CloudBasedDAW

ThoughtStorms Wiki

https://www.audiotool.com/ is an old one I'm currently working on getting GoldenPond working with
https://opendaw.org/ is from the same author but more modern. I'll try to get to that too.
Strudel is the most prominent browser-based LiveCoding app these days.

Quora Answer : Is there a cloud based music production solution, not a DAW alone per se but rather a dedicated or shared dedicated server with one or more of the more popular DAWs available to choose from wherein each is already loaded with vst & samples?

May 1, 2020

I agree with Benedict Roff-Marsh's logic (see what I did there?) that suggests it's not a good business model for DAW makers.

OTOH, if I understand correctly, Splice offers "rentable VST plugins" which you can start using right away for a monthly fee. (And then you keep them when you've paid them off, so it's a "hire-purchase" scheme)

Many of the big VSTs these days are inherently tethered into the cloud (for accessing sounds / sample banks etc.)

I don't think it's in principle impossible for one of the big DAW makers to jump to a cloud-service model. Much as Adobe has done for Photoshop and Microsoft is trying to do with Office.

However, that seems to be a strategy that companies do when they are already the monopolist, and their main competition is piracy.

Possibly with the DAW makers, as well as not liking the model themselves, they ALSO realize that it may not be so good for users. And as they are still in competition with each other, they don't risk trying it.

I was wrong, clearly DAW-makers are keen to become cloud-based. FLStudio is putting a lot of its new efforts into its cloud : https://www.image-line.com/fl-cloud

On a personal level I'm in two minds about this. As a user / customer I don't like the cloud model because it's about trying to get more money from me. Also FL Studio has a weird, and very good deal, which is that when you buy it, upgrades are free. Well I bought it over 10 years ago and have been getting free-as-in-beer upgrades ever since. Which is obviously great for me. Now the more effort Image-Line put into their cloud and selling me a subscription to that, the less they'll be putting into those free upgrades to the main product, so I'll be losing out.

OTOH they ARE still doing some nice free upgrades right now, and if cloud subscribers (which I'm not) are helping fund that, that's obviously very good for me. So I think Image Line are a good enough company that they deserve to do well. If that means charge cloud rents to other people without me having to pay any more, that's obviously in my interest. So I totally understand the pull towards cloud. I probably won't use. And would certainly be righteously pissed off if they try to force me to use it. But yeah, if that works for them and some new customers, and continues to fund continuous improvements of the core product which I keep getting for free, I can't complain or hold it against them.

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