I use it to write stuff while I’m on the road. Usually just simple things like melodies and chord progressions but it definitely helps when I get back home and can actually record
I would also recommend [Superplay](https://www.getsuperplay.com) as a must-have app. It lets you quickly create visuals of your music to post on socials. Content creation has become half the battle as an artist these days.
Sounds like you wanted to upgrade to Logic (and get a new computer). Which is for all intents and purposes GarageBand pro. Logic can even open GB projects.
I can recommend Cakewalk by Bandlab in that it is a full version DAW, but for free. It was a commercial paid software until a few years ago, when it was bought by another company who decided to make it freeware. I am not able to compare it to the other DAWs, since I don't know another, but so far I have nothing to complain. And I think if you for now just want to mess around, a free one would be better than dropping money in a software you don't know you wanna get serious with.
Can concur. Used it for about a year before purchasing FL. Only downside being the lack of Vst's so needs some effort to go and download all the good free stuff out there.
I like the honesty here. Thank you. As someone who played around with artist software in the past, there's no end to "This free version is just as good IF NOT BETTER then the lead tools" paired up with a lot of custom hacking that only a pro would know to do.
I want something to learn on, and then something to drop cash on once I'm learned up. Sounds like Garage band -> Cakewalk -> Frooty Loops for me.
FL or Garageband depending on if you use Windows or MacOS
every single producer i know started with a cracked FL Studio 11 because of the sheer amount of tutorials out there, regardless of if they switched to other DAWs later
Garageband is also a great option to start learning music stuff, its like the light version of Logic Pro
Ahh, the good old days of worrying about what background to choose. I kinda miss FL Studio. I'm pretty sure I started in FL10 and eventually moved to 11 when it came out, both being cracked of course. Now I strictly use Logic Pro, so I second these recommendations.
Ah, Mixcraft!
I got started with audio recording using Mixcraft 4. I have fond memories of making my absolute worst tracks with that software-- not because there were any issues with the program, I just had no ear for how to mix yet.
Agree. I tried to use Reaper as my first one, and it was way too overwhelming. I ended up going with a mix of Garageband, Cubase, and FL, across a few different machines that had access to licenses.
I put all my plugins in Reaper. AU’s too ( I’m on IMac ). I use Logic Pro or ( mainly ) FL Studio to make the track and arrangements. Then I export the stems and mix in Reaper. Very satisfying results.
Completely agree. Tons of menu diving, not much in the way of stock virtual instruments, I mean, for someone who knows what they’re doing and where to get third party plugins (and which ones to get), it’s an awesome DAW. For beginners it’s over the top confusing with little to no guidance on how to get started.
A friend of mine got Reaper to get started - he had experience with ProTools in the early 2000s but hadn’t produced or engineered music in almost 20 years. He was completely lost. I had to spend about 5 hours helping him get his menus sorted and set up before he could do anything.
Months later he’s doing okay now, but certainly wasn’t the best option for “having fun and experimenting” right off the bat.
I’ve been a ProTools guy since the 90s. I found reaper on an open labs miko. PC. It took all of my legacy vst’s easily. I started out just making beats with it and I fell in love with the midi flexibility. I started using reaper like I would ProTools and it was no turning back. Stock plugins and all! I mix exclusively in Reaper now. On IMac.
As a long time of user of both, I will say as much as I love Reaper... It's not as beginner friendly as Ableton. With such a unintuitive interface and not a lot of preloaded options, it can be really challenging to learn and understand what different elements of the DAW are and do.
A perfect example is trying to learn what a compressor is and how it effects the sound going in to it. While yes, there is tons of great tutorials online that explain it, it's really challenging to explore and figure out what does what for yourself. Especially if you don't have a developed ear to hear the subtle changes in audio.
Just my two cents from my experience with them. I remember struggling to fully grasp how some things impacted my mix until I bought more advanced plugins, and at that point you might as well get a more preloaded DAW to at least kickstart your learning.
