Digital Audio Workstations

A Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) is an electronic system designed solely or primarily for recording, editing and playing back digital audio.

Dr. Robert Moog was the pioneer of the analog synthesizer. His visionary work is recognized by all who participated at the leading edge of music synthesis.

As personal computing became even more personal over the years, we saw complex tasks becoming simpler and easier as big, clunky equipment got smaller, faster, lighter and considerably less expensive.

Take the Digital Audio Workstation (DAW), for instance. DAWs are computer-based systems designed to digitally record, play back and edit audio tracks. Previous recording systems were primarily “analog” in nature, recording sound waves onto tapes. The introduction of the DAW marked the first big step into the realm of modern digital recording, converting sound into digital data (and back) for more precise recording and easier editing.

The first integrated DAWs, however, relied heavily on expensive hardware for digital processing. Although DAWs were already prevalent in many parts of the world in the early 90s, their reliance on fancy and costly external digital signal processors (DSP) placed them sadly beyond the reach of common PC users and struggling musicians like, well, us. As such, DAWs were seen only inside big-ass recording studios at the time.

Then, in 1996, Hamburg-based German company Steinberg released Cubase VST, a groundbreaking piece of audio software that totally revolutionized tapeless, multi-track PC recording. In its first version, Cubase was already capable of recording, playing back and editing up to 32 tracks of digital audio on an Apple Macintosh without the need for elaborate DSP hardware. Cubase VST featured a graphical interface that simulated actual recording consoles and mixers, complete with the standard knobs and switches found in analog recording boards. This was a first in audio recording software and all the other DAW software makers modeled their subsequent releases on this trailblazing Cubase interface.

Slowly but surely, digital multi-track recording became more accessible with lowly PC systems as professional-quality digital recording software became more prevalent and audio interface hardware became much smaller and markedly cheaper.

M-Audio Fast Track USB: A DAW essential
The next logical step is to look for an inexpensive gadget that would allow you to hook up guitars and microphones to your system. The minuscule and inexpensive M-Audio Fast Track USB, an audio interface peripheral that doubles as an external soundcard.

Now, so many underground bands record their material using either their own makeshift DAWs or those of their peers, with results comparable to mainstream releases. Proving that technology has indeed become the great equalizer, independent musicians are now capable of coming out with albums whose audio quality can rival those recorded by major label artists in fancy and expensive recording studios.

Modern PC recording technology has given struggling musicians a relatively inexpensive way to document their artistry and get their music heard. But as easy as it is now to be heard, it’s still a difficult thing to ensure that what we put out makes any kind of difference in the world. For at the end of the day, it’s still the music that matters.