Digital audio workstation adoption varies sharply by audience. In the 2024 Production Expert poll, Pro Tools represented 24.56% of music-user selections and Logic Pro 13.39%, while a Japanese DTM ranking placed Cubase first at 39.8%. These are survey shares, not global installed-base estimates: each source measures a different population, geography, and question design.
Contents
- What the professional baseline shows
- 2024 music-production DAW shares
- How music DAW shares moved from 2023 to 2024
- Role and operating-system patterns in Turkey
- What each DAW’s Turkish user profile looks like
- Tenure, spatial audio, and mobile adoption
- A Japanese DTM comparison
What the professional baseline shows
The 2023 Production Expert poll gives useful context for interpreting DAW adoption among working audio respondents. Seventy-one percent said they earned all or some of their income from audio work. The audience covered 6,601 audio professionals from 107 countries, according to the survey notes, so the results describe an internationally distributed professional-facing sample rather than every DAW user.
Nearly one-third of respondents said they used Pro Tools for music production all or some of the time. Nearly one-fifth reported using Apple Logic Pro for music production all or some of the time. Because the poll allowed respondents to select more than one DAW, these figures describe reported use and can overlap; they should not be added as though they were exclusive market shares. Production Expert’s 2023 DAW User Survey is the source for these figures.
Post-production showed a different concentration. About two-thirds of the 2023 Production Expert post-production respondents reported using Pro Tools. Fairlight had 7% adoption in that post-production group, while the Other category represented 12% of responses. The comparison indicates that a DAW’s reported adoption depends strongly on the work being performed: music-production usage and post-production usage are separate views of the same broad software category.
2024 music-production DAW shares
Production Expert’s 2024 poll had more than 5,000 respondents and asked music users about DAW selection. Avid Pro Tools led the named choices at 24.56%, followed by Apple Logic Pro at 13.39% and PreSonus Studio One at 9.09%. The remaining named products each accounted for less than 6% of music-user responses.
| DAW or category | 2024 music-user share |
|---|---|
| Avid Pro Tools | 24.56% |
| Apple Logic Pro | 13.39% |
| PreSonus Studio One | 9.09% |
| Ableton Live | 5.94% |
| Steinberg Cubase | 5.72% |
| Cockos REAPER | 4.87% |
| Universal Audio LUNA | 4.18% |
| Reason | 2.09% |
| Steinberg Nuendo | 2.01% |
| Cakewalk | 1.30% |
| FL Studio | 1.01% |
| Bitwig Studio | 1.01% |
| Digital Performer | 0.89% |
| Other | 2.84% |
The 2024 distribution has a clear leading product, but it also includes a long tail of tools used by smaller portions of the surveyed music audience. REAPER and LUNA were each below 5%, while Reason and Nuendo were close to 2%. Cakewalk, FL Studio, and Bitwig Studio were each near 1%, and Digital Performer was below 1%. These are the percentages reported for Production Expert’s respondent pool, not estimates of worldwide software installations. The source is Production Expert’s 2024 DAW User Survey.
How music DAW shares moved from 2023 to 2024
The same Production Expert comparison reports year-over-year percentage-point changes for several music-user selections. Pro Tools increased 2.38 percentage points, from 22.18% in 2023 to 24.56% in 2024. LUNA increased 1.14 points, from 3.04% to 4.18%, while Studio One increased 0.21 points, from 8.88% to 9.09%.
| DAW | 2023 | 2024 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pro Tools | 22.18% | 24.56% | +2.38 percentage points |
| Logic Pro | 13.35% | 13.39% | +0.04 percentage points |
| Studio One | 8.88% | 9.09% | +0.21 percentage points |
| Ableton Live | 7.50% | 5.94% | −1.56 percentage points |
| Cubase | 6.55% | 5.72% | −0.83 percentage points |
| LUNA | 3.04% | 4.18% | +1.14 percentage points |
| Reason | 2.45% | 2.09% | −0.36 percentage points |
| FL Studio | 1.66% | 1.01% | −0.65 percentage points |
Ableton Live had the largest listed decrease, falling 1.56 percentage points from 7.50% to 5.94%. Cubase declined 0.83 points, from 6.55% to 5.72%; FL Studio declined 0.65 points, from 1.66% to 1.01%; and Reason declined 0.36 points, from 2.45% to 2.09%. Logic Pro was nearly unchanged, moving only 0.04 points from 13.35% to 13.39%.
