Gear recommendations for going DAWLESS (feel free to comment with your favorite gear!) Synths & Samplers with good sequencers (can control other synths!) Polyend Play (epic!) thmn.to/thoprod/543481?offid=1&affid=623 Elektron Syntakt (analog/digital groovebox) thmn.to/thoprod/541892?offid=1&affid=623 Roland MC707 // 8 track synth and sampler: redir.love/ZXvaPQxT Novation Circuit Tracks // 4 track Sequencer & Synth: redir.love/VmtyAXa5 Elektron Digitakt // 8 track sampler, 8 track sequencer: redir.love/MiLNj6yp MPC One // standalone sampler/synth/sequencer thmn.to/thoprod/482641?offid=1&affid=623 NI Maschine+ // standalone sequencer/sampler/workstation: redir.love/JdfuRpF0 Synths I really like and that are a good starting place for a hardware synth setup Minilogue: redir.love/JjsQmfX1 Minilogue XD (my top 1 pick): redir.love/dlk50GPM Cobalt8: thmn.to/thoprod/506277?offid=1&affid=623 HydraSynth Explorer (portable synth!): thmn.to/thoprod/527778?offid=1&affid=623 Microfreak (very affordable): redir.love/j9fxu250 Drum Machines: LXR-02: thmn.to/thoprod/522842?offid=1&affid=623 Roland TR8S (very versatile!): redir.love/9IYrzQ0b Analog Rytm MK2 (pricey but amazing!): redir.love/qGmO7p0i Sequencers (These do not make sounds, instead control other gear) Novation SL Mk3 // 8 track keyboard/sequencer/controller: redir.love/OpiiymOF Arturia Keystep Pro // 4 track sequencer/controller: redir.love/wcdKr2aG
Most of my content is Volca and MicroFreak based. The best Sequencer that fits is IMHO the ARTURIA Keystep Pro. Btw, lets say, that the original Novation Circuit could also handle 2 MIDI Tracks.
The Arturia Beatstep Pro and Keystep Pro are relatively affordable and very very powerful sequencers/MIDI controllers. The Volcas and the Pocket-Operators are super cheap and accessible and make a great entry into hardware sequencing and synthesis. I still use old Korg and Roland sequencers like the MSQ-700, SQD-1, and TR-707 to run most of my gear. Thanks to the staying power of the MIDI protocol these old boxes mesh perfectly with new gear too.
IConnectivity MioXL. Effectively a MIDI patchbay that doesn’t need to be connected to a PC once the routings are established. It also stores routing sets. I’m working on a video right now about this really underrated piece of gear.
This is a great video. I'm very much a DAW guy - the modern DAW solves almost every problem we had back in the 70s and 80s. I learned analog synthesis on a huge Moog system in college, where I recorded to half inch four track tape. I couldn't afford a digital reverb or a DX 7, couldn't afford even an 8 track machine let alone 16 track, couldn't afford to make and release music, certainly couldn't afford a Linn drum machine. I make traditional drums/bass/guitar/keys/vocals music, and the modern DAW has opened up every door for people like me. I'm not making electronic music. I don't mind being on the computer for work and then for music any more than I mind using electricity for both. BUT I bought a X-Touch to mix with and I love it, and I bought a Arturia controller because it has knobs and sliders. I bought a Yamaha MX88 because I wanted to have a standalone keyboard with great sounds and no latency. And my next keyboard will be an analog hardware synth, though not with patch cables - I'm not making electronic music, so I want to get and recall sounds quickly. I love computers, but I'd much rather mix on the X-Touch than a trackpad. Why did I type this big long post? Just to sort of provide a different perspective. I don't think anyone should have to justify how they make art. I watch this channel because even though I don't make electronic music, I love synths and I love music, and this channel is awesome. I don't need to want to make electronic music to appreciate how it's made and to learn more about it.
What I fell in love with is the ephemerality of DAWless. I have created music that will only ever be heard once. There’s something romantic about that idea that I love so much, whether it’s just for me or for a small group of friends. It’s very special and the one thing I cherish most about being in control of all aspects of my music.
Completely respect and appreciate how different people are attracted to vastly different things. For me, not being able to recall a perfectly fine-tuned patch is one of my biggest anxieties. I have ONLY bought synths that allow you to save and recall patches 'cause I couldn't deal with the alternative.
Love this, and it made me think of one of my favorite quotes from Prince. He told another musician who was worried about whether their new album would be "successful" or not, that "your record is successful by virtue of its existence". I think that's such a beautiful thing to say to any type of artist or musician. Whether you're trying to create a "finished product", or whether you're just looking to jam after work, you were successful by virtue of that which you brought into existence.
Every point made here is so valid! 🔥😃👍 Going DAWless was a mind-blowing transformation to me. For me it's two things: Sitting at a computer and clicking things is uninspiring, and always 'feels a lot like work'. Also I work as a software architect which keeps me glued to a keyboard and mouse all day making it feel even more like work. On my weekends when I want to jam out, using a groovebox and a maybe a minisynth or two and a portable recorder gives me the ability to instantly create what I actually want and record it in one or two takes. Some tracks I will complete in just a couple hours, on my couch and at no point in the process does it have ever feel like work. I could never get to that point with a DAW despite learning several of them. I find I do actually finish my tracks because my sequencers store multiple patches and typically I apply the hero's journey story telling principles to my tracks and generally end up with what I feel is a great track with 12 parts that evolve and don't just 'drone on and on' contrary to popular myth. DAWless can produce wild variable full tracks just like a DAW with the right gear and in far less time while you have more fun. I know for me: if I'm having fun the music always comes out better. You can't force inspiration and applying limitations to the workflow helps to enhance the creativity. 😃👍
Sounds like fun, man! As someone who's getting started with electronic music I'm interested to know what gear you like to use to jam? I currently have an RD-9 which I absolutely love as I can just sit on the sofa and jam out. Such a good stress relief.
I think you really hit on so many key points, with a significant one being that I just don't want to sit at a computer to make music after sitting at a computer all day to make work. I want something that is tangible and sometimes a puzzling challenge to interact with (in a good way!) to make music...and have fun.
I am proud to say that I went DAWLESS (or as DAWLESS as I can get without mixing and mastering my jams in Ableton) and I managed to take 6 of my hundreds of 20 minute jams so far and edit them down to an EP that I have on the way. I am having it mastered as we speak and can't wait to put it out there! I owe a lot of what I know to channels like yours Bo, which helped me overcome my initial fear of taking the dive into DAWLESS which I used to always be very intimated by and now I can't imagine my music without it.
That was an awesome video, bo! Absolutely spot on about not always needing to be productive. I play some much and make a ton of music and I often struggle with "who even cares?" When I feel like I might record a song. Sometimes I get pissed and it's like I completely forgot how to make music and can't get in a groove. And then I remember, it's not about being productive. I have a day job, a beautiful family and I'm literally making music to release energy for me to be me and that's how I human. I've been making music and sound for almost 20 years and synths came to me when I thought I had lost passion for making music. Turns out sound design and drum machines are so damn fun
Thank you for this video. I really needed it. I'm still trying to switch from production to "having a fun" state of mind after doing former for years. From my experience, the "anti-dawless" crowd is mainly made by people who doesn't work with computers in their daily jobs. Some of us even work 8h per day in front of a DAW in our daily jobs. It's exhausting. I had to go to dawless for my own sanity. I'm still building my dawless setup. Sadly digital mixers with compressors and extended EQs are not in my budget range thus I'm getting effects (mixing tools) one by one. It's a long process but very rewarding.
Bob, this has been a treat to watch. I love this aspect of your becoming more and more 'human' in your communication. This piece is a perfect example of why people DO consume "long" content: because it's valuable. It reminded me, in the middle of running a company and a career, that at then, and at the beginning of it all, the only objective I had/have when creating is enjoying making music. Thank you for the reminder. Cheers!
Wise words. As someone who is a hobbyists with no goals to produce, I just want to have fun. I had to learn there are many others in this space on different paths. Perhaps those in this space can learn from hikers. When crossing each other on the path, hikers say hello. We aren’t focused on the gear or speed at which one hikes. The distinction is never important. It’s we are out here moving and grooving with respect for what nature has to offer us.
Seems like there's happy medium where you can use hardware and just use the daw for some effects and recording. No need to make life harder than it needs to be.
True that's how I'm using My Navation Peak right now, I dont have any cables so got the midi keyboard and the sythersizor plugged into My laptop using the DAW as a bridge and screan can be off. I could send the audio into the DAW and record it but I just prefer to use an external recorder and then use the sound as samples in the DAW later.
Good stuff Bob, lots of great guests 😅😂 Especially agree with Ihor's comment, part of what excites me is experiencing the design & engineering of these objects. Great topic!
I completely agree, some of the latest generation of DAWless devices are bringing back the user experience that made things like early Casio keyboards and Roland drum machines so much fun to play. For me, the user interface and tactile experience of making music with a particular tool is as important as the sounds the instrument makes.
@@lo-firobotboy7112 That's why I have always used Reason because its Rack and instruments look and act like physical gear and My early stuff in there actually sounds exactly like Dawless music of today.
@@lo-firobotboy7112 I can make what's called a Combinator and copy the knobs and slidders of My midi keyboard with its faders, pads, knobs mapped to any software sythersizors and effects then control everything in the DAW with the screan off if I want. I do have a Novation MiniNova and a Peak along with a small mixer pedals and a looper for fun.
Good, balanced video, with some good points made for both - thanks Bo. Each to their own needs for me, I'd not say there's one way to do things, and respect whatever works best for someone. Lots of the points raised here resonate: Distractions, associations with work, special purpose vs general purpose machines, and too much choice. Hybrid works best for me, I like the tactile nature of instruments, including synths, but the convenience and ease of use of a DAW. I work at a monitor all day, so the last thing I want to do is spend my evening in front of one too, though I appreciate not everyone does. The DAW wins hands down for having one single consistent user interface to learn, for recording and sequencing, the ability to share work and to back up to a secure device, and the ease with which a piece of work can be recorded or tweaked are all major factors for me using the DAW. But for performance and composition, and for initial sequencing too, I like to use hardware. It's tactile, physical, and involving in a way that software isn't. It's focused. That said, I'm now in a position in life where I've worked hard and can earn enough to buy (much of) the hardware I want to work with, even if I have to buy it used. 20 years ago, I'd have probably gone full-on DAW with VSTs, as there was no way I could have afforded hardware synths back then. But I still don't view DAWs as a cheap option - they're not, just cheap-er, and if you're on the move, they're the only practical option. The downside of hardware is its cost, the cabling, the power, the space it takes up, its affinity for dust, and the cost of maintenance, particularly for older or broken gear. That said I don't have to worry about it not working standalone with a new OS, or having to upgrade. So for me, both have their pro's and con's, and I personally like the hybrid approach, getting the best of both worlds, which works for my particular circumstances. Could I go completely DAWless? Yes. But it's more space, more work, more cost. Likewise DAW only would get boring (for me) after a while, but again, that's my personal circumstances that influence it and I realise many people actually want to sit down in front of a monitor after a day at work standing up or moving around.
Wow, Bo. I sure needed this today. I was up late with my spouse last night talking about how our relationship with music has changed so much since we both ceased being professional musicians. Music was so product-based that there are still times where I can't bring myself to just play with my synths because of some weird stupid need to make the artistic process entirely about generating income instead of just being happy and enjoying a passion. I might just have to see if I remember how to sequence my 808 and 303 and just vibe in the living room for a couple hours tomorrow.
When I was in college in 1980's, DAW's didn't exist. There was only making music. I learned on a Huge Buchla that cost $20,000 in college. the DX7 and a sequencer on a Commodore 64 came out the year I graduated. and our teacher got a DX7 in Japan because they weren't available in the states yet. Of course, once it started digital and DAWS showed up very quickly. I was a beta tester for Cakewalk which was an exciting company back because you could combine audio and midi recording in the software. Before I had Cakewalk, I had a yamaha sequencer and I recorded to VHS tape because they had a type of VHS that had high quality audio. I had a soundblaster sound card in my Gateway computer running Cakewalk. I had an Oberheim Matrix 6, a Yamaha TX81Z, but the center of my set up was a Kurzweil. I am blanking on the name but it was the first time Kurzweil that was affordable (and it still cost $2,000) it used their VAST architecture which as amazing for the time. I could make a sample and then process it with digital effects. Made me sound like the pros this set up did. And yet I could make the kind of music I wanted to make, Electronic Music. My influences ran from Pierre Henry and Morton Subotnick to Tangerine Dream and Fripp and Eno. Heck, Tangerine Dream were my introduction to electronic music in the early 70's. That and an obscure Kraftwerk album and old boss turned me onto where they played flute and organ, using the percussion settings on the organ for a drum machine.But in the early aughts I sold all my equipment and focused pretty much entirely on acoustic Jazz and Free Improvisation for the next 15 years. Until Covid, when I started buying gear again with my Covid money. I had bought a Microfreak, a Model:cycles and a mixer before I even realized doing everything in a DAW was an option! lol. But I've played instruments my entire life and doing it in a computer was something I couldn't wrap my head around. I play an real instruments and mix in the computer. That my brain understands. I don't cables anymore but I love turning knobs and creating my own sounds from scratch. there is nothing like it.
