What are Reddit's favorite DAW Apps?
Bandlab
LMMS
Reaper
Cakewalk
Ardour
Tracktion
FL Studio
Renoise
Bitwig Studio
OpenMPT
Ohm Studio
Dexed
Logic Pro
GarageBand
Rosegarden
Waveform
Buzz
Cubase
MuLab
Harrison Mixbus
G-Stomper Studio
Zrythm
Zynewave Podium
MOTU Digital Performer
Psycle
Qtractor
Vital
n-Track
MusE
WaveShop
Frinika
DarkWave Studio
MultitrackStudio
JamHive
Top Reddit reviews mentioning DAW Apps:
Cakewalk is a fully functioning DAW that until recently was sold for a lot of £€$. I’ve used it for years and dropped a lot of cash on upgrades but now you can get it for free.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that Cakewalk is a lot better than waveform free. Cakewalk is literally Sonar platinum but free (no-cache no limiting factors no bullshit) Professionals still use it and prefer it over Ableton and another premium DAW's. You should add it to the list.
The only music editing software the average person could likely ever need would be Cakewalk Sonar, which used to be $499 but is now free. See here: https://www.bandlab.com/
edit: and this, combined with free VST instruments will do most anything.
Cakewalk by Bandlab is free to download right now. It's a full on DAW. Maybe not be the best but it'll get you making music with your midi keyboard. It'll definitely have a stock piano plug in with it.
Reaper is an amazing, fully-featured tool that has an uncrippled demo. Like WinRar, you can keep using it after the 30-day demo has expired.
You'll want to give them your money, though. $60 for that software is criminally cheap. The dev team is reponsive and constantly patching and adding new features.
Reaper has a great piano roll MIDI editor, but if you're looking for real "composing" software (as opposed to a DAW, recording package like Reaper or Cakewalk), MuseScore is open-source and free.
If there's something you need Pro Tools for, then as bodean55 said, the educational version is probably going to be your best bet.
If, on the other hand, you're looking for a phenomenal daw, check out Reaper. The free trial doesn't have any limitations (no features disabled, saving is allowed, etc) and for the price it's a steal.
Worth noting that this is the Fruity Edition (normally $100), not the full Producer Edition. Refer to the feature comparison tab on this page. Also, it's $60 on Newegg, not $50.
Indefinite, full-featured free trial, very reasonable purchase price. Not a huge range of included plugins but a clean, extensible workflow and the dynamic plugins are very very good quality. Side chaining and custom I/Os are simpler and more extensible than any other DAW, in my opinion.
I also add CM magazine/MusicRadar's free CM plugin suite. A bunch of good synths and plugins for the cost of a magazine.
Tracktion 6 is old but free and lightweight, but I believe it comes with some simple synth tools. You'll probably find a better VST host to be honest, but as a DAW it's old but stable and not crippled in any way.
There is no open source DAW comparable to Ableton that accepts all VSTs. The best open source DAW is probably Ardour.
I actually can't think of any other remotely decent DAW that's open source.
> FL Studio
you might wanna check out http://www.bitwig.com/en/bitwig-studio/download.html This is from some guys former working on abelton.
Also there are a good amount of opensource music production tools checkout this side -> http://wiki.linuxaudio.org/apps/daw_apps The one maybe close to FL Studio are lmms and qtractor
Reaper. You can get a free trial that is the full program for 30 days (though I'm almost positive that you can just keep using it if you don't want to spend the 40 dollars on it). It's gonna be different for you (as it would switching to any other DAW), but it can essentially do everything that Pro Tools can. I'd at least give it a try.
Yes. Very easy test: get some software like http://reaper.fm and load in a file. Now make a copy of the file in a second track. Woah, hear that? It's way louder, possibly distorting, because you're increasing every value.
Now press the phase button. Now you hear nothing, even though each track is visibly outputting.
http://www.personalpowermeditation.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/Phase-Cancellation.jpg
To think of it another way: your speaker can only be positioned +1 or -1. (all the way in, or all the way out).
Say you had a track that oscillated between +1 and 0.
Now you flip that track and it oscillates between -1 and 0.
So when your speaker gets the sum of those two signals, it is 0. aka, it doesn't move.
I think it's pretty insane that the press on the bitwig website (coming soon for a few years now) used to pretty much say that these were disgruntled ex Ableton coders working on a new product.
http://web.archive.org/web/20090322193830/http://www.bitwig.com
Now that they released it, it's basically Ableton Live?
Balsy? Lawsuits imminent? Interesting time ahead.
Couple things.
Audacity is an audio recorder/editor. That’s it. It does not produce sound on its own. It does not do anything with a MIDI controller. The only plugins it can use are audio effects plugins. Forget Audacity. It’s not what you want.
