Grow Your Knowledge
Audio, MIDI, Music Production, Live Performance general knowledge and tip & tricks
Grow Your Knowledge
- A Beginner's Guide To How Digital Audio Works
- What do VST, AU, AAX, and AUv3 stand for?
- What does USB Class Compliant mean?
- What is a DAW and what is a host? Is there a difference between the two?
- What is a plug-in in music production?
- What is audio latency? How do I fix latency issues while recording?
- What is Core Audio? What is ASIO?
- What is MIDI? What is CC?
- What is VST? What's the difference between VST, VST2, and VST3?
What is a DAW and what is a host? Is there a difference between the two?
One of the first terms a beginner music producer will stumble upon early on their musical journey is "DAW". Sometimes, it’s easy to get confused because it can seem like the terms host and DAW are used interchangeably when actually, there’s a big difference between the two.
DAW is an acronym that stands for Digital Audio Workstation. A DAW is a program allowing you to produce music. There are many DAWs available on the market. How you’ll choose the right one for you depends on a few factors:
- the operating system running on your computer (Mac or Windows)
- your budget
- your experience
- the type of music you wish to create
Some examples of free DAWs are Garageband (Mac only) and Cakewalk (Windows only).
A host is simply a program that allows you to run audio plug-ins.
These programs can be DAWs but there are also many host programs that are not DAWs and are used to run audio plug-ins during live performances—for example, our very own Camelot Pro.