Actually DAWs did exist in the 80s, I believe Cubass was around and also other work stations mainly in black and white where around but computers and the software was alot more expensive back then probably cost over £5000 for the PC and software, it was just easier and alot cheaper to just buy a work station keyboard from brands like Yamaha. Synthesizers where very expensive probably over $3000 and other music gear that's now readily available in software would cost upwards of £10.000 and was limited to professional studios only or the wealthy. Those 80s pop stars had alot of money behind them most of the time.
A "workstation" doesn't necessarily imply software-only approaches. I'd say that any equipment that brings together sequencing, synthesis, sampling, and recording qualifies. It's more about having a self-contained workflow than anything else. Gear like a Studio 440 or ASR-10 were often still referred to as workstations back in the day.
This is an excellent topic, and i feel that one important area was slightly neglected. I was waiting for some minor mention about the topic of tactile feedback, muscle memory, bodily interaction, and it´s usefullness of releasing your internal prosessing power to focus on the actual purpose of the moment, music making. You also always create a new synaptic map or maps, depending of the complexity of the hardware, for every individual each instrument, and that, i believe, might just contribute benecially to the flexibility of your gray matter, thus, releasing that extra special dopamine factor. For me, at least, it really is one of the, if not the, best aspects of using hardware.
With the prices of music gear, how can it be just a hobby? I want to get into synths, but everything is so damn expensive that i feel like I'm expected to make money with these things. It's gotten to the point that I'm learning how to make my own synths with arduinos.
@@simpson6700 I think it’s probably just your perception. Gamers spend hundreds if not thousands on their games/systems, but not everyone has to become a famous Twitch streamer or make gaming videos. Having a powerful system just enables you to be able to play the types of games you want to play, in the ways you want to be playing them. I would say it’s the same with expensive music gear. Most of them all do the same thing but there’s different ways to get there. Just sucks when you realize you bought the wrong thing, or just end up not using it like you expected. What’s nice about this “dawless” market though is I think if you spend wisely, most synth gear actually holds their value really well. In my case I bought a pocket operator 6 years ago, and surprisingly I was actually able to sell it for much more than I paid. Amazon is also special because the return policy is so good. You could try stuff out for basically a whole month, and then decide to return it for free on the last day no questions asked. Obviously you shouldn’t overspend on a hobby, but I don’t think it hurts to do it sometimes as long as you’re enjoying it.
@@Justin-xi6ue yeah but with computers i pay for the latest and greatest chips, with thousands of instructions per second and photorealistic graphics, that i can use for a wide variety of use cases. With music gear i pay for relatively simple voltage manipulation that was possible in the 80s and a very narrow use case.
@@simpson6700 Yeah that's true. Computers are capable of so much. Again just really depends on how you wanna see it and get there I guess. I mean like for me as much as I'm into retro gaming and have bought things like the AYN Odin to put emulators on, I understand I could actually be playing those same games on a computer or even on my mobile phone. It's not necessary at all but there really is just a novelty of playing games that way, and many of us in that community enjoy it. I get kinda the same vibes from the synth community. We all just have different ways we wanna make music, jam, and kinda just do our thing. That being said I definitely think there's much worse things you probably could be spending your money on.. Like for example I don't think I'll ever truly understand how the car community can spend fortunes on snap-on tools, or even just spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on car mods purely for cosmetic reasons. 500 dollars for lug nuts anyone?? Lol. I mean again not everyone has to splurge that much on a hobby obviously, but by comparison personally I'd be way happier dropping that much on a synth instead.
I go "dawless" when I want to explore and make music and experiment. If somebody says "I need a track for this thing tomorrow" I would open up my DAW and make it. But working with the hardware has helped me understand better how the software works too so it's good all around.
I think describing DAWless as a reaction against a "hyper-capitalist music industry" is stretching things a bit, given the rampant consumerism that it almost inevitably involves, and which has reached new heights with the modular craze. Having said that, each to their own, and good luck to all music-makers, DAWless or otherwise.
I specifically say ”music industry” and not ”music gear industry” I am not saying gear hoarding isn’t consumerism. It is absolutely that. But everyone hoards gear, regardless if dawless or not. Heck, even if its not about music at all and we instead look at say coffee. It is sort of a separate discussion. An interesting one however.
100% And wether dawless or using a daw people buy stuff. Probably more than they need. But its also a small problem in the grand scheme of consumerism. And a positive is that gear often gets to the used market if not used. Theres many other forms of consumerism which dont have such a thriving second hand market.
@@BoBeats Many years ago I made it part of my process to seek out and buy, trade, or barter used instruments for my studio. Partly because they're less expensive, but also because they often come with a story and I get to meet fellow gear lovers in the process.
Very great point about music as a product. When I started making hip hop, all my examples were to create a finished product more than just enjoying the creative process, and I've only recently started to break free of that mindset.
I like the bit about asking someone taking up painting when their exhibition is. Gear has been my escape for the world after I kept hitting creative dead ends in the DAW. I wanted to switch up workflow, def fell into a groove box... Groove. People ask me when I will make stuff, but it is mostly for noodling, destressing.
Best decision of my life was going DAWless- I used to sell WAV and MIDI loops on producer loops- used the same daws- and VSTs as everyone else- now I make MUSIC 🎶
YES! Loved this video and this is the whole reason why I got into eurorack. To get away from the computer, to get away from the midi keyboard, to get away from my usual process of making sound and music for a living. It is completely liberating.
Limtations breed creativity imo. I could spend weeks tweaking stuff in a daw and never actually get things done. I scrapped Ableton and got some hardware i can fit in my lap, a Reface DX and the Dirtywave M8 which I use mostly for samplimg and sequencing. Made more tracks in a monrh than I have in years.
Basically what I'm going for too in the next few weeks... Been an owner of a large keyboard (m-audio) and a Push 2, and while the gear was awesome, the software side always made me search for sounds and stuff and never finish any project... Now I'm gonna get a few volcas and see where it goes... I'm sick and tired of searching for a sound, instead of building it
This definitely captures how I feel about it. I just want to try to explore making stuff live as it happens, and I'm working to develop some skills around how to structure live jams. When I get to the point of wanting to share things, I'll just record the audio and video live, then post that directly rather than fiddling around with anything in post. That keeps it just about making (and eventually sharing) the music, which is the part I care about.
This is my mantra. All of this. Making music and not a product. I felt the worst when I felt pressured (by myself) to churn out tracks and fix a price-point...ugh. I just wanna have fun! Thanks to everyone who contributed to this video!
I grew up learning to play keyboards with pre-programmed arrangements. When I came to the DAW years later, I missed the immediacy with which I could play music before without having so many options and resources. I think it's the future, in fact my next purchase is a Circuit Tracks, your videos finally convinced me.
Really nice video. The term "DAWless" always makes me smile as I sit in my little home studio surrounded by hardware sequencers and a couple ol' PCs running early versions of Cakewalk. I started making music in high school circa 1987 using an 8088 PC, Roland MPU-401 interface, MSQ-700 sequencer and an analog synyth or two. Anything that I came up with worth keeping was recorded to cassette on a little Tascam 4-track. As the digital tools became more complex, I just kept doing what I was doing, programming and sync'ing various drum machines and sequencers and triggering fills and changes manually. I avoided things like Logic and ProTools. (Some of my hipster friends teased me about it.) Jump forward a few years and my method of composition has been labeled DAWless and is a bit of a thing. Go figure. Really ,when it comes down to it, as long as someone is making music and enjoying the process, does it really matter what tools they use?
Funny you should write that, I went DAWLESS in the mid 80s with my Fostex X-15 before using Cubase SX3 in 2007. Now in my fifties with failing eyesight, it's time to revisit DAWLESS not because it was superior to a DAW, just to offer an alternative rather than repeating the same old process and falling out of love with making music. I spend my time staring at a screen all day in work and all evening making music. I just want the process to remain fresh and above all fun.
@@apislapis Even with a studio full of fancy synthesizers, I find incredible joy making music with some of the simplest hardware tools. Among my favorites are the Arturia MicroBrute, Volca Beats, Yamaha DD-10.
I love this video! It really is how I feel! I have a deep knowledge of music technology! I’ve interned at commercial studios, I’ve used most DAW’s ever made, I’ve operated SSL’s, Neve’s, and multitrack tape machines! Currently I own and operate restaurants, I work up to 80hr/week! I relax with my synths! I think I enjoy setting it up as much as I do playing it! Reading manuals, midi, and audio wiring are my passions🤷♂️😂🤷♂️! Making all my instruments play together as if they were each a member of a band is deeply satisfying! The idea of recording, especially video is to complicated, when all I want to do is relax… I’m not doing it for other peoples enjoyment, it is for my own, I wish I had time to worry about entertaining other people! People always ask for some type of product or performance, I always have a hard time explaining it, especially since it is obviously not an inconsequential investment!
I started in the early 90s, and though daws were a thing on the Atari ST, I started with a workstation synth, a drum machine and a sampler. (And an old foster 4 track to record on to) And that was it. My set up was fixed for the next 12 or 13 years. I bought nothing else until the mid 2000s. So I was very much ingrained into a Dawless workflow and mindset. I tried Logic, I tried Ableton, but I hated the fact that I spent more time troubleshooting issues than I did making music, so I went back to Dawless, working with various things until settling on an Electribe back in 2015 and then a Digitakt a year or 2 later, which is still the main brain now. I still use a DAW if I have to finish a track for release, and I spent a good year around 2014 getting into logic production, remixing tracks, that kind of thing, but I feel most happy and most creative with a hunk of hardware under my fingers. As it was in 1992, so it is 30 years later, in fact September 2022 is the 30th anniversary of my first piece of kit, a DR660, which I still have.
What a great video. I think you covered 99% of the reasons for people such as myself go DAWless. I work in IT and really do not want to sit in front of yet another computer in the evening or weekend. I also started many years ago with an old Atari ST and even in those early days found myself sitting in front of the computer, rather than actually playing and learning the instrument.
Excellent discussion. I never consciously "went dawless", rather I have never enjoyed pointing and clicking, preferring real time feedback from knob turning. TBH, I've bought many of the synths I have because I like the look of them, especially when stacked up together to resemble a spaceship control room. All of them are good in their own way and I play with them individually for a while to get to know them before involving the others. When I jam with a multi synth setup, I think of it as being like going on a hike in the woods where I set off in an unknown direction. I might come across something beautiful or interesting, but it might also be boring, but each time I learn something and don't have to worry about where the parking lot is. Getting lost in the wilderness IS the point.
Fun video, thanks Bo. I wanted to give insight into my recent hybrid system. Although I use my computer to run Maschine and I use a DAW as my recording device, I got rid of internet at my home. So when I get home and power up my computer, it can’t do anything except act as a music studio hub. I have an analogue mixer going into a small interface into the computer. Then I can patch any of my hardware through the computer if I want to record, and I can use Maschine both inside and outside the DAW. Taking away the distraction of the internet quickly turns your computer into a piece of hardware (of a sort). This is a simple fix, and anyone can turn the wifi off of their computer or disentangle it from the internet to be free in the studio. Since I don’t have the space or money for the hardware setup I would love to have, this is a great compromise for the moment.
My setup is DAWless BUT I do record out into a DAW and do my mixing and mastering in a DAW. I really prefer that kinda workflow. I'm free to turn on what combination of machines I have and if I like something enough, I can go to my computer and just hit the record button. My setup is a Roland Fantom 8 as my master keyboard, Waldorf Iridium, Hydrasynth Explorer, Empress Effects ZOIA, and a rack containing a Roland S-770 sampler, and a Korg Wavestation A/D. I've honestly always been a fan of the Roland Fantom workflow since the X8. It's just so easy to pick up and start creating music. Great video as always, Bo! :D
Why I have been mostly DAWless for the 25 years or so I have dabbled in music started because of how I perceive rhythm and musical structure generally. The problem I had with DAWs is that the whole paradigm is based upon a virtual multitrack tape studio, so it's very linear. Most DAWs don't even have independent clocks per track! Nor multiple playback heads! Also I didn't get on with most digital gear because they tended to be loop/step based. What I needed was something that allows one to program events as well as the flow of time, not constrained to one master tempo or time signature that events are crowbarred into. That's how I got into modular early on, because discrete logic allows one to program/play rhythms that would be arduous or even barely possible to enter into a DAW or grid as steps. Lately I've been checking out Tidal Cycles as a fun way to get comparable structures on a computer, but that's a completely different workflow of course. I think this is really a golden age of electronic music!