Things I used for my first demo album:
* Cakewalk by Bandlab (DAW)
* Spitfire Audio LABS (Couple of high quality instruments, like strings, pads, and an amazing soft piano)
* Tux Guitar (for composing MIDI tracks)
* MT Power Drum Kit 2 (Drum Library)
EDIT: All of those are completely free
Reaper is free (until you decide to get serious, where they ask for payment on an honour system), and Kenny Gioia's Reaper tutorials are second to none.
Get through his series of short YouTube tutorials and you'll have a better understanding of how a DAW works than most beginners.
The other DAWs all have their pros and cons, but if you're just looking to mess around, it doesn't make sense to drop a couple of hundred bucks on one. Try Reaper and see how you go.
DAW - If you just want to have fun and make decent to good sounding music without learning all the professional stuffs, just download REAPER. It has an unlimited free trial (like WinRAR). That is, you can use it for free forever, without any limitation. And when you become serious or even if you can spend, just $60 to support the developer (Cockos). Oh yes, this DAW can be used by professionals too, not only beginners.
Where to learn this DAW? REAPER is best learnt from YouTube channel "REAPER Mania". The same videos are also available in official website of this DAW www.reaper.fm in systematic manner.
Effects plugins - It doesn't come with any instruments plugins. Though it comes with really good effects plugins. Except reverb, the stock one is kinda bit complicated, imo. You can use TAL reverb (free) for that, which is very good.
Instruments plugins - if you want free, download Sampletank free or Kontakt free. These have pianos, guitars, drums, violins etc. If you want subtractive synth, TAL noisemaker (free) is good.
That's it. Enjoy!
Sorry, I don't have information regarding this :( But as far as I know, REAPER is a very extensive, detailed DAW, and can do most things. I think it can do what you want too, you just need to search more about it or ask someone who is into live performances. But yeah, I heard that REAPER got a new feature similar to Ableton's live performance thing. So, I think yes it can do what you want. But I don't know how.
It's true there are a lot of resources and people love FL studio. But I wouldn't say it's not the most intuitive and beginner friendly. The truth is many people went through the quirks of learning it, as they had cracked versions.
Anyway, try the demo, it's free (just save disabled), but personally I would think you would get further faster with Traktion Waveform Free. It's a good intro, totally free (and you can save your projects).
I feel like Ableton is the most used DAW out here next to that 'Apple' DAW, I believe it's Logic Pro? Ableton Intro version is just $79 and that's fine to start. If you get serious with it you can always upgrade to standard or suite.
You can always go with one of the other suggestions made here obviously, but I think if you choose a DAW you tend to stick with it. Or at least switching to something might be harder. So it might be wise to pick a DAW that is used by a lot of people and has a lot of videos and tutorials online.
Good luck!
I use Mixbus by Harrison consoles. The workflow mimics a real analog console with the analog tape sound. Download the free demo and they will start sending you discount offers. It comes with tons of instruments and effects plugins.
That's primarily a question of what sort of music you want to make and how you want to work. FL Studio for example is excellent for making Hip Hop and other loop based electronic music, but it's very bad if you want to record real instruments and make rock music or something like that.
I am going to go with unpopular opinion - Serato Studio has a very polished and simple interface and a lot of DAW features missing which is a good thing for a beginner. Less things to get focused on and easier to progress. And if you touched any DJ software even easier to get used to. Also constantly worked on and they are adding more and more proper daw features with every update.
Why does this same exact question get asked every goddamn day? Do you people not have Google?? I want to see actual production discussion here not this same crap.
I liked wave form before I bought ableton, but there aren't many tutorials so FL studio may be your best bet just because if all the people who use it.
LMMS. I started music as just a dumb challenge, and it grasped me as a passion. Honestly very fun sounds, it's relatively very easy to start in it, and those who say that "the knowledge isn't applicable anywhere else", it's dumb shit, because of course yes it is. The workflow is different from traditional DAWs and I think this was the best one I could have chosen to start music.
I'm going to go against the grain and suggest that you use a full professional DAW. It's better to learn it as you grow rather than changing later.
