Choosing a DAW by Collaboration and Exchange
Decide what must stay editable first, then pick the interchange format and the host that supports it.
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- 2026-10-30
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The first step in choosing for collaboration is not choosing software. It is asking what the other person must change. Balance only, send stems. Move clips, send an interchange file. Change notes, send a score. Each answer points to a different host.
What you are deciding
Ask how deep the other side must edit: balance, timing, notes or trigger logic. Ask about versions and plug-ins: same host, same major version, same plug-ins. Ask about delivery media: file size, embedded or referenced audio, and which drive carries it.
The decision table
For picture post, export AAF from Pro Tools, keeping clip positions, levels and fades. For arranging and composition, use MusicXML, which Dorico, Sibelius and MuseScore all read. For a remote mixer, send stems with timecode, all at 48 kHz and 24 bit, starting at 0:00. For a game team, exchange Wwise or FMOD projects and bank versions with an event list. For a stage handoff, supply a project copy, a scene list and a spare machine.
Three cases
A short film to sound post: bounce the music in Cubase or Logic Pro, export AAF plus a reference video, confirm start timecode and frame rate, and attach a music cue sheet. A co-arranger abroad: send the melody as MusicXML for Dorico or Sibelius to engrave, send audio as stems, and never send the whole project. A game update: lock the Wwise project and the Unity plug-in version together, and update the event table when names change.
Limits and traps
- Plug-ins and automation rarely travel; AAF keeps basic level and fades only.
- Pan law differs, so the balance shifts on import and must be checked again.
- OMF is an old format; long sessions and embedded media break easily, so prefer AAF.
- A sample-rate or timecode mismatch shifts everything; both sides confirm before delivery.
- Different project versions produce missing items or silent substitutions on open.
- Cloud sync of a live project can corrupt binary files on a conflict.
How to start
Run an empty-session exchange first: one music cue, one dialogue line, one fade, exported and imported before the real delivery. Read Session Interchange Formats, Collaboration and Handoff, and Delivering Stems alongside.
Listen in the library
All tracks from midicn-lib — inline badge is the license tier (C1 commercial / C2 non-commercial / C3 study only).
Sources
- AAF、OMF 与 MusicXML 能携带的内容，依通行 DAW 与制谱文档核查，未抄文本
- 声像法则、采样率与时间码对交换的影响，依后期流程资料核查，未抄文本
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.