Hi Bo! It is a very beautiful and very complex issue. Nice video! I understand your thesis, however two things: (1) you can have endless fun jamming even with a daw + vst, just for fun, you need just a little midi controller, turn off the phone and macbook notifications (2) I also believe that physical instruments are better in many aspects, but in my opinion we are forgetting an important point: the cost. With 100 € of daw and 100 € of midi controller I have many possibilities, I can have fun and even produce something if I want. If I had to move towards a physical set-up, it would not be enough for me to have 1 synth and 1 effect pedal, I should probably have at least 2 synths and 3 pedals (maybe?), cables, support stands and other things, I would easily end up having spent 2000 € indeed than 200 €. Ultimately I agree with you but I believe that dawless is less inclusive, economically, and that few can afford it.
Totally agree. I could absolutely make a video arguing that dawless has issues (I even have a video on the topic, 10 reasons why you shouldnt go dawless).
Thanks Bo. I work in research so getting away from the computer is really important to me, otherwise work and leisure just becomes one and the same. Ultimately more like work than leisure. I love the hands on aspect of DAWless...and like you say, sometimes it's just about experimenting, playing, learning, rather than producing a finished item...mind you, its always nice to throw ingredients onto freesound as a gift to other creatives, and that in itself is a creative project...for others to work with. Very rewarding.....thanks for the great video. 👍
Crazy thing for me, I've been playing a bunch of instruments for around 7 or 8 years now, and I never once was able to record anything outside of a video on my first iPod with a camera lol, I tried using multiple different daws for years and they never really made sense to me. Then one day after getting more into hop hop, I grabbed an MPC and i took about 6 months learning the ins and outs and making practice tracks, and finally last month I started writing music to release on it and put out 7 songs in that month. Absolutely insane to me how much more "real" it feels to make music on the MPC vs a daw in a computer
I used to think dawless production was somehow superior, but for my workflow I found over time I like primarily doing everything in Ableton. Hardware is fun for generating ideas, but I can only finish a full track in Ableton, if I want it to sound anything like a professional track.
Interesting comments and great video thanks Bo! Here’s a shout out for iOS music making - love the portability, the affordability of synth apps and so much can be learned about every aspect of electronic music techniques and easy to play around and experiment. DAWless is fantastic too and I often wonder about the differences in gear - especially the contrast between elektron and teenage engineering workflow. Would be good to interview the designers and makers of these DAWless instruments and samplers…
Good points. Thanks for all the participants for sharing and Bo for organizing everything. I think TH-cam brings consumerism to every scene, but once you know that and GAS is not a problem, I think it's okay.
Absolutely agree with everything that was said here. I would add one thing : personnally, I don't fully trust a laptop for a live session. I have been too often confronted to regular unpredictable crashes. I know it very much depends on how much you pay for the computer, but, it can still occur for whatever reason. Also there are tons of automated bullshit going on backwards that, if you forget to set the parameters right on a computer you use for other purposes than music, you might end up with notification sounds in the middle of your performance. I love computers and everything that can be achieved with it, but the crash risk worries me, and I prefer to use gear specialized for music.
Live with a laptop is boring. But if you are going to play live with a computer, don’t use your personal one. Get a dedicated computer for it. ….actually I’d say get several, and split duties. That also gives you a plan b backup in case one goes belly up.
@@Fleeology When we did live with laptops we’d pick them used on eBay. A favorite was sourcing them from recyclers. Many we picked up were quite old but did the trick. We’d split up what each had to do, but made sure one could handle double duty if needed. So if like our main sampler broke or crashed or refused to boot, we’d run the…I don’t know, say drums and samples then from the same one. Live was hard on the computers. Granted this was way back in the day and main issue was the hard drives taking a beating. Flash drives would have resolved a lot of the issues. Overall though it was incredibly uninteresting experience and I often felt like I should just be hitting play and wonder why we were bothering as “playing” turned more into getting the correct settings and samples loaded with some midi keyboard overtop.
I've just recently begun learning how to play synths and creating music. I do have a DAW and computer but I decided to go Dawless because I wanted to learn the instruments, not rely on the computer for help. It also forces me to learn how to "play" and not just drop samples in the DAW. I'm sure at some point I'll move on to the DAW but for now I'm sticking with no computer. Great video by the way!
I like to take advantage of the computer power with a hands-on tweakable-turnable interface, like the push2, even when I use 90% hardware devices. Loved the video and the part about "not everything must be productive"
These are all really good points. As a guitarist, I really enjoy just playing sometimes. As a synth player, and writer, I love working dawless most because I just like limiting my options until I focus on making something that sounds good. As a artist, it's taken me a long time to come back around and remember that I don't always have to have a plan and I can just draw for fun sometimes. It can be easy to forget the point of pure enjoyment and get caught up in creating a "finished product".
Everyone raises a lot of good points, especially with regards to additional distractions that can be there at a computer. This is kind of why as I'm planning on getting back into things to focus on more of a hardware or DAWless approach at least with regards to having fun with music. It's just so much easier to put a pair of headphones on and have fun with hardware, because once those go on, attention goes to those knobs, the keyboard, and seeing where things go. It's one of the things I miss about djing with just vinyl, but I switched to a hybrid setup with that over a decade ago because it's not only easier to acquire music from creators I like but also significantly cheaper - that same $20 CAD can get me ten tracks, or two. But I also aim at trying to have a space with as few distractions as possible, so with djing since I use Traktor, my plan is to put a dedicated monitor over by my decks for when I need to see certain things but it won't be used for much else. I love how you bring up the point about how just because the core of your setup is DAWless doesn't mean you completely reject the DAW. They're useful tools, but if they hold back the creative process (or bring about so many distractions it causes frustration, say because so many other things are readily available due to an internet connection as well) then just don't use them for the creative part, and when you want to finalize something or add that final polish, there's absolutely nothing wrong about leveraging said tools for what they do well. The biggest part though that I agree with is, as powerful and accessible as a DAW can be, without putting a lot of time, money, and effort into a MIDI controller setup (or a hybrid hardware solution to mix with) there's a distinct lack of immediacy to controlling things in a DAW. Even memorizing keyboard shortcuts and being able to move around quickly with such can still cause problems if you're trying to do fine tuning of something, or there isn't a shortcut to control precisely what you're trying to tweak. Besides, there's just something so lovely about tweaking a knob or three, and hearing the immediate changes brought about by such... I kind of compare the whole DAWless process to the SOOC (straight out of camera) movement - err no, let's go with thought process - in photography. Some people are able to get the basics in the camera, and then spend some time editing the photos to get precisely what they want, while others will try and get as much of it within the camera itself. There is no right or wrong with which style you prefer, and I'll admit I bounce between both regularly (street photography I'm more of an in camera person, but astrophotography pretty much needs editing due to techniques used to increase the signal to noise ratio). Use not only what works best for you, but what is the most enjoyable part of it all.
Great video Bo. I generally find working up an idea outside of a DAW is far more inspirational. Most of the time my DAWless setup still includes a PC because I use GigPerformer simply because I don’t have room for a big enough mixer. Sometimes I will hit record on GigPerfomer to capture an idea, but it’s not a DAW, and the more familiar I become with my MPC Live II the more I’m exploring using it in conjunction with my iConnectivity MioXL. For those that don’t know the MioXL is effectively a MIDI patchbay and is well worth its price. Thanks @BoBeats!
I like a hybrid setup, my DAW and hardware. Since I have limited time, ability to recall what I started night before is great. I'm not front of screen during the day so that helps. Plus I haven't been able to buy much hardware lately.
1. I'm chained to a computer all day at work so computers don't inspire my creativity. 2. Physical manipulation of instruments engages other parts of the brain than the screen and mouse do so I will come up with stuff that I wouldn't have on a computer. Different instruments take that further - I play different things on my Roland AE-30 wind synth than I do on my saxophone. It's not just a sonic thing either because the instruments respond differently to my input and that affects what I play. 3. Hardware doesn't have web browsers, email, or social media! 4. Hardware is unlikely to be blown away by an OS or driver update that's outside of the control of the manufacturer. 5. Hardware can't vanish on the whim/fortunes of the manufacturer. Are cloud-based synths truly "forever"? I can guarantee there is small print in the license that lets the manufacturer off the hook if they pull the plug regardless of the reason!
Call it confirmation bias, but this perfectly worded my vague discomfort with DAWs. I'm enjoying myself infinitely more when jamming without DAW. I've played in bands and made electronic music over 2 decades, so I have no more delusions about making it big in music industry. The moment I started to make music for myself, was the moment I started to enjoy it again.
I dont mind a hybrid set up. But I def love just having real instruments that I can interact with. Plus I find that all sorts of unexpected and cool "mistakes" happen when I just go totally dawless. It just feels more creative all around. Really loved the discussion in this video.
I'm really an old school 63 year old synth fan . I never made concert but like jamming and improvising just for the fun of music. I really don't understand the gap with : using computer, or without. Do have people forgotten what is a Fairlight ? Just a computer. Analog synth before midi was often just a monophonic addon sitting on a Hammond or an electric piano. Digital polyphonie with ability to save sounds was ground breaking in early 80th and the where all computers. Since early 80th the computer was best friend off any hardware synth. Three important use since beginning : Sequencer , synth librarian , and synth editor, thing that i'm really missing today. Because i was Pc user and mac world was only for professional or riche people, i had to wait may years before digital recording was possible in good quality on a PC. Before Vst there were Standalone Virtual synths and some crazy other stuff like tracker and buzzmachine. First daws (audio + sequencer) on pc where really laggy and not made for jamming thats true and lot other software on PC where a kind experimental. But today you can really connect both world together with thing like Ableton or something more experimental like Mutools Mulab. Layer computer with hardware in perfect polyphony is no problem today. Do you need dirty sounds with digital gears ? Use guitare pedals. You dont need social media while making music else as for egotripp , ... ok some have smartphone while sex.
My DAWless synth set up is 75% Behinger gear but I LOVE that I can make sounds that I enjoy without staring at a screen. I literally have it just to fool around with as a relaxing experience.
I've never had someone explain this to me so succinctly. Thank you! I do want to add another caveat to DAWless jamming, the addiction to buying the "perfect" next piece of gear that will inevitably not be as perfect as you expect so you buy more gear. Often a lot of these people are so gear obsessed they forget to actually make music. So many people seem to be infatuated with the gear or the perfect sound that they spend all their time watching and reading reviews and buying gear whilst never actually playing their instruments!
I use a hybrid system. Sometimes I use my DAW only as a recorder of my external gear sometimes not. Love the freedom and its a great privilege to have the freedom.
I know part of what has been pulling me towards DAWless is not only have I gone back to school in my mid 20's which entails a lot of time on my computer. I also have a bad habit of trying to get the mix right when working in a DAW even when roughing out a track which not only drains my limited time on mixing but also causes me to break my own flow regularly. Plus as some one with a good chunk of classic and jazz based training in my background I find working with a physical instrument more enjoyable, like I even find workstations more fun to use than a DAW a lot when I'm just out to write a song or jamming.
Personally I enjoy crafting musical ideas in a DAW at the weekends, etc. I find it gives me more freedom than a hardware setup because I can easily pick up where I left off, work in a relaxed environment (e.g., Starbucks), and close the laptop lid when I want to switch to something else. For creating the initial ideas I usually use a mobile app (Cubasis). For me, the motivation is to create something I enjoy listening to, whether that's while hanging up the wash, lying in bed, or sitting on the sofa in front of the hi-fi. Having clear creative goals and the discipline and focus to achieve them are important whichever workflow you use.
I definitely understand the appeal of using tools outside of a computer to make music. But ultimately, it is a mindset to create and to have the discipline to create. After all, I think I’m pretty creative and inspired and not in “product-making mode” and I still use a computer as the central hub for my music making. For instance, I save things like updates and maintenance for when I am *not* working on material. Another way to combat “option paralysis” is to put restrictions within a project (only these instruments or only these manufacturers, etc.). In the end, you keep finding and maintaining the ways that keep you creating what you want to make. There is no ultimate “superior” way. Those are just my thoughts at the moment =]
I spend a lot of time at the computer (and also phone/tablet) screen: working, playing videogames, watching content, reading something, shopping, communicating with my friends and family, learning something new, etc... And when I've started to learn electronic music, one thought started to bother me: wait, I'm at the computer again! Even though I have non-screen-related hobbies (like longboarding, hand lettering and cooking), having another thing that keeps me at the computer was really demotivating for me. So my desicion to go DAWless was quick) I also think that people (including me) just love gadgets, and sometimes it's cool to get something that brings you joy. And for me that feeling is brighter when it's something physical. P. S. I'm not a hater of DAWs, I think it's always great to have options to choose from, and as long as your music making workflow brings you joy, it doesn't matter what tool you use. And even though DAWless works better for me, I don't restrict myself to use only DAWless stuff, because when I'm not at home, in a lot of cases the only available gear I have is the GarageBand on my iPad. And it's also easier to find tutorials for DAW than for a specific piece of gear, so it's easier to learn basics of electronic music with DAW.
