Introduction Welcome to Best Free Music Creation Software! If you're looking for some high quality freeware tools to start recording and producing music on your computer, this article will serve as a great starting point. Before you download the software which is recommended in this article, it is very important that you understand the concept of VST (Virtual Studio Technology) plugins. These plugins will be used as add-ons for your music making application, just as you would use additional hardware instruments and effects in your real world studio. Another thing to consider before you jump into your first digital recording session is making sure that your computer is powerful enough to be used as the core of your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). Almost any multi-core machine with 2 GB of RAM memory or more will be sufficient for your first steps into the world of digital audio production. Finally, make sure that you've installed the proper ASIO drivers for your audio interface.

These will ensure that your system will run with minimum latency, making it possible to play virtual instruments in real time. With a little patience and experimentation, pretty much anyone could be making music or beats with these applications in a relatively short space of time. You don't need a doctorate in ST transform and Quantile normalization to make music with any of these superb free apps, so go to it and enjoy. See Also: at the end of this article. Rated Products.

Not really suitable for laptops. Bundled with OpenCandy Related Products and Links You might want to check out these articles too:. What Are VST Plugins and ASIO? A brief explanation of VST plugins VST (Virtual Studio Technology) plugins are essentially 'mini applications' which are loaded in standalone programs called VST hosts and used to expand the host program's functionality. VST plugin technology was developed by Steinberg for use with their commercial products. However, the technology became so popular that we now have thousands and thousands of different VST plugins and hundreds of applications capable of loading them. It is now possible to build a completely functional virtual music studio for cheap (or even even absolutely free).

VST plugins are classified as either effects (by far the most numerous), instruments, or MIDI effects. In this article, we focus on freeware applications which are able to load these plugins, thus making the backbone of your virtual music studio. See the following section for several good sources of quality free VST plugins. A brief explanation of ASIO ASIO (Audio Stream Input/Output) is a special kind of audio interface driver protocol which is developed in such a way to ensure minimum latency.

This technology was introduced by Steinberg, the same company which developed VST plugin technology. Most professional audio interfaces and sound cards are shipped with a corresponding set of ASIO drivers. In case you're using a generic audio interface, such as the ones which are often integrated on computer motherboards, make sure that you download and install ASIO4ALL. This universal set of ASIO drivers will ensure that even your low budget sound card will run with minimum latency.

VST Plugins and Useful Resources Good places to find free VST plugins and other useful free tools:. Useful resources for music makers:. Editor This software category is maintained by volunteer editor komanderkin. Registered members can contact the editor with any comments or questions they might have by. Please rate this article. Reply posted on behalf of member sicknero who managed to trigger our spam filter.

Apologies for that.:) MC - Site Manager. Hi aussiesparky, I'm a Windows user myself but yes, Macs are very well supported in the audio freeware world. I don't know about the products listed on this page but you might like to check out Reaper which is a full featured DAW (virtual studio). I've been using it in Windows for a couple of years now and for my money, it even stands up well against some of the expensive professional DAWs.

For VSTs (instrument and fx plug-ins. Synths, drum machines, audio effect processors etc) you could check out VST4You ( ) or Dontcrack ( ) or Bedroomproducers ( ). Or just google 'free vst mac'. The format you want is actually au but a search like that will get you plenty of great freeware. Use WoT though or something similar, as there are some dodgy sites in audio freeware, as there are with anything. Good luck, and post in the forum here if you need any help getting started.

or to post comments. Thanks Komanderkin, I've been having a play with LMMS and the piano roll does support PC keyboards so extra software isn't necessary for it. @MaiaRNBSoul, the piano roll is the window that shows the notes grid and has a piano keyboard down the left side. With your project open you just select the track you want to work on, click the piano roll icon at the upper left (it has a piano keyboard graphic on it) and then you can use your PC keyboard to play whatever instrument is loaded into the track. The piano roll in LMMS has play/record buttons etc. Hopefully this is what you meant in the first place: ) A productive discussion anyway. I'd not heard of Freepiano before and really like it!.

or to post comments. Do you mean a way to input MIDI data using your keyboard?

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If so there might well be an option for that already in LMMS. I downloaded the prog but haven't got around to trying it out yet. If LMMS doesn't have this ability built in then my favourite combination for it on my laptop is VMPK (Virtual Midi Piano Keyboard) which lets you play your PC keys like a keyboard and also send MIDI control data (e.g.

Volume, velocity, filters etc) using your mouse wheel or a rotary knob on the GUI. To use VMPK with a program like LMMS, you will also need LoopMIDI by Tobias Erichsen to connect VMPK to LMMS - it installs a driver and GUI which lets you create virtual MIDI ports inside your PC so that in this instance you can connect the MIDI Out of VMPK to the MIDI In of LMMS. It's all pretty simple and user friendly, let us know how you get on: ) VMPK - LoopMIDI -. or to post comments. Hi (I couldn't log in again so have just made another name)(Mobilis old one) Thanks very much for your speedy reply. Yes the electronic drum kit plugs into the pc usb port.

Its a physical kit with sticks etc. I put Podium on pc and it recognizes the kit when setting the midi input. Still not sure how to actually record using Podium. Is it just a medium to get audacity to record it or something else? The adverts for this kit state you can connect it to a pc.

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Whether that means also transferring a saved file from inside the drum kit or not I don't know. The kit itself records and saves the drumming. But I need to get the drumming on the kit onto the pc like it says.

Either from a saved file or real time recorded. A bit worried the advert has overstated, like some do, about the product. I only got it because the drumming could be transferred onto my pc. I hope I haven't wasted £100. What do mean when you say load up a software drum kit? I'm very sorry I'm new to this particular form of midi/pc gear.

Mmm sorry I assumed you were a bloke, lol. or to post comments. Sorry for the late reply, I was away during the holidays. You want to record a MIDI performance with your drum kit. A MIDI performance (as opposed to audio) only contains note data. In other words, it will capture all the drum hits you played on your drum set and these can later be applied to any virtual drum kit. Since Podium is picking up your MIDI data (the flashing lights suggest so), everything should work OK.

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Are you getting any sound from Drummatic 3 when playing the kit? If not, it's possible that your drum kit is sending the notes which aren't triggering this exact virtual instrument. Try installing Drummix Beta Edition (it is free) and loading it up as a VSTi plugin in Podium: Let me know what happens!. or to post comments. I am learning how to play the keyboard/piano and I began to think it would be nice if I had a piece of software that would allow me to enter in a tune's melody (by individual note) and bass line so that during playback I could chord along with it on the keyboard. A must would be the ability to transpose a tune into another key once it was entered and change the speed of playback (I've used Audacity once or twice for slowing tunes down).

Although I have a technical background I have next to no audio experience whatsoever and was wondering if the software in this article does what I need and what would you recommend? I'm running Windows 7 on an Intel i5 processor with regular stock sound. Ps - Merry Christmas!.

or to post comments. Hi, I just downloaded LMMS and am looking to start producing and I thought this might be a good place to start.

My only problem with LMMS is that when I start it up, I get no sound. I went to audio settings and tried to change the settings to my computer speakers, and when I restart LMMS and check audio settings it remains on 'Dummy'. Anyone know how I would be able to get sound? I'm pretty new to all this I have a ASUS Laptop Model X54C and I'm not sure what type of sound card it is.

But the laptop isn't too old so I believe the sound card is ok (at least I think so). or to post comments.