Getting to know you all! What's your go to instrument in your DAW?

[elerimorgan]

Thank you so much to everyone who is taking the time to reply and share on this question!

It is so lovely to read all about how you guys work!

[Noisy_Little_Higgins]

Go to, on average - Native Instruments Noir piano. I’ve got it templated for nice dry settings (nice by my amateur ear). You can’t beat the range of a piano you getting your basic idea down with one instrument. I mostly program in the DAW as my keyboard skills are poor, but runs/ostinati/etc I’ll do by hand at a slower tempo so it’s more humanised.

But, that’s on average. I do a lot of blocking out in MuseScore rather than my DAW so I can see the notes properly when doing orchestral based-stuff, but it’ll be the built-in piano again to keep it simple. Anything a bit more electronic and I’m reaching instantly for Vital and the DAW’s stock 909 drum kit, I find I can get sound design up and running with Vital really quickly and I feel stock 909s sound good enough dry to get cracking.

But, I’m a poor musician so probably do the opposite of what I do

[mickkiss2005]

Hello Eleri,
I have a old yamaha clavinova which I set to piano or strings and just play around with the record button on, I all so use musescore 4 to do most of my composing on, I’ll normally set up a string orchestra and go from there

[marcusmanderson]

Tough one for me…very rarely do I open the DAW without knowing what I’m making.

Since I’m mostly creating to briefs/customs, I either have a reference already or I find/make my own references.

Sometimes I start with piano. Sometimes strings. Sometimes drums. Sometimes just trailer fx.

Sometimes it’s fun. Sometimes it’s work. LOL

[Michael_Urquhart]

I agree drones can be very inspiring sketching out…

[Bob_Stark]

great topic!

Because of what I get called for, I usually start with the Hammersmith (sonic couture) piano, Trillian Acoustic Bass and the XLN Addictive Drums. It’s usually an Americana or something slightly jazz tinged.

If I’m working on my own material, it’s the Arturia Prophet5 (I grew up with the real thing so I know my way through it inside and out) and a Strat with a volume pedal. I know the Strat isn’t in the DAW, but it’ll end up there!

[ghyschur]

Native Instruments Razor, Space Drone, and Image Line Harmor are equally my go to. I have Serum 1 and 2, Massive, Cyclop, tons of Kontakt; but I just need my own recordings, and these plugins to get my ideas across bare minimum. Razor for spaceship sounds, Space Drone and a stock EQ to make wind tunnels, and Harmor to turn my trash recordings into atmospheres.

[tuner1993]

Interesting question. Never really thought about it before but I now realise I always start with hardware, mostly a guitar but could be a synth too. The DAW comes later when I have a basic idea to start with. In the DAW it’ll mostly start with either a piano (no firm go-to, whichever one fits the mood…) or strings (likewise, no firm go-to). But more recently I started making my own decent sampler instruments so increasingly I use them as a starting off point too.