Recording Software Comparison Chart

Making your musical ideas reality...which recording software can do the trick and which one can't ?

The world of computer based recording became pretty complicated even for seasoned Pros these days. Too many "standards", too many platform fights and too little cooperation between the different manufacturers of recording software and the appropriate hardware.

There's the big player, Pro Tools, with it's own strategy of selling software with proprietary hardware only. There's the platform war between Apple and Mac. There are the different driver "standards" and vast array of different hardware that's more or less compatible with an also constantly growing amount of software.

Another aspect is that every recording software seems to implement all the missing functions time after time. Therefore applications become more and more similar and it's getting harder to hold them apart.

Result?

The customer is left in the cold with the decision to join a party that's not easy to leave, and he has to deal with all these incompatibilities.

This situation doesn't make it easy to choose the right recording setup for your personal needs. You either have to dive into the blue and grab the first recording software package that seems to satisfy your needs, or it means days or weeks of meticulous comparison work between different constellations, before you can make a sound decision.

As a counselor for recording studios it became harder every day to decide which recording software is the right one for a special client or studio. As this can be a very basic decision, with often costly consequences, I took it quite serious.

After struggling for a while with that problem, I decided to sort the pile of notes on my desk and make up a comparison chart, that lists all the important features of recording software. That gave me and my clients a sound decision base and a good overview about the market of recording software.

As the work is done, why not put it on my website?

Well, here it is. Maybe you also need a little help. You can easily compare the important features of today's recording software. It let's you quickly eliminate all the programs that don't have the features you need and zoom in on a smaller group of interesting recording software that needs further investigation.

Please, don't hit me if there is a mistake in this chart but report it here.

If you would like to suggest another recording software or another feature that should be compared, fill out the form below the chart, please.

Well, happy comparing!