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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 both analog to digital ( ADC ) and digital to analog ( DAC ) converters. For example a digital 8-track system could have eight discrete inputs, and a certain number of outputs — perhaps only Stereo output for playback and monitoring. Because "tracks" are symbolic in the digital medium, multitrack systems could have only a pair of mono inputs and outputs — the discrete audio inputs and outputs provide for Simultaneous Multitrack ing capability, whereas limited inputs require Audio Mixing or later Overdub bing. A professional DAC performs the same function as a common Sound Card , but is generally an external and sometimes rackmounted unit which offers the advantage of far less Noise ( Hum , Static ), higher recorded Resolution , and better Dynamic Range , 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 more powerful systems which at minimum have high-quality external ADC-DAC hardware, and some usable audio software, some of which is commercial such as Pro Tools and Logic Pro , some of which is Free Software such as Audacity or Ardour . DAWs generally come in two varieties:
HISTORY The first ever system to function as a digital audio workstation was first developed by Soundstream Inc. in the late 1970s. It utilized a Digital PDP-11/60 Minicomputer running custom software written in-house by Soundstream for digital audio editing and for digitally adding audio effects such as crossfades. Audio on the system was stored on Disk Pack drives connected to the 11/60, with the audio being transferred onto the drives digitally from Soundstream's digital audio tape recorders of their own design, using a special tape-to-disk interface also of the company's own design. Soundstream also developed a digital-to-analog interface for this system for interfacing to conventional analog tape recorders as well. In the late 1980s, computers that were available on the consumer level, such as the Apple Macintosh , started to have enough power to handle the task of digital audio editing. One such company that realized this was Digidesign , who introduced in 1987 the first hardware & software package for a personal computer for editing audio (and the predecessor to the now-industry standard Pro Tools system) called Sound Tools for the Macintosh, which would later be renamed to Pro Tools I. DEVELOPMENT Musicians and Composers long had a desire to integrate stereos, Turntable s, Recording equipment, MIDI keyboards and even Electric Guitar s 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) Commercial systems Consolidation and commoditization in the commercial space has left Pro Tools by Digidesign as the de-facto standard for multi-track production on Mac OS and Windows. The main competitors in the semi-professional space are Apple Logic and MOTU Digital Performer, however both products are Mac-only. Nuendo and Cubase suffered from fragmented development and marketing and a recent bout of "pass the potato." Despite a rapid fan base many were surprised to learn that Steinberg was running at a significant loss, even canceling an IPO . In under a year the products were acquired by Pinnacle, then spun off again prior to Digidesign/AVID acquiring Pinnacle, and are now owned by Yamaha. Steinberg's VST standard lives on, and is supported by all commercial DAW products in some fashion (additional third party adapters are sometimes required), as well as some open source packages. Apple has developed an alternative to the VST plug-in standard for OS X based Macintosh systems. This new standard, the AudioUnit (AU), has become very popular for Macintosh OS X based DAWs and was designed in some respects to overcome limitations of VST. Sony Sound Forge (acquired from Sonic Foundry ) and Adobe Audition (formerly "Cool Edit Pro" and acquired from Syntrillium) leading products primarily used for single-track editing. Both are only available for Windows. BIAS Peak fills the void on Mac, and Apple's GarageBand incorporates much of the technology of Logic to create a somewhat different take on the DAW for consumer use. Metro is a very competent Macintosh DAW that supports both VST and AU. Reason is cross-platform and has a tremendous installed base. However, the product is primarily an electronic instrument and therefore lacks many of the core features of a DAW and as such requires a DAW for many production tasks. The high end of professional DAWs are dominated by two manufacturers; Sonic Studio, LLC , with their line of cross-platform products, and SADiE , with their Windows-only line of DAWs. Both offer both LPCM and DSD production tools and both provide much higher levels of fidelity than low cost off-the-shelf products. Open source Given the chaos in the commercial marketplace (not to mention the expense of much professional audio editing software), it's not surprising that open source DAWs have flourished. They are free-to-use and often designed to run on a variety of Operating Systems . For example, Audacity is an open-source DAW that can run on Mac OS X , Microsoft Windows , and GNU/Linux ; it is particularly popular in the Podcast community. Ogg Vorbis is an open-source Codec which Audacity supports in addition to Mp3 and Wav Audio File Formats . Open source development of digital audio workstations created technologies such as ALSA drivers and JACK . The Linux Audio Development mailing list, LAD is a major driving force in developing Standards like the LADSPA plugin architecture for Linux systems. The LADSPA Plugin architecture, the JACK API and the ALSA Soundcard driver represent the ' Cutting-edge ' in open source DAW development for professional audio production. Linux and BSD also support the ARts (audio Real-time synthesizer) platform, 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 Module s may be assembled in custom configurations using ARts Builder and used in audio production. The VST plugin standard is supported as an option by some open source 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. COMMON FUNCTIONALITY OF COMPUTER-BASED DAWS Most computer-based DAWs 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. Each track typically has controls that allow the user to adjust the overall Volume and balance (pan) of all of the waveforms contained within the track. The pan control allows the user to adjust the balance between speakers. In addition, Plugins can be placed on a track to process the sound. Another common DAW feature is automation, commonly performed through "envelope points." Each dot represents one envelope point. 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). PRODUCTS Commercial
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