Music composing software

[Nyx]

Can you recommend me some professional (or free) music composing software that's easy to use and can compose music for many different instruments, please?

Thanks in advance!

[mugenjohncel]

Try Anvil Studio
http://www.anvilstudio.com

Very easy to use... but you should also download software that converts midi into ogg.

...can't seem to remember it

"POOF" (Taking it easy... High Blood Pressure Finally got me)

Edit:
Oh by the way... Welcome Aboard Nyx!...

[Nyx]

Thank you so much for the program, mugenjohncel!

Edit:
Oh by the way... Welcome Aboard Nyx!...

Thank you !

[Fang-tan]

I use FL Studio but only because it's the only one I know how to use. However, if you're as bad as it as I am your songs all come out sounding sorta the same or clearly produced by FL. And it has cute dancing FL-tan! How can you not love that?

[Pink]

Any program that can handle VST plugins should let you have access to as many instrument patches as you could ever want. If you can get the whole routing thing figured out (VST can be such a hassle at times).

Kontakt and Play!Symphony are both very nice VST plugins that you can buy. They are pricey, but the Kontact sampler is amazing, and the samples used in the Play!Symphony are really top notch.

[DaFool]

I was almost tempted to get the cheapest version of FL Studio for $50 and was wondering what on earth could be lacking from that download version until I saw the checkbox for Piano Roll unchecked.

What the hell, piano roll is the most basic thing ever. I still don't understand how people can figure out all the complicated banks of sound arrays when anyone who's ever been taught the piano or the recorder since they were eight should be able to whip up a basic melody without much hassle.

I am currently finding Garage Band (exclusive to Apple's iLife suite for around $80) very agreeable. It has lots of loops. And yes, it has piano roll. The only downside it has against Anvil Studio + some midi-wav converter (e.g. Synthfont) is that I can't for the life of me find the pizzicato strings.

[Blue123]

Always avoid cheapest versions like the plague. Also, FL Studio is good for a beginner but it gets too basic and limited quickly.

For notation I recommend Sibelius 5. To process your works, look at something like Cubase.

[IceD]

FL Studio is good for a beginner but it gets too basic and limited quickly.

You have to be joking... FL Studio is one of the most advanced music composing software from few available. And I would barely reccomend it to the begginers, unless you're talking in terms of pro musicans begining their journey with computer software - it might be quite confusing for everyone to start with. Neverthless, It's a very popular software used both by amateurs and professionals.

Anvil is a good choice. If you would like to compose electronic/disco/house music Reason is the tool for you. It may take some time to understand every single thing (it's darn complicated and very complex program and it doesn't look user friendly, too), but results will recompense the time spent on learning how to use it, plus there are a lots of tutorials available on the net. Of course, it also doesn't mean you can't create any other music types on Reason, but it was especialy designed for electronic/house music.

Apart from this, some people might be already interested in general music composing. Those who remember older times should hear about trackers like screamtracker, fasttracker or newer Madtracker. Those tiny programs were used (and still are used) in the demoscene community back in the old days, although their abilities are somewhat limited you can still compose great music (if you're not believing me check out this tune for example: http://modarchive.org/data/downloads.ph ... #ac-sos.it It was made using another program - Impulse tracker, which is imo one of the nicer trackers around there available). They are easy to grasp and perfect for begginers. Another thing is that they basically require a little operating power and can be run on almost every machine (you can't say that about FL or Anvil, not to mention Reason). This music type is also particullary chosen for game making, especially if someone tries to add a retro-fell to their work. And mostly important - they're free!

Programs are important, but they mostly nothing without good plugins, which enchance their abilities and produce richer sound or generate special effects. more advanced users will be especially interested with them. There are lots of plugins available on the net for download, both free and commercial paid versions. From the few better ones (of course available for free) I would reccomend http://www.e-phonic.com (nice retro effects, already bundled with Madtracker), and http://www.tweakbench.com/ (those are good especially for those interested with retro game music. Toad, triforce and peach emulate the sound from NES).

Most of pro composing software have the ability to save work in various music file formats. Trackers mostly save music with special file formats that nowadays might get confusing to run (only with a tracker software or special programs that excell in running them. New Winamp versions DOESN'T support mod file formats anymore. For those I would reccomend using XMPlay or older versions of Winamp, such as 2+. XMPlay is simple, easy to use and has great abilities and who nows - you might like it so much you'll throw your older music player or shitty winamp away) and compressed/uncompressed wav formats. Programs for conversion of those file formats to more popular and well-operated ones, such ass mp3 or ogg are essential. For this particualr task I would reccomend SUPER (it's free and very handy) or you might spend a few bucks and get commercial version of Easy CD/DA Extractor, which is a great ripping/conversion program (IMO better than SUPER, but you shouldn't require too much from free software).

Finally, You might also try to check out some music creating blogs and sites:
- http://kev-on-music.blogspot.com/ - this guy rocks
- http://www.fictionjunction.be/2007/10/0 ... our-music/ - example process of musing composing
- http://musicthing.blogspot.com/2008/04/ ... -from.html - I found this very interesting

That's all from me for now. I Hope thats helps a little bit

[LVUER]

I haven't been able to get one, but how about a Vocaloid 2 (Hatsune Miku)?

[afu]

I haven't been able to get one, but how about a Vocaloid 2 (Hatsune Miku)?

Unfortunately I'm pretty sure Vocaloid is a vocal synthesis software program (vocie/singing)
I don't think music composition for instruments are included in the package. ^^;; (but I could be wrong, I dont have the program either)

[EvilDragon]

You're correct afu.

[like a cereal]

there´s a SW who has a name like a cereal ... Frooty loops!
Try!!

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[storm-and-fire]

Also, FL Studio is good for a beginner but it gets too basic and limited quickly.

It took me 5 years to be able to do anything basic with FL Studio, so I feel a little dumb. >_> Though it's true that you don't need to know any music at all to use it (well, if you want to make something that sounds well, you've got to have a good ear).

Anyway, I definitely recommend FL Studio to anyone who is willing to invest money, time and effort. You can make practically anything you want with it, if you try.

[azureXtwilight]

Is there any FL Studio tutorials that are easy to understand even for begineers?