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Digital Music Doctor has published a list of the 15 most popular software products for making music based on search activity on Google, MSN, Yahoo and AOL.  During Q3 2010, four products – Cakewalk Sonar, Adobe Audition, Sony Acid, and Propellerhead Reason – trended downward.

Here is the article from Hypebot.

1. Avid Pro Tools  (9.6)
2. FL Studio  (7.3)
3. Steinberg Cubase  (6.3)
4. Cakewalk Sonar  (5.4)
5. Apple Logic  (2.9)6. Adobe Audition  (2.9)
7. Apple GarageBand  (2.7)
8. Sony Sound Forge  (1.7)
9. MOTU Digital Performer  (1.7)
10. Ableton Live  (1.6)
11. Sony Acid  (1.4)
12. Band-in-a-Box  (1.3)
13. Steinberg Nuendo  (0.7)
14. Steinberg Wavelab  (0.6)
15. Propellerhead Reason  (0.6)

The most popular is Pro Tools, followed by FL Studio, which I hadn’t heard of until this article. Then Cubase, Cakewalk Sonar, Appple Logic, Adobe Audition, and then Garageband.

I have been using Garageband since I started recording solo material 6 years ago. But that’s only because I had a Mac, and it came with my computer. More recently I have played around with ProTools and I can see a huge difference in live recording capabilities. But I have heard that ProTools is not the best if you are trying to compose beats. I have friends that swear by Sonar, and friends that swear by Cubase, but no real compelling argument to persuade me to work with those programs.

What do you use? Why do you use it instead of the others? Do you use one for recording and another one for making beats?