Recommendations for Music Software

[archaephyrryx]

I just started getting into the music scene. I started out byM writing lyrics, as I can't sing and can't play any instruments. Now, I want to start working with music software, as I am a very musical person (even though I can't sing and can't play instruments), so I wanted to hear your advice on good software for making music. I can work with either Mac OS X Lion or Ubuntu, and I can use Wine to run windows software. I would prefer something that is either freeware or completely open source, as I don't pirate software. Can you give any recoomendations about what software would be good for someone like me?

I do have Garageband for anyone out there wondering whether I do, but I am not a professional with it and would need advice on how to make music with it. If anyone has had experience with or has heard protips about using Garageband, please let me know.

Other than that, if you are interested in my lyrics, you can find my lyrics thread here: http://mylittleremix.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=2575. I do it absolutely free and will do lyrics for pretty much anything. I would love to help anyone that I can.

Please give me your advice, tips, tricks, and questions below.

[bartekko]

LMMS is free, and it's for linux.
Ableton is good, and for Mac OS

[Sugarholik]

♫♫Reaper is my bestest friend whoopie, whoopie!♫♫
Costs just 60 $ and can do everything the one hundred thousand dollar DAWs can and even more (dat customizability)
Seems to work on OS X too.

[Legion]

From what I've heard, Ableton is the way to go on mac.

I've tried FL Studio through wine and it runs TERRIBLE. So don't bother with that.

[LFP]

From what I've heard, Ableton is the way to go on mac.

I've tried FL Studio through wine and it runs TERRIBLE. So don't bother with that.

I run it on parallels and it works just fine.
Though that means you'd have to invest into a windows lisence.

[Legion]

From what I've heard, Ableton is the way to go on mac.

I've tried FL Studio through wine and it runs TERRIBLE. So don't bother with that.

I run it on parallels and it works just fine.
Though that means you'd have to invest into a windows lisence.

If he has a powerful enough computer and enough money to invest in a Virtual Machine software and Windows, this is the ideal solution if he's intent on using FL. Can't believe that didn't pop into my head.

[Dabrenn]

I've used Ableton and FL and I must say that I adore Ableton.

FL is nice, but it only took me a couple hours on Ableton to make the definitive switch, It just works so well with me.

[Indigo Spectrum]

Get Ableton, I have it and I absolutely love it. It works fantastic on Mac OSX as well.

[archaephyrryx]

I have gotten some good recommendations so far. I get the impression that Ableton is good. One question: how do I actually make music with software? Can anyone give me tips, a guide, or a demo? That would be very helpful. I just can't really turn software and ideas into music, so I would love some help on that front.

[Dabrenn]

I have gotten some good recommendations so far. I get the impression that Ableton is good. One question: how do I actually make music with software? Can anyone give me tips, a guide, or a demo? That would be very helpful. I just can't really turn software and ideas into music, so I would love some help on that front.

Maybe some Tutorials on Youtube or something and lots and lots of practice. Reading the Manual is always helpful.

You won't make Alex S. or NotClev right off the bat, takes time.

[K3WRO]

Any program that suits you I guess is fine.

If your looking for something under $100, get Reaper, It's nice and smooth on hardware compared to FL. If your looking for something easy and user-Friendly , I recommend FL Studio, Signature Bundle, I don't really Like the mastering though, overall, it's a well built DAW. I mainly use it for my songs because I like how it sounds "electronic".

If you have Mac, Get Logic or Abelton, I really heard they're nice

Well, you should start with LMMS before you get serious about music production, because that's what I did a couple years back.

[Sugarholik]

If your looking for something easy and user-Friendly , I recommend FL Studio

What the hay???? I have tried most of the famous DAWs and I pretty much knew how to use each and every one of them the moment I opened them, except FL... Image Line must be full of hipsters because the UI is unlike any other DAW.

One question: how do I actually make music with software? Can anyone give me tips, a guide, or a demo? That would be very helpful. I just can't really turn software and ideas into music, so I would love some help on that front.

How much knowledge do you actually have? Like is it a complete mystery how you can make a sound in a first place or have you got the basics down but don't know how to use a DAW?

[Rainbowjack]

Depends what kind of music you want to make, I bought the Lite version of Ableton with my Lauchpad and I can't say that I love it as well as everyone else seems to. But I got FL of a friend and it sounds a lot better to me, there are more software instruments that sound good and the controller interface is a lot better, with Ableton I had to keep closing and reopening it to get my controllers to work which took ages where as with FL I just predefined a button..

[bartekko]

got FL of a friend and it sounds a lot better

wat

Don't judge a DAW by it's default plugins. Everyone uses VST's. Sooner or later you'll find ones that suit your needs way better than anything inside your DAW. Not counting tension. Tension is awesome.

[K3WRO]

Agree with Bartekko, Fl has some nice plugins but some people get 3rd party plugins like slynth 1, Massive, Nexus, Omnisphere, zeta+ etc. there like the most commonly used plugins within the community, but I don't own any of them, there wicked expensive so I'm just sticking with 3xosc until I earn enough money.

[guitarskills]

I think we need a FAQ page for questions like this. The problem with the question is that each person has their own special DAW, the one that will work for them. While I find FL to suit every single one of my needs perfectly, others require Ableton to get the job done. Some use Cubase, others use Reaper, it doesn't matter. It changes per person. Try getting a demo or something similar to find out how the program works before you make the choice. You won't know which one works until you try it out!

[ChromaticChaosPony]

I have Ableton. It confuses me a little, but it works good.