Topic: How well known is Podium in the DAW world?

Hmm, I don’t know about rating with numbers here. Nothing wrong with that, but I think I’d rather just post my opinion in general. I’ve given this whole issue an awful lot of thought, probably starting from the day I decided to license my Podium and give it a full go as my main DAW. Like every other DAW I’ve tested or used at any length, I soon found that I really need a two-DAW situation to get everything I need done, but I’ll say exactly the same for REAPER and any other I’ve had (I’m originally a Cubase refugee).

After long consideration, this is my stance on Zynewave and this wonderful Podium:

If Frits seemed to me to really want to push this product hard and had some kind of clear plan and rough schedule of coming improvements, then I would talk this Podium up a lot more than I do. As it is now, I’ll mention Podium in various threads where people are discussing which other DAWs they use and like. More and more infrequently, I’ll also say a few brief words about why I like Podium so much.

But I am somewhat double-minded about this. Honestly, as I’ve reached the stage of knowing just about everything about Podium, I’d just as soon that certain other musicians didn’t know about it. I suppose if I were just engineering somewhere — just another cog in the gears of some big studio crew — I wouldn’t care at all about what software anyone uses, but since I am still in the business as a musician and a creative artist I have become much less outgoing and public about the things I use to achieve the sounds I seek.

I’m even guilty of subterfuge — you’ve got people raving on about some instrument, FX or especially some touted brand of plugins, and I don’t even bother to chime in and explain any weaknesses I’ve found or what crap the software might be. I say, wow! buy it! — let them spend $400-500 on a DAW that doesn’t work any better than Podium (some, far worse!) and let them spend $200 and up for ‘name’ plugins when I have free or $20 ones that actually work better. How comical and sad to see people waste loads of money and their time, then read them fanboi about it in some ridiculous thread.

This reticence doesn’t apply to friends and colleagues, but I apply this to items beyond Podium. I’ll post cool discoveries, whether effects or instruments I’ve come across, in the Zynewave Forums here but won’t bother to say even a word on any other boards. Of course, some of the more active forums don’t need much ‘help’; even so, I find things get overlooked sometimes on these. Another reason is attitude — I believe very strongly in the command to not ‘throw pearls to swine’, and the sort of behavior I find in some places encourages me to avoid any mention of anything that might give a leg up. It’s just not worth the trouble, if you ask me. I don’t look at music as a competition, but it must be admitted that there is a competitive nature and especially in our current era.

So, if Frits and the small, dedicated and rather quiet lot of you are content to have Podium cruise along somewhat ‘under the radar’ just like it does these days, then I am most happy to oblige.

Some very valid points you have here that I am overlooking. Certainly, I think we would all like to see Frits atop a powerful little company and doing great financially. Exposure and use leads to many things, the most basic of which is possibly price support. Let’s be honest, as both DAWs Podium and REAPER are worth (my estimate) more like $200 as is at the very least. Just compare them with some of the other junk that is out there.

Next, greater interest and purchase always leads to something. I would expect a course of improvements in features, perhaps a half dozen or so big and small each year over the next few years. I really tend to forget about this most likely scenario.

I mentioned licensing only in passing. First, I had no real choice; I can’t risk running any DAW on a single core. My audio computer is doing ‘okay’ but I’m constantly pushing its dual core to the edge, and I truly need to replace it later this year. (Here comes another season of ramen noodles and peanut butter sandwiches.) The other thing was that I am a sucker for cheap software. I can’t tell you how many $20 to $30 synths I’ve picked up along the way. They drop some $100+ thing down cheap and I’ll buy it. Considering how pretty Podium appeared, back before I even knew how well-thought out it was, buying it was without a second thought.

Yes, I completely agree, it has some real eye-poking features missing, but so does REAPER, another DAW that costs less than a night out on the town or a dinner for two. The more I’ve tried and seen the other much more expensive options the more things I have found these others lacking. Face it, they are all flawed, a few of them horribly. Just for good example, the source code for Cakewalks’ SONAR is so old the newer devs don’t even know what they’re doing half the time. What exciting new bugs they create every time they go in to ‘fix’ something!

If I had the time, or perhaps someday I will, I want to post a concise list of all the things wrong with, let’s say, the top-selling or most popular dozen DAWs. I really think it would blow the average newbie’s mind.