As late as 2005 stories were emerging of soldiers who still thought the Second World War had not ended. One story from the Guardian newspaper claimed two Japanese soldiers appearing from a jungle still thinking they were still fighting WWII.
'DAW Wars' is an expression that has existed for many years and speaks of those who assert that one DAW is better than the other, in fact in some cases that one DAW fulfils all needs. These kind of arguments are not exclusive to the world of recording, you will find them playing out in the world of computers, cars - in fact, any arena where you have passionate fans.
The DAW Wars Are Over
I want to suggest that the war is over.
Your next question may be to ask who won? All of us!
What does that mean? It means that partly due to a maturing of the technology offering more than ever for less money and also to many of us growing up, we can now have everything we need but not from one DAW. Many of us use two and sometimes three different DAWs to get the job done, and even with proprietary file formats, it's not that hard to jump between different DAWs when necessary.
Owning two DAWs is not a new thing, some of you will remember the TDM option for Logic launched in 2004, offering those who used both Pro Tools TDM hardware and Logic compatibility. One would assume they were jumping between Pro Tools and Logic. For many years Pro Tools users have used ReWire technology to bring Reason and other ReWire-compatible DAWs into Pro Tools.
What we have also seen is many DAW developers carving out a niche, not only for certain users but also for certain uses. Some DAWs are ideal for music production while others are perfect for post production. I dare not suggest which is which for fear of starting another debate about which DAW does which job best. It seems that many developers have stopped trying to be all things to all men and concentrate on the main strengths that they are best at - and that can only be a good thing.
As we've said for many years on Pro Tools Expert 'the best DAW is the one that works for you.' In many cases, that is more than one DAW.
One factor preventing some from using more than one DAW has been the time it takes to learn a second DAW - even that has got a lot easier with most DAWs working in a similar fashion and many developers offering custom keyboard shortcuts mitigating the need to learn another set of keyboard shortcuts.
Come Out Of Your Jungle
So if you think that DAW wars are still raging then you can come out of the jungle, dare I suggest that's a group you spend too much time in online which perpetuates the myth and instead enjoy the benefits of a pluralistic DAW world.
For many people using more than one DAW can be liberating. Do you need to use more than one DAW? Only you can make the decision based on your needs - the good news is that it's now easier than ever!