Since I know nothing about navigating a DAW, I'm thinking of starting with something like Audacity.
Traditionally, DAWs are based on what was once called a MIDI sequencer (no audio recording, they just played back MIDI gear). Audio recording into a typical computer wasn't really feasible until well into the '90s - computers simply couldn't handle the data fast enough.
I had the highest end Mac of the early DAW years running Sound Designer II, the precursor to Pro Tools. It could barely run two channels.
For a long time, both sequencers and DAWs either fit into the paradigm of a linear tape machine, or the paradigm of the drum machine, where sections of songs (in Logic 'regions') could be strung together to create an arrangement.
DAWs like Pro Tools, Digital Performer, and Universal Audio's Luna are examples of the linear tape machine paradigm; Logic is an example of the drum machine-style paradigm that allows for very fast creation of arrangements, repeated parts, etc.
At this point in time, these have all adopted features of the other paradigm, so they are all able to do very similar things. Some do these alternate things faster than others. But the basic operations still have some differences.
Now, of course, there is Ableton, which is yet another popular paradigm, where bits and pieces were originally strung together by pressing buttons on a controller.
All of these are equally desirable, they're simply different in concept.
If you're used to using tape, it might be easier to understand basic operations in a program like Pro Tools, DP, or others based on the tape machine paradigm.
Whether it's easy to get your head around a different paradigm like Logic's is dependent on how your brain conceptualizes things. I can do both, having spent 2/3 of my career with Digital Performer (and occasionally Pro Tools), and a third with Logic.
But Logic was hard for me at first, because I was used to the linear tape machine paradigm. It took me a few weeks to learn it, despite being expert at DP. At some point the light bulb went on in my head and I understood what it was about. Now I fly on it.
I don't know
what the hell to do in Ableton at all.
Logic now has an alternate method of operating that works like Ableton. I'm mystified by it. I don't think that way. My son loves it, though; it's huge in pop production.
In any case, if you understand what the developers were thinking of as the paradigm for the software, you can make a choice that may be easier for you to learn.
Sounds to me like you're used to the tape machine and how it operates. You might want to concentrate on DAWs based on virtual linear tape operation if that makes more sense to you.
I have no idea at all which paradigm DAWs other than Pro Tools, Luna, Digital Performer and Logic are based on, so I can't make any suggestions. Cubase might be similar to Logic in concept, but I'm not sure. Logic was originally by Emagic, a German company, as was Cubase, and something tells me these were similar in concept.
People tend to get the DAW that looks slick, or that their friends recommend, or that's free, but the fact that someone else finds it easy to work one way or the other doesn't mean you will get your head around the concepts the way someone else does, because we're all different. Understanding this will save you a lot of mental wear and tear.