I liked the comments. I'm a full time medical professional and I also love music. It would be cool if I ever made some music that others would enjoy but with the limited time I have I enjoy just playing keyboards and using jam box type devices to make music that I enjoy and sometimes my grandkids like. Music=joy for me.
Oh, I forgot to recommend gear. I just purchased the Synthstrom Deluge. It is so much fun to use and it can control all my other synths very easily. My next project is to see if I can hook up every midi device I have to it and make it all sing together.
I don't think I could ever go DAWless, but this has inspired me to grab some tech I can use without the DAW if I just wanted to diddle around with sounds. It's like not having to set up your guitar to record if you just want to play it.
I don't produce anything, I just like to jam and noodle so for me the hardware is what it's all about. They are machines I can make neat sounds with and since I have more than one, it's nice to just have them all sync up. The only concession I've made to computer control is using Ableton to run most of my effects, I only have so much physical space and I've enjoyed being able to record my jams. I've gone to a number of synth meetups and never felt like I shouldn't belong because I don't have a lot of musical talent. I don't think I'd feel the same way going to a production, i.e. DAWs, focused event.
Good for you, I was like that with software but the pressure of having to Get My music out there is more and more present literally over 1000 unreleased music.
I like the way dawless is more about enjoying the creation process. It has also something contemporary, in the moment. I like the fact that I will never create the same song again during my jams.
I am currently researching my preferred dawless setup. It's exactly what you're saying. Multi purpose devices are exhausting and simply not fun to me. I can literally create all the synth sounds I can imagine from my phone with a few taps, but where's the fun in that? I want to feel like being surrounded by a space ship control panel and jam while touching it. EDIT: This video is really speaking to me right now. The whole thing of having to go through the production process, to finisht music, to publish my music, to promote it or otherwise it doesn't have legitimacy was super exhausting and made me not want to make music any more. Which is really sad, since I was making music almost my entire life. Now I started to just make music again. Just going for it and jamming and having fun. that's so incredibly relieving.
Great video Bo! You are hitting on so many great points! I think I will have to make a video something like "how I made my computer into (sort of a)a dawless setup" or something funny like that, hehe!
Well said! Working on a computer feels like work. Playing with hardware feels like play haha. At the end of the day we're all artists who prefer different paints and brushes 🎨🎶
This is really cool topic. I came to electronic music production realm from metal scene, was playing on a bass in various band. And the first thing that caught my attention was a producers making music with mouse only - just drag and drop some samples, draw a chords and melody and that is it - track is ready! For me, as an instrumentalist, that was super weird - do you mean you don't need to practice scales, pentatonics, arpeggios, etc? I mean it is not very fun, but most of the time during the practice I eventually ending up just improvising and finding some interesting ideas that could serve as a foundation for a new track. So recently I started diving deeper into DAWless world. My recent acquisition is Roland J-6 - it is amazing! Yes, there is captain chord, scaler, and some other tools, but playing with the device and not staring to monitor, not clicking mouse is so cool and gives so much immediate feedback that I have no regrets about money that I spent on device. And you totally right about limiting yourself - having a tons of plugins, patches, samples is actually not that good, at least for me - sometimes I spend more time finding proper sample or patch but not actually playing music. And now I am mostly using either Microfreak or Volca bass to create a sound I need. Less is more. Not to say that I work in IT and already feeling that my vision is starting to decay because I am almost constantly staring to the monitor. So going DAWless give me the relief of just doing what I like but slightly differently. And of course, this is very very fun.
If I’m making music to share online, then I’m without a doubt using a DaW with my computer. But if I’m playing live, entertaining friends, or just picking around, then I’m happy with just a looper & my other gear. As a shameless nerd, audio equipment/ gear hits the spot. Oh ya, as for my recommendations, I just ordered myself a Bluebox by 1010music, & I’m thinking it’s gonna make for an awesome addition.
Up until the late 90s, most of us were dawless. Even into the mid 2000s, computer based music was kinda janky, anyone remember the issues with audio drivers on WinXP? Latency was awful too!
Dawless versus DAW style . Well everyone is different, and as far as I am concerned, everyone making music is my brethren. If you want to do it your way... fantastic. Personally, I don't even own a computer and it's not because I am against anything. I'm 63 years old, and hardware has always been reliable for me. I had a friend that always told me I needed a computer and a lot of software, but I recorded tons while his system was crashed. I love my Vermona drum synth and my pedalboard that is all hardware. It never crashes and leaves me helpless on stage. To compare the two is divisive, and we need to focus on the results. For me hardware works without fail. Many smarter people use both or software systems and produce music that I love. I think of musicians as family and I don't care how they make their beautiful music. I love it all
You can also start DAWless and go into your DAW to polish and finish your sketches. It's like when I sketch a building on a piece of scrap paper and later on I draw it all up in my CAD application to actually get it built (and yes, the sketching is always more fun than the drafting)... 😊
I know I’m wrong but I don’t feel like I’ve made anything when just using a computer. With dawless, i feel more connected and in control, if i get a decent beat going, I’ll raise the desk up and really get into it.
Im computerless now in all artforms. Deleted Photoshop and started painting... Deleted daws and started jamming. Im just a hobbyist and I find I have more fun with tactile experience than I do menu diving in a computer. I buy as close to knob per function in my gear as possible.
Great video. Since when is the better artist the person who makes the most product? Since people accepted mass manufactured product as a replacement for music as an art. You can make art and you can make product but they are not the same animal and to no surprise often requires a much different approach to creating them. Historically a lot of what's considered "Electronic music" started as people creating music with hardware for the sake of making music. It was only afterwards the industry turned it into the production of a product. Also notable, studies show playing a real life instrument, is good for the psyche. Regardless though, there are 3 major appeals to DAWless IMO. 1: Lack of screen zoning. No one seems to talk about this but there’s a real psychological phenomenon where people who do anything on a lit screen have changed behavior, thinking process and concentration attributes. With hardware, you can avoid screens altogether. When you aren’t looking at a screen, your mind is more aware of the world around you. You could say, you are more in touch with your environment. This is not as important for producers/engineers but it is very important for composers. 2: Less headache? Good hardware isn’t subject to as many technical difficulties as software. Between compatibility issues, latency, bugs and poorly throughout updates, software can be really high maintenance. Good hardware tends to be a lot more stable. It always dose the one thing is was designed to do. 3: Incentive. Because hardware often lacks recall, it gives incentive to focus on and finish a single project. Which can be good for those who get too distracted.
I use hardware only because I spend enough time on a computer as it is, it's a break from the PC to just perform hands on. I also like the temporary nature of it, whatever I create is here and then gone; possibly to never ever exists again, I made it, I enjoyed it, then it's gone.
Many producers are overwhelmed with all the plugins and their possibilities. But that can also happen with hardware. If you have too many synths or effects. It just doesn't happen that often because the cost of hardware is just so much higher.
Great video. The more I’ve got into analog synths the more it’s been about the process of experimentation, sound and rhythm design, and creating something in real time to reflect that moment, capturing it (yes, through a computer or iPad) then moving onto the next idea. Though as some of my jamming more recently has been with VCVRack, in tandem with external hardware, there is still some looking at the computer that’s involved.
I'm much less productive since I went DAWless. But that's a choice - it has forced me to learn my hardware much more and I'm still rubbish with the workflows of my main sequencer (Akai Force). But... I love it and find it much more inspirational even if I'm not really "completing" anything. Your other video talks about setting goals & I think to be inspired and to enjoy the process is mine rather than years ago it was to finish tracks.
Yeah, that's my topic! An the guy at 3:10 says exactly whats the point for me too: The ton of possibilities brings my creativity down. So my intention is: Less gear more Fun!
From the days of Davy DMX and Mantronix carrying their hardware around (eg. look at the just ice LP artwork - title "back to the old school") I love the feeling of having a box full of sounds and beats to jam on. That's why I love my Akai Force. Just got a Hydrasynth Desktop and I need something analogue and gnarly now like the Pro 3 for some rough stuff.
A video suggestion: Explore how people have gone about their DAWless setups. What kind of philosophy do they follow with their setup so they got it working? How they wish to extend or modify their setups in the future and why they wish to make those modifications? What is their workflow? What are their setups pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses? What kind of music do they make using their setup?
Ever since I won the Arturia V Collection (thanks again, Bo!) I've come to realize I like making music with the computer more than going DAWLESS. My reasoning for my DAWFUL workflow is actually almost completely the opposite of @Ooramusic's for going dawless. When my desk was filled with hardware, I usually felt the need to incorporate all of it into my music and that ended up giving me option paralysis. Connecting all my gear and getting it all to talk to each other is very satisfying, and it really made me feel like a mad scientist (in a good way) with all the cords I had to use haha. But when it comes to actually making music (and most importantly for me, finishing music), it appears I'm much more proficient "in the box", rather than working without it. Let's just hope my new videos will still be appealing without as much eye candy.
The reason I went DAW-less was the fact that I could no longer deal with my work intruding upon my hobbies. As an IT person who has to sit in front of computer screens for much of my work day, - I really didn't want the same experience when enjoying my leisure time. Another reason has to do with how Microsoft stopped testing their newer updates on real hardware, and over the years I got really tired of dealing with sudden intermittent malfunctions caused by various bugs they haven't worked out. This was especially compounded by the fact that really like a lot of much older DAWs and software synths. Absynth IV was one of my all time favourites, and I had to install a dual boot Windows 10/Windows 7 just so that it would load and function properly. The way some of the more recent Windows updates were messing up my Reaktor 5 experience was extremely upsetting, especially when a couple of times it screwed up my performances. However I couldn't completely go DAW-less either in the end. Whereas I prefer DAW-less setups for melody synths, - I was utterly disappointed with what most of the affordable hardware grooveboxes/samplers/drum machines had to offer. I still think that to this day, - there is nothing better than a DAW drum-machine/sampler/groovebox. My main issue was that hardware samplers disturb my workflow. I pour over tons of Web material looking for sounds I could sample, and once I find what I like, - I really don't want to convert it into .WAV, then save it on a micro SD, then take that Micro SD out and insert it into hardware sampler, to then work on the sample some more. Immediacy of experience delivers a lot of spontaneity and is much better for inspiration. So while my melody synths are hardware, my sole drum machine/sampler/groovebox is a dual 27-inch touch screen setup hooked to a PC running various NI Drum Machines and VST plug ins in Ableton. And I picked Electribe II for my hardware drum machine whenever I have to perform or for my infrequent busking self-promotion routines, both because of just how ergonomic it is and because it takes regular AA batteries.
When I was lecturing at music college - and not sat in front of a computer for most of the day - I used to write articles, blogs and short stories in my spare time. I loved it! But since I moved into employment with more computer work, I haven't written a thing. So when it comes to playing music, unless I'm recording, that computer stays switched off!
I love both, and find that regularly switching between both approaches helps me fi d new vibes. The changing work flows seems to unlock my creativity. I like the limitations of my Electribe and the challenges it creates, and it helps me find new flavours I otherwise may not have found, but when I jump into ableton I can build on those flavours with more scope and options.
From childhood I always wanted to have a kid's keyboard, but I couldn't have one. When I began making music, it was with a desktop and hacked software. My first real dive into dawless began when I got my first Monotron and mixing desks, it was only natural that I would further explore out-of-box connections. Not mentioning it's never a good idea to mix music projects with other works in one laptop :-)
Gear recommendations for going DAWLESS (feel free to comment with your favorite gear!)
Synths & Samplers with good sequencers (can control other synths!)
Polyend Play (epic!) thmn.to/thoprod/543481?offid=1&affid=623
Elektron Syntakt (analog/digital groovebox) thmn.to/thoprod/541892?offid=1&affid=623
Roland MC707 // 8 track synth and sampler: redir.love/ZXvaPQxT
Novation Circuit Tracks // 4 track Sequencer & Synth: redir.love/VmtyAXa5
Elektron Digitakt // 8 track sampler, 8 track sequencer: redir.love/MiLNj6yp
MPC One // standalone sampler/synth/sequencer thmn.to/thoprod/482641?offid=1&affid=623
NI Maschine+ // standalone sequencer/sampler/workstation: redir.love/JdfuRpF0
Synths I really like and that are a good starting place for a hardware synth setup
Minilogue: redir.love/JjsQmfX1
Minilogue XD (my top 1 pick): redir.love/dlk50GPM
Cobalt8: thmn.to/thoprod/506277?offid=1&affid=623
HydraSynth Explorer (portable synth!): thmn.to/thoprod/527778?offid=1&affid=623
Microfreak (very affordable): redir.love/j9fxu250
Drum Machines:
LXR-02: thmn.to/thoprod/522842?offid=1&affid=623
Roland TR8S (very versatile!): redir.love/9IYrzQ0b
Analog Rytm MK2 (pricey but amazing!): redir.love/qGmO7p0i
Sequencers (These do not make sounds, instead control other gear)
Novation SL Mk3 // 8 track keyboard/sequencer/controller: redir.love/OpiiymOF
Arturia Keystep Pro // 4 track sequencer/controller: redir.love/wcdKr2aG
Most of my content is Volca and MicroFreak based. The best Sequencer that fits is IMHO the ARTURIA Keystep Pro. Btw, lets say, that the original Novation Circuit could also handle 2 MIDI Tracks.
