A digital audio workstation (DAW) is an electronic system designed to record, edit and play back digital audio. A key feature of DAWs is the ability to freely manipulate recorded sounds. Many DAWs, especially computer-based DAWs, have MIDI recording, editing, and playback capabilities.
The term "DAW" simply refers to a general combination of audio multitrack software and high-quality audio hardware — the latter being a specialized audio converter unit which performs some variety of analog-to-digital (ADC) and/or digital-to-analog (DAC) signal conversion. For example, a workstation could have eight discrete audio inputs, and two or more audio outputs for playback monitoring or routing signal to other devices. Systems can have as few as two mono inputs and outputs; the discrete audio inputs and outputs provide for simultaneous multitracking dual mono sources or stereo recording. A professional DAC performs the same function as a common sound card, but is generally of higher quality and offers sonic or functional advantages when compared with its consumer cousin.
While almost any home computer with multitrack and editing software can function somewhat as a DAW, the term generally refers to computer systems which have high-quality external ADC-DAC hardware, and some form of audio software; some of which is commercial proprietary software. Besides having high-end sound cards most DAWs also require a large amount of RAM, fast CPU(s) and sufficient free hard drive space.
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Varieties
DAWs generally come in two varieties:
Computer-based
Consist of three components: a computer, an ADC-DAC, and digital audio editor software. The computer acts as a host for the sound card and software and provides processing power for audio editing. The sound card acts as an audio interface, typically converting analog audio signals into digital form, and may also assist in processing audio, and for playback converting digital to analog audio. The software controls the two hardware components and provides a user interface to allow for recording, editing, and playback. Most computer-based DAWs have extensive MIDI recording, editing, and playback capabilities. Some even have minor video-related features. It is speculated that many radio stations in the U.S. prefer using computer-based DAWs intead of integrated DAWs.
Common functionality
As software systems, DAWs could be designed with any user interface, but generally they are based on a multitrack tape recorder metaphor, making it easier for recording engineers and musicians already familiar with using tape recorders to become familiar with the new systems. Therefore, computer-based DAWs tend to have a standard layout which includes transport controls (play, rewind, record, etc.), track controls and/or a mixer, and a waveform display. In single-track DAWs, only one (mono or stereo form) sound is displayed at a time.
Multitrack DAWs support operations on multiple tracks at once. Like a mixing console, each track typically has controls that allow the user to adjust the overall volume and stereo balance (pan) of the sound on each track. In a traditional recording studio additional processing is physically plugged in to the audio signal path, a DAW, however, uses software plugins to process the sound on a track.
DAWs are capable of many of the same functions of an old-fashioned recording studio setup. And yet there are some things that are only possible in an old-fashioned recording studio and some things that are only possible via a DAW. Modern advanced recording studios have multiple types of DAWs in them and it is not uncommon for a sound engineer and/or musician to travel with a portable DAW of one kind or another.
Perhaps the most significant feature available from a DAW that is not available in analogue recording is the ability to 'undo' a previous action. Undo makes it much easier to avoid accidentally permanently erasing or recording over a previous recording. If a mistake is made, the undo command is used to conveniently revert the changed data to a previous state. Cut, Copy, Paste, and Undo are familiar and common computer commands. As DAWs of all types involve specialised computer "engines" to run, they usually have these common computer commands too.
Commonly DAWs feature some form of automation, often performed through "envelopes". Envelopes are procedural line segment-based or curve-based interactive graphs. The lines and curves of the automation graph are joined by or comprised of adjustable points. By creating and adjusting multiple points along a waveform or control events, the user can specify parameters of the output over time (e.g., volume or pan). Automation data may also be directly derived from human gestures recorded by a control surface or controller. MIDI is a common data protocol used for transferring such gestures to the DAW.
MIDI recording, editing, and playback is increasingly incorporated into modern DAWs of all types.
Synchronization with other audio and/or video tools is another function that DAWs are increasingly capable of.
Integrated
Consist of a mixing console, control surface, audio converter and data storage in one device. Integrated DAWs were more popular before personal computers became powerful enough to run DAW software. As computer power increased and price decreased, the popularity of the costly integrated systems dropped. However, systems such as the Orban Audicy once flourished in the radio and television markets. Today, some systems still offer computerless arranging and recording features with a full graphical user interface, such as the Roland VS series and MV-8000/MV-8800 and recent Mackie HDR-series hard disk recorders.
