
One thing that unites an otherwise disparate range of musicians – from guitarists and techno heads to drummers and vocalists – is the fact that, at some stage during the creative process, recording software will doubtless be called upon. For the uninitiated, DAW stands for Desktop Audio Workstation, which, as the name suggests, deals with a lot more than the once standardized job of sequencing audio and MIDI. In this feature we take a look at our five favourite DAWs – in no particular order – and outline the key features that will determine which of these heavy hitters becomes your weapon of choice.