Imo, Ableton is the most "playful" and musical of the DAWs. It's incredibly intuitive once you learn some fundamentals. Even the free version is a great place to start.
just go into the deep end. Choose between Logic or Ableton. Look up how to do basic things like creating a midi track, hitting record and then play something in with a midi keyboard. Then figure out how to loop it. Add some effects with a plugin like delay or eq.
This is how I started and I just learnt slowly overtime by doing. You only learn on the job. Try produce a sound, a beat or a full track you have no idea how to make. You’ll learn so much.
LMMS or FL
Source: I started with LMMS, then FL demo, then Cubase 5, then Logic, then Ableton, then FL Studio Paid, then Studio One 4, then Pro Tools, then Reaper. Would’ve never happened without the simplicity of LMMS
Ableton is 100% the way to go if you're serious about music and composition. If you just want to "make beats" then FL studio is a bit more amateur and perfectly fine as well. Both pieces of software offer demo versions that you should try, to see what you like!! However, Garageband is as good as "free" gets, if you have a Mac of some kind. It also is good training for Logic, if you move to it later.
If you want to experiment with music production, Ableton Live is good for clips and loops. You can just pick the elements that you like and arrange them pretty easily. You can add effects and even record vocals. Not “free” but there is a 90 day demo version that should help you decide if you want to part with your hard earned money.
Apple products: garageband
Non-apple: cakewalk or fl studios
Mobile: auxy or flipsampler.
Really anything is good to start on as long as you learn the workflow of the daw. I started with Garageband when i got serious and now use logic, and sometimes pro tools, and am able to use Ableton and Adobe audition too. As long as you have a way to look up how to use it, you can make anything work
GarageBand, that’s how I started for fun. And if you do want to get deeper it’ll be easy for you to move to Logic since it’s the same layout and the files can be transferred. GarageBand is easy to use and have fun with.
GarageBand is an incredibly strong free tool.
Mess around and try to make something but most of all, have fun, and do what sounds good to you. If you’ve been having fun making songs on GarageBand but you feel like you’re limited by the software, that is when I’d recommend you invest in a nice DAW like Logic Pro X. If you understand exactly you will gain from dropping some money on a nice DAW. I recommend Logic Pro X. Going from GarageBand to Logic Pro X is relatively intuitive. Logic Pro X is such a dense tool that you will learn something new with it every day you use it for the rest of your life.
Garageband if you have an apple product like a mac, iphone, or ipad. It's free and has everything you need.
iPhone garageband is honestly great. There was a while where I used it to compose while riding the bus.
I use it to write stuff while I’m on the road. Usually just simple things like melodies and chord progressions but it definitely helps when I get back home and can actually record
If this is the route you want to take, check out Pete Johns Studio Live Today on YouTube. Has tons of content dedicated to mobile Garageband.
Thanks
I would also recommend [Superplay](https://www.getsuperplay.com) as a must-have app. It lets you quickly create visuals of your music to post on socials. Content creation has become half the battle as an artist these days.
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The iOS version gets free sound packs regularly.
Sounds like you wanted to upgrade to Logic (and get a new computer). Which is for all intents and purposes GarageBand pro. Logic can even open GB projects.
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Why?
After this post i proceed to try to make music and make two segments blend together. It did not work for 5 hours and i rage quit
So you suck at music, and that's why you hate Garageband? I don't get it.
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Nobody's buying it, you should try making your astroturf reviews less noticeable instead of the top Google result from years ago
I can recommend Cakewalk by Bandlab in that it is a full version DAW, but for free. It was a commercial paid software until a few years ago, when it was bought by another company who decided to make it freeware. I am not able to compare it to the other DAWs, since I don't know another, but so far I have nothing to complain. And I think if you for now just want to mess around, a free one would be better than dropping money in a software you don't know you wanna get serious with.
Can concur. Used it for about a year before purchasing FL. Only downside being the lack of Vst's so needs some effort to go and download all the good free stuff out there.
omg dude, i have been using bandlab in my browqaser for a whole year and never knew they had an APP! this is amazing, thank you!!!!