You need a DAW, and you need instrument plugins. DAWs receive MIDI events and pass them to instrument plugins. Most DAWs contain some native instruments as well, which are not plugins but are built into the DAW. There are free DAWs that you can try, such as Ardour ( http://ardour.org ). There are also a good number of free Instrument plugins. Google for them.
You will need to configure your DAW to use the Synthstation as a MIDI device. This differs from DAW to DAW.
The manual for the Synthstation is not clear regarding its audio outs, but it would seem they are used as a standard USB Audio device, whether on an iPad or a computer. In a DAW you would need to select this audio device to use the audio outs on the controller in order to use them.
That barely scratches the surface, but hopefully it will send you in the right direction.
History - some to this very day call it pejoratively "Fruity Loops". When it first came out it didn't have playlist window - only pattern blocks, no automation clips, no sample clips. No VST until 2003 in version 4 (and even then only generators were supported). I started with version 9, and it was pretty much complete back then, but I imagine Pros tried earlier versions and never gave it another try.
Avicci - Levels
Martin Garrix - Animals
Most of Deadmau5 early stuff
Everything by Savant
Porter Robinson, Feed Me, SeamlessR, Madeon and Basshunter have/still use it. They have a list of "Power Users" on their site
Well, your request is pretty vague, but I'll tell you what I can.
The program I use the most would have to be Renoise, which is what's called a tracker. This type of music software has been around for a while, on all sorts of platforms. Renoise is fairly simple to grasp, at least in my opinion, yet quite powerful and flexible. It is also rather inexpensive (less than 60€), especially when compared to other music-making programs. There's a free demo available, with the only feature lacking being exporting to WAV or other formats. You will however have to use what's called VST (or AU on mac) plugins. Many are free, and a simple google search will often lead you to the plugin for the sound you need.
Another option, albeit more expensive (between about 300$ and 700$, depending on the version), is Ableton Live. Ableton is used quite a bit by professionals, and it is very powerful. It uses the more traditional "piano roll" view instead of the tracker one, and uses concepts called clips, tracks, and scenes to organize your songs. It's probably harder to understand than renoise, but once again there are many tutorials out there. Unless you opt for the Suite version, which provides you with built-in instruments, you'll still need to find plugins.
There are many more out there, but those are the only two that I use frequently, and I wouldn't want to mislead you about other programs. So, it really all comes down to your budget and the exact type of software you are looking for, but any program will let you make any sort of music you want, with a bit a dedication.
Bitwig! There is also a free demo! I tried it out on a bootstick for the funs, it was "install and play", that impressed me. There are also beta vst from uhe that you can try out, if you want some more synths.
If you find this entertaining, you might enjoy picking up FL Studio.
I have been playing with it since I was 16. It's a lot of fun.
Linux is free and open software, meaning that we all own it together. It's a good place for software innovation and privacy. With OS X and Windows you are dependant on one corporation. For a musician I can understand why you would use OS X rather than Linux, although Bitwig is looking interesting.
edit: Also thanks for asking! I'm a bit of an idealist myself but it definitely makes sense to me why so many people would rather use some other OS.
Ardour and Audacity are the best linux offerings as far as editing/recording goes , JACK being the best sound system for recording. The best alternative for software like Reason is LMMS( I can't really comment at all) I have no experience with this, but I know Audacity is used by many musicians i know. Most of these also run on OSX as well.
https://www.bandlab.com/user7539169984420514/new-project-96a55149
Here's a rough Demo version :) The style is inspired by The Narcissist Cookbook, who is one of my favourite songwriters.
Also, it's still a rough draft, so hmu with any feedback!
Okay, here's my perspective strictly as an outside observer.
It's not that Linux will never be decent for audio -- it already is. Some DAWs have been available to Linux users for a while now, and Ardour in particular has an excellent reputation. Quite a few VSTs available as well, it's pretty versatile from what I understand.
Linux will likely never, or at least not for a while, become anything widely used in the actual industry, though. There are a few reasons for this, and they really don't have anything to do with Linux at all -- "I can save money? okay" -- but more to do with the industry. Pro Tools and Logic have been entrenched in studios for ages now, everyone has them, knows how to use them, and can collaborate between projects easily because of proprietary file formats. A few popular DAWs, namely Reason, Ableton, and FL Studio, see some use, but mostly remain in the hobbyist's hands right now (particularly FL Studio). Lots of people have used Reason to produce raw audio tracks (Outkast, JR Rotem, who has done a lot of work with people like Snoop and Dre, Liam Howlett from Prodigy, etc), but it doesn't have any real audio-editing features, just production devices, so it stays in the recording room. Ableton mostly stays in the DJ booth, and FL Studio is usually in the bedroom.
But among the biggest reasons they don't see more industry use is because of where Logic and Pro Tools are (also, the overwhelming conceit regarding Macs), which is a major impediment to Linux's expansion in major music production and audio editing.
/2cents
Have you tried LMMS?
