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I want to start making my own original pieces for my games, but I am completely clueless when it comes to music software that isn't Logic Pro X (something that I don't have at home). So, can you guys recommend me some free music software that you guys use?

I use Bfxr.net for all my sound effects, and I know how to use Logic Pro X if that helps.

Also... I believe this is the right forum for this thread...

Audacity is free and fairly robust, but IMO not especially user-friendly. Still, it's the best free option I know of, and at least one noteworthy musician has used it.

If you have Audacity (or Garageband or something similar), you can expand the number of instruments and effects you can use by looking for plug-ins. There are a bunch of crappy/illegal plug-ins out there, so your best bet is probably to find a list from a reputable tech website of free plug-ins.

I'd recommend FL Studio... Audacity's more to mix your music.
People will usually recommend Reaper, but I don't use that. I don't know how to use it X'D
You might also want to consider LMMS and Mixcraft as well.

kyakyakyu wrote:People will usually recommend Reaper, but I don't use that. I don't know how to use it X'D

I personally use Reaper and love it. There's a free 60-day trial and at $60 USD, it's one of the best values out of the available software. So if you're interested in spending money, it's certainly an option.

The downside is that it's not great with MIDI and doesn't come with many virtual instruments (although it does have some other nice plug-ins). So, while Reaper is great, if all you're doing is composing music for VNs, there may be better options.

I also wanted to second that recommendation LMMS, which I forgot about in the first post. I've only played with it a little, but it seemed fairly powerful -- probably a better choice than Audacity for composing.

I agree with the Reaper recommendations. I used to use FL Studio many years ago, but Reaper has been my go to for the last few years. Never really had any problems with it and its been very user-friendly to me.

I use FL but I'd also recommend Ableton for the ease of setting up automation curves and the intuitive interface.

Go with your taste!

I've used Cubase for years now, I really quite enjoy its interface for its simplicity, and a lot of the stock instruments and synths are surprisingly nice. REAPER is an excellent recommendation, though, especially since it's not too heavy on the wallet.

EDIT: I misread the question

Personally, I use a program called Cubase (the only reason being that it came with my sound card purchase from Steinberg).

I've been using Cubase Elements 8 for around 3 months now. Yes, it's not free, but for ~$100, it's a really easy to use program for beginners and really loaded with power for professional use.

Reasons why I like Cubase:
Personally, I don't like having to convert the song in my head into notes, I just want to play it. Cubase was my solution (I'm sure there are many others, but this one is the one I use). I can easily connect my midi keyboard to my computer, load Cubase, set a tempo, and play the melody in my head.

Also, Cubase comes with a synth called Halion Sonic, which is a great virtual instrument tool for beginners. It's very easy to configure and use, and the settings are in easy-to-use knob settings, so even if you don't know what "attack" is, you can just mess around until you get sounds that you like.

Another great thing is that Cubase's basic controls are fairly easy to grasp. Just like every DAW out there, you just right click to create a recording/instrument/midi track, and you click the * button to start recording. The settings on the left side are also fairly easy to understand (the word VOLUME and a dragging thingy. Yeah. That simple.) It's not a 1-click track mastering program, but the basics are really easy to pick up, and once you get better, you can do so much with the program.

I'd definitely recommend Cubase for music composing. It's not free, but its good for both amateurs all the way to professionals. I hope that helped!

Cheers
-Kei

I'm kinda new to game music, but Noteflight.com is great if you understand classical notation. It's also free so there's that.

I also use Reaper, another DAW that's really good and only costs $60, I'd highly recommend it for any electronic music, or for anyone with a midi keyboard.

I use soundation, which is available for free online. There're a lot of virtual instruments and some sound clips you could use for free. I'm not an expert at it but personally, soundation is very convenient for those who do not have money to spend. Be sure to check it out

FL Studio is very user friendly. A lot of people bash it, and i do not understand why.
It's the producer who makes the tune, not the DAW. Why would it matter who uses it?

Cubase is also very good and extremely well structured, but doesn't have the 'do-what-you-want-where-you-want-it-and-clutter-it-up' style that FL has.

I am using Cubase and FL Studio, but for free setup Reaper will be the good option. And there are a lot of free VST and VSTi (effects and synthesizers) around to use. You may find it anywhere on Internet, like www.vst4free.com
The more important thing is to have a program and VSTs which will fit your needs and will be comfortable to work with. So, I guess, the best way will be to try different programs and see what is best for you.

Gideoni wrote:FL Studio is very user friendly. A lot of people bash it, and i do not understand why.
It's the producer who makes the tune, not the DAW. Why would it matter who uses it?

Exactly. I see FL Studio mentioned here a lot, and I can certainly recommend it. It's very user friendly and surprisingly rich for a free trial (the worst limitation is that you can't open FLStudio projects, so there's pretty much no point in saving the works, unless you're planning to buy the full version. You can only extract audio files, and load them all up again every time you want to come back to the project. That's a horror.

Reaper is also nice. I got a bit lost in the interface, but after some time I got used to it.

Someone has mentioned Audacity; I would say it's only good for recording and cutting/processing audio files. You can't do that in Reaper's trial version, and FL Studio's Edison isn't that user-friendly (in my opinion), also, I'm not even sure if you can use that in a trial version. So, good for recording, but only that.