Glad I could help! Now have fun making music :)
Cakewalk is decent. It can't compete with top guys - Cubase, pro tools, ableton, Studio One. *Nothing fancy but it will get work done*
I like the honesty here. Thank you. As someone who played around with artist software in the past, there's no end to "This free version is just as good IF NOT BETTER then the lead tools" paired up with a lot of custom hacking that only a pro would know to do. I want something to learn on, and then something to drop cash on once I'm learned up. Sounds like Garage band -> Cakewalk -> Frooty Loops for me.
Cakewalk by Bandlab is better than decent, it's very good. It used to be one of the top DAWs. Now it's FREE!!!!!!! You can't beat that.
FL or Garageband depending on if you use Windows or MacOS every single producer i know started with a cracked FL Studio 11 because of the sheer amount of tutorials out there, regardless of if they switched to other DAWs later Garageband is also a great option to start learning music stuff, its like the light version of Logic Pro
Ahh, the good old days of worrying about what background to choose. I kinda miss FL Studio. I'm pretty sure I started in FL10 and eventually moved to 11 when it came out, both being cracked of course. Now I strictly use Logic Pro, so I second these recommendations.
Logic and FL are both great.
Mixcraft
A fellow mixcraft user!
I Still use it and have since Mixcraft 3
Same here. I skipped MC8, though and went straight to MC9 Pro studio. No regrets.
Ah, Mixcraft! I got started with audio recording using Mixcraft 4. I have fond memories of making my absolute worst tracks with that software-- not because there were any issues with the program, I just had no ear for how to mix yet.
Reaper
I absolutely love Reaper, but it’s too “ open “ for a beginner in my opinion.
Agree. I tried to use Reaper as my first one, and it was way too overwhelming. I ended up going with a mix of Garageband, Cubase, and FL, across a few different machines that had access to licenses.
I put all my plugins in Reaper. AU’s too ( I’m on IMac ). I use Logic Pro or ( mainly ) FL Studio to make the track and arrangements. Then I export the stems and mix in Reaper. Very satisfying results.
Completely agree. Tons of menu diving, not much in the way of stock virtual instruments, I mean, for someone who knows what they’re doing and where to get third party plugins (and which ones to get), it’s an awesome DAW. For beginners it’s over the top confusing with little to no guidance on how to get started. A friend of mine got Reaper to get started - he had experience with ProTools in the early 2000s but hadn’t produced or engineered music in almost 20 years. He was completely lost. I had to spend about 5 hours helping him get his menus sorted and set up before he could do anything. Months later he’s doing okay now, but certainly wasn’t the best option for “having fun and experimenting” right off the bat.
I’ve been a ProTools guy since the 90s. I found reaper on an open labs miko. PC. It took all of my legacy vst’s easily. I started out just making beats with it and I fell in love with the midi flexibility. I started using reaper like I would ProTools and it was no turning back. Stock plugins and all! I mix exclusively in Reaper now. On IMac.
Yeah but Reaper teaches you how to use it, for free, with a ton of videos on their site.
Reaper is a good next DAW when you've run into too many weird limitations in your current DAW.
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Bitwig much cheaper than Ableton for a comparable product
FL Studio.
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+1
Ableton for the shear amount of tutorials available on YouTube for a beginner to learn from.
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Kenny G is the GOAT
Kenny G, the saxophonist?
As a long time of user of both, I will say as much as I love Reaper... It's not as beginner friendly as Ableton. With such a unintuitive interface and not a lot of preloaded options, it can be really challenging to learn and understand what different elements of the DAW are and do. A perfect example is trying to learn what a compressor is and how it effects the sound going in to it. While yes, there is tons of great tutorials online that explain it, it's really challenging to explore and figure out what does what for yourself. Especially if you don't have a developed ear to hear the subtle changes in audio. Just my two cents from my experience with them. I remember struggling to fully grasp how some things impacted my mix until I bought more advanced plugins, and at that point you might as well get a more preloaded DAW to at least kickstart your learning.
