Hum.. well, I searched and came up with some interesting music programs, some with a steep learning curve, some not. I haven't downloaded any yet because I have questions that did not seem to be answered in the other threads.
I have nothing except a microphone. I am looking for a program that is powerful (lots of instruments, effects etcetera) and preferably not very hard to learn. Hopefully free...
I was wondering if a different program was needed for vocals. I know some music programs are horrible for inputting outside tracks but would any program be able to fiddle with the voice as well? Or would it never work? Could you record from your microphone into the program or would I have to rely on windoze built in program?
Aaaand... yeah, I think that's it.
Audacity is the best free tool for recording and editing audio. As for a program with instruments and effects... I don't know any free ones. A popular one is FruityLoops (FL Studio), but that's gonna set you back at least $49 if you go for the Express option.
Quote from: auriond on Tue 09/12/2008 11:04:53
A popular one is FruityLoops (FL Studio), but that's gonna set you back at least $49 if you go for the Express option.
...But which is only one you need if you're ever gonna make some music. The quality and power is enough to become a professional artist! Infact, many of nowaday music stars, especially hiphop or digital genres - own their fame to either FL or Reason.
If you could try out 10 different programs or use same time to learn FL, the latter is most likely way better spent time.
If you decide to go for FL, don't forget to google and youtube for tutorials to get a kickstart. It isn't very hard to learn to make something decent. Youtube videos are quickest way to see how things work.
But as you explore, you will be amazed how endless the learning curve could be and you could learn whole life, and still not know everything.
Thanks for the help!
In all honesty I was expecting a little more cash being forked over especially after parting with $200 for Dreamweaver (student price BTW). It sounds like FL is a small price for a big program... I'll have to check it out (and Audacity)
About microphone usage: FL Studio has quite solid wave editors and possibilities to record either on-the-fly or not.
But I prefer Goldwave for record handling: It has all kinds of cool features like really sensitive equalizing, noise and hiss reduction, easy editing and time compression/fix and so on. If you ever gonna need superpowerful external wave editor, I just named it. But there's many of them, AND free.
Haha, I guess I have a lot of researching to do. I do like the sound of free, though ;)
I'll definitely look them all up, comparing features and reviews. And then I have to make room on my laptop :P which will be a chore and a half.... Thanks for the recommendations!
I wrote about music software in my blog. Not very much but maybe you'll find it useful:
http://yarooze.blogspot.com/2008/09/my-home-made-midis.html
You'll get "lots of instruments" in your midi list, so I advice you to try it first. ;)
I'm also using goldwave. But I can not save ogg or mp3 with it, so I use CDex to converting. This works quite well.