Has a few synth plugins baked right in, as well as support for soundfonts.
One of the synth plugins is ZynAddSubFX, which you can also get stand-alone and is probably in your repos:
renoise is an interesting one. All the fun of trackers, but with more functionality! :D http://www.renoise.com/
But if you're looking for something different, definitely check out Rax'n'Trax. Free, and pretty easy to pick up on. http://www.raxntrax.com/download.htm
There's also Ardour, which is the more professional DAW I have found, pro tools level or even better, with MIDI capabilities, but you will need to rely on plugins to create beats and synths.
> Still, I'm surprised there isn't a decent freeware DAW out there.
Ardour does not count?
Looked pretty good last time I used it, but then I had hardware problems (trying to use the Line6 PodXT with a PowerPC Mac back in 2005). I've been watching it from a distance and it seems to have evolved a lot.
I think mainly because there are a lot of people that play drums, but there are not a lot of legitimate drummers. Insofar as those that study their instrument like it's a science. Also there are way more guitar and piano players over all; so you're definitely right on your main point.
By all means, educate me on some drums! I write my own music and program the drums; so I'd love to have insights and ideas from knowledgeable percussionists, drummers, or whomever that can fill in my knowledge gaps that is only rivaled by the grand canyon.
I've learned so much just from coming to this subreddit on a daily basis; some of these people really know their shit!
For example; this is a song I wrote recently and would love some drumming insights. Specifically, how I could improve my drum ideas.
https://www.bandlab.com/posts/316eb740-239a-ea11-96d2-0003ffd1fc09
It's true, beta testing for Renoise 3.1 has begun! It brings in the new features from Redux, as well as a few long-requested ones and some general improvements. See the release page for full details: http://www.renoise.com/products/renoise/release-notes/310
Well they don't need to provide the binary packages. All they need to do is to provide the source code and reliable instructions on how to compile it. They provide binary installers, only as a convenience for their users. Hell Ardour even charges money for providing the binary packages http://ardour.org/download.html. So well they do not take away your freedom at all.
I prefer Reaper. It's much more fully-functioned than something like Audacity, and its workflow is much more efficient, for me.
It's also "free" in the same way Winrar is. You'll never lose functionality if you don't buy it, you'll just get a nagging pop-up on launch reminding you of how long you've used it for.
It's good enough that I bought a commercial license for it, but that was after a couple years of using it for free without issue and starting to make real money using it.
I have a Shure SM57 and use it to record vocals as well as acoustic guitar. There is an old DigiDesign MBox 2 as the interface to the computer/DAW.
I use Reaper as my DAW and really like it. It's free to try out and very inexpensive if you decide to purchase. There are lots of tutorials on their website as well.
Elitists will frown upon this answer, but in my opinion, your best option is to get a small, inexpensive USB interface (I use the Steinberg CI-1, retails for ~$100) and a cheap recording program like Reaper.
If you just plug another 1/4" cable from your amps headphone slot into the interface, you can use whatever settings/tone you want, and you're free to use any backing tracks you'd like as a .wav or .mp3, or even just playing YouTube from your headphones.
Reaper does everything you need and much more. Full unrestricted demo version comes with a 4 second nag screen when you open it and if you do get some cash I think it's like $60 to purchase. The Reaper website
We might have different understandings of recording and editing is, so let me tell you of my definition:
>A program that can record, allows me to capture the input of a microphone by click a few buttons to begin the recording, and a single button to stop the recording.
>
>A program that can edit, allow me to remove the pauses in the beginning and end, clean up unwanted grunts, clicks, and peaks, and level the volume to a pleasant level.
If you are going to record anything that should be listened to by anyone one this planet, you would like the tool to be able to clean it up as well. How many of the tools you use it not in this discussion, but you get them.
Audacity can record your lines, and also edit them to some extend. You can get more funky features to do certain things faster in other programs, such as Reaper, Tracktion or Adobe Audition, but Audacity is a good place to start.
>I'm also a bit weird in that I like doing what I'm not supposed to.
You definitely want to take a look at REAPER then. Ridiculously flexible routing and tinkering, but you don't have to dig to find it. You can also completely ignore it if you'd like. It has a very simple interface. Everything is a track -- audio, MIDI, folders, everything.
I've used ProTools, Cubase, Sonar, Tracktion, Ardour, Qtractor, n-Track and others. In my opinion REAPER is the best of all of them while adding its own improvements and cool features/workflows.
It has some rough edges, but I've successfully used it to plonk out simple but good-sounding tunes after Googling up and downloading some good soundfonts. LMMS follows the design of FL Studio (aka FruityLoops) pretty closely and it's open source.
Renoise works just fine in Ubuntu 16.04 (although I heard it's not that good in 18.04). It's very cheap but pretty powerful. You can try it with almost fully functional demo version, and full version costs just 68 EUR.
