Editing Digital audio workstation (section)

== History ==
Early attempts at digital audio workstations in the 1970s and 1980s faced limitations such as the high price of storage, and the vastly slower processing and disk speeds of the time.

In 1978, [[Soundstream]], who had made one of the first commercially available digital audio tape recorders in 1977, built what could be considered the first digital audio workstation using some of the most current computer hardware of the time.<ref name="Kefauver" />  The ''Digital Editing System'', as Soundstream called it, consisted of a [[PDP-11|DEC PDP-11/60]] minicomputer running a custom software package called DAP (Digital Audio Processor), a Braegen 14"-platter hard disk drive, a [[storage oscilloscope]] to display audio waveforms for editing, and a [[video display terminal]] for controlling the system. Interface cards that plugged into the PDP-11's [[Unibus]] slots (the Digital Audio Interface, or DAI) provided analog and digital audio input and output for interfacing to Soundstream's digital recorders and conventional analog tape recorders. The DAP software could perform edits to the audio recorded on the system's hard disks and produce simple effects such as crossfades.

By the late 1980s, a number of personal computers such as the [[Macintosh]], [[Atari ST]], and [[Amiga]] began to have enough power to handle digital audio editing.  Engineers used [[Macromedia]]'s Soundedit, with Microdeal's [[Replay Professional]] and [[Digidesign]]'s ''Sound Tools'' and ''Sound Designer'' to edit audio samples for sampling keyboards like the [[E-mu Emulator#The Emulator II|E-mu Emulator II]] and the [[Akai S900]]. Soon, people began to use them for simple two-track audio editing and [[audio mastering]].

In 1989, [[Sonic Solutions]] released the first professional (48&nbsp;kHz at 24 bit) disk-based [[Non-linear editing|non-linear audio editing]] system. The [[Macintosh IIfx]]-based Sonic System, based on research done earlier at George Lucas' [[Sprocket Systems]], featured complete [[Compact Disc manufacturing#Premastering|CD premastering]], with integrated control of Sony's industry-standard [[U-matic]] tape-based digital audio editor.

Many major [[recording studios]] switched over to using digital audio after Digidesign introduced its [[Pro Tools]] software in 1991, modeled after the traditional method and signal flow in most analog recording devices. At this time, most DAWs were Apple Mac based (e.g., Pro Tools, Studer Dyaxis, [[Sonic Solutions]]).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Vila |first=Pablo |title=Music and Youth Culture in Latin America |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |pages=226 |language=English}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Théberge |first=Paul |date=1 October 2004 |title=The Network Studio: Historical and Technological Paths to a New Ideal in Music Making |url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0306312704047173 |journal=Social Studies of Science |volume=34 |pages=759–779 |doi=10.1177/0306312704047173 |s2cid=110021371 |via=Sage Journals|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Around 1992, the first Windows-based DAWs started to emerge from companies such as Innovative Quality Software (IQS) (now [[SAWStudio]]), [[Soundscape Digital Technology]], SADiE, Echo Digital Audio, and Spectral Synthesis. All the systems at this point used dedicated hardware for their audio processing.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Heywood |first=Brian |date=1993 |title=SADiE (SOS Jun 1993) |url=http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/sadie/10621 |journal=Sound on Sound |issue=Jun 1993 |pages=132–138}}</ref>

In 1992, Sunrize Industries released the AD516 soundcard for big-box [[Amiga]] computers.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://amiga.resource.cx/exp/ad516|title = Sunrize Industries AD516 - Amiga Hardware Database}}</ref> This allowed up to 8 tracks of 16-bit 48&nbsp;kHz direct-to-disk recording and playback using its Studio 16 software. It could also integrate directly into [[Blue Ribbon Soundworks]]' Bars & Pipes Pro MIDI software or [[NewTek]]'s [[Video Toaster]], thus providing a complete package of [[MIDI]] sequencing and/or video synchronization with non-linear hard disk recording.

In 1993, the German company [[Steinberg]] released [[Cubase|Cubase Audio]] on [[Atari Falcon|Atari Falcon 030]]. This version brought [[Digital signal processor|DSP]] built-in effects with 8-track audio recording and playback using only native hardware. The first Windows-based software-only product, introduced in 1993, was [[Samplitude]] (which already existed in 1992 as an audio editor for the Commodore Amiga).