Community // Forums // Gear Talk

Im wanting to make my music from scratch on my laptop. I've never done it before so am wondering what the best software would be for me. I don't want anything too basic that i will outgrow quickly.
:)

I find a pretty good balance of simplicity and versatility in Sonar Home Studio 7

What are you looking to do? If you just want to record voice and instrument check out the free program Audacity from source forge. (That little thing rocks!)

If you need a little more oomph for tracking try (In ascending order of price) Magix studio, Cakewalk (Sonar)home studio or cubase essential.

Doesn't sound like you need it yet but if you are a recordist with money, Ableton,Cubase and pro tools will get you straight to album quality with no waiting...mind the learning curve!

If you have a Mac, check out Garageband... perhaps the easiest path to creating your own music from the get-go.

I'm not sure what your'e working with, but maybe something like FruityLoops (free version) or Ableton Live! (Lite version) could be of use to you if your'e on a PC and not mac.

After you get used to some software, you may want to go down the route of buying some more powerful programs... whether it's the full version of ones mentioned, Logic or ProTools.

Cheers

Music Creator 4 or 5

Energy XT is multi platform (PC/Apple/Linux), expandable, and intuititive. You can download a trial version at their website. Download version costs you € 49.

Or try Ableton Live Intro (also trial version vavailable) should you want to go further on the Ableton path.

Samplitude 10se is cheap too (like $ 49), I got my copy free with some magazine.

Hope this helps.

Lots of people are raving about cockos reaper. It's free to download and use, unrestricted. once you played with it, it's then down to your conscience to buy a licence, i think it's £50 for a non commercial licence. this 'free' DAW is set to take on the big boys like cubase, Pro tools etc.
don't forget that you'll need an audio interface too!

@Chris You're right, a lot of people seem to be raving about Reaper, though I've never tried it myself. It seems pretty powerful with a slick UI and it's supposedly 64-bit? Plus it's cheap as free to play around with. Though, I like my Logic on my mac.

I would go the trial version route of Abelton/Sonar/Cubase etc-- and I would try more than one. I'd say you need to have a pretty clear idea of what you want to do with it. Most of the big DAWS also feature virtual instruments and effects and mastering tools. They all have pretty much the same workflow (except Ableton which approaches things a little differently).

A real easy place to start is Computer Music Magazine. You can pick up a copy and they have all kinds of free software on the companion DVD. That should get you started

I use Reaper and it's the real deal, only $60USD,
You can't beat that with a hammer. Take it from me, I started doing digital audio from it's inception and over the years have spent a lot of coin and time on big name software(I worked at Guitar Center SD for awhile and actually got them to carry the first line of Turtlebeach .soundcards.

The killer part about is that out of the three audio interfaces that I own all of them work with Reaper and they update the software regularly...those guys are always tweaking something in the program and its getting better and better.

Conclusion...For $60USD you CAN NOT GO WRONG!!!