Its actually incredibly flexible (more flexible than any other DAW I've worked with). The current price is $89.00 or 65 Euros. With it, you gain access to the Renoise backstage where you can download the client as many times as you wish to install on as many computers as you wish.
You also get support for one full version (Renoise is currently on version 3.0 and a license purchased today will have support until version 4.0). A full list of release history can be viewed here. That should give you a basic idea of how often Renoise releases patches and how long your license will last.
Just curious why can't a computer play this? I could translate his percussion's into midi data along with velocity and route each hit through battery producing the same beats. Or if I wanted to program this beat by hand I could do it with renoise which allows some pretty high resolution between notes for offsetting delay hits/ghost notes.
I think computers are just an extension of us and if you have soul you can make a computer beat shit out of the box that most strictly analog percussionists couldn't even imagine. With the advent of digital drumkits the mending of both old and new renders a new type of sound that can't in itself be replicated.
That being said the drummer is righteous however that baseline is even making my dog cringe.
Collapsible channel groups has finally become a reality (that is me in the video). Excellent, and it works really well. It took me 15 minutes to organise my 58+ track project* into groups and sub groups. I'll have to assign some keyboard short cuts to handle the collapse-all/expand-all things as those are a little inconveniently tucked away in a sub-dropdown menu.
* Link to a track I made recorded in Renoise 2.7, so before the new channel grouping. Gives a good example of how useful the grouping will be to me.
If you are recording and tracking instruments or live-playing virtual instruments you will want to invest the time into installing your interface's ASIO driver to reduce latency. If you do not have an interface then just stick with WASAPI, it's good enough to start with, just don't be surprised if there's a delay between playing a note and hearing it. If you get sick of the latency you can determine how much you want to invest into a proper interface later.
If videos are more your thing check out the official ones here: http://reaper.fm/videos.php
Setting up shop for preferences... aside from setting up audio and perhaps MIDI you don't need to touch the rest of the preferences. Just jump straight to the first song, recording or using MIDI videos.
REAPER will continue to function after 60 days so don't worry about running out of time to evaluate it. Choosing a DAW takes a lot of time because of figuring out workflows. Other DAWs with shorter trial periods are pressuring people into making snap decisions.
> and also the max rate on gen-1 scarlett's is 48khz
Wrong. The maximum sample rate on gen1 scarletts is 96khz, for gen2 it's 192khz. BTW, unless you have very specific needs, using 44.1kHz or 48kHz is absolutely fine - a higher sample rate just gets you bigger files and uses more processing power for virtually no audible benefit (unless you a are a bat...). Recording at 24bit makes sense though - you'll have more dynamic headroom to work with.
As for a beginner DAW, I'd recommend REAPER, since you can download fully featured trial version with only a nag screen after the trial period.
To elaborate on /u/Tarron's advice...
The most straightforward way to do this (IMO) is to get a DAW and some drum software. A DAW is a Digital Audio Workstation, and will let you arrange multiple drum patterns in sequence, save them as a wav or mp3 file, turn on/off a click track, and load virtual instruments, like drum kits.
The drum software itself is a plugin that will let your DAW utilize drum sounds.
If you're not looking to pirate anything (and you SHOULDN'T pirate anything), the most cost-effective solution is to download Reaper and MT Power Drumkit 2:
http://reaper.fm http://www.powerdrumkit.com/
Install Reaper, which is your DAW. Then install MT Power Drumkit. You'll have to go into the settings in Reaper and tell it where to find MT Power Drumkit. From there, you can program in drum patterns and arrange them in the order you want.
Oh, and MT Power Drumkit is free. Reaper isn't free, but the demo version is fully functional with no time-limits. You shouldn't have to spend one dime.
LMMS will most probably put you off music production all together. I made a few tunes in it for an open source game (I thought I'd have a blast at trying to make them with open source software, due to the purpose of the tracks). It's really an abysmal piece of software compared to the major ones, and I imagine it'd be especially bad when you're still at the stage where you're learning.
If you're on the cheap, I recommend you check out Reaper which you can evaluate for 30 days and only costs $60 to buy after that.
From what I understand Reason isn't recording software. For that you need something like Propellerhead's Record or (my favourite) Reaper
For everyone asking, here's a bit of a breakdown of the process.
I record into a presonus FP10 running into my home built PC via firewire, into REAPER.
Drums:
Audix d6 inside the kick, about 4 inches away from the batter head pointed straight at the beater, plastic beater. Kick is 20x22, muffled with a pillow against the reso head. The Batter head is a pre-muffled aquarian head (comes with a foam ring fastened to the head, I forget the model number at the moment.)
SM57s on the snare and toms, nothing too fancy here. Drum tuning is a big deal.
two AT2020s for overheads. I only used 2 cymbals in this recording, so they're at equal height above each cymbal, adjusted to fix phasing.