The Arturia Beatstep Pro and Keystep Pro are relatively affordable and very very powerful sequencers/MIDI controllers. The Volcas and the Pocket-Operators are super cheap and accessible and make a great entry into hardware sequencing and synthesis.
I still use old Korg and Roland sequencers like the MSQ-700, SQD-1, and TR-707 to run most of my gear. Thanks to the staying power of the MIDI protocol these old boxes mesh perfectly with new gear too.
IConnectivity MioXL. Effectively a MIDI patchbay that doesn’t need to be connected to a PC once the routings are established. It also stores routing sets. I’m working on a video right now about this really underrated piece of gear.
After getting the Polyend Tracker, It has dominated my music making and jamming just because how versatile it is.
Favourite synth; Waldorf Blofeld-cheap and cheerful, if a little old.
This is a great video. I'm very much a DAW guy - the modern DAW solves almost every problem we had back in the 70s and 80s. I learned analog synthesis on a huge Moog system in college, where I recorded to half inch four track tape. I couldn't afford a digital reverb or a DX 7, couldn't afford even an 8 track machine let alone 16 track, couldn't afford to make and release music, certainly couldn't afford a Linn drum machine. I make traditional drums/bass/guitar/keys/vocals music, and the modern DAW has opened up every door for people like me. I'm not making electronic music. I don't mind being on the computer for work and then for music any more than I mind using electricity for both. BUT I bought a X-Touch to mix with and I love it, and I bought a Arturia controller because it has knobs and sliders. I bought a Yamaha MX88 because I wanted to have a standalone keyboard with great sounds and no latency. And my next keyboard will be an analog hardware synth, though not with patch cables - I'm not making electronic music, so I want to get and recall sounds quickly. I love computers, but I'd much rather mix on the X-Touch than a trackpad. Why did I type this big long post? Just to sort of provide a different perspective. I don't think anyone should have to justify how they make art. I watch this channel because even though I don't make electronic music, I love synths and I love music, and this channel is awesome. I don't need to want to make electronic music to appreciate how it's made and to learn more about it.
What I fell in love with is the ephemerality of DAWless. I have created music that will only ever be heard once. There’s something romantic about that idea that I love so much, whether it’s just for me or for a small group of friends. It’s very special and the one thing I cherish most about being in control of all aspects of my music.
Completely respect and appreciate how different people are attracted to vastly different things. For me, not being able to recall a perfectly fine-tuned patch is one of my biggest anxieties. I have ONLY bought synths that allow you to save and recall patches 'cause I couldn't deal with the alternative.
Love this, and it made me think of one of my favorite quotes from Prince. He told another musician who was worried about whether their new album would be "successful" or not, that "your record is successful by virtue of its existence". I think that's such a beautiful thing to say to any type of artist or musician. Whether you're trying to create a "finished product", or whether you're just looking to jam after work, you were successful by virtue of that which you brought into existence.
Every point made here is so valid! 🔥😃👍
Going DAWless was a mind-blowing transformation to me. For me it's two things:
Sitting at a computer and clicking things is uninspiring, and always 'feels a lot like work'. Also I work as a software architect which keeps me glued to a keyboard and mouse all day making it feel even more like work. On my weekends when I want to jam out, using a groovebox and a maybe a minisynth or two and a portable recorder gives me the ability to instantly create what I actually want and record it in one or two takes. Some tracks I will complete in just a couple hours, on my couch and at no point in the process does it have ever feel like work. I could never get to that point with a DAW despite learning several of them. I find I do actually finish my tracks because my sequencers store multiple patches and typically I apply the hero's journey story telling principles to my tracks and generally end up with what I feel is a great track with 12 parts that evolve and don't just 'drone on and on' contrary to popular myth. DAWless can produce wild variable full tracks just like a DAW with the right gear and in far less time while you have more fun. I know for me: if I'm having fun the music always comes out better. You can't force inspiration and applying limitations to the workflow helps to enhance the creativity. 😃👍
Bro! Soooo me.
Sounds like fun, man! As someone who's getting started with electronic music I'm interested to know what gear you like to use to jam?
I currently have an RD-9 which I absolutely love as I can just sit on the sofa and jam out. Such a good stress relief.
Absolutely 100% on board with this. Last thing I want to do when being "creative" is spend hours clicking a mouse, when I do that all day already.
I think you really hit on so many key points, with a significant one being that I just don't want to sit at a computer to make music after sitting at a computer all day to make work. I want something that is tangible and sometimes a puzzling challenge to interact with (in a good way!) to make music...and have fun.
Really happy to chip in! Thanks for inviting me Bo❤️
I am proud to say that I went DAWLESS (or as DAWLESS as I can get without mixing and mastering my jams in Ableton) and I managed to take 6 of my hundreds of 20 minute jams so far and edit them down to an EP that I have on the way. I am having it mastered as we speak and can't wait to put it out there! I owe a lot of what I know to channels like yours Bo, which helped me overcome my initial fear of taking the dive into DAWLESS which I used to always be very intimated by and now I can't imagine my music without it.
How did it go?
That was an awesome video, bo! Absolutely spot on about not always needing to be productive. I play some much and make a ton of music and I often struggle with "who even cares?" When I feel like I might record a song. Sometimes I get pissed and it's like I completely forgot how to make music and can't get in a groove. And then I remember, it's not about being productive. I have a day job, a beautiful family and I'm literally making music to release energy for me to be me and that's how I human. I've been making music and sound for almost 20 years and synths came to me when I thought I had lost passion for making music. Turns out sound design and drum machines are so damn fun
Thank you for this video. I really needed it. I'm still trying to switch from production to "having a fun" state of mind after doing former for years.
From my experience, the "anti-dawless" crowd is mainly made by people who doesn't work with computers in their daily jobs. Some of us even work 8h per day in front of a DAW in our daily jobs. It's exhausting. I had to go to dawless for my own sanity.
I'm still building my dawless setup. Sadly digital mixers with compressors and extended EQs are not in my budget range thus I'm getting effects (mixing tools) one by one. It's a long process but very rewarding.
Bob, this has been a treat to watch.
I love this aspect of your becoming more and more 'human' in your communication.
This piece is a perfect example of why people DO consume "long" content: because it's valuable.
It reminded me, in the middle of running a company and a career, that at then, and at the beginning of it all, the only objective I had/have when creating is enjoying making music.
Thank you for the reminder.
Cheers!
Wise words. As someone who is a hobbyists with no goals to produce, I just want to have fun. I had to learn there are many others in this space on different paths. Perhaps those in this space can learn from hikers. When crossing each other on the path, hikers say hello. We aren’t focused on the gear or speed at which one hikes. The distinction is never important. It’s we are out here moving and grooving with respect for what nature has to offer us.
The destination is never important. Not distinction. Sorry.
Seems like there's happy medium where you can use hardware and just use the daw for some effects and recording. No need to make life harder than it needs to be.
True that's how I'm using My Navation Peak right now, I dont have any cables so got the midi keyboard and the sythersizor plugged into My laptop using the DAW as a bridge and screan can be off. I could send the audio into the DAW and record it but I just prefer to use an external recorder and then use the sound as samples in the DAW later.
I just make music to have fun!
Great video, Bo! Many great creators! Thanks for featuring!
Good stuff Bob, lots of great guests 😅😂
Especially agree with Ihor's comment, part of what excites me is experiencing the design & engineering of these objects.
Great topic!
I completely agree, some of the latest generation of DAWless devices are bringing back the user experience that made things like early Casio keyboards and Roland drum machines so much fun to play. For me, the user interface and tactile experience of making music with a particular tool is as important as the sounds the instrument makes.
@@lo-firobotboy7112 That's why I have always used Reason because its Rack and instruments look and act like physical gear and My early stuff in there actually sounds exactly like Dawless music of today.
@@HOLLASOUNDS Reason is still on a computer. I need big knobs and dusty keyboards.
But I understand what you're sayin'.
@@lo-firobotboy7112 I can make what's called a Combinator and copy the knobs and slidders of My midi keyboard with its faders, pads, knobs mapped to any software sythersizors and effects then control everything in the DAW with the screan off if I want. I do have a Novation MiniNova and a Peak along with a small mixer pedals and a looper for fun.
@@HOLLASOUNDS Cool!
Well said, I 100% agree. I believe it pushes my creative drive.
Thanks for inviting me Bo!
Good, balanced video, with some good points made for both - thanks Bo.
Each to their own needs for me, I'd not say there's one way to do things, and respect whatever works best for someone.
Lots of the points raised here resonate: Distractions, associations with work, special purpose vs general purpose machines, and too much choice.
Hybrid works best for me, I like the tactile nature of instruments, including synths, but the convenience and ease of use of a DAW.
I work at a monitor all day, so the last thing I want to do is spend my evening in front of one too, though I appreciate not everyone does.
The DAW wins hands down for having one single consistent user interface to learn, for recording and sequencing, the ability to share work and to back up to a secure device, and the ease with which a piece of work can be recorded or tweaked are all major factors for me using the DAW.
But for performance and composition, and for initial sequencing too, I like to use hardware. It's tactile, physical, and involving in a way that software isn't. It's focused.
That said, I'm now in a position in life where I've worked hard and can earn enough to buy (much of) the hardware I want to work with, even if I have to buy it used.
20 years ago, I'd have probably gone full-on DAW with VSTs, as there was no way I could have afforded hardware synths back then.
But I still don't view DAWs as a cheap option - they're not, just cheap-er, and if you're on the move, they're the only practical option.
The downside of hardware is its cost, the cabling, the power, the space it takes up, its affinity for dust, and the cost of maintenance, particularly for older or broken gear. That said I don't have to worry about it not working standalone with a new OS, or having to upgrade.
So for me, both have their pro's and con's, and I personally like the hybrid approach, getting the best of both worlds, which works for my particular circumstances.
Could I go completely DAWless? Yes. But it's more space, more work, more cost.
Likewise DAW only would get boring (for me) after a while, but again, that's my personal circumstances that influence it and I realise many people actually want to sit down in front of a monitor after a day at work standing up or moving around.
Wow, Bo. I sure needed this today. I was up late with my spouse last night talking about how our relationship with music has changed so much since we both ceased being professional musicians. Music was so product-based that there are still times where I can't bring myself to just play with my synths because of some weird stupid need to make the artistic process entirely about generating income instead of just being happy and enjoying a passion. I might just have to see if I remember how to sequence my 808 and 303 and just vibe in the living room for a couple hours tomorrow.
Let me know how it goes!
When I was in college in 1980's, DAW's didn't exist. There was only making music. I learned on a Huge Buchla that cost $20,000 in college. the DX7 and a sequencer on a Commodore 64 came out the year I graduated. and our teacher got a DX7 in Japan because they weren't available in the states yet.
Of course, once it started digital and DAWS showed up very quickly. I was a beta tester for Cakewalk which was an exciting company back because you could combine audio and midi recording in the software. Before I had Cakewalk, I had a yamaha sequencer and I recorded to VHS tape because they had a type of VHS that had high quality audio. I had a soundblaster sound card in my Gateway computer running Cakewalk. I had an Oberheim Matrix 6, a Yamaha TX81Z, but the center of my set up was a Kurzweil. I am blanking on the name but it was the first time Kurzweil that was affordable (and it still cost $2,000) it used their VAST architecture which as amazing for the time. I could make a sample and then process it with digital effects. Made me sound like the pros this set up did. And yet I could make the kind of music I wanted to make, Electronic Music. My influences ran from Pierre Henry and Morton Subotnick to Tangerine Dream and Fripp and Eno. Heck, Tangerine Dream were my introduction to electronic music in the early 70's. That and an obscure Kraftwerk album and old boss turned me onto where they played flute and organ, using the percussion settings on the organ for a drum machine.But in the early aughts I sold all my equipment and focused pretty much entirely on acoustic Jazz and Free Improvisation for the next 15 years. Until Covid, when I started buying gear again with my Covid money. I had bought a Microfreak, a Model:cycles and a mixer before I even realized doing everything in a DAW was an option! lol. But I've played instruments my entire life and doing it in a computer was something I couldn't wrap my head around. I play an real instruments and mix in the computer. That my brain understands. I don't cables anymore but I love turning knobs and creating my own sounds from scratch. there is nothing like it.
Actually DAWs did exist in the 80s, I believe Cubass was around and also other work stations mainly in black and white where around but computers and the software was alot more expensive back then probably cost over £5000 for the PC and software, it was just easier and alot cheaper to just buy a work station keyboard from brands like Yamaha. Synthesizers where very expensive probably over $3000 and other music gear that's now readily available in software would cost upwards of £10.000 and was limited to professional studios only or the wealthy. Those 80s pop stars had alot of money behind them most of the time.
