Music with no experience or budget.

[Mimic Fox]

Basically what the title says. I'm looking for a way to learn to start making music for my VNs. Only problem is that right now I don't have much disposable income or experience with music. Are there good free/cheap resources to help me start out?

[BubbleCat]

I'll try my best to help!

1.You'll need a DAW (Digital audio workstation) to make music. Reaper is pretty lightweight and has indefinite trial-version if you're looking for a DAW.

2.Then you'll need some free instruments to load into your DAW. (Even though paid instruments are usually better (duh!), there are some good free alternatives these days.)
http://ivyaudio.com/Piano-in-162 is a decent piano.
https://vis.versilstudios.com/vsco-community.html is a pretty good orchestra.
You can find more free instruments at websites like www.kvraudio.com/plugins for example

That's pretty much it for the setup! Then there's music theory, you know, the boring part, the part that nobody wants to learn . Theory-wise VN music is pretty varied, there's some classic theory, some jazz. You can start by analyzing chord progressions of your favorite songs. Western pop songs are usually simpler than k-pop/j-pop, so I'd recommend you start there. Just remember to go slowly, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of theory there is to learn. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

[Mimic Fox]

I'll try my best to help!

1.You'll need a DAW (Digital audio workstation) to make music. Reaper is pretty lightweight and has indefinite trial-version if you're looking for a DAW.

2.Then you'll need some free instruments to load into your DAW. (Even though paid instruments are usually better (duh!), there are some good free alternatives these days.)
http://ivyaudio.com/Piano-in-162 is a decent piano.
https://vis.versilstudios.com/vsco-community.html is a pretty good orchestra.
You can find more free instruments at websites like www.kvraudio.com/plugins for example

That's pretty much it for the setup! Then there's music theory, you know, the boring part, the part that nobody wants to learn . Theory-wise VN music is pretty varied, there's some classic theory, some jazz. You can start by analyzing chord progressions of your favorite songs. Western pop songs are usually simpler than k-pop/j-pop, so I'd recommend you start there. Just remember to go slowly, it's easy to get overwhelmed by the amount of theory there is to learn. Feel free to ask if you have any questions.

Thanks!

[FulminisIctus]

I'm a month too late but if you're still interested in some tips, then I can recommend this article (access is free, even if it's up on Patreon): https://www.patreon.com/posts/so-you-want-to-14315306

[Tremarl]

Studio One also has a free version which is fully featured, beyond a few minor limitations (cannot use 3rd party VST for example)

Comes with most instruments you'd ever need. [sorry for necro post]

[inky-brigitte]

If you're looking for a composing software instead of a DAW, MuseScore is a good option. All the instruments are classical. And it's completely free.

[lsf22]

It's a shame that no FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) DAW's get mentioned. You can use LMMS which is available for Windows, Mac & Linux. there are several youtube tutorials on LMMS and you can make more than just music, you can use it for your sound effects as well.

There are plenty of FOSS sound & Music software at your disposal such as Audacity, Hydrogen, Ardour, Rosegarden etc.

You can create your Renpy VN solely from Linux which has a bunch of Free and Open-Source Software you can use
such as Gimp, Krita, Inkscape etc.

Check this link on it for a list
https://itsfoss.com/best-audio-editors-linux/
https://itsfoss.com/best-daw-linux/