EQ and compression to taste, and moderate reverb added. I can go over some EQ/compression techniques later if anyone's interested.
Bass recorded direct in to the interface, light EQ. Pretty raw bass sound.
Guitars recorded via a line 6 POD XT, running a line out into my interface. Custom patch. 5 guitar tracks total, 2 doubled rhythm/lead parts, and a solo.
Vocals are recorded with an AT2020, heavily compressed (10:1, about 8-12db Gain reduction), light EQ to brighten them up a bit. Melodyne Pitch correction used at 60% strength.
If anyone has any other more specific questions, feel free to ask! I love to talk about recording! Thanks for all the great feedback! I know this isn't the most popular style here, but it's great you guys are diggin' it anyway!
> fruity edition
"Has limited FL Studio features. Is aimed at those people who need Piano roll for sequencing functions but does not have Audio Recording, Slicex, or Edison. For a list of all features included in this edition, see the feature comparison page here." --https://support.image-line.com/knowledgebase/base.php?ans=94
http://www.image-line.com/flstudio/editions.php
The fruity edition is really limited. You don't get audio recording. You can't put audio clips into the playlist. You don't get edison, slicex, or vocodex which are all great tools. You don't get automation clips (which you seem to be brushing off but that alone is enough to upgrade, automation is a big part of production, especially in EDM). And you can't record audio with it.
Poizone, Toxic and Harmless are all great synths, but the key thing is to find one that is good for your workflow. At the end of the day, all subtactive synths are similar, FM synths are similar and so on so it's really a preference on which you like to work with the most and which sound you like.
Two IL synths I would recommend looking at are Harmor, a very unique synthesizer that no other mainstream synth I know of is similar to it. And sytrus, which is an FM synth but it allows you to make your own waveforms. Toxic is also a great FM synth but it has a very different approach from Sytrus.
Nexus is more a sound library than a synth. It's great if you just want a bunch of presets but it's not made for creating your own sounds.
So, buy the synths you like, or use free ones, but be sure to get at least producer edition of FL studio.
Renoise is pretty close. I bought it for about $80 at version 2.0 around 2006, maybe 2007 and it just recently hit 3.0 last year with a bunch of 2.x versions between with major feature additions. Their policy is you don't have to pay the (I think it's $50 now?) upgrade fee for another point version upgrade from the version you bought it from. So say you buy it at the hypothetical 3.1, you get free upgrades till 4.1 which could be all the way up into 2024. It has everything anyone would want in an a DAW and it's super customizable, has VLC and AU plugin support, works cross platform on Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and Winbloze without DRM, has a great sampler and amazing effects, suitable for mixing, and more. The only thing people complain about having to get used to is the vertical note input due to its tracker-like nature, but I actually prefer it to the horizontal note input systems most DAW's have adopted. Check it out! http://www.renoise.com
Edit: I have VLC/AU plugins that have costed more than Renoise itself.
Hmm. Well. I have used Ableton Live for quite some time, but I recently switched to renoise (this week, so I'm still a newbie). The updates are packed with features see Renoise 2.8 release notes.
While a tracker seems primitive. It gives me a better overview of my tracks. I can see when notes are triggered on a horizontal line <for all tracks>, instead of digging into several blocks of midi-data and trying to remember where the fuck I'm doing what.
I also like the fact that I can open up old modules (.mod, .xm, .it, ...) and see how they are constructed.
Also tools, user developed tools: http://www.renoise.com/tools/browse
I'm sold, anyway.
Renoise is a good option for $75, and it's an absolute powerhouse if you don't mind learning/working with tried-and-true tracking. It has full ReWire support too, so if you decide to buy another DAW like Ableton in the future, you can work on a track in both at the same time.
know your tools. the eq and compressor are the most important tool you will use. get good source material. I wrote this tutorial for renoise, but you'll find the sample packs useful: http://www.renoise.com/board/index.php?/topic/27006-breakcore-rinse-technique-xrns/
I would point them at Tracktion 6, that one's actually free, or Reaper which is essentially free until you decide to do the right thing and pay the very modest price.
I think he mentioned it, but anyway, software is the https://www.tracktion.com
This is one of the few DAWs that work well on Linux. Now they ported it to work on RPi architecture. And considering a claim of 30+ tracks on such low-end hardware seems like they did it properly (with required optimizations).
Ren mostly uses tracker software like OpenMPT, or renoise, much easier to lay down those drum patterns and samples, and i think he uses Sony acid pro for his audio editing.
i can provide a link to OpenMPT, it's free. it may seem intimidating at first but it's actually pretty easy to use, once you get the hang of it.
Are you all recording in the same room? If so you will need an interface or mixer as well as ensuring you get xlr mics rather than USB. Unless your recording environment is really good, I'd recommend getting dynamic mics rather than condensers. I don't think audacity can handle multiple inputs either so you'll want a different editor/DAW. I'd recommend Sonar. It's a full professional DAW and it has recently been reduced for free by its new developers.