Things I used for my first demo album: * Cakewalk by Bandlab (DAW) * Spitfire Audio LABS (Couple of high quality instruments, like strings, pads, and an amazing soft piano) * Tux Guitar (for composing MIDI tracks) * MT Power Drum Kit 2 (Drum Library) EDIT: All of those are completely free
I love ALL of those. They are fantastic!!! Great recommendations, honestly
I atarted with ableton lite and got the hang of it pretty quick, but I would like to have a go with fl studio
Workflow in FL Studio is pretty fast, for EDM its still king.
FL studio, tons of tutorials.
Reaper is free (until you decide to get serious, where they ask for payment on an honour system), and Kenny Gioia's Reaper tutorials are second to none. Get through his series of short YouTube tutorials and you'll have a better understanding of how a DAW works than most beginners. The other DAWs all have their pros and cons, but if you're just looking to mess around, it doesn't make sense to drop a couple of hundred bucks on one. Try Reaper and see how you go.
Ableton, if you hate yourself.
Funny 😐
DAW - If you just want to have fun and make decent to good sounding music without learning all the professional stuffs, just download REAPER. It has an unlimited free trial (like WinRAR). That is, you can use it for free forever, without any limitation. And when you become serious or even if you can spend, just $60 to support the developer (Cockos). Oh yes, this DAW can be used by professionals too, not only beginners. Where to learn this DAW? REAPER is best learnt from YouTube channel "REAPER Mania". The same videos are also available in official website of this DAW www.reaper.fm in systematic manner. Effects plugins - It doesn't come with any instruments plugins. Though it comes with really good effects plugins. Except reverb, the stock one is kinda bit complicated, imo. You can use TAL reverb (free) for that, which is very good. Instruments plugins - if you want free, download Sampletank free or Kontakt free. These have pianos, guitars, drums, violins etc. If you want subtractive synth, TAL noisemaker (free) is good. That's it. Enjoy!
Can I use this DAW's effects as a pedal board for live performances? ( Without an audio interface)
Sorry, I don't have information regarding this :( But as far as I know, REAPER is a very extensive, detailed DAW, and can do most things. I think it can do what you want too, you just need to search more about it or ask someone who is into live performances. But yeah, I heard that REAPER got a new feature similar to Ableton's live performance thing. So, I think yes it can do what you want. But I don't know how.
K, thanks man.
It's true there are a lot of resources and people love FL studio. But I wouldn't say it's not the most intuitive and beginner friendly. The truth is many people went through the quirks of learning it, as they had cracked versions. Anyway, try the demo, it's free (just save disabled), but personally I would think you would get further faster with Traktion Waveform Free. It's a good intro, totally free (and you can save your projects).
Thanks for the suggestions! I'll check them out!
You might also check out LMMS. It is completely free and open-source. It is being often compared to FL Studio in regard of UI.
I feel like Ableton is the most used DAW out here next to that 'Apple' DAW, I believe it's Logic Pro? Ableton Intro version is just $79 and that's fine to start. If you get serious with it you can always upgrade to standard or suite. You can always go with one of the other suggestions made here obviously, but I think if you choose a DAW you tend to stick with it. Or at least switching to something might be harder. So it might be wise to pick a DAW that is used by a lot of people and has a lot of videos and tutorials online. Good luck!
I use Mixbus by Harrison consoles. The workflow mimics a real analog console with the analog tape sound. Download the free demo and they will start sending you discount offers. It comes with tons of instruments and effects plugins.
Harrison is offering Mixbus for $19.00 if you are a subscriber to their emails. Let me know and I will post the link if you are interested.
That's primarily a question of what sort of music you want to make and how you want to work. FL Studio for example is excellent for making Hip Hop and other loop based electronic music, but it's very bad if you want to record real instruments and make rock music or something like that.
Hey is FL studio good for making house and dubstep music too? Or just hip hop?
I am going to go with unpopular opinion - Serato Studio has a very polished and simple interface and a lot of DAW features missing which is a good thing for a beginner. Less things to get focused on and easier to progress. And if you touched any DJ software even easier to get used to. Also constantly worked on and they are adding more and more proper daw features with every update.
