How to choose music and audio software

Jason Adams · 2013-02-18T04:54:32

Note: I'm asking some pretty broad questions in this topic, and some of them are also fairly open to opinion. In the past we've tried to provide extensive lists of possible software packages, but they were ultimately pretty useless, providing an extensive list with no real guidance on making a choice. I'm hoping that if we get some detailed answers from a variety of different people that this topic might be a valuable resource on how beginners might make their own properly informed decision when choosing software. -------------------------------------------------------------- There's a lot of music/audio editing/creation software out there, with a whole range of different features, different pricing structures, etc. and it can be pretty confusing for a beginner to find and choose a good package. Obviously a big part of making the right choice is finding a package with the features you personally require, at a price you can afford, and which you feel comfortable working with, and a great way to do that is to try out the demo versions of different packages until you find one which meets your needs... ...but how do you narrow down the selections? What features should every software package offer? Are there any features so important that it's not worth considering a package that doesn't offer them? What are the killer features you personally look for, or which lead you to choose the software you currently use? Are there any features that would be considered important to the majority of composers but which a beginner might not think to look for? Is there any particular process you follow when trying out demo versions of software to make sure you've tested thoroughly, or do you just play around with them? Lastly, what software do you personally use, and why did you choose it? Are there any areas you feel are lacking in your current set up, or is there anything you're really wanting to add to it? Would you recommend the same software to others? //EDIT: I realise these questions in particular are very subjective, but I think the answers would really be of interest to beginners -- as such I'd love to hear everyone's opinions, but would just ask that everyone try to respect the opinions of others as well and try to avoid any holy wars or petty arguments. Thanks in advance for your time!

Music and Sound FX Audio

Started by jbadams January 25, 2013 11:18 AM

21 comments, last by CalebFaithMusic 11 years, 11 months ago

Kylotan

10,513

February 10, 2013 05:37 PM

Agreed with the last post. Certain DAWs are better for certain types of music and audio task so I think you can go from there and then use experience to guide you. eg.

FL Studio - great for loop and sequence based music. Good for electronic instruments and genres. Poor for audio tracking and editing work, and virtually no score/notation capability at all.
Sonar - good for tracked audio, ok with MIDI, passable for score and notation. Poor with sequences, ok with loops. No real direct audio manipulation capability.
Reaper - good for tracked audio. passable with MIDI. No score or notation, no sequence support.
Ableton Live - great for loops and sequences. No score, no notation. Poor audio tracking support.

Basically, it's just a case of looking at what is in GeneralQuery's list, and matching that to the specs of each DAW.

Personally I'm considering moving to Cubase as Sonar's limitations are causing me many problems, but it took me years of using Sonar to come up against the limitations. You always lose something with every move though - before I used Sonar I used to use tracker/sequencer programs like FastTracker and they have a workflow speed for certain types of music that most DAWs (except FL Studio, and maybe Ableton Live) can't match. For this reason, if your output has to be diverse then I think it always helps to be fluent with more than one DAW.

JackMusic

325

February 18, 2013 12:00 AM

Forgot to mention one that I have seen around... 'Overture' is the closest thing to a score-based MIDI editor, I have seen this used in conjunction with Reaper. Seems to offer minute control over MIDI data and a nice articulations implementation that other score editors don't have. But development has been dead or hidden for years and the interface is stuck in the 90's.

CalebFaithMusic

1,068

February 18, 2013 04:54 AM

Forgot to mention one that I have seen around... 'Overture' is the closest thing to a score-based MIDI editor, I have seen this used in conjunction with Reaper. Seems to offer minute control over MIDI data and a nice articulations implementation that other score editors don't have. But development has been dead or hidden for years and the interface is stuck in the 90's.

Another one which seems to try to incorporate score and midi control is Notion but I haven't used although I'm looking at trying it out

Visit me at: http://calebfaith.com or https://soundcloud.com/caleb-faith or http://www.youtube.com/user/armageddonOrchestra

How to choose music and audio software

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How to choose music and audio software

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