Most people seem to be using FL Studio or Ableton Live, but I've been using Sonar for a while, and really like it. Also, it's free now. I've not used the free version, but it's got to be worth a download (assuming you're on Windows anyway, there isn't a Mac version).
That's your DAW, the software environment you work in. You'll also need VST instruments to make sounds from your MIDI arrangements. You mention your broke, so a nice option might be getting into soundfonts. You can find players and tons of vaporwave sounding soundfonts for free online. You'll be pretty much good to go.
Yeah, good luck! This is a really nice hobby to get into. : )
Ableton Live. More robust is underselling it by orders of magnitude, though-- it's a full featured Digital Audio Workstation for samples, instruments, and effects.
Bitwig Studio is a similar, but cheaper option. It's quite a bit newer to the scene, though, so while it has some cool options that Ableton doesn't, it's also missing quite a few features.
Based on your description, it really sounds to me like the microphone is broken. It was working fine and now it isn't. If nothing else changed in between those events, that's the most likely issue. But, we can test some more. I noted in another comment you're using Audacity to capture audio. Download Reaper (http://reaper.fm) and record a track from your Yeti into that, see if the problem follows the microphone or if the problem stays within Audacity. And if you have access to another computer, I'd move the Yeti to there and test again using another machine. If the problem follows the microphone no matter which software or computer you are using, then that will probably confirm a hardware issue with the mic itself.
<strong>Reaper</strong>. Demo is actually full versions, no limitations, lasts forever, has all the features of a DAW and then more. Basically you can use it for free. It's only 60$ to get a license.
The only thing missing are samples and instruments. See this post for all kinds of free stuff to fill that gape.
All DAW are equally hard to learn. It's a complex software, but they're all about as hard/easy to learn. Having video tutorial makes it easier to learn. Reaper have a lots of them, directly listed on the official website.
You'd normally use VST instead of soundfonts. Soundfonts itself is pretty outdated, and the alternative now are sfz. You'll see that many sfz are listed in the linked post. If you really want a soundfont, a good general one is "Timbre of Heaven".
You can get started right away with all of that without spending anything :)
We have to do this methodically. There are lots of things happening and we want to eliminate possibilities. I have a lot of ideas about what could be going wrong but I'm trying to not send you on wild goose chases. So let's see if input is the problem first.
Okay, your interface wears more than one hat so you need to look for it under both Audio > Device and Audio > MIDI Devices for the specific role it will be playing (it can play more than 1 role at a time).
It might be faster if you try to follow along the official set-up video here: http://reaper.fm/videos.php#Hh04XZqFsic
It would really help to see a screenshot of Prefs > Audio > Device but make sure your inputs are enabled and cover the range you are using (note first and last). Do the same for outputs.
If you close the preferences window, you should see in the upper-right corner of Reaper information about your interface. Namely, the sample rate, bit-depth, latency, and system. If that shows up without errors then you're on the right track.
Create a new track. Set the input to the analog input your guitar is plugged into. Make sure record monitoring is on. You should be able to see the meters move on the track panel and mixer panel when you play the guitar. If you aren't getting sound at this point, then we can narrow the problem down to output.
Yes, you want to create an automation envelope, most likely bound to the "wet/dry" control of your reverb. Refer to the Manual page 353 for automation envelope information. http://dlz.reaper.fm/userguide/ReaperUserGuide540c.pdf
And particularly page 370 for automating FX parameters.
If videos are more your style then look here: http://reaper.fm/videos.php You want the Automation section and the Parameter modulation sub-section.
The documentation of Reaper's Jesusonic scripting language is available here: http://reaper.fm/sdk/js/js.php
What the plugin actually does is very straightforward. If you can't understand it by reading the code then nothing I can say will make you understand it any better because the code is literally exactly what it does. It's a soft-clipper/saturator. It uses a soft clipping curve based on a sine function. That's it, and that's what the code says.
MT Power Drumkit 2 is a decent VST version if you want to program your own MIDI beats. You'll probably need a DAW to run it, but the demo version of Reaper is free to use and without limitation. It's a good entry into doing more comprehensive music production.
MT Power Drumkit 2: http://www.powerdrumkit.com/
Reaper: http://reaper.fm
I'd suggest Reaper instead of Renoise. Renoise is based on old school trackers.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracker_(music_software)
Reaper is a modern style sequencer. The discounted license is only $60, and from what I understand, the trial never expires or cripples.
Honestly, the free version is probably all you need. It comes with everything in the $99 version (Fruity Edition), the only catch is you can't re-open saved projects. So if you're using it just for kicks, it's really good for just tinkering for a few hours, make a loop and export it. However, if you think youd work a little "more" on the projects, Fruity has everything a beginner needs.
