So you are making your music workstation ready, but your workstation is incomplete without music-making software. Choosing a music-making software can be a trouble, and it is really a time-consuming process. Taking that into account, TechNijaPro came with a list of the latest and the best music software for you, and the best part of all the listed software is that they are all free of cost.
These tools have the extensive power to give a sound to our hardly made creations of songs. Music-making software if not rightly chosen can ruin your tone, and you can even lose your song. It is said that a real musician doesn’t need any kind of software to tune their music or to give it a sound; it can not be valid to the full extent. Music-making software is also known as DAW (digital audio workstation) gives you the freedom to make your song as savvy as you are capable of.
Before giving your time to music-making software, let’s understand that what is a digital audio workstation and what type of qualities and perks we need to know before playing our creativity on that music-making software.
What is a music-making software?
Music-making software or a digital audio workstation is actually a software with zero creativity and no songs installed in it. You give all the creativity, efforts, and time, and you shape your creativity using this software. It is just like the blank paper, and you have to put your creativity on it. Or you can say a Guitar, and you have to play your tone on it. The trend is changing; musicians nowadays are moving towards technology i.e., digital audio workstations. If we look at the top band and live performers, they are mostly shifting from physical instruments to the digital workstation.
How to choose music production software?
The only difference between the free music creation software is that some are beginner-friendly, and some are for pros. In this article, we have explained about every Free music making software that it is for beginners or not.
Maybe some of you are really professional and well aware of the perks you need in your music-making software. Here are the things that you have to consider while choosing your audio workstation.
- Your experience level: this is an essential thing you have to think while choosing your digital audio workstation. If you have just stepped in the field of music, you will be unaware of the basics, and you have to use the music-making software with tutorials. In this article, you will find the best software for you if you are a beginner.
- Your machine: What you are using? Mac or a Pc? Mac supports almost all the top-notch music making software programs. If you are on Pc, don’t worry, we have a collection for you also.
- Live or music recording: What you do? Do you perform live or record songs and then renovate them? Well, you have to keep this in mind file choosing the music-making software as some software perform great for live songs, and some are not that good for live music production, you have to edit the song after recording.
- Your budget: don’t worry, we have covered only the free and best music making software in this article. But if you are a professional and looking for premium music making the software, then you have a great chance to enhance your capabilities with the premium features. Your budget matters a lot in choosing the software.
Free music creation software
Now you have enough knowledge that you can choose the best music-making production software for you. Let’s just take a look at the list of free music making software.
1. Apple GarageBand
- Compatibility: Mac 10.11 or later
- Level: All levels
If you are a Mac user, then Apple GarageBand is the most useful and creative music making software you can ever have. This is really old digital audio workstation by Apple, but still, it is the best free workstation out there although it lacks the basic features like MIDI export and critical elements related to MIDI.
Some of the top features of Apple GarageBand include virtual drummer that give your music some realistic beats. You have the freedom to choose the beats from 33 genres. The sound library is another outstanding feature that you will get with Free Apple GarageBand. Moreover, you will get the fancy controls of sliders and cutters to make your music to its best.
You will get limited of 255 tracks per songs, but you don’t have to claim as this is Free software. In the case, if you want to know some quick tips, see this video:
Download Apple Garage Band Free
2. DarkWave Studio
An alternative to Apple GarageBand, the best Free music making software for Windows Pc is DarkWave Studio that can meet your needs for the digital audio workstation. The best part of this software is compatibility from XP to Windows 10.
The top feature of Darkwave studio includes the pattern editor, virtual studio, multitrack hard disk editor and sequence editor. Being a pro, you must know all the possible magic you can do using these tools. But if you don’t know any of the possibilities of these tools, you will learn with time because it is very user-friendly.
The only bad experience you can have with this workstation is the ads, and they may annoy you while working.
If you are a beginner, you must be aware of the basics of it. Here is a brief introduction to this free music making software.
3. Tracktion T7
- Compatibility: macOS/Windows/Linux
This digital audio workstation is also an old tool. But it supports almost all the top OS. Some of the top features include scaling, an unlimited number of audio and MIDI tracks, and you can host an unlimited number of top-notch plugins formats including VST. You will not get the regular updated with the Free version. However, you will receive updates once in a year, and that is pretty enough.
You can download the software from their official website. You have to provide the email address to make an account. Once you have downloaded the software, you will see that it is running in demo mode. All you have to do is to enter the email and password for your account, and all the features will unlock for free. Here is a brief introduction of Tracktion T7 DAW.
Download Tracktion T7
4. Ableton Live
- Compatibility: macOS/Windows
Call it my biased opinion, but I really count Ableton as a number one DAW. This music-making software is the oldest in the market and still very popular because of its advanced features and fantastic support with the latest hardware out there. The first version of Ableton first came in 1999.
The best part of this DAW is its beginner-friendly experience. And with that, experts love it too. Let’s take a look at its top features. It has the standard multitrack recording, and with that, you get an unlimited number of MIDI tracks in your songs. There are some problems like mapping of MIDI controllers with our sounds we used to face with the other music-making software. But with Ableton live all of this headache has gone. It also comes with a lot of sound packages and 23 sound libraries that have about 50 Gb of sounds so that you as a beginner can make music with this music making software in no time.
These were some of the expected features, but Ableton packs itself with a lot of other features that are too many to explain here. Here is a detailed tutorial that will definitely help you understand the basic to advanced features of this music creation software.
Download Ableton Live
5. Avid Pro Tools
- Compatibility: macOS/Windows
It is one of the most advanced Digital Audio Workstations (DAW). This tool is for extremely professional people as it is used by the top departments of the music industry. The idea of DAW is not acceptable by all, but many institutions are giving training and certificates in these pro tools.
Some of the top features include mixing, editing, composing and mastering, etc., in short, you get all the possible tools to play with the tracks to make a masterpiece out of the box. It also comes with its own Audio Engine, now may be thinking that why we need an engine with this. Actually, Avid Pro Engine has the power to give you a smooth experience by using your hardware. The speed and lagging issues are prevalent in music-making software programs, but with Avid Pro Tools, you will get a smooth buttery experience while making your music.
It also comes with Elastic pitch, and it is a kind of autotune that corrects your cords. The only bad experience this music production software has is its worst compatibility with Windows, it lags a lot with windows. However, it works perfectly with macOS devices. In case if you want to know some basic features of Avid pro tools, watch this video.
Download Avid pro tools
6. Apple Logic Pro X
- Compatibility: macOS only
This is one of the fascinating music production software but only mac users. It is not available for free, and it’s worth it. Some of its top features include track consolidation, also known as track stack, instrument layering, an easy to operate mixer for plugin control. You get a “score editor” to create your own MIDI. You can transform sounds and their quality, such as chaining multiple plugins together, scale velocity, etc.
It is also an arpeggiator (A feature of some synthesizers that automatically steps through a sequence of notes based on an input chord, thus creating an arpeggio).
In short, this software has all the possible features to manage your song to its peak level, and with that, you will experience excellent user interference too. You can get this all at only $200, and that is pretty reasonable if you are going to make professional software using this. Before purchasing, you should keep in mind that it is not that easy to understand, you have to spend some time and money on some physical teaching also. Here is an introduction about Apple Logic Pro X.
Choose the one you are comfortable with
Please read the section of How to choose music production software to understand the thing you should consider while choosing your digital audio workstation. We will recommend you to start with the beginner’s friendly software like Apple GarageBand (link). Then with the time and gaining experience, you can jump towards the professional music creation software.