and mix your music productions
ready to be heard by the world.
History of the DAW
● The first attempts to make a DAW were done in the late 1970’s, computer hardware was very
limited, these attempts did not yield long lasting results. Soundstream was the first company to
have attempted the first DAW and was called the “Digital Editing System”.
● In 1979, a company called Fairlight developed the “Computer Musical Instrument”. This was
sampler and digital synthesizer which helped develop the first digital audio workstation.
Although the CMI was not a computer based DAW, it did have a monitor.
● Moving into the early 80’s, companies started really pushing the idea of the software DAW,
especially now that computers such as the Apple II, Atari ST and the Commodore Amiga had
better processing power and could handle the task of digital audio editing. AVID’s now industry
standard Protools started off as an audio editor called “Sound Designer” by Digidesign. This
software was primarily used to edit samples for sampling keyboards , Sound Designer was
eventually bundled with Mac-compatible hardware to form Sound Tools.
● In 1986 The company had released two products: the MIDIMAC Seqencer and the MIDIMAC
interface for the Macintosh Computer. The Sequencer would later become known as the
Opcode Sequencer and then eventually the very popular program known as Vision. Both of
these platforms were extremely revolutionary and were utilized by many well known artists at
the time.
● Mark Of The Unicorn came out with their software called “Professional Composer”. Following
this emerged a music sequencer called “Performer”. Performer took full advantage of the new
MIDI standard making it a highly sought after platform for synthesizer users. This software
would eventually lead way to “Digital Performer” which is still highly used to this day.
● Steinberg Research came in around 1994 when the commodore 64 was a main contender in the
early computer music scene. Their first product, appropriately called “Muli-track Recorder”, is
said to have sold less than 50 copies. The concept however was soon transformed into their
next platform titled “Pro-16”. Pro-16 was a basic 16 track multi sequencer with a clear single
page interface and real time recording. Following the Pro-16 was the Pro-24 followed by Cubit.
By 1992 Steinberg finally saw the arrival of one of the industry standards known today as
Cubase.
● One more notable contender in the DAW market that took early roots in the
computer audio recording market was Emagic. Emagic, a software company
based in Germany, was known for its early music sequencer called “Creator”.
Creator was followed by Notator, which ran on the Atari ST platform. Notator
Logic was launched in 1992 for both Atari, Macintosh and Windows. Emagic
quickly dropped the “Notator” from the name and was redesigned with a new
look and called “Emagic Logic”. In 2002, Apple bought the software and
discontinued all Windows based support for the program. Today, Logic still only
exists on the Apple platform and is widely regarded as one of the most popular
DAWS available.
Entering the DAW
The creation of the DAW brought about a new way of dealing with multi track audio. It allowed the user
to create, record, mix, and even master professional high quality audio right in the computer instead of
on costly tape based machines. This could be achieved all while retaining a high fidelity output. All the
components are made to operate inside a computer and be displayed through your monitor. This system
does not rely on tape and instead is based on microprocessors.
The earliest stage of the DAW was known as an integrated DAW. This DAW consisted of a mixing
console, control surface, audio convertor and data storage all on one device. The other current
existing type of DAW is the software DAW. A Software DAW has four basic components- a computer,
a sound converter, a digital audio editor and at least 1 input device. The computer is the host for the
soundcard and the software that process the audio information. This allows you to record in a multi
track format using mono or stereo, edit all the takes, mix them and master them to create a
professional high quality musical composition, all in your computer.
Features
A DAW program that only uses the processor inside the host computer is known as a ‘Native DAW‘. A
non-native DAW program uses processing power from other sources, usually from DSP cards and devices.
Two examples are the Pro Tools HD and HDX systems, where extra DSP cards are used to process plugin
effects. This helps to lighten the load on the computer’s main processor (it’s worth noting you can now get
a native Pro Tools HD system, although it won’t have as much power as a DSP-based system).
Most DAW’s include the same basic aspects of integrating audio, video, and MIDI:

● Audio recording, mixing, mastering, and processing

● MIDI support
● Support for DSP (digital signal processing) effects
● Transport controls
● Hardware support and use (sound cards, control surfaces, etc.)
● Sequencing, synthesis, and sampling
● Automation
● Video support, for sound-to-picture work
Mac VS. PC
MAC VS PC: THE EARLY DAYS
Up until 1993, all DAWs ran on either Atari, Commodore or Apple computers. Programs such as
Performer, Creator, Pro-16, Vision, Studer Dyaxis, Sonic Solutions and Sound Designer were all Apple
dependent. The first Windows based product that was introduced was Samplitude Studio. Before
1992, this software existed as an audio editor for the Commodore Amiga. Other companies also
began to emerge such as IQS (Innovative Quality Software) known today as SAWStudio, Soundscape
Digital Technology who was acquired by Mackie and then later by SSL, SADiE, Echo Digital Audio and
Spectral Synthesis.
Popular DAWs Today
Today there is a plethora of options when talking about a DAW. One could easily say that today’s
marketplace is over saturated with them. Many times we will see a new DAW announced followed by
a magazine or blog headline “Do we need another DAW?” What makes one DAW different from
another? Competition is the name of the game and while one DAW might be the industry leader there
will always be a drive to have more features, faster audio processing, additional modulation routing,
quicker sample editing, lower CPU use and so on and so on.
Summary
The DAW has undoubtedly changed the face of multi track recorded audio. Although some artists still
use reel to reel tape for its nostalgic qualities, you will find that most professional studios have joined
the digital audio revolution for good. Technology in the DAW has greatly improved efficiency, cost,
creativity and time and has broken down the barrier between the artist and big name labels that once
held all the power when it came to recording your music. Now the power of recording a professional
quality song is in the hands of anyone who has access to a computer. Truly a revolution in sound.