Also, there's no pros or cons to upgrading versions later. If you end up wanting a higher version, you just pay for the difference, so really there's absolutely no loss if you start off with the lower editions and upgrade later to the higher ones.
I personally used the free version for around 6 months before deciding to get serious and upgrade to Producer (and later Signature) Edition.
Here's a link to the feature comparison of each version.
Hope that helps!
Yes.
In case you didn't know, here is a list of all the features and plugins available for each of the three editions. You might want to have a look in the "Plugins - Synthesizers and effects" section.
Sorry, but your friend is very wrong. Plenty of big artists use it. Porter Robinson, Madeon, Savant... In fact, here's a full list: http://www.image-line.com/flstudio/powerusers.php
As for handling audio differently, I believe it's all the same. The plugins definitely have differences, but that's just a given, really. I've purchased both DAWs (ableton and FL); I know them well and respect them equally.
Check out the free DAW LMMS. It comes with three synthesizers which emulate Gameboy, NES and Commodore64. Check this video as an example, to see it in action. If you need help in using the DAW, just come over to the nice community at r/lmms.
No online DAW, or any other webpage, can use VST plugins. VST plugins are programs that run locally on your computer, and a browser does not (and should not) have access to that.
There are certainly free DAWs that support VST plugins, but you need to download them. LMMS is completely free, and Reaper is not technically free, but it provides an unrestricted free trial.
LMMS may have what you are looking for. It is (by my understanding) an open source DAW and comes prepackaged with virtual instruments similar to what you describe. I don't know if it would be possible to use them, but since it is open source, I would assume all synths used in it are to. It might be worth the time to investigate using some of the VSTs featured in LMMS.
Hahaha, okay you got me. We do have a page, but we only have one song demo, which we recorded a year ago, right after we started playing together, and it sounds like dogshit (but I fucking love it) We used my shitty little tascam recorder for it. You have been warned!
https://www.bandlab.com/posts/4455a3f4-4b1d-e911-9f2a-00155d7803f0
Yo I'm trying to find some people on the come up to collab with. We should try and do something like the HitRecord within the community. If anyone wants to work together here is a little demo of me spitting. Appreciate all good/bad feedback! ✌ https://www.bandlab.com/posts/2d48a9ef-4157-e911-80f4-28187831ee7a
I'm a big fan of Cakewalk, it's free and has been around forever so it has all the bells and whistles. It doesn't come with a lot of built in plugins, but it does have a free drum kit included called Si-Drums.
If you want to use your own drum samples I would use Sitala(free vst). It's a sampler and can be set up to output to multiple tracks which is nice if you want different fx on different parts of the drum.
There is no Sonar anymore. Cakewalk/Sonar/Pro Audio went out of business a number of years ago. However, a company called Bandlab bought it and is continuing to development it. Even better, they are offering it for FREE! Yay!
It's the same Cakewalk product you are familiar with, plus some new features. As far as I know everything that used to work, still works. But don't take my word for it. Download it and try it out for yourself. It's FREE!!!!!
https://www.bandlab.com/products/cakewalk?lang=en
I use it all the time and I love it!
I'm in the same boat as you more or less... running Ableton with Wine is a hassle. Right now I'm considering to switch to BitWig. It's from a former Ableton development team.
http://www.bitwig.com/en/bitwig-studio.html
As you can see it looks really similar and I only heard good things about it.
Why not try Ohm Studio? It's a weird DAW though, you pay per month rather than outright buying a licence.
Also check out the Bitwig "Features coming after the 1.0 release" section at the bottom
What, no ardour?
Edit: you said that you don't consider Reaper, LMMS, and Ardour to be obscure, but I think they should at least get a mention. Ardour and LMMS specially, since they're free and actually usable, but not mainstream.
I don't buy the piracy excuse at all. You can run full Ableton for as long as you like with save/export disabled. And Intro is only $99, actually $74 right now since they're doing a sale.
If you're really cheap, you can use free stuff like http://ardour.org/.
The idea of the SM7B is decent as even Michael Jackson used this however as mentioned, you will need a device such as a cloudlifter to supply the boost needed for "volume" or signal.
While I am not a huge fan of the copying Behringer has done, you can get their clone of the Neumann TLM series aka the Behringer B-1 or B-2 Pro for $100-200.
Save the $$ and use this for other things like the interface, software, plugins, time, etc.
I have worked as a music producer for quite a few decades and while I have high end gear, I also use some of the other equipment such as these microphones.
Most of the magic when using a microphone is actually the placement of the microphone and not the actual mic itself. Then, what you do with it, after you have captured the signal is next.
You can decide if you want to use a hardware compressor / limiter / filter / eq / pre-amplifier or handle it on the software side with plugins.
