Software to Compose music

[Dr.Jack]

Does anyone know a good software to compose music? It seems interesting to check one of them out, I'm looking for suggestions about where to start. Also, what is the price range for these softwares?

Thanks!

 

[ReVolver]

LMMS is a free cross-platform alternative to commercial programs like FL Studio®, which allow you to produce music with your computer. This includes the creation of melodies and beats, the synthesis and mixing of sounds, and arranging of samples. You can have fun with your MIDI-keyboard and much more; all in a user-friendly and modern interface.

Features

• Song-Editor for composing songs
• A Beat+Bassline-Editor for creating beats and basslines
• An easy-to-use Piano-Roll for editing patterns and melodies
• An FX mixer with 64 FX channels and arbitrary number of effects allow unlimited mixing possibilities
• Many powerful instrument and effect-plugins out of the box
• Full user-defined track-based automation and computer-controlled automation sources
• Compatible with many standards such as SoundFont2, VST(i), LADSPA, GUS Patches, and MIDI
• Import of MIDI and FLP (Fruityloops® Project) files

http://lmms.sourceforge.net/

 

[Jedimindtrixxx]

i heard frooty loops (or something like tht) is relly good, never tried myself though, so i dont know the price. Gev uses it if im not mistken nd his music is good.

 

[Squll2]

Fruity loops is only good for begineers as it is very user friendly, but in reality its a really crap music production tool, Reason, Cubase or Logic (mac) are the goodies.

 

[Whitesock]

Fruity loops is only good for begineers as it is very user friendly, but in reality its a really crap music production tool

Definitely false. I know for a fact that a lot of professional music producers use FL studio and their music sounds excellent. It's like using painter instead of photoshop, they are both excellent programs, though one is cheaper and focuses in a certain area. I would highly recommend FL, and you can download the demo software for free and it is untimed, has all plugins available, and is a lot more user friendly.

 

[Jimpy]

Depends what you would like to do specifically, some programs are geared towards classical/orchestral, some for purely recording, some for manipulation, and some for synthetic composition.

Fruity Loops Studio
Garage Band
Reason
Pro Tools
Audacity
Cubase
Ableton Live

Are probably the programs you'll be hearing about. The only free ones there are Audacity (good for recording, not much else), and Garage band (simple composition and recording, comes with most Macs).

 

[Lyerae]

FL was weird for me (a friend of mine as it). I never could figure it out.

 

[Jimpy]

Fruity Loops Studio
Garage Band
Reason
Pro Tools
Audacity
Cubase
Ableton Live

FL was weird for me (a friend of mine as it). I never could figure it out.

I have experience with all the programs I've listed, though most notably with FL and pro tools. In the grand scheme of things FL is very user friendly, though in no way is the 'noob' program. All of them can be used effectively to produce professional sounding music.

 

[Sintoras]

FL Studio (aka Fruity Loops) is really nice, might be a bit unusual but overall pretty user friendly. And it certainly isn't a crappy program, if you know how to use it well you can get pretty much the same quality of music as for example Cubase or Logic (Mac only), the two most popular high-end programs. The latter differ only in the details, if you really make music for a living then you would consider using those. The synths you use are cross platform anyway, so are the samples.
Ableton is great for live performance, but not that great in producing itself imo, but try it out, its a got a 30day demo without restrictions.

Otherwise Reason and Pro Tools are the alternatives. Garageband is not really worth considering as production software, I never feel like the songs I make are mine.

 

[Zakyath]

Cubase works great for me

 

[sevin]

I used FlexiMusic Composer for composition. If you are a new music learner then it would be a best choice for you, get it for US $20(Free trial version available).

 

[ZugZugZealot]

Anything with direct VST support is nice really.