This thread is very interesting. It's been extremely instructive for me to read the song project workflow of so many forum members and to discover the different daw preferences.

I've got to admit that, for the most part, I have no daw preference. Everyone I've tried over the years felt overwhelming and could not maintain my interest long enough for me to begin to feel comfortable. I've used Sony Acid, Cockos Reaper, Cubase, RealBand and Music Creator. Each has it's own set of strengths and weaknesses. As someone mentioned earlier it's like choosing a car or an instrument; one will fit like a glove while others will never fit. It's the trying to find the "fits like a glove" daw that's frustrating to me.

Presently, I'm using BiaB to initially find the tempo, key signature and structure of a song. I try to use midi based styles to create a very simple two or three instrument, mono backing track.
The backing track is converted to audio and imported into my Zoom MRS-8 digital eight track recorder. The recorder is used to record whatever instrument or vocal tracks I choose to record. For me, this hardware recorder works as the built-in mic, battery or a/c power, built-in drum and bass machine and the signal chain effects althorythms are functional but powerful tools.
The audio tracks are exported to Audacity for editing and some effects processing.
At least one of the audio tracks is imported into RealBand through the Audio Chord Wizard. I may use the results or may chose to use the SGU file instead.
For RealBand I believe the most important choice is deciding what instruments comprise "the band". Once that decision is made the selection of RealTracks becomes much more manageable.
Multiple styles, RealTracks, instrument specific chord charts and midi instruments are used to create "master" instrument audio tracks.
I've been trying to learn RealBand better and use the built-in effects but usually I'll get frustrated and finish adding effects and mixing in Audacity.

As you can tell my work flow is still a work-in-progress.

Jim Fogle - 2024 BiaB (1111) RB (5) Ultra+ PAK
DAWs: Cakewalk by BandLab (CbB) - Standalone: Zoom MRS-8
Laptop: i3 Win 10, 8GB ram 500GB HDD
Desktop: i7 Win 11, 12GB ram 256GB SSD, 4 TB HDD
Music at: https://fogle622.wix.com/fogle622-audio-home