As for the recording, you can use reaper which is quite advanced and you can "try" it before paying. Even if you decide to pay for it, which is a good move, it is very affordable.
http://reaper.fm
The suggestion of the sm and pg 58 is ok. Bono used the SM58 for a number of their well known albums as do other artists. Again, it is about what mic works best with the content being recorded and then the placement of the microphone... up close vs off axis vs further away / room.
I usually lurk but this is what I do for a living so I wanted to chime in and help.
I hope you have a fun adventure with your relative.
It might be difficult if you haven’t used such software before, but if you do your homework, you can write anything with it. Tons of free plug-ins available, from synths to effects.
Reaper Free at the point of purchase, loads of free effects including noise reduction.. Have a look at some tutorials to get you started Reaper Videos
I suggest Reaper, because it has the user-friendly price of $60 after a fully functional "demo" period of 60 days, is not crippled with DRM, is feature rich, and includes a native bit bridge (which is nice to have for those older freebie plugins). There is great documentation, including video tutorials, and a welcoming community.
You might want to take a look at Reaper if you're just getting started. It's a whole world of cash less expensive, and just as fully featured as ProTools, without the commitment. There's also PT First, which is... a thing, but not an expensive thing, so that's good.
Why not try REAPER? You can download and install it in a couple of minutes right now. There is only one version of it - the difference is in the license. It's light, stable, updates frequently, has a free comprehensive manual and is very reasonably priced.
If I get some time, I'll sort it. It's very easy to do.
If you want to give it a go: download the file, install http://reaper.fm (free trial), import file, highlight a single song, render-> time selection. Repeat for each track.
I've been making radio drama podcasts for about a year and a half now. One piece of advice I can give is to be as consistent as possible, especially at the beginning. For one of my podcasts, our first season had 25 episodes and we only skipped one week because of some personal issues. It feels really good to have that kind of consistency, constantly producing something you're proud of.
Also, https://castingcall.club/ is a great place to find voice actors who will work on your project for free. Tons of people just love doing it and want the experience. If you're writing is good, all the better.
As far as technical experience, if you haven't already settled on a DAW, check out Reaper. By far the best I've used, especially for this sort of project. It's like Audacity on crack.
Past that, I'm not really sure what advice to give. Make something you love and hope other people will love it, too. Also, get the word out as much as you can. That's something I'm awful at and have failed at entirely. Maybe get some b-list celebrities to guest on your show, bring in some attention that way.
If you have any questions or need advice for a specific area, let me know.
dual boot or install linux on a flashdrive and run Reaper with Wine(from what i hear it works just fine). Other than that there isn't anything full featured that would run on a chromebook. The few cloud based ones on the webstore are too simple and not worth messing with.
Is there a particular reason why you chose Audacity? It's extremely basic.
I would recommend starting on Reaper. It's a full fledged DAW that you can download from http://reaper.fm it is a full evaluation version (that doesn't expire).
I still use WinAmp daily at home and work. No need to fix what ain't broke.
Sidenote: Winamp's creator (Justin Frankel) is now working on a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) called Reaper and you guessed it. Fully skinable, fully customizable, and awesome.
The question is, what aspect of sound design do you want to look at. Do you want to record sounds, design sounds, compose music or do technical sound design?
I think I can safely say that if you are going the old fashioned "designing sound effects for movies" or something similar then this book is a good start. http://www.amazon.com/The-Sound-Effects-Bible-Hollywood/dp/1932907483 I haven't read it myself but many of my colluegues swear by it.
Also, a good starter DAW would be Reaper. It's cheap (and "free" if you want to) and high quality. http://reaper.fm/
This is false. After 60 days you are legally required to buy a license, although Reaper does not enforce this via DRM (i.e. you can still use it after 60 days, but not legally..)
Either way, $60 really isn't much to pay for such an awesome piece of software.
My favorite DAW is REAPER: http://reaper.fm/. It's $60, yet, in my opinion, easily as robust as the full versions of the others. (I actually own an old-ish copy of SONAR that I never use.)
It may be a little confusing--REAPER has loooooots of menu items (both regular and from right-clicking) and a few unusual quirks in its interface. (E.g., selecting items is done by dragging with a right click, not the left.) But the evaluation version of REAPER is completely uncrippled, and you can use it for as long as you want (though legally you're supposed to buy it after 30 days or stop using it), so it might be worth a try.
Of those three, Ableton Live would be my personal choice... if they were the full versions, that is. I don't know enough about the limitations of these three to be more helpful. But I find Live's interface very intuitive, and I like the workflow.
As long as you're going with something that is "free" but actually costs a reasonable amount of money, I think REAPER is a better product, and has the advantage of being partially cross-platform (Windows/Mac)
It's GREAT for the price.
That said, try it for yourself here. There is a bit of a learning curve but it's not bad.
If you're just getting into using a DAW you'll probably want to spend some time with the manual and in the forums but that's the nature of inherently complex software.
TLDR; Try It