Electronic music production software adoption is best understood through reported use cases rather than a single market-share figure. In the University of Milan’s worldwide DAW Usage Survey, collected from December 6, 2023, through January 31, 2024, respondents could select multiple software tools, tasks, contexts, and operating systems. The results below therefore describe survey records, not unique-user adoption rates or population estimates.
Contents
- Primary DAW choices
- Electronic-music DAW use cases
- All reported production cases
- Workflow tasks
- Production contexts
- Operating systems
- How to interpret the measurements
Primary DAW choices
The survey’s respondent-level DAW field shows a clear lead for Ableton Live among the listed primary choices. Ableton Live was listed by 161 respondents. Reaper followed with 113, while Logic was listed by 77. Pro Tools appeared for 61 respondents, Cubase for 53, and FL Studio for 41.
The remaining named choices were reported less often. Studio One was listed by 18 respondents, Ardour by 13, and Bitwig Studio by 11. The category Other accounted for 10 responses. Audacity was listed by 8 respondents; Nuendo and GarageBand each appeared 7 times. Adobe Audition appeared 6 times, and Digital Performer 5 times.
These figures come from the raw JSON associated with Data for: DAW Usage Survey (2023), measured from December 6, 2023, to January 31, 2024. They show how often a DAW was listed in the survey’s respondent records. They do not establish that the software was used exclusively, nor do they represent the entire electronic-music creator population.
Electronic-music DAW use cases
Looking specifically at records tagged with an electronic-music context, Ableton Live appeared 204 times. Reaper appeared 116 times, Logic 91 times, Pro Tools 75 times, Cubase 74 times, and FL Studio 65 times. This use-case view differs from the primary-choice view because one respondent or production case could include several tools.
Other software also appeared in these electronic-music-context records. Reason was used in 19 cases, while Audacity and Other each appeared in 18. Ardour and Adobe Audition each appeared 14 times. Studio One appeared 13 times; RX appeared 11 times; WaveLab and Bitwig Studio each appeared 9 times.
| DAW | Primary respondent listings | Electronic-music-context use-case records |
|---|---|---|
| Ableton Live | 161 | 204 |
| Reaper | 113 | 116 |
| Logic | 77 | 91 |
| Pro Tools | 61 | 75 |
| Cubase | 53 | 74 |
| FL Studio | 41 | 65 |
| Studio One | 18 | 13 |
| Ardour | 13 | 14 |
| Bitwig Studio | 11 | 9 |
The comparison is descriptive, not a conversion into percentages. The source records permit multiple selections, and the electronic-music figures count matching use-case field selections. The source label for all of these measurements is Data for: DAW Usage Survey (2023) — 2023_daw_survey.json, covering December 6, 2023, through January 31, 2024.
This distinction is especially important for readers comparing tools across creative roles. A DAW can be a main production environment for one respondent, a secondary tool in another case, or part of a workflow shared with editing, mastering, or sound-design software. The counts show presence in the recorded selections, but they do not reveal how long each tool was used or whether it remained the creator’s preferred software over time. They also do not indicate paid versus free access, version, subscription status, or hardware configuration.
All reported production cases
Across all reported DAW use-case records, Ableton Live appeared 239 times. Reaper appeared 167 times, and Pro Tools appeared 132 times. Logic appeared 124 times, Cubase 105 times, and FL Studio 73 times. These totals include the broader survey’s production cases, rather than only those matching the electronic-music context.
Several additional tools had substantial counts in the all-case view. Audacity appeared 51 times, Adobe Audition 29 times, and Other 26 times. RX appeared 24 times. Because the same use-case structure can include more than one DAW, these counts should be read as occurrences in reported cases. They are not a ranking of licenses sold, active subscriptions, or unique people.
The difference between the primary-choice and all-case measurements is useful when discussing software adoption. A primary DAW listing captures a respondent’s selected main tool. A use-case record can capture software used for a particular production situation and may include multiple tools. The two measurements answer different questions, even when the same products appear near the top of both lists.
Workflow tasks
The electronic-music-context records also show which tasks were selected alongside DAW use. Editing was included in 657 records, making it the most frequent task in this set. Mixing appeared in 628 records. Sequencing and Programming appeared in 562, while Tracking appeared in 515.
Later-stage and exploratory tasks were also represented. Mastering was selected in 434 records, Draft in 418, and Post-production in 366. Live performance appeared in 248 records.
These measurements suggest that electronic-music software was associated with a broad workflow rather than one narrow activity. Editing and mixing were the most frequently recorded tasks in this survey subset, while sequencing and programming also appeared often. The figures do not measure hours spent, task quality, revenue, or the proportion of users who completed a task. They count selected task fields in electronic-music-context use cases.
The task counts come from the University of Milan source dataset, Data for: DAW Usage Survey (2023), for the December 6, 2023–January 31, 2024 measurement period. Since multiple tasks could be selected for one case, the task values should not be added together as a total number of productions.
Production contexts
The survey’s electronic-production context fields extend beyond a single genre label. The raw records contain 820 use-case mentions for Music (Electronic). Sound design accounts for 469 mentions, and Sampling for 425. Soundtrack appears in 327 mentions, while Sound art appears in 285.
| Production context | Use-case mentions |
|---|---|
| Music (Electronic) | 820 |
| Sound design | 469 |
| Sampling | 425 |
| Soundtrack | 327 |
| Sound art | 285 |
These context counts help explain why software-use totals should not be treated as a simple electronic-music market-share table. A creator may report electronic music, sound design, sampling, soundtrack work, or sound art within overlapping use cases. The context values are therefore measurements of reported selections, not mutually exclusive segments.
The source describes 613 respondent records and 1,371 DAW use-case records in the raw survey. The 820, 469, 425, 327, and 285 context figures count matching field selections within those records. They do not indicate that 820 unique people produced electronic music, and they should not be interpreted as forecasts.
Operating systems
Operating-system selections in electronic-music-context DAW use cases were concentrated on Mac and Windows. Mac appeared in 423 cases, while Windows appeared in 348. Linux appeared in 38 cases.
| Operating system | Electronic-music-context cases |
|---|---|
| Mac | 423 |
| Windows | 348 |
| Linux | 38 |
The operating-system measurements provide context for software adoption, but they do not measure installed-base share. They count operating systems attached to electronic-music DAW use-case records. Multiple software tools, tasks, contexts, and operating systems could be represented across the survey’s records, so the operating-system values are not a complete census of electronic-music producers.
How to interpret the measurements
The survey is worldwide, but its records are heavily represented by Italy. That geographic composition matters when using the figures to understand electronic music production software. The results are descriptive survey measurements from the stated collection period, not population estimates for the world, a country, or the whole music-production market.
The source also distinguishes respondent records from use-case records. The raw JSON contains 613 respondent records and 1,371 DAW use-case records. Primary DAW figures refer to listed respondent choices, while electronic-music DAW, task, context, and operating-system figures refer to selected fields in matching use cases. Those units should not be mixed as though they were the same denominator.
For that reason, Ableton Live’s 161 primary listings and 204 electronic-music-context appearances should not be described as a percentage of all creators. Likewise, the 820 Music (Electronic) context mentions should not be added to the 469 Sound design mentions to create an adoption total. The measurements are most useful as a structured snapshot of which tools and workflows appeared in the survey during December 6, 2023, through January 31, 2024.
All figures in this article are from Data for: DAW Usage Survey (2023) — 2023_daw_survey.json, an open University of Milan raw JSON survey dataset. The source period and survey design should be retained whenever these statistics are cited.