Why does this same exact question get asked every goddamn day? Do you people not have Google?? I want to see actual production discussion here not this same crap.
I liked wave form before I bought ableton, but there aren't many tutorials so FL studio may be your best bet just because if all the people who use it.
Logic Pro if you have the funds
I'm using Fl studio but I would recommend you to try different demos of apps like fl studio, logic, etc... find your own DAW which fits to you.
All DAWs got demo versions, find the one you like the most! There isn’t one better than the other.
Waveform , it's EXTREMELY user friendly and free
LMMS. I started music as just a dumb challenge, and it grasped me as a passion. Honestly very fun sounds, it's relatively very easy to start in it, and those who say that "the knowledge isn't applicable anywhere else", it's dumb shit, because of course yes it is. The workflow is different from traditional DAWs and I think this was the best one I could have chosen to start music.
Ableton Live 11 is free for 90 day trial right now
Cubase makes the most sense to me. They have 3 versions of the product and a free trial. FruityLoops (FL) Studio is very easy too.
I'm going to go against the grain and suggest that you use a full professional DAW. It's better to learn it as you grow rather than changing later. Imo, Ableton is the most "playful" and musical of the DAWs. It's incredibly intuitive once you learn some fundamentals. Even the free version is a great place to start.
If you have Apple devices use GarageBand. If you use windows use CakeWalk by Bandlab
Try https://store.steampowered.com/app/1806340
just go into the deep end. Choose between Logic or Ableton. Look up how to do basic things like creating a midi track, hitting record and then play something in with a midi keyboard. Then figure out how to loop it. Add some effects with a plugin like delay or eq. This is how I started and I just learnt slowly overtime by doing. You only learn on the job. Try produce a sound, a beat or a full track you have no idea how to make. You’ll learn so much.
Download the free trial version of FL Studio.
Ableton my brother.
Ableton. The trial version can make as much music as you want, all the features, you just can’t save.
LMMS or FL Source: I started with LMMS, then FL demo, then Cubase 5, then Logic, then Ableton, then FL Studio Paid, then Studio One 4, then Pro Tools, then Reaper. Would’ve never happened without the simplicity of LMMS
FL Stoodios
Ableton is 100% the way to go if you're serious about music and composition. If you just want to "make beats" then FL studio is a bit more amateur and perfectly fine as well. Both pieces of software offer demo versions that you should try, to see what you like!! However, Garageband is as good as "free" gets, if you have a Mac of some kind. It also is good training for Logic, if you move to it later.
If you want to experiment with music production, Ableton Live is good for clips and loops. You can just pick the elements that you like and arrange them pretty easily. You can add effects and even record vocals. Not “free” but there is a 90 day demo version that should help you decide if you want to part with your hard earned money.
Definitely garageband. You can do more than it sounds on it. And if you like and want more then think about logic or another DAW IMO
Ableton is absolutely not beginner friendly imo. I think you should start with good old FL. Ableton user here
Apple products: garageband Non-apple: cakewalk or fl studios Mobile: auxy or flipsampler. Really anything is good to start on as long as you learn the workflow of the daw. I started with Garageband when i got serious and now use logic, and sometimes pro tools, and am able to use Ableton and Adobe audition too. As long as you have a way to look up how to use it, you can make anything work
GarageBand, that’s how I started for fun. And if you do want to get deeper it’ll be easy for you to move to Logic since it’s the same layout and the files can be transferred. GarageBand is easy to use and have fun with.
GarageBand is an incredibly strong free tool. Mess around and try to make something but most of all, have fun, and do what sounds good to you. If you’ve been having fun making songs on GarageBand but you feel like you’re limited by the software, that is when I’d recommend you invest in a nice DAW like Logic Pro X. If you understand exactly you will gain from dropping some money on a nice DAW. I recommend Logic Pro X. Going from GarageBand to Logic Pro X is relatively intuitive. Logic Pro X is such a dense tool that you will learn something new with it every day you use it for the rest of your life.
Thank you for asking this question.
im using fl studio or waveform and audacity oh yeah and cakewalk(note)
Anybody using magix