A "workstation" doesn't necessarily imply software-only approaches. I'd say that any equipment that brings together sequencing, synthesis, sampling, and recording qualifies. It's more about having a self-contained workflow than anything else. Gear like a Studio 440 or ASR-10 were often still referred to as workstations back in the day.
This is an excellent topic, and i feel that one important area was slightly neglected. I was waiting for some minor mention about the topic of tactile feedback, muscle memory, bodily interaction, and it´s usefullness of releasing your internal prosessing power to focus on the actual purpose of the moment, music making. You also always create a new synaptic map or maps, depending of the complexity of the hardware, for every individual each instrument, and that, i believe, might just contribute benecially to the flexibility of your gray matter, thus, releasing that extra special dopamine factor. For me, at least, it really is one of the, if not the, best aspects of using hardware.
An excellent point(s) 🤙🌌
100% agree. Synths can just be a hobby, without having to create a sellable "product" from it. I really like your thought process behind this.
With the prices of music gear, how can it be just a hobby? I want to get into synths, but everything is so damn expensive that i feel like I'm expected to make money with these things. It's gotten to the point that I'm learning how to make my own synths with arduinos.
@@simpson6700 I think it’s probably just your perception. Gamers spend hundreds if not thousands on their games/systems, but not everyone has to become a famous Twitch streamer or make gaming videos. Having a powerful system just enables you to be able to play the types of games you want to play, in the ways you want to be playing them. I would say it’s the same with expensive music gear. Most of them all do the same thing but there’s different ways to get there. Just sucks when you realize you bought the wrong thing, or just end up not using it like you expected. What’s nice about this “dawless” market though is I think if you spend wisely, most synth gear actually holds their value really well. In my case I bought a pocket operator 6 years ago, and surprisingly I was actually able to sell it for much more than I paid. Amazon is also special because the return policy is so good. You could try stuff out for basically a whole month, and then decide to return it for free on the last day no questions asked. Obviously you shouldn’t overspend on a hobby, but I don’t think it hurts to do it sometimes as long as you’re enjoying it.
@@Justin-xi6ue yeah but with computers i pay for the latest and greatest chips, with thousands of instructions per second and photorealistic graphics, that i can use for a wide variety of use cases. With music gear i pay for relatively simple voltage manipulation that was possible in the 80s and a very narrow use case.
@@simpson6700 Yeah that's true. Computers are capable of so much. Again just really depends on how you wanna see it and get there I guess. I mean like for me as much as I'm into retro gaming and have bought things like the AYN Odin to put emulators on, I understand I could actually be playing those same games on a computer or even on my mobile phone. It's not necessary at all but there really is just a novelty of playing games that way, and many of us in that community enjoy it. I get kinda the same vibes from the synth community. We all just have different ways we wanna make music, jam, and kinda just do our thing.
That being said I definitely think there's much worse things you probably could be spending your money on.. Like for example I don't think I'll ever truly understand how the car community can spend fortunes on snap-on tools, or even just spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars on car mods purely for cosmetic reasons. 500 dollars for lug nuts anyone?? Lol. I mean again not everyone has to splurge that much on a hobby obviously, but by comparison personally I'd be way happier dropping that much on a synth instead.
I go "dawless" when I want to explore and make music and experiment. If somebody says "I need a track for this thing tomorrow" I would open up my DAW and make it. But working with the hardware has helped me understand better how the software works too so it's good all around.
*Literally no one ever says that... so Dawless it is!
I think describing DAWless as a reaction against a "hyper-capitalist music industry" is stretching things a bit, given the rampant consumerism that it almost inevitably involves, and which has reached new heights with the modular craze. Having said that, each to their own, and good luck to all music-makers, DAWless or otherwise.
Yeah, I think the lack of emphasis on production is really a good thing, but in it's place is an obsession with gear, so who can say which is better.
I specifically say ”music industry” and not ”music gear industry”
I am not saying gear hoarding isn’t consumerism. It is absolutely that. But everyone hoards gear, regardless if dawless or not. Heck, even if its not about music at all and we instead look at say coffee. It is sort of a separate discussion. An interesting one however.
Yeah, I agree. Non of these DAWless devices are being donated to musicians. They are designed and manufactured with profit in mind.
100%
And wether dawless or using a daw people buy stuff. Probably more than they need. But its also a small problem in the grand scheme of consumerism. And a positive is that gear often gets to the used market if not used. Theres many other forms of consumerism which dont have such a thriving second hand market.
@@BoBeats Many years ago I made it part of my process to seek out and buy, trade, or barter used instruments for my studio. Partly because they're less expensive, but also because they often come with a story and I get to meet fellow gear lovers in the process.
DAWless jamming is a great example of "the art is in the process"
Very great point about music as a product. When I started making hip hop, all my examples were to create a finished product more than just enjoying the creative process, and I've only recently started to break free of that mindset.
I like the bit about asking someone taking up painting when their exhibition is. Gear has been my escape for the world after I kept hitting creative dead ends in the DAW. I wanted to switch up workflow, def fell into a groove box... Groove. People ask me when I will make stuff, but it is mostly for noodling, destressing.
Best decision of my life was going DAWless- I used to sell WAV and MIDI loops on producer loops- used the same daws- and VSTs as everyone else- now I make MUSIC 🎶
YES! Loved this video and this is the whole reason why I got into eurorack. To get away from the computer, to get away from the midi keyboard, to get away from my usual process of making sound and music for a living.
It is completely liberating.
Limtations breed creativity imo. I could spend weeks tweaking stuff in a daw and never actually get things done. I scrapped Ableton and got some hardware i can fit in my lap, a Reface DX and the Dirtywave M8 which I use mostly for samplimg and sequencing. Made more tracks in a monrh than I have in years.
Agreed Gary - I'm like this with hardware sequencers, too.
Basically what I'm going for too in the next few weeks... Been an owner of a large keyboard (m-audio) and a Push 2, and while the gear was awesome, the software side always made me search for sounds and stuff and never finish any project... Now I'm gonna get a few volcas and see where it goes... I'm sick and tired of searching for a sound, instead of building it
This definitely captures how I feel about it. I just want to try to explore making stuff live as it happens, and I'm working to develop some skills around how to structure live jams. When I get to the point of wanting to share things, I'll just record the audio and video live, then post that directly rather than fiddling around with anything in post. That keeps it just about making (and eventually sharing) the music, which is the part I care about.
This is my mantra. All of this. Making music and not a product. I felt the worst when I felt pressured (by myself) to churn out tracks and fix a price-point...ugh. I just wanna have fun! Thanks to everyone who contributed to this video!
Waauw Bobeats, nicely put. I now realise I’m in the Dawless stream as well. Music for the music !
I grew up learning to play keyboards with pre-programmed arrangements. When I came to the DAW years later, I missed the immediacy with which I could play music before without having so many options and resources. I think it's the future, in fact my next purchase is a Circuit Tracks, your videos finally convinced me.
Really nice video. The term "DAWless" always makes me smile as I sit in my little home studio surrounded by hardware sequencers and a couple ol' PCs running early versions of Cakewalk. I started making music in high school circa 1987 using an 8088 PC, Roland MPU-401 interface, MSQ-700 sequencer and an analog synyth or two. Anything that I came up with worth keeping was recorded to cassette on a little Tascam 4-track. As the digital tools became more complex, I just kept doing what I was doing, programming and sync'ing various drum machines and sequencers and triggering fills and changes manually. I avoided things like Logic and ProTools. (Some of my hipster friends teased me about it.) Jump forward a few years and my method of composition has been labeled DAWless and is a bit of a thing. Go figure. Really ,when it comes down to it, as long as someone is making music and enjoying the process, does it really matter what tools they use?
Good to hear from one of the og DAWLESS people!!
Funny you should write that, I went DAWLESS in the mid 80s with my Fostex X-15 before using Cubase SX3 in 2007. Now in my fifties with failing eyesight, it's time to revisit DAWLESS not because it was superior to a DAW, just to offer an alternative rather than repeating the same old process and falling out of love with making music. I spend my time staring at a screen all day in work and all evening making music. I just want the process to remain fresh and above all fun.
@@apislapis Even with a studio full of fancy synthesizers, I find incredible joy making music with some of the simplest hardware tools. Among my favorites are the Arturia MicroBrute, Volca Beats, Yamaha DD-10.
@@lo-firobotboy7112 Glad to hear that you do. I love the simplicity of my Microbrute, no presets to fall back on. Plenty of tactile fun.
@@apislapis Very few of my favorite synths have presets or effects.
I love this video! It really is how I feel! I have a deep knowledge of music technology! I’ve interned at commercial studios, I’ve used most DAW’s ever made, I’ve operated SSL’s, Neve’s, and multitrack tape machines! Currently I own and operate restaurants, I work up to 80hr/week! I relax with my synths! I think I enjoy setting it up as much as I do playing it! Reading manuals, midi, and audio wiring are my passions🤷♂️😂🤷♂️! Making all my instruments play together as if they were each a member of a band is deeply satisfying! The idea of recording, especially video is to complicated, when all I want to do is relax… I’m not doing it for other peoples enjoyment, it is for my own, I wish I had time to worry about entertaining other people!
People always ask for some type of product or performance, I always have a hard time explaining it, especially since it is obviously not an inconsequential investment!
I started in the early 90s, and though daws were a thing on the Atari ST, I started with a workstation synth, a drum machine and a sampler. (And an old foster 4 track to record on to) And that was it. My set up was fixed for the next 12 or 13 years. I bought nothing else until the mid 2000s. So I was very much ingrained into a Dawless workflow and mindset. I tried Logic, I tried Ableton, but I hated the fact that I spent more time troubleshooting issues than I did making music, so I went back to Dawless, working with various things until settling on an Electribe back in 2015 and then a Digitakt a year or 2 later, which is still the main brain now.
I still use a DAW if I have to finish a track for release, and I spent a good year around 2014 getting into logic production, remixing tracks, that kind of thing, but I feel most happy and most creative with a hunk of hardware under my fingers. As it was in 1992, so it is 30 years later, in fact September 2022 is the 30th anniversary of my first piece of kit, a DR660, which I still have.
What a great video. I think you covered 99% of the reasons for people such as myself go DAWless. I work in IT and really do not want to sit in front of yet another computer in the evening or weekend. I also started many years ago with an old Atari ST and even in those early days found myself sitting in front of the computer, rather than actually playing and learning the instrument.
Excellent discussion.
I never consciously "went dawless", rather I have never enjoyed pointing and clicking, preferring real time feedback from knob turning. TBH, I've bought many of the synths I have because I like the look of them, especially when stacked up together to resemble a spaceship control room. All of them are good in their own way and I play with them individually for a while to get to know them before involving the others. When I jam with a multi synth setup, I think of it as being like going on a hike in the woods where I set off in an unknown direction. I might come across something beautiful or interesting, but it might also be boring, but each time I learn something and don't have to worry about where the parking lot is.
Getting lost in the wilderness IS the point.
Fun video, thanks Bo. I wanted to give insight into my recent hybrid system. Although I use my computer to run Maschine and I use a DAW as my recording device, I got rid of internet at my home. So when I get home and power up my computer, it can’t do anything except act as a music studio hub. I have an analogue mixer going into a small interface into the computer. Then I can patch any of my hardware through the computer if I want to record, and I can use Maschine both inside and outside the DAW. Taking away the distraction of the internet quickly turns your computer into a piece of hardware (of a sort). This is a simple fix, and anyone can turn the wifi off of their computer or disentangle it from the internet to be free in the studio. Since I don’t have the space or money for the hardware setup I would love to have, this is a great compromise for the moment.
My setup is DAWless BUT I do record out into a DAW and do my mixing and mastering in a DAW. I really prefer that kinda workflow. I'm free to turn on what combination of machines I have and if I like something enough, I can go to my computer and just hit the record button. My setup is a Roland Fantom 8 as my master keyboard, Waldorf Iridium, Hydrasynth Explorer, Empress Effects ZOIA, and a rack containing a Roland S-770 sampler, and a Korg Wavestation A/D. I've honestly always been a fan of the Roland Fantom workflow since the X8. It's just so easy to pick up and start creating music. Great video as always, Bo! :D
Why I have been mostly DAWless for the 25 years or so I have dabbled in music started because of how I perceive rhythm and musical structure generally. The problem I had with DAWs is that the whole paradigm is based upon a virtual multitrack tape studio, so it's very linear. Most DAWs don't even have independent clocks per track! Nor multiple playback heads! Also I didn't get on with most digital gear because they tended to be loop/step based. What I needed was something that allows one to program events as well as the flow of time, not constrained to one master tempo or time signature that events are crowbarred into.
That's how I got into modular early on, because discrete logic allows one to program/play rhythms that would be arduous or even barely possible to enter into a DAW or grid as steps. Lately I've been checking out Tidal Cycles as a fun way to get comparable structures on a computer, but that's a completely different workflow of course.
I think this is really a golden age of electronic music!