Development
Musicians and composers long had a desire to integrate stereos, turntables, recording equipment, MIDI keyboards and even electric guitars with computers. Serious computer-based composition tools began to appear with the Atari ST and Amiga computer systems. Enthusiasts continued to seek more integrated, easier-to-use and higher-performance tools for audio creation tasks. Many current DAWs even support integration with video streams allowing full A/V production.
See also: digital audio, digital audio editor, VST (Virtual Studio Technology)
Free and open source software
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There are many free and open-source software programs that can facilitate a DAW. These are often designed to run on a variety of operating systems and are usually developed non-commercially. The Linux Audio Developers Simple Plugin API (LADSPA) plugin architecture, the JACK Audio Connection Kit (JACK) API and the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) soundcard driver represent the 'cutting-edge' in free and open source DAW development for professional audio production.
The development of digital audio for Linux and BSD fostered technologies such as ALSA, which drives audio hardware, and JACK or aRts (analog Real-time synthesizer). JACK allows any JACK-aware audio software to connect to any other audio software running on the system, such as connecting an ALSA- or OSS-driven soundcard to a mixing and editing front-end, like Audacity or Rosegarden. In this way, JACK acts as a virtual audio patch bay, and it can be configured to use a computer's resources in real time, with dedicated memory, and with various options that minimize the DAW's latency. This kind of abstraction and configuration allows DJs to use multiple programs for editing and synthesizing audio streams, or multitasking and duplexing, without the need for analogue conversion, or asynchronous saving and reloading files, and ensures a high level of audio fidelity. Linux and BSD also support the aRts platform, previously distributed with the K desktop environment (KDE). The aRts system is a modular software synthesizer and soundserver that handles system sounds, recording, playback, and other audio tasks within KDE. aRts modules may be assembled in custom configurations using aRts Builder and used in audio production. A comparable proprietary product is ReWire.
- Audacity is a free and open-source digital audio editor that can run on Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, and Linux; it is particularly popular in the podcast community, and also has a large following among the visually-impaired due to its keyboard interface.
- Macaw is a public domain source code music program that runs on Microsoft Windows. It features a large number of built in instrument synthesizers and effects, and it can load and play soundfonts.
- Rosegarden is a multi-featured audio application designed for KDE that includes audio mixing plugins, a notation editor, and MIDI matrix editor. The MusE Sequencer is a similarly featured audio application that includes an audio mixer, MIDI sequencer, and soundserver that has been developed for Linux systems not running the K Desktop Environment.
Other open-source programs include virtual synthesizers and MIDI controllers, such as those provided by FluidSynth and TiMidity. Both can load Soundfonts to expand the voices and instruments available for synthesis and expand the ports and channels available to synthesizers. Such virtualization allows users to expand the traditional limitations of ADC-DAC hardware.
The Linux Audio Development (LAD) mailing list is a major driving force in developing standards, such as the LADSPA plugin architecture, for free and open systems. The Virtual Studio Technology (VST) plugin standard is supported as an option by some such programs but is generally implemented as a separate plugin, not a built-in option, due to Steinberg's licensing scheme. Among others, the creators of Audacity provide an optional, somewhat minimalist, VST-to-LADSPA bridge plugin for their software, but it is a separate download.
More information about these is available:
See also
Commercial systems
- Ableton Live
- ACID Pro
- Adobe Audition
- Cakewalk Sonar
- Digital Performer
- FL Studio
- GarageBand
- Logic Pro
- Nuendo
- Orion Platinum
- PreSonus Studio One
- Pro Tools
- PyramiX virtual studio
- REAPER
- Renoise
- Soundtrack Pro
- Steinberg Cubase
- Tracktion
- Zynewave Podium
- Harrison Mixbus
References
External links
- Introduction to DAW by Mitch Gallagher at Sweetwater Sound.
- "Workstation Blues", an article about DAW systems (circa 1990) by Roger Nichols
- WikiRecording's Guide to Digital Audio Workstations (DAWs)
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