These movements should be read as changes within the Production Expert poll between 2023 and 2024. They do not establish a global growth rate, because the notes identify different annual respondent totals and the figures come from a survey that permits multiple DAW selections.
Role and operating-system patterns in Turkey
Ufuk Önen’s 9th Annual 2024 Turkish DAW Usage Survey ran from November 18, 2024, to January 16, 2025, and included 1,247 respondents. In that survey, 51% were professionally involved in music production, 44% pursued music production as a hobby, and 5% worked in post-production for visual media.
Operating-system adoption was 57% Windows and 43% macOS. This overall split helps explain why individual DAW profiles can look very different from the aggregate. Logic Pro’s platform availability is reflected in its macOS-heavy user distribution, while FL Studio and Studio One had substantial Windows representation in the same Turkish sample. The survey source is Ufuk Önen’s 2024 Turkish DAW Usage Survey.
Logic Pro received 21% of all votes in the Turkish survey. Its share rose to 49% among macOS users, 47% among professional macOS users, and 61% among hobbyist macOS users. FL Studio received 19% of all votes, and Studio One received 18%. These are vote shares in this Turkish survey, not directly comparable global adoption rates.
What each DAW’s Turkish user profile looks like
The Turkish results also connect product choice with platform and role. Ninety-five percent of FL Studio users worked on Windows. Within the FL Studio group, 48% were professionals and 52% were hobbyists. Studio One users were 78% Windows users.
Cubase received 13% of all votes. Seventy-six percent of Cubase users worked on Windows, and the Cubase group was split into 57% professionals, 42% hobbyists, and 2% post-production respondents. The reported role percentages are rounded and may not sum exactly to 100%.
Ableton Live users were 58% macOS users. Their role split was 55% professional, 44% hobbyist, and 1% post-production. Pro Tools users were 80% macOS users, but Pro Tools’ role-specific preference differed substantially: it was selected by 8% of Turkish music-production professionals and 54% of Turkish post-production respondents.
Taken together, these figures show why a single ranking can conceal important user segments. A DAW may have one overall vote share, a different operating-system profile, and a much stronger position in post-production than in music production. The Turkish measurements cover the November 18, 2024–January 16, 2025 survey period and should be kept within that population and timeframe.
Tenure, spatial audio, and mobile adoption
The Turkish survey also measured how long respondents had used their primary DAW. Thirty-six percent had used it for 1–3 years, while 29% had used it for 4–6 years. These categories describe respondent tenure, not the age of the software products or the length of time users have worked in audio overall.
Spatial-audio adoption was still a minority position in the overall Turkish sample. Eight percent reported currently working with Dolby Atmos in 2024. Another 21% had experienced Dolby Atmos, and 52% of that subgroup planned to incorporate it into their workflows. Among Turkish post-production respondents, 47% were already working with Dolby Atmos. The subgroup result is therefore much higher than the overall figure, consistent with the different role mix measured by the survey.
Mobile DAW use was also limited in the same results: 73% of participants said they did not use a DAW on mobile devices. This is a reported behavior measure for the Turkish respondents, not a forecast about future mobile adoption and not an installed-app count.
A Japanese DTM comparison
Sleepfreaks’ 2024 ranking provides a separate geography and population: 3,867 Japanese DTM respondents. It reported both counts and percentages for the main-plus-sub DAW ranking. Cubase was used by 1,538 respondents, or 39.8%, followed by Studio One with 1,029 respondents, or 26.6%. Logic Pro was used by 843 respondents, or 21.8%.
Ableton Live reached 402 respondents, or 10.4%, and FL Studio reached 282 respondents, or 7.3%. The ranking is useful as a Japan-specific comparison, but it should not be merged with the Production Expert or Ufuk Önen results. Sleepfreaks’ 2024 popular DAW ranking measures Japanese DTM respondents and uses its own main-plus-sub counting approach.
Across these surveys, the most consistent lesson is methodological: DAW adoption statistics become meaningful only when the population, geography, period, role, and question wording are kept visible. Production Expert shows a professional-facing international poll, Ufuk Önen shows role and platform patterns in Turkey, and Sleepfreaks shows a Japanese DTM ranking. Their percentages describe those samples rather than a single worldwide installed base.