Hi Bo! It is a very beautiful and very complex issue. Nice video! I understand your thesis, however two things: (1) you can have endless fun jamming even with a daw + vst, just for fun, you need just a little midi controller, turn off the phone and macbook notifications (2) I also believe that physical instruments are better in many aspects, but in my opinion we are forgetting an important point: the cost. With 100 € of daw and 100 € of midi controller I have many possibilities, I can have fun and even produce something if I want. If I had to move towards a physical set-up, it would not be enough for me to have 1 synth and 1 effect pedal, I should probably have at least 2 synths and 3 pedals (maybe?), cables, support stands and other things, I would easily end up having spent 2000 € indeed than 200 €. Ultimately I agree with you but I believe that dawless is less inclusive, economically, and that few can afford it.
Totally agree. I could absolutely make a video arguing that dawless has issues (I even have a video on the topic, 10 reasons why you shouldnt go dawless).
Thanks Bo. I work in research so getting away from the computer is really important to me, otherwise work and leisure just becomes one and the same. Ultimately more like work than leisure. I love the hands on aspect of DAWless...and like you say, sometimes it's just about experimenting, playing, learning, rather than producing a finished item...mind you, its always nice to throw ingredients onto freesound as a gift to other creatives, and that in itself is a creative project...for others to work with. Very rewarding.....thanks for the great video. 👍
Crazy thing for me, I've been playing a bunch of instruments for around 7 or 8 years now, and I never once was able to record anything outside of a video on my first iPod with a camera lol, I tried using multiple different daws for years and they never really made sense to me. Then one day after getting more into hop hop, I grabbed an MPC and i took about 6 months learning the ins and outs and making practice tracks, and finally last month I started writing music to release on it and put out 7 songs in that month. Absolutely insane to me how much more "real" it feels to make music on the MPC vs a daw in a computer
I ve got a dawless set up , few synths and groove box's and I find it fun but still go to my daw and VSTs if I want to make a specific track.
That's basically what I'm doing. Cupple of real sythersizors and effects pedals.
I used to think dawless production was somehow superior, but for my workflow I found over time I like primarily doing everything in Ableton. Hardware is fun for generating ideas, but I can only finish a full track in Ableton, if I want it to sound anything like a professional track.
True My physical sythersizors are used for fun and recorded with external audio recording to be used as samples in My DAW.
Interesting comments and great video thanks Bo! Here’s a shout out for iOS music making - love the portability, the affordability of synth apps and so much can be learned about every aspect of electronic music techniques and easy to play around and experiment. DAWless is fantastic too and I often wonder about the differences in gear - especially the contrast between elektron and teenage engineering workflow. Would be good to interview the designers and makers of these DAWless instruments and samplers…
Good points. Thanks for all the participants for sharing and Bo for organizing everything.
I think TH-cam brings consumerism to every scene, but once you know that and GAS is not a problem, I think it's okay.
Absolutely agree with everything that was said here. I would add one thing : personnally, I don't fully trust a laptop for a live session. I have been too often confronted to regular unpredictable crashes. I know it very much depends on how much you pay for the computer, but, it can still occur for whatever reason. Also there are tons of automated bullshit going on backwards that, if you forget to set the parameters right on a computer you use for other purposes than music, you might end up with notification sounds in the middle of your performance. I love computers and everything that can be achieved with it, but the crash risk worries me, and I prefer to use gear specialized for music.
Live with a laptop is boring. But if you are going to play live with a computer, don’t use your personal one. Get a dedicated computer for it. ….actually I’d say get several, and split duties. That also gives you a plan b backup in case one goes belly up.
@@AveragePicker Yes, there are ways to prevent being stuck with a defective computer. Buying 2 is one of them. Costly, though.
@@Fleeology When we did live with laptops we’d pick them used on eBay. A favorite was sourcing them from recyclers. Many we picked up were quite old but did the trick. We’d split up what each had to do, but made sure one could handle double duty if needed. So if like our main sampler broke or crashed or refused to boot, we’d run the…I don’t know, say drums and samples then from the same one. Live was hard on the computers. Granted this was way back in the day and main issue was the hard drives taking a beating. Flash drives would have resolved a lot of the issues. Overall though it was incredibly uninteresting experience and I often felt like I should just be hitting play and wonder why we were bothering as “playing” turned more into getting the correct settings and samples loaded with some midi keyboard overtop.
I've just recently begun learning how to play synths and creating music. I do have a DAW and computer but I decided to go Dawless because I wanted to learn the instruments, not rely on the computer for help. It also forces me to learn how to "play" and not just drop samples in the DAW. I'm sure at some point I'll move on to the DAW but for now I'm sticking with no computer. Great video by the way!
I like to take advantage of the computer power with a hands-on tweakable-turnable interface, like the push2, even when I use 90% hardware devices.
Loved the video and the part about "not everything must be productive"
With you on that Felix, hybrid is the best of both worlds, for me.
These are all really good points. As a guitarist, I really enjoy just playing sometimes. As a synth player, and writer, I love working dawless most because I just like limiting my options until I focus on making something that sounds good. As a artist, it's taken me a long time to come back around and remember that I don't always have to have a plan and I can just draw for fun sometimes. It can be easy to forget the point of pure enjoyment and get caught up in creating a "finished product".
Everyone raises a lot of good points, especially with regards to additional distractions that can be there at a computer. This is kind of why as I'm planning on getting back into things to focus on more of a hardware or DAWless approach at least with regards to having fun with music. It's just so much easier to put a pair of headphones on and have fun with hardware, because once those go on, attention goes to those knobs, the keyboard, and seeing where things go. It's one of the things I miss about djing with just vinyl, but I switched to a hybrid setup with that over a decade ago because it's not only easier to acquire music from creators I like but also significantly cheaper - that same $20 CAD can get me ten tracks, or two. But I also aim at trying to have a space with as few distractions as possible, so with djing since I use Traktor, my plan is to put a dedicated monitor over by my decks for when I need to see certain things but it won't be used for much else.
I love how you bring up the point about how just because the core of your setup is DAWless doesn't mean you completely reject the DAW. They're useful tools, but if they hold back the creative process (or bring about so many distractions it causes frustration, say because so many other things are readily available due to an internet connection as well) then just don't use them for the creative part, and when you want to finalize something or add that final polish, there's absolutely nothing wrong about leveraging said tools for what they do well.
The biggest part though that I agree with is, as powerful and accessible as a DAW can be, without putting a lot of time, money, and effort into a MIDI controller setup (or a hybrid hardware solution to mix with) there's a distinct lack of immediacy to controlling things in a DAW. Even memorizing keyboard shortcuts and being able to move around quickly with such can still cause problems if you're trying to do fine tuning of something, or there isn't a shortcut to control precisely what you're trying to tweak. Besides, there's just something so lovely about tweaking a knob or three, and hearing the immediate changes brought about by such...
I kind of compare the whole DAWless process to the SOOC (straight out of camera) movement - err no, let's go with thought process - in photography. Some people are able to get the basics in the camera, and then spend some time editing the photos to get precisely what they want, while others will try and get as much of it within the camera itself. There is no right or wrong with which style you prefer, and I'll admit I bounce between both regularly (street photography I'm more of an in camera person, but astrophotography pretty much needs editing due to techniques used to increase the signal to noise ratio). Use not only what works best for you, but what is the most enjoyable part of it all.
Great video Bo. I generally find working up an idea outside of a DAW is far more inspirational. Most of the time my DAWless setup still includes a PC because I use GigPerformer simply because I don’t have room for a big enough mixer. Sometimes I will hit record on GigPerfomer to capture an idea, but it’s not a DAW, and the more familiar I become with my MPC Live II the more I’m exploring using it in conjunction with my iConnectivity MioXL. For those that don’t know the MioXL is effectively a MIDI patchbay and is well worth its price. Thanks @BoBeats!
I like a hybrid setup, my DAW and hardware. Since I have limited time, ability to recall what I started night before is great. I'm not front of screen during the day so that helps. Plus I haven't been able to buy much hardware lately.
1. I'm chained to a computer all day at work so computers don't inspire my creativity.
2. Physical manipulation of instruments engages other parts of the brain than the screen and mouse do so I will come up with stuff that I wouldn't have on a computer. Different instruments take that further - I play different things on my Roland AE-30 wind synth than I do on my saxophone. It's not just a sonic thing either because the instruments respond differently to my input and that affects what I play.
3. Hardware doesn't have web browsers, email, or social media!
4. Hardware is unlikely to be blown away by an OS or driver update that's outside of the control of the manufacturer.
5. Hardware can't vanish on the whim/fortunes of the manufacturer. Are cloud-based synths truly "forever"? I can guarantee there is small print in the license that lets the manufacturer off the hook if they pull the plug regardless of the reason!
Call it confirmation bias, but this perfectly worded my vague discomfort with DAWs. I'm enjoying myself infinitely more when jamming without DAW. I've played in bands and made electronic music over 2 decades, so I have no more delusions about making it big in music industry. The moment I started to make music for myself, was the moment I started to enjoy it again.
I dont mind a hybrid set up. But I def love just having real instruments that I can interact with. Plus I find that all sorts of unexpected and cool "mistakes" happen when I just go totally dawless. It just feels more creative all around. Really loved the discussion in this video.
I'm really an old school 63 year old synth fan . I never made concert but like jamming and improvising just for the fun of music. I really don't understand the gap with : using computer, or without. Do have people forgotten what is a Fairlight ? Just a computer. Analog synth before midi was often just a monophonic addon sitting on a Hammond or an electric piano. Digital polyphonie with ability to save sounds was ground breaking in early 80th and the where all computers. Since early 80th the computer was best friend off any hardware synth. Three important use since beginning : Sequencer , synth librarian , and synth editor, thing that i'm really missing today. Because i was Pc user and mac world was only for professional or riche people, i had to wait may years before digital recording was possible in good quality on a PC. Before Vst there were Standalone Virtual synths and some crazy other stuff like tracker and buzzmachine. First daws (audio + sequencer) on pc where really laggy and not made for jamming thats true and lot other software on PC where a kind experimental. But today you can really connect both world together with thing like Ableton or something more experimental like Mutools Mulab. Layer computer with hardware in perfect polyphony is no problem today. Do you need dirty sounds with digital gears ? Use guitare pedals. You dont need social media while making music else as for egotripp , ... ok some have smartphone while sex.
yup. I am 64 myself. Computer music in our days was a massive undertaking that took weeks or months to program.
My DAWless synth set up is 75% Behinger gear but I LOVE that I can make sounds that I enjoy without staring at a screen. I literally have it just to fool around with as a relaxing experience.
I've never had someone explain this to me so succinctly. Thank you! I do want to add another caveat to DAWless jamming, the addiction to buying the "perfect" next piece of gear that will inevitably not be as perfect as you expect so you buy more gear. Often a lot of these people are so gear obsessed they forget to actually make music. So many people seem to be infatuated with the gear or the perfect sound that they spend all their time watching and reading reviews and buying gear whilst never actually playing their instruments!
Like people who collect cars but don't drive them.
There's a world for every wonk I guess.
I use a hybrid system. Sometimes I use my DAW only as a recorder of my external gear sometimes not. Love the freedom and its a great privilege to have the freedom.
I know part of what has been pulling me towards DAWless is not only have I gone back to school in my mid 20's which entails a lot of time on my computer. I also have a bad habit of trying to get the mix right when working in a DAW even when roughing out a track which not only drains my limited time on mixing but also causes me to break my own flow regularly. Plus as some one with a good chunk of classic and jazz based training in my background I find working with a physical instrument more enjoyable, like I even find workstations more fun to use than a DAW a lot when I'm just out to write a song or jamming.
Personally I enjoy crafting musical ideas in a DAW at the weekends, etc. I find it gives me more freedom than a hardware setup because I can easily pick up where I left off, work in a relaxed environment (e.g., Starbucks), and close the laptop lid when I want to switch to something else. For creating the initial ideas I usually use a mobile app (Cubasis).
For me, the motivation is to create something I enjoy listening to, whether that's while hanging up the wash, lying in bed, or sitting on the sofa in front of the hi-fi.
Having clear creative goals and the discipline and focus to achieve them are important whichever workflow you use.
Great video. Sums up a lot of how I feel about just noodling on hardware after a long day in front of a computer.
I definitely understand the appeal of using tools outside of a computer to make music. But ultimately, it is a mindset to create and to have the discipline to create. After all, I think I’m pretty creative and inspired and not in “product-making mode” and I still use a computer as the central hub for my music making. For instance, I save things like updates and maintenance for when I am *not* working on material. Another way to combat “option paralysis” is to put restrictions within a project (only these instruments or only these
manufacturers, etc.).
In the end, you keep finding and maintaining the ways that keep you creating what you want to make. There is no ultimate “superior” way.
Those are just my thoughts at the moment =]
I spend a lot of time at the computer (and also phone/tablet) screen: working, playing videogames, watching content, reading something, shopping, communicating with my friends and family, learning something new, etc... And when I've started to learn electronic music, one thought started to bother me: wait, I'm at the computer again!
Even though I have non-screen-related hobbies (like longboarding, hand lettering and cooking), having another thing that keeps me at the computer was really demotivating for me. So my desicion to go DAWless was quick)
I also think that people (including me) just love gadgets, and sometimes it's cool to get something that brings you joy. And for me that feeling is brighter when it's something physical.
P. S. I'm not a hater of DAWs, I think it's always great to have options to choose from, and as long as your music making workflow brings you joy, it doesn't matter what tool you use. And even though DAWless works better for me, I don't restrict myself to use only DAWless stuff, because when I'm not at home, in a lot of cases the only available gear I have is the GarageBand on my iPad. And it's also easier to find tutorials for DAW than for a specific piece of gear, so it's easier to learn basics of electronic music with DAW.
Dawless can be focused on production too. You can mix, record, and master tracks without a daw. That's what affordable mixers and compressors are for.
That’s the point that a lot of younger musicians miss. Music actually was made long before computing devices existed.
I liked the comments. I'm a full time medical professional and I also love music. It would be cool if I ever made some music that others would enjoy but with the limited time I have I enjoy just playing keyboards and using jam box type devices to make music that I enjoy and sometimes my grandkids like. Music=joy for me.
Oh, I forgot to recommend gear. I just purchased the Synthstrom Deluge. It is so much fun to use and it can control all my other synths very easily. My next project is to see if I can hook up every midi device I have to it and make it all sing together.
Great video! Thanks Bo! (and friends) Now Im off to make some music for fun now that I'm finally home from work trips for a few days. :)
I don't think I could ever go DAWless, but this has inspired me to grab some tech I can use without the DAW if I just wanted to diddle around with sounds. It's like not having to set up your guitar to record if you just want to play it.
I don't produce anything, I just like to jam and noodle so for me the hardware is what it's all about. They are machines I can make neat sounds with and since I have more than one, it's nice to just have them all sync up. The only concession I've made to computer control is using Ableton to run most of my effects, I only have so much physical space and I've enjoyed being able to record my jams.
I've gone to a number of synth meetups and never felt like I shouldn't belong because I don't have a lot of musical talent. I don't think I'd feel the same way going to a production, i.e. DAWs, focused event.
Good for you, I was like that with software but the pressure of having to Get My music out there is more and more present literally over 1000 unreleased music.
I like the way dawless is more about enjoying the creation process. It has also something contemporary, in the moment.
I like the fact that I will never create the same song again during my jams.
I am currently researching my preferred dawless setup. It's exactly what you're saying. Multi purpose devices are exhausting and simply not fun to me. I can literally create all the synth sounds I can imagine from my phone with a few taps, but where's the fun in that? I want to feel like being surrounded by a space ship control panel and jam while touching it.
EDIT: This video is really speaking to me right now. The whole thing of having to go through the production process, to finisht music, to publish my music, to promote it or otherwise it doesn't have legitimacy was super exhausting and made me not want to make music any more. Which is really sad, since I was making music almost my entire life. Now I started to just make music again. Just going for it and jamming and having fun. that's so incredibly relieving.
Great video Bo! You are hitting on so many great points! I think I will have to make a video something like "how I made my computer into (sort of a)a dawless setup" or something funny like that, hehe!
Well said! Working on a computer feels like work. Playing with hardware feels like play haha. At the end of the day we're all artists who prefer different paints and brushes 🎨🎶
This is really cool topic. I came to electronic music production realm from metal scene, was playing on a bass in various band. And the first thing that caught my attention was a producers making music with mouse only - just drag and drop some samples, draw a chords and melody and that is it - track is ready! For me, as an instrumentalist, that was super weird - do you mean you don't need to practice scales, pentatonics, arpeggios, etc? I mean it is not very fun, but most of the time during the practice I eventually ending up just improvising and finding some interesting ideas that could serve as a foundation for a new track. So recently I started diving deeper into DAWless world. My recent acquisition is Roland J-6 - it is amazing! Yes, there is captain chord, scaler, and some other tools, but playing with the device and not staring to monitor, not clicking mouse is so cool and gives so much immediate feedback that I have no regrets about money that I spent on device. And you totally right about limiting yourself - having a tons of plugins, patches, samples is actually not that good, at least for me - sometimes I spend more time finding proper sample or patch but not actually playing music. And now I am mostly using either Microfreak or Volca bass to create a sound I need. Less is more. Not to say that I work in IT and already feeling that my vision is starting to decay because I am almost constantly staring to the monitor. So going DAWless give me the relief of just doing what I like but slightly differently. And of course, this is very very fun.
If I’m making music to share online, then I’m without a doubt using a DaW with my computer. But if I’m playing live, entertaining friends, or just picking around, then I’m happy with just a looper & my other gear. As a shameless nerd, audio equipment/ gear hits the spot.
Oh ya, as for my recommendations, I just ordered myself a Bluebox by 1010music, & I’m thinking it’s gonna make for an awesome addition.
Up until the late 90s, most of us were dawless. Even into the mid 2000s, computer based music was kinda janky, anyone remember the issues with audio drivers on WinXP? Latency was awful too!
Yeah! I was dawless 98-2000 when i started, then in the box til 2016
Dawless versus DAW style . Well everyone is different, and as far as I am concerned, everyone making music is my brethren. If you want to do it your way... fantastic. Personally, I don't even own a computer and it's not because I am against anything. I'm 63 years old, and hardware has always been reliable for me. I had a friend that always told me I needed a computer and a lot of software, but I recorded tons while his system was crashed. I love my Vermona
drum synth and my pedalboard that is all hardware. It never crashes and leaves me helpless on stage.
To compare the two is divisive, and we need to focus on the results. For me hardware works without fail. Many smarter people use both or software systems and produce music that I love.
I think of musicians as family and I don't care how they make their beautiful music. I love it all
You can also start DAWless and go into your DAW to polish and finish your sketches. It's like when I sketch a building on a piece of scrap paper and later on I draw it all up in my CAD application to actually get it built (and yes, the sketching is always more fun than the drafting)... 😊
I know I’m wrong but I don’t feel like I’ve made anything when just using a computer. With dawless, i feel more connected and in control, if i get a decent beat going, I’ll raise the desk up and really get into it.
Im computerless now in all artforms. Deleted Photoshop and started painting... Deleted daws and started jamming. Im just a hobbyist and I find I have more fun with tactile experience than I do menu diving in a computer. I buy as close to knob per function in my gear as possible.
Great video. Since when is the better artist the person who makes the most product? Since people accepted mass manufactured product as a replacement for music as an art. You can make art and you can make product but they are not the same animal and to no surprise often requires a much different approach to creating them. Historically a lot of what's considered "Electronic music" started as people creating music with hardware for the sake of making music. It was only afterwards the industry turned it into the production of a product. Also notable, studies show playing a real life instrument, is good for the psyche.
Regardless though, there are 3 major appeals to DAWless IMO.
1: Lack of screen zoning. No one seems to talk about this but there’s a real psychological phenomenon where people who do anything on a lit screen have changed behavior, thinking process and concentration attributes. With hardware, you can avoid screens altogether. When you aren’t looking at a screen, your mind is more aware of the world around you. You could say, you are more in touch with your environment. This is not as important for producers/engineers but it is very important for composers.
2: Less headache? Good hardware isn’t subject to as many technical difficulties as software. Between compatibility issues, latency, bugs and poorly throughout updates, software can be really high maintenance. Good hardware tends to be a lot more stable. It always dose the one thing is was designed to do.
3: Incentive. Because hardware often lacks recall, it gives incentive to focus on and finish a single project. Which can be good for those who get too distracted.
Good points!
I use hardware only because I spend enough time on a computer as it is, it's a break from the PC to just perform hands on. I also like the temporary nature of it, whatever I create is here and then gone; possibly to never ever exists again, I made it, I enjoyed it, then it's gone.
Nice analysis Bo. I like both, but prefer DAWless. All the best, Nige 🙏
Many producers are overwhelmed with all the plugins and their possibilities. But that can also happen with hardware. If you have too many synths or effects. It just doesn't happen that often because the cost of hardware is just so much higher.
True!
Great video. The more I’ve got into analog synths the more it’s been about the process of experimentation, sound and rhythm design, and creating something in real time to reflect that moment, capturing it (yes, through a computer or iPad) then moving onto the next idea. Though as some of my jamming more recently has been with VCVRack, in tandem with external hardware, there is still some looking at the computer that’s involved.
I'm much less productive since I went DAWless. But that's a choice - it has forced me to learn my hardware much more and I'm still rubbish with the workflows of my main sequencer (Akai Force). But... I love it and find it much more inspirational even if I'm not really "completing" anything. Your other video talks about setting goals & I think to be inspired and to enjoy the process is mine rather than years ago it was to finish tracks.
Yeah, that's my topic! An the guy at 3:10 says exactly whats the point for me too: The ton of possibilities brings my creativity down. So my intention is: Less gear more Fun!
From the days of Davy DMX and Mantronix carrying their hardware around (eg. look at the just ice LP artwork - title "back to the old school") I love the feeling of having a box full of sounds and beats to jam on. That's why I love my Akai Force. Just got a Hydrasynth Desktop and I need something analogue and gnarly now like the Pro 3 for some rough stuff.
A video suggestion: Explore how people have gone about their DAWless setups. What kind of philosophy do they follow with their setup so they got it working? How they wish to extend or modify their setups in the future and why they wish to make those modifications? What is their workflow? What are their setups pros and cons, strengths and weaknesses? What kind of music do they make using their setup?
Fun idea!
Ever since I won the Arturia V Collection (thanks again, Bo!) I've come to realize I like making music with the computer more than going DAWLESS. My reasoning for my DAWFUL workflow is actually almost completely the opposite of @Ooramusic's for going dawless. When my desk was filled with hardware, I usually felt the need to incorporate all of it into my music and that ended up giving me option paralysis. Connecting all my gear and getting it all to talk to each other is very satisfying, and it really made me feel like a mad scientist (in a good way) with all the cords I had to use haha. But when it comes to actually making music (and most importantly for me, finishing music), it appears I'm much more proficient "in the box", rather than working without it. Let's just hope my new videos will still be appealing without as much eye candy.
Glad u are having fun with VC! And thanks for sharing your perspective
The reason I went DAW-less was the fact that I could no longer deal with my work intruding upon my hobbies. As an IT person who has to sit in front of computer screens for much of my work day, - I really didn't want the same experience when enjoying my leisure time. Another reason has to do with how Microsoft stopped testing their newer updates on real hardware, and over the years I got really tired of dealing with sudden intermittent malfunctions caused by various bugs they haven't worked out. This was especially compounded by the fact that really like a lot of much older DAWs and software synths. Absynth IV was one of my all time favourites, and I had to install a dual boot Windows 10/Windows 7 just so that it would load and function properly. The way some of the more recent Windows updates were messing up my Reaktor 5 experience was extremely upsetting, especially when a couple of times it screwed up my performances.
However I couldn't completely go DAW-less either in the end. Whereas I prefer DAW-less setups for melody synths, - I was utterly disappointed with what most of the affordable hardware grooveboxes/samplers/drum machines had to offer. I still think that to this day, - there is nothing better than a DAW drum-machine/sampler/groovebox. My main issue was that hardware samplers disturb my workflow. I pour over tons of Web material looking for sounds I could sample, and once I find what I like, - I really don't want to convert it into .WAV, then save it on a micro SD, then take that Micro SD out and insert it into hardware sampler, to then work on the sample some more. Immediacy of experience delivers a lot of spontaneity and is much better for inspiration. So while my melody synths are hardware, my sole drum machine/sampler/groovebox is a dual 27-inch touch screen setup hooked to a PC running various NI Drum Machines and VST plug ins in Ableton. And I picked Electribe II for my hardware drum machine whenever I have to perform or for my infrequent busking self-promotion routines, both because of just how ergonomic it is and because it takes regular AA batteries.
This is why I want to get the Akai Force. I want to spend more time playing/tactile than DAW adjustments
When I was lecturing at music college - and not sat in front of a computer for most of the day - I used to write articles, blogs and short stories in my spare time. I loved it! But since I moved into employment with more computer work, I haven't written a thing.
So when it comes to playing music, unless I'm recording, that computer stays switched off!
I love both, and find that regularly switching between both approaches helps me fi d new vibes. The changing work flows seems to unlock my creativity. I like the limitations of my Electribe and the challenges it creates, and it helps me find new flavours I otherwise may not have found, but when I jump into ableton I can build on those flavours with more scope and options.
Right. Back to the roots and have fun.
From childhood I always wanted to have a kid's keyboard, but I couldn't have one. When I began making music, it was with a desktop and hacked software. My first real dive into dawless began when I got my first Monotron and mixing desks, it was only natural that I would further explore out-of-box connections. Not mentioning it's never a good idea to mix music